Paris. Merci Beaucoup.

I spent the past five most beautiful days in Paris wandering through shop-filled streets, eating pastries, sipping espresso, meeting new brands, connecting with current ones, and soaking in a city known for it’s romance, fashion and luxurious foods and wines. In Paris, women feel alive, sexy, bold in their attitude, proud in their choices—unapologetic about their shopping, their lunches out with friends, the endless cigarettes they smoke, the food consumed and so forth. For them, it is a choice of life, of enjoyment, of living—nothing to be ashamed about or to feel even an ounce of guilt. This to them is Life.
We live in a different world where we know smoking can lead to cancer and we trade the fashion for Lululemon and we focus on a watered down diet of healthy foods rather than taste and enjoyment. I get it, I do. Because I live in this culture with you. But what if we took pieces of this European lifestyle and we wove it more generously into our own? What if we allowed ourselves to purposefully set out to shop for the day and to spend our money how we wanted and buy beautiful things—to spend the day dressed in clothing that made us feel sexy, alive and powerful. What if we enjoyed a glass of wine with friends at lunch more consistently, found dustings of sugar on our fingers from the pastry we just savored and lingered longer over meals, spent less time feeling guilty over the luxuries and joys of life?

I believe somewhere along the lines of time, unlike our European friends, we turned shopping into consumerism and, just as with our food, we became afraid that if we were shoppers or ate these delicious foods, we were somehow categorized as bad and so we shunned it along with sugar, caffeine, wine and even I dare say cigarettes. Instead, we opted for discount stores, endless pairs of workout clothes, heads and heads of kale and we left behind the very sweetness of what makes us feel alive. It is my work to bring to life the very things that make us feel good—to not only do it in the store, but with my friends and to pass on the contagious energy of partaking in the parts of life that make it yummy and fun. In the store, I pick items that will bring that joie de vivre, that will fill you up, make you smile and make you feel excited.

Something to think about my friends. As always I would love to hear what you think and how this resonates with you—share with me your stories of Paris, of eating croissants and of feeling alive.

Thank you Paris for reminding me to shop, to eat and to live with passion.

x
Jen