A FAKE LOCKDOWN AND REAL PANDEMIC UPDATE.

Hey pals, it’s been a while. Paris is still under what they’re calling lockdown, which isn’t really a lockdown. Curfew at 19h, but other than that you can move pretty freely. Rumour is that terraces can open again in mid-May, fingers crossed!!! Feels so distant, it’ll be strange getting back in to it, but probably something that’ll feel like no time has passed once we’re back.
Anyway – thought I’d pop in with a mixed bag of pics from the past few weeks! Aloha!

Up until they moved back to the States, I was helping our friends Kat & Chris with their bebe 💕
I’m so glad that I got some real quality time with her before they left. I miss them already.
Bebe and I would go for long walks (well, she mostly napped and played in her stroller as she’s a mere 7 months old and not too quick on her feet yet 🙃), walked past Emily in Paris’ apartment building, restaurant and bakery one day. D. and I got through maybe three episodes of it, to see what the fuss was about, then sort of wordlessly dropped it…

We squeezed in as much time as possible with Kat and Chris (and Rory!!) before they left. One sunny afternoon we got take away pints of IPA on Place de la Contrescarpe. It’s strange now, when Paris is empty of tourists and all bars & restaurants are closed (or only serving take aways). So quiet.

Also been for walks with D. One day in Jardin des Plantes, it’s so pretty over there. Tik Tok video on that coming up soon 😉

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I try to see Linda once a week, or at least every other week. We go for walks as well (not much else you can do!), sometimes around her hood around the Eiffel tower, sometimes around mine by the Canal. Hi Swan.

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In Jardin des Plantes you can still spot some of the animals, although they’re closed. Wallabies for example! And a quiet, clear Bassin de la Villette on the right ☀

I’ve walked, walked and walked. Was quite happy with my 17,000+ steps one day.

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Come rain, come shine. Never with makeup, I figure I’ll avoid it as long as I can.

One sunny day, before the “lockdown’s” limit of 10km, we headed to a deserted Gare de l’Est and waited for a train.

Adventure time!

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We were off to see our pals who work at Disneyland! For drinks, a bit of fresh air and loads of cuddles with Mai Tai ❤❤❤

Heading back to the city the next day, we were a touch fatigued. Note Nick’s band aid-ed head, a recurring trend.

Most of all though, we’ve been home. Cooking has always been one of my favourite things to do, but now it’s really become the absolute focal point of each day.

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We’ve been getting free veggies every Sunday (I’ve gone on about this enough times now, so will not repeat) and trying to change up how we eat them. Spicy cauliflower bites, mixed veggie curry.

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Cute but time consuming tortellini, focaccia stuffed with sundried tomatoes, olives, fresh rosemary, lots of olive oil.

Cold, refreshing, citrusy drinks when the sun has come out.

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A bit of baking. Two faves: my overnight buns & Swedish oat thins (or havreflarn).

I’ve made pretty sloppy sushi, but they were tasty!

We’ve played Cards against humanity, one of many great gifts from Chris and Kat ✨

I’ve looked back at pics of a time where life was a bit more happening.. and that’s where I’ll leave you for today, pals.

Hope that you’re doing ok, I’m gonna cautiously optimistically say that maybe soon we can start glimpsing the end of the tunnel…??? 🤞🤞🤞

SPRING IN WINTER, NEW PLANTS AND A WITCHY BULLET JOURNAL.

Hi pals. Checking in from a super sunny Paris. The other day it was 20 degrees (celsius) outside, surreal but nice. (who knows that reference? 💙)

6 o’clock curfew is still in place and there are constant rumours about another lockdown. We stay mostly to ourselves, but everyone now and again we decided to live a little and see a friend. Guillaume came to hang out the other day 🤠

Guillaume drives and our friend Natascha was headed back to Denmark (sniff), so with that golden timing I aquired a new plant! A huge one, that dwarfs even Morticia the Monstera, who was previously queen of the apartment (and funnily, also a gift from Natascha!).

