Oh, Paris!

How a trip to Paris rekindled creativity, travel journaling, and the art of noticing everyday life.

This is me, Day 10 in Paris. Jardin du Luxembourg.

Photo credit: The Blue Walk

After a much-anticipated trip to Paris in April 2022, I realized something that surprised even me.

At fifty-nine years old, I discovered that I am happiest in Paris.

Well… of course I am. Who wouldn’t be?

But it wasn’t only the beauty of the city that captured me. It was the feeling of being fully alive there.

In Paris, I was more creative than I had been in ages. I wandered the arrondissements slowly, paying attention to small details — the color of a doorway, the scent of butter drifting from a patisserie, the quiet rhythm of people living their everyday lives.

I walked for hours, journal in hand, noticing everything.

I felt curious again. Awake. Present.

And somewhere between morning walks and café pauses, I found myself asking the same question again and again:

How do I keep this feeling alive once I return home?

Because what I realized in Paris wasn’t really about Paris at all.

It was about a way of moving through the world.

A way of paying attention.

A way of seeing.

It was about what happens when we slow down enough to notice our own lives unfolding.

When I returned home, I knew I didn’t want that feeling to disappear into memory. I wanted to continue living with that same spirit of curiosity and creative noticing.

So this space became my way of doing exactly that.

Here, I write about creativity, travel, and the quiet art of paying attention — whether we are wandering the streets of Paris or sitting at our own kitchen tables.

Sometimes we travel together through stories.

Sometimes we explore creativity through journaling and reflection.

And sometimes, if the stars align just right, we may even travel somewhere together in real life.

But the deeper invitation remains the same.

To see our lives through an explorer’s lens.

To notice the small moments that might otherwise pass us by.

To honor creativity not as something reserved for special places, but as a language we can carry into our everyday lives.

I sometimes call this living my Paris life.

Not because it requires a plane ticket, but because it begins with a simple shift in attention — choosing to notice beauty, curiosity, and meaning wherever we are.

So when you need a quiet moment away from the rush of the day, you’re always welcome here.

After all…

we’ll always have Paris.