The Totally Avoidable Way We Mess Things Up

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Deirdre Maloney

So this past week I hit a wall. Literally. Behold... The good news, beside the fact that I’m uninjured and therefore able to write this blog, is that it happened because I was exhausted from our exciting move. To Paris. France. It happened at the tail end of moving day. We’d spent weeks getting ready and were finally in the home stretch, which included...

How to Handle the Cranky, Miserable People Around You

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Deirdre Maloney

Well, it’s here. After much build-up and prep, our six-month overseas adventure officially began just over a week ago when our plane touched down in Paris. And, it turns out, my first life lesson based on this little adventure followed that very morning. We’d gone to a store to stock up on some known culinary entities to ease us gently into our new world of...

How to Fit In…Without Being Put Out

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Deirdre Maloney

With a month of living in Paris now behind me, I can definitively say that this city has got a few things figured out. They know good art, they know good pastry, they know good coffee. It’s made fitting in not just fairly easy, but also a pretty great learning experience. I mean, who would have known that this… ...beats this? (Mon dieu - did I really...

Lessons from the Tortured Artist in Room 5

Posted on June 16, 2014July 22, 2015 by Deirdre Maloney

Recently our French adventure found us renting a car to drive out to the country – a somewhat death-defying notion for anyone whose starting line is in Paris. Really, you never know what you’re going to find. (Actual photo from a random walk on the Left Bank) After delicately escaping the City of Lights, we soon found ourselves in Auvers-sur-Ois...

How to Handle the Other B.S.

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Deirdre Maloney

Well, my current city of Paris and my beloved, Italian mother just collided. I invited her to visit after experiencing some of the best things Paris has to offer. While Mama was excited about exploring both the culinary and non-culinary wonders of the City of Lights, her enthusiasm was accompanied by another emotional phenomenon: the worries. Those of y...

The Right Thing To Ask When Something Feels Wrong

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Deirdre Maloney

Today’s post begins with a tale regarding a beloved topic: food. Before arriving in Paris there was lots of dreamy anticipation about the pending French cuisine. Those decadent, creamy sauces…those exquisite pastries…that bread… Okay yes, the bread is pretty incredible. But now that I’m here I can say that the rest of it…well…I’m just not that into it. ...