Bon Anniversaire PlayingParisian.com!!!!!

Today is the 1 year anniversary of the day I landed in France (As I'm sure you remember, given the avid loyalty my readers have to the blog, I was delayed due to Hurricane Irene).

So here are my thoughts as I'm reflecting upon my 1 year here:

• I still get that "I can't believe I live here" feeling a lot and it never gets old. I get a little breathless when I walk through the Louvre and tuileries garden, I'm giddy when I see the eiffel tower sparkle, and I'm still amazed at how good the produce tastes. I hope it lasts and I have a feeling it will, as I could say the same thing about the skyline of NYC (which I could see out of my bedroom when I lived there and I woke up every morning thinking "WOW").
• Working in France still feels 'different'. The cultural differences are never more evident then when I am working, which probably has to do with communication as the basis of success in most jobs -- and even in English I'm not the best at it. It's challenging and thrilling at the same time and I still wake up every day ready to go to work. (except in July..in July I just wanted to be on vacation :)
• I'm still wearing scarves a lot, but it's funny that the second I step off the plane in North america they are no where to be seen. Apparently they are part of my Paris Persona and I'm okay with that.
• I feel like I'm finding my groove. I know which restaurants are hip, I don't always need to use google maps to find a metro, I velib like a pro, and I have a few friends (ok, maybe more than just a few :) And although that's a bit disrupted now that Andrew is in Fonty, I know that we're good at adjusting our footing and I'm ready to add 'living in the country' to my French resume of life.

After a year, I could definitely use a few more lessons in French (I was asked if I was Quebecois once...such a compliment!) and I still don't look like a Parisian, but in general, La vie est Belle a Paris. And I couldn't be more grateful. 

Professional Photos!!!!

I joke that I've been virtually stalking the McLellans forever, but really it's not far from the truth (so I maybe have followed their blog for 7 years, follow both of them on instagram, and are friends with them on facebook...that's not weird for two people you've really never met, right?). Having always been a huge fan of photography, I spotted this amazingly gifted Husband & Wife photography talent right away and have been tracking their success, image by image, ever since. I was so honored to have them photograph our wedding and I think you'll see why in the preview images. Click here for the blog post. Thank you Sean & Mel!!!

Here is one of my favorites.... :)

(c)2012 McLellan Studio. All Rights Reserved.

Sophisticated Puns

So @NataliesNews sent me a sophisticated pun yesterday forwarded to her by her school's nurse (tangent: I should probably just ask Natalie to write my blog given how much she's featured here, no?)

"Those who jump off a bridge in Paris are in Seine"

It gave me a LOL moment and I thought I had to share it. (also love the southern nurse pronunciation of seine as sane).

(on a side side note, I weirdly have not taken any pictures of bridges in Paris. Too cliché? Too lazy? who knows, so I've left it to one of my favorite Parisian bloggers @littlepiecesoflight Merci! ).

Couldn't have said it better myself....

If you want to know what I've been doing for the past two weeks, please allow a far better writer and photographer than me (@natalie's news) tell you. Natalie's excellent recap of our wedding is here.

In short, it was incredible. Everything we could have wished for and more (even 77 degrees and no humidity wahooo!! I didn't pass out!) The people were amazing, the food incredible, and the venue stellar. We were surrounded by love and happiness and I'm sure I'll be on this high forever.

And now I'm back to my playing parisian reality. Which honestly seems like a vacation from my vacation, as it was a fun filled but tiring few weeks! And what is more, when I returned to Paris it felt like home. Perhaps this is what it feels like to move beyond 'playing' and to actually 'being'. Anyways, the blog names stays :)

my favorite pic...thanks natalie!!