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Three Years in Paris

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I’m sitting here stunned that I’m writing this.  Never in our dreams when we first landed in Paris did we think we’d be here this long.

Well life is full of surprises

Thanks to this blog I have a beautiful record of our time here.  We always say these have been the best years of our lives.  It’s been because of the travels, the friends, the special occasions and the daily life in this city we are so lucky to call home.

I’ll take this 3 year anniversary to reflect back, read old posts and curate a few of my favourites.

I think this blog has come a long way.  When I first started, the blog looked different and had a different name: ourparischapter.blogspot.com.  Pictures certainly weren’t as good as they are today and the writing… well you can decide.

Just reading back to the first inaugural post brings a smile to my face.  I wrote that I’d share “the good, the bad and the French.”  Fortunate for us, there hasn’t been a lot of ‘bad’ but lots of great memories.

It’s funny I wrote that “I don’t think I could train people (in Crossfit) in French” and that has been totally wrong!  And the whole Paleo thing has eased more into 70/30 of the time.

Here’s some more insight into what life has been like the past 3 years.

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3 Favourite Trips

I’m already regretting limiting myself to the number 3.  With all the fantastic travels we’ve been so lucky to enjoy, narrowing it down to 3 is hard.  But here goes…

  • Iceland – This might just be the favourite.  And the friends we went with would likely agree.  Pictures and stories just don’t do it justice.  It’s a magical place that I hope to return to someday soon.
  • Tuscany – A surprise trip for my 30th birthday.   The moment we fell in love with Italy (as if it was that hard to do anyway!)
  • Cape Town – After years of hearing David rave about it, this trip to CPT had it all: wine, BBQ, shark diving, penguins, beach and sunsets.

3 Favourite Paris Memories

  • Masked Ball of Versailles – Even after attending this epic event 3 times, it never gets old.  And if we are still here in June we might just go again.  The best year might had been 2015 when the weather was perfect and we had an entourage of people, friends and friend of friends, making the night truly amazing.
  • 14 juillet – The annual National Day with fireworks at the Eiffel Tower.  Every year the weather has been great and we staked our claim to the patchy grass the entire afternoon.  The show is always worth the wait.
  • Diner en Blanc – Another magical night.  It felt exclusive and it was worth the hard work.  Even if it did rain in the end.

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3 Funny Memories

  • Our hellish Ikea trip – It was certainly not funny at the time, but I’ve come to find the humour in it all.  Definitely a Welcome to France (WTF) moment.
  • Our crazy lesson in French driving where the instructor says things like pulverized and depressed.
  • French quirks that used to surprise me and now wouldn’t make me bat an eyelash

3 Saddest Moments

  • Generally the worst part of expat life is saying goodbye to expat friends
  • Leaving our first apartment – It’s happening tomorrow and I’ll post about the experience soon. (update: read about it)
  • Feeling paralyzed by the Charlie Hedbo and the more recent November attacks.  I never blogged about it but the internet is full of the sentiments felt by Parisians.  Sad times indeed.

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3 Best House Parties

As we move from our apartment, I’m loving looking back at the house parties and brunches we’ve hosted.  This fully pack 59 m2 place can actually fit a lot of people.

3 of David’s Best Videos

If you haven’t subscribed or visited our YouTube page, now is the time to do it.  Just like my photography and blogging has gotten better, so has David’s videography.  And while pictures only say a thousand words, videos can say 100,000.

  • Iceland: It’s no coincidence that one of our best trips is also one of our best videos.
  • Courchevel:  The latest video from our ski week in the French Alps tops them all
  • Greece Holiday:  His skills really turned a corner this past summer with this one

3 Kitchen Successes

I spend a fair amount of time in the kitchen.  Through my courses, general love of cooking/baking and curiosity with new ingredients, I have produced some pretty tasty things

Kettlebell Cake

3 Biggest Personal Lessons

3 Posts that scream #FirstWorldProblems

If you’ve made it this far, I hope you’ve discovered a few posts that have been buried in the archives.

It’s always fun to walk down memory lane.

Who knows where we’ll be in a year from now?  Paris is highly unlikely but you never know! What will I be doing with the blog?  How amazing will our videos be?  What other surprises will life will throw at us?

Someone recently told me the meaning of life is growth.

Paris has been the best growth period anyone can ask for.   So cheers for the best 3 years of our lives.

 

The post Three Years in Paris appeared first on The Smalls Abroad.


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