Gold

||   It's Christmas, we're in France... What is this life? A continual conundrum of undeservedness, that's what. To say we're grateful would be a massively poor understatement.

The wine here, I think they sprinkle magic pixie dust into it to make it flawless. The cheese? pa-lease! No need to explain that one. And lest we not forget the pastas and grains in this place. Fresh baked bread and perfectly pressed pasta calling my name and claiming it's home securely on my hips.

France, I'm a sucker and you are gettin' me good.

So we've settled that the food is gorg and all but what's the real gold in traveling? I'd make the plea that it's ironically the same gold that every place possesses.. its people.

We don't know a lick of french and it's actually pathetic. I've found french to be a stunning language and even try to prep what I'm going to say each time before we go out. Sadly, as soon as I'm face to face with the chance I forget that having a true conversation would mean me also understanding what THEY'RE saying (naturally). Then you do that stupid thing where you revert back to just speaking english and oh how the eye rolls follow but can I just tell you that one of my most favorite moments was also one of my most embarrassing? Which, if you know me at all, you know this is the exact opposite of how I equate a favorite moment in my mind.

We're staying in a quant village called Gignac. The streets are straight up from every stereotypical scene of France you could imagine in your mind only better by tens of thousands. We're having a stroll around our neighborhood and like overly obvious tourists we're taking photos of doors and floors galore. I walk by this precious elderly lady, who sees Dustin taking photos which to her, are of absolutely nothing. She then, matching up only barely past my shoulders, grabs me, hugs me by the side and says some paragraph in french, giggling and smiling fields wide. I wanted nothing more than to participate in return but cowardly I chose to nod my head as engagingly as possible in a desperate attempt to pull off understanding her. She was so friendly, so warm and we were sharing such a sweet moment that I couldn't sober it dry by acknowledging the language barrier when in all actuality she was speaking ever so clearly.

They say actions speak louder than words and I'd even protest that actions speak louder than languages. We've had our fair share of confusion even trying to understand certain phrases from our friends in England but what we never have failed to interpret is a smile, a passing nod, a warm and impressing comical hug. Sure, the tastes and spirits here are divine but when you see kids playing football down a side alley way, you meet a shop owner who helps you pick out a small christmas plant that will soon die anyway or you exchange an embrace with a innocently trusting and utterly precious elderly soul you realize once again that the gold in every place, in every state, country and continent, is indeed it's people.

So Merry Christmas to all you people! It's you that makes this world shine like gold. You being you, enjoying a moment with some stranger could change their entire experience of a place. It doesn't have to be for two crazy tourists either. Let it be a mutual late night grocery store shopper, a fellow dog lover at the park, an old colleague, that person who you know takes the same train as you everyday but that you've never spoken to. I want to make other people feel and remember what that little old lady made me feel and remember on that day. I want to make other people feel like gold.

Because what do you get when you add gold to gold?
You get rich.

And in the words of my brother-from-another-mother Mr. 50 Cent..

"Get rich or die trying"

Word, fitt-y, word.    ||

Daniel Gregory Natale

||   I'm typically a skeptic and unbeliever in the idea of love at first sight but when I came across this article on Daniel Gregory Natale, I could not help but convert my beliefs. I've always been melted by the use of mixed media in any way. I love the contrast of dark and light, of harsh and delicate, and smooth to textured and this collection has it all.

When I say I love fashion, I often feel embarrassed by what follows that thought. It's not that I love the idea of getting ready or buying name brands and then linking people to my "OOTD" but more that I am truly enamored by the creativity behind mindful fashion. The stories, the inspiration, the moodboards, the emotions, the birthplace of it all. There are so many wildly creative people in the world and when their work shows their vulnerability I can't help but fall in love.


That being said, you should really go see this for yourself by clicking here. Read what Gregory has to say and view the rest of the stunning collection he's created. I'll be over here exploding with heart eye emojis..   ||

Celebrate good times, come on'

||   Last week was the glorious american holiday that is Thanksgiving! It was our first time not being in the states and it feel like it. The strangest thing is when this day that you've celebrated for 27 years suddenly becomes a normal Thursday?! It just felt wrong.

Thankfully (no pun intended) some of our friends have an american relative and kindly invited us over for a Thanksgiving lunch on Saturday! Sweet potato and marshmallows, get in ma' belly..

One thing I've come to admire about this day (besides the carbs of course) is how it brings us all back together in a physical sense and also in an retrospective one. Sure, life is rough don't I know it too, but all across the country it's at the very least understood that on this day we all should sit and search out something we have to be thankful for.

Walking around on a rainy Thursday afternoon, no turkey, no pumpkin pie, no watching (american) football or the Macy's parade in my stretchy pants, no family plans, no getting a christmas tree from the woods as per tradition, no turkey coma, no normal nothing. My husband and I, we'd only just started to build up our holiday traditions and then just three years in we're already off breaking them..

Needless to say, almost every part of my being wanted to play pity party all day but ironically that in itself defeats the purpose of what the day offers. I'd like to think we're all consistently waking up thankful and content but until that becomes a reality, having a day that reminds us to all stop and say thanks is better than nothing.

But to be thankful, does that mean to be passive and unhindered by the questionable things of life? I don't believe so. To me, to be thankful is to be deliberate despite your circumstances. It was simpler to be thankful when the day was handed to me, we were surrounded by our family and food and all was precious and slow but what about when you're in a different place with different people and nothing, literally nothing is as it was? What then? Then, is when you give thanks all the same.

So with my hands held high not out of ease but out of reverence, trust and faith, I gave my thanks and aim to give it day by day. All that I am and have is more than I'm owed or deserve and that's surely something worth celebrating.   ||