We managed to stow it into the backseat of G’s car, propped her up on a throne of books and named her Natascha 💚

I also got my very first cactus! With the amount of plants we have at home, it’s amazing that there wasn’t one in the collection until now. Please live little cactus.

Yesterday was the first of the month and time for a new bullet journal setup. I opted for a fairly simple cover page. We’ve been watching The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (first time for D, second time for me), decided to go with a witchy feel 🔮

The quote came from this old pinterest fave.

Month at a glance, I’ve found my favourite way of setting this up now. Enough space to write things in the boxes, a to do list to spread out throughout the month, habit trackers and some doodles and decorations.

Poem by Nikita Gill. 🌙✨

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And the first weekly spread of the month! With spacious boxes, a to do section and a quote from Edgar Allan Poe’s Annabel Lee.

Now the sun is shining and I’ve got 5 hours until I legally need to be at home again, so it’s time to head out! ✨

BIRTHDAY PAV, BELLEVILLE AND BONKERS WEATHER.

Recently we celebrated the birth of one of my all time favourite people,
Kat ❤

When you’re far away from your family, you make another one. Here are two of mine! Actually three in this pic, if you look in the mirror as well ❤

The night before I had made meringues!

And roasted potatoes with tarragon.

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Day D: assembled with cream, raspberry jam and fresh fruit. As Kat is Australian, she was of course getting a Pavlova!

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We had a day full of raclette, wine, quizzing and birthday fun 🎈
Almost forgot that we’re living in a pandemic for a few hours. Great day!

Outside the weather has been going bonkers. Snow some days.

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Sun ☀

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Rain ☔

Rainstorm followed by beautiful evening sun. According to the weather app it’s supposed to be 19 degrees (celsius) on Monday?! What is happening?!

Trying to get outside as much as I can. Went for a walk with Linda the other day, walked past a very quiet and empty Champ-de-Mars & Eiffel Tower.

They’re building a temporary version of the Grand Palais, although the structure doesn’t look super temporary to me..

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Also doesn’t really look like it’s ready for visitors, “come and see us in January 2021!” the sign said. Pics taken in February 2021. 🙃

Walked past an equally quiet Invalides, where Napoleon is resting. So good to catch up with Linda, I really look forward to our walks, I always leave feeling a bit lighter and inspired. ❤

Duncan and I went up to Parc de Belleville one day, it’s so lovely up there!

I had brought tea bags, honey and hot water in a thermos, so we sat down in the sun with a cuppa for a bit ☀

Made a TikTok video that so far has gotten like 4 times as many views and likes as my other videos?? Confused about this, but hey, I’m not complaining! Check it out here :))))

Back home for a cold glass of white, at dusk. Mmm.

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Made my own gnocchi! My second time trying and I was so happy with the result this time around. Just potatoes and flour, so easy! From raw potato to finished meal, it took an hour and a half. A cosy cooking project that I will most definitely do again.

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Finally, I want to share something that popped in to our letter box about a week ago. My mum’s friend makes these reusable coffee filters, from recycled materials. You get to choose your own stitching (mumma bear chose mine 🌙🥰) and it’s got a little loop so that you can hang it up to dry after you’ve emptied and rinsed it. I love it! It’s so cute, and I love the idea of reusing rather than tossing paper ones every. single. day.
Check them out here – absolutely something worth supporting!!

That’s the all for now pals, good on you if you made it all the way down here 😄 now I’m gonna curl up in our cozy chair with a book and a cup of tea, tonight I’m making pizza. Happy Friday!

FLOODING OF THE SEINE AND WALKS.

Hey pals! A little update coming your way today! Lately D. and I have made a concerted effort to go for walks, so that we don’t end up sitting at home all day, every day.

It’s quite nice to discover new cute spots and to stretch the legs a bit, without having a specific goal in mind.

One day, on our way home from one of these walks, they were giving away little crepes at the supermarket! Yes please, with raspberry jam, please and thank you.

