365 Inspirations—305: Paris

“A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of Life.”—Thomas Jefferson

I've never been to Paris, have you? I've heard so much about it, seen so many movies from there, met some lovely French people, but I can't say I know the place.

Tonight I went out with a friend. We started out at a Taiwanese restaurant called Fu Mandu and ended at a French Restaurant/Bar in the Greenwood area called Gainsbourg. There frites with aioli garlic sauce were to die for. My friend told me all about Paris and about several of her adventures there. We sat up at the bar and there were mini statues of the Eiffel Tower on the counter. The atmosphere was lively and homey at the same time. It was a perfect place to hang out on a cold fall evening.

In the background, they played avant garde, old French movies on a big screen. Every now and then an absolutely ridiculous scene would show up on the screen and I'd have to break our conversation to get my friend to look at the screen.

I think the best things about this evening were discovering a new place right in my neighborhood and spending time with my friend. That's the benefit of going out with a friend. Sometimes you get to see your very same stomping grounds through different eyes. Places you've never, ever ventured into or knew existed, become a whole new reality for you.

Today I saw the world through a Paris lens with my friend.

It makes me want to go there to visit, but I think I need to learn some French first!

Have you ever been to Paris, France? How was it?

365 Inspirations—172: Summer Solstice, Full Moon and Collaging

"You are a volume in the divine book
A mirror to the power that created the universe
Whatever you want, ask it of yourself
Whatever you're looking for can only be found
Inside of you."— Rumi

I'm still here and I seemed to have had a turn around. Yesterday I felt like I wanted to go back to the city and now I'm fully immersing myself in this solo experience.

I walked around the lake, meditated, almost finished my second book proposal, stared at the sunset out on the end of the dock and gazed at the moon. I heard frogs and crickets and people actually swimming in the distance. I guess that's one way to celebrate the first day of summer—go for a night swim! The water was like glass and I loved sticking my hand in the water to create perfect rings that got bigger and bigger as they moved away from me. I wandered up the driveway and sat for several minutes staring out at the full moon. All is so calm here.

I felt moved to collage. It's something I love to do. It's a great way to access the right side of the brain and just play! Many of the images of the collages I've made in the past have become real images in my life.

I haven't spoken to many people out here and suddenly while I was in deep concentration and focused on my art work, my cell phone buzzed. It hasn't buzzed much since I've been here. Hardly anyone calls and I guess that's good. It means I get more work done.

Just as I was pasting the Eiffel Tower onto my collage, my friend from my writing group texted me from France at 11:00pm. I found that very interesting!

Here's her text:

Hi Kathy, I've had limited internet, so haven't posted on FB. Here's a pic of the entry to a 12th Century village in the South of France that I explored yesterday.....


And here's the photo:

I feel like I'm there with her. I will be there in the not-so-distant future. I feel lots of traveling happening soon!

In my collage I also included the Big Island of Hawaii. I got an e-mail today from someone there. I'll let you know what that's all about later. Lots of manifesting happening out here at this lake house. I feel good things on all fronts.

Happy first day of summer everyone, hope you enjoyed the solstice and are enjoying the full moon. I'm headed outside again for some star and moon gazing before bed.....good night!


Did you do anything special for summer solstice or the first day of summer?

365 Inspirations—35: French Food

"After one taste of French food ... I was hooked. I'd never eaten like that before, I didn't know such food existed. The wonderful attention paid to each detail of the meal was incredible to me..."—Julia Child

 Okay, I don't know much about France or French Food, but I feel this is a place I have to visit. Particularly Paris. My agent recently informed me that my book accompanied my foreign agent in London to Paris. She was headed there for a book event and planned to talk to some editors and publishing houses about selling the foreign rights of Lessons from the Monk I Married to France. Croatian and Complex Chinese foreign rights have already been sold, so I can expect to see my book in both Croatian and Chinese, but French would be nice to add to the mix.

So on Saturday, in honor of my book making it to France, my husband and I did something we normally don't do. We splurged and went out for a 3-course lunch at a phenomenal French restaurant located in the infamous Pike Place Market in Seattle. It was completely spontaneous. I actually had to break my Paleo diet rules for this one because there was no possible way I was not going to eat what they were serving.

The host said, "Bonjour Madame!" and lead my husband and I upstairs to a table with a view of Puget Sound and the ferry boats coming and going from the pier. It was so romantic. We both started with the French Onion Soup! Délicieux!

Then my husband had the beef cheek with potatoes and the tastiest gravy and green beans. It was cooked to perfection. I had the Penn Cove steamed mussels. Everything was so good!

Finally, they brought us out creme brulee and two cappaccinos for dessert and we stared out at the water in bliss.  The creme brulee was so delicious I wanted to lick the bowl. I hadn't had sweets for over a month and it felt good to treat myself. I know it was just a one-time spur-of-the-moment thing and I think it's good to be spontaneous sometimes.

All I could think about after our fantastic meal is that I need to go to France. Perhaps I will get an opportunity to go there on international book tour!

Have you ever had French food or been to France? Have you done anything spontaneous recently?