Les Essentiels: Octobre

The list of things that I adore about Automne in Paris is far too long for just one blog post. However, I realize that there is power in simplicity, so here is my attempt to boil it down to only ten.

1. Automne walks in Paris. The coloring of leaves is always beautiful, watching it happen in Paris is breathtaking.

2. Philosykos eau de toilette by Diptyque: fig leaves + fig tree wood + white cedar = perfect Automne scent. I seriously bathe in this.

3. The Artist's Way book/program: this 12-week program is guaranteed to clear out your pathways to allow more creativity into your life. I am currently on week four. Each week I have to take myself on an "artist date". This week's artist date was seeing silent film, The Artist. How apropos.

4. Isabel Marant oversized black blazer.

5. Julie and Aurelian's delicious restaurant by day/ charming wine bar by night. They tell me that its name is Invitez-Vous a Chez Nous (or something like that, meaning, You're Invited to Our Place). However, there is absolutely no signage signifying that there is any sort of name whatsoever. So we just call it The Red Bar. It is probably the single most inviting spot in all of Paris, so I suppose the phantom name is fitting.

6. A new haircut with light bangs.

7. Love from afar, like surprise packages of habanero hot sauce from Oregon and loving, supportive visits from Georgia.

8. A cathartic and magical evening with Bon Iver at the Grande Halle de la Villette.

9. Private dinner parties and wine degustations at Paris Terriors.

10. My writing group at Shakespeare & Co.

Automne

It's no secret, I love Automne!

• The way the sun sits lower in the sky.
• The warm vibrant colors of the leaves.
• The crisp air that begs for a cashmere wrap or blazer, yet not quite a coat.
• Knowing that soon enough, I won't feel guilty for filling my weekends sitting inside a cafe or a museum (rather than chasing the sunshine all over Paris).
• And searching for the perfect pair of boots as my signature statement this season.

This boot pursuit seems a lot more challenging than past years. Mostly because I am not visualizing (and by visualizing, I mean obsessing) over a very specific style/brand of boots that I may or may not ever find.

Will it be an Isabel Marant boot?

A Martin Margiela avant garde take on a classic?

A fur-lined Pierre Hardy lace-up wedge?

(Imagine these in black, lined with fur. They are so new that there aren't any images available yet.)

Or, *gasp* a Moccasin bootie? (seriously, I am thinking quite a bit about Moccasin booties lately. In my defense, I walk A LOT and comfort is key, okay!?)

It's kind of exciting to keep myself open so that the perfect boot can present itself to me, rather than hunting it down with the focus of an Olympian athlete. It is the difference between being on a mission and being on a journey. And I am starting to get used to this whole journey thing.

I know what type of "boot" it won't be. And I am pretty sure that Paris (and all of France, for that matter) offers a free vaccine for this unfortunate affliction of Elephant Feet. God bless Paris, God bless health care for all, and God bless Automne.

Illuminer

Illuminer (Fr.)/ Illuminate (Eng.): to brighten with light. To make uderstandable. To clarify. To expose or reveal by radiation. To enlighten intellectually or spiritually.

Most people think that perception works a lot like a flashlight in the dark, illuminating whatever it's aimed at. However, the truth is that instead of revealing what's there, it creates it.

Recently I was questioning how someone can knowingly change their perception. I was advised that it was simple-- just change your thoughts. Um, yeah. How does someone do that exactly? Here is the exercise I was given as a two week experiment:

1. Put two jars side by side.
2. Every time you have a disempowering, bummer thought, such as "the French government is trying to kill me with bureaucracy", "I'll never speak French fluently", "I no longer have any bicep definition", etc. I am to put one euro in the first jar.
3. As soon as that euro clinks in that jar, I am to write an empowering thought on a piece of paper, such as "I speak French 10 times better than I did this time last year", "I have the intellect and tenacity to handle the French government", "My calves look ah-mazing!" etc. Then fold that piece of paper and drop it in the second jar.
4. Whenever I need a little light to shine on my here and now, I grab that second jar, pluck out the pieces of paper, and Viola! My here and now is illuminated.
5. At the end of the two weeks, I am to take that first jar's contents and give it to charity, whatever charity looks like to me. 

Dots

"You can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something... your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference."
-Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
excerpt from Stanford Commencement Speech 2005 (see below)