Close 2 Paris: Oh My, How Time Flies. We've Been Here 6 Months!

Then and Now

September marks the six month anniversary of our move to Paris. Can you believe it? The first couple months seemed like they took forever to get through, but the last three or four have just flown by.

Let's do a little "Then and Now" to compare our first two months in Paris to how things are now...

Speaking French

Then: Zip. Zilch. Zero.

Now: I could count to a million, if the need ever arose. We can sort of conjugate verbs. I can make my way through a market or restaurant speaking virtually no English.

Around the House

Then: I had an emotional breakdown on St Patty's Day while Kyle was having a beer with coworkers because I couldn't communicate with the plumber when the washing machine and kitchen sink were simultaneously spewing water all over the place. Can you blame me? He literally stuck a cork in it and said it was fixed. Yep, a wine cork.

It was not fixed, in case you were wondering.

Now: Just laughed when I finally heard back this morning about the plumber coming to fix a shower leak... from JUNE!

The Washing Machine

Then: Turned nearly all of our whites a lovely shade of taupe somehow and shrunk half of my shirts. It took me two full days to get one load done. One load = maybe two-three outfits because the machine is tiny. What is wrong with these stupid European washing machines???

Now: I am proud to say I rarely ever discolor or misshape any of our clothes! I have a smooth system that allows me to get one whole load of laundry done a day. Yep, I do laundry everyday. This was my nightmare in Houston... turns out to be not so bad when you only have to fold or hang a couple items after each load ha!

On the Menu

Then: We ate out nearly every meal, nearly every day. When I say eat out, I mean we went alllllll out! We ate like we were on vacation for two months because we didn't know what else to do with ourselves. We indulged in French desserts, bread, foie gras. You name it, we ate it.

My stomach just did a little back flip just thinking about it.

Now: We usually eat out once a week and we haven't had foie gras in months (I don't even want to know how much fat and calories is in the stuff). I go to the market everyday and get tons and tons of fresh produce. We eat at home for breakfast, lunch and dinner and pretty much every meal consists of a lean protein and two veggies. My body thanks me. Kyle has lost 25 pounds since we stopped our French fat-fest. Crazy.

However, we aren't stupid and we LOVE food. We just keep it in check now... Once a week we walk (45 min) to go to our favorite little treat shop, Un Dimache a Paris ("A Sunday in Paris"), and treat ourselves to some of the best stuff Paris has to offer :)

Friends

Then: Missing our friends like crazy, but happy to have met Julie - our best bud in Paris

Now: Who are we kidding? We love our friends so much and missing them is never going to change. But, instead of being sad and feeling lonely, we look forward to their visits and our visits home. How amazing is it that for the rest of our lives we can say "Remember in Paris when..." with our friends that will come stay with us. So awesome. Book your trips people ;)

We still love super fantastic Julie, of course.

**Now, don't laugh, but I have a confession. I wear Aggie and Astros shirts to the gym and to go running with the hopes that a fellow expat will notice and befriend me. I said don't laugh! So far it's not working.

What's Next?

It's important that we don't let ourselves get into a rut or slip into a routine of the same old things. We've spiced up our French lessons, so hopefully we can brag about how much we've improved in the next six months. I'm going to start taking cooking classes, which I'm very pumped about. I joined a couple expat groups, so hopefully they have some fun functions we can attend.

The first MEGA exciting thing on our agenda is our honeymoon in Italy!!!! We leave this Saturday. Ten days - four in Viareggio and six in Cinque Terre. Stay tuned for a blog post that will surely have a billion pictures and tons of exclamation points. Can't wait!

Fall is approaching here and I'm happy to see what it's like to be somewhere that has actual seasons. Plus, fall gets me really excited for the Holiday season, and I've found some year-round Christmas shops that I'm sure I'll stop into weekly.

We'll be in Houston in November. Then, Sarah and Ricky come to Paris the week of Thanksgiving, and my mind just can't stop racing about all the fun we'll have. So much coming up!

P.S. - Our friend Mindy was in town a couple weeks ago and she and I went to London for a few days after her time in Paris. I need to rob some of her pictures so I can post about what a great time we had!

Versailles Again

The day of our official six month anniversary in Paris was a beautiful Saturday, so we decided to head out to Versailles again. We visited a section we had not seen before - Marie Antoinette's Village. So pretty. Check out more here if you're interested.