Some days have been sunny and I’ve taken the opportunity to take the little one out for some rays. Although she tends to sleep for large parts of it 🙃

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We’ve walked past the Notre Dame a couple of times, they’re building away over there. The pic on the right has not been edited to be black and white by the way, that’s just how grey that day was.

The Seine has completely flooded again. Feels very apocalyptic.

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Someone parked their rental bike in the wrong spot!

D. and I have wandered up to Parc de la Villette, which is not far from our place.

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I’ve found a fallen branch in Jardin du Luxembourg and popped it in some water at home, it’s already sprouting new leaves 😀 I was also impressed by the soap addition to some of the taps in Buttes Chaumont!

Sometimes we go up to the bar, I know I’ve said this before, but it’s so hard to get motivated when we don’t have any idea of when we’ll be able to open again.
On Sundays there’s a market on the boulevard around the corner, where a friend of ours helps out in an anti-waste organisation. They collect stuff that the market-guys don’t end up selling and give them away. A great initiative!!

We got loads of good veggies a couple of weeks ago. Made soups, banana bread and other yummy stuff.

We’ve visited our friends at Paname, this particular rainy day happened to be Waitangi day and our kiwi pal Tristan was cooking up lamb on the barbecue!

I tried some delicious grilled lamb, along with their new exotic fruit sour beer. Delisssssh.

I’ve cooked at home, bien sur. I made a quiche a while ago, such a simple and tasty dish that I often forget about. This one I stuffed with sundried tomatoes, feta and fresh spinach. Yum.

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I’m still powering on with the baking, I tried a new bread recipe recently that was nice, but honestly – not as nice as my easy, overnight buns.
Another day our Swedish pal Ebba came over to pick up some books that I had for her, she brought treats from the Swedish shop! Along with my banana bread and a couple of coffees, it made for a lovely afternoon.

I’ve made tortillas, which is one of my new favourite things to do. It’s so easy and yummy! I made a whole bunch this time (32 in total..!), so we had tortillas for days. Tacos on day one, fried with egg, tomato & cheese for next day brekkie. Mmmmmm. Had the last ones today as an afternoon quesadilla-snack.

For Australia Day we organised an online quiz! Our Aussie friend Josh helped out with a section and sent us the most Australian pic ever 😄

I’m working my way through my 21 for 21 list! In the free veggies-haul there was a super-soft little mango. We ate what we could of it, then I popped the stone in damp paper, inside of a plastic bag and let it sit. 10 days later it’s grown a little tail! As soon as it gets a touch warmer I’m planting it and crossing my fingers for a little mango tree 🌴

I’ve journaled like never before! For the February-setup I even did a time lapse of the process!

This month I was inspired by my favourite comic, Nathan W. Pyle’s Strange Planet. The instagram account is just an absolute joy.

Very happy with it 💙

I posted said time lapse on tik tok, where you can now find me occasionally! So far I’ve done some Paris-gems videos, and the journal one. I know that I won’t have time to do any of these things once we open the bar again, so I’m trying to maximize it right now! You can find me right here <—- click click click :))))

Anyway – that’s all for me for now! Hope that you’re hanging in there, whoever and wherever you are in the world ✨

AUTUMN LEAVES AND A LIST.

Listening to:
– Spooky & True crime podcasts (morbid, criminal, a bunch of Swedish ones).
– Hamish and Andy to fall asleep, been falling asleep to their voices for the past decade.
– Mariah Carey’s back catalog (see next question).

Got myself outside today, first time in quite a while. Autumn showed off its colours 🍂

Reading:
“The meaning of Mariah Carey”, love her in all of her dramatic, scandalous glory. The book is full of stories from her life, and a surprising amount of swearing 😂🙌

Watching:
– Norsemen on Netflix. Dry, Scandinavian humour at it’s best.
– At least one movie per night, we’ve moved on a bit from spooky Halloween stuff now and are working our way through some good sci-fis! Watched Source Code the other night, really enjoyed it.
– Swedish Paradise Hotel. Reality TV trash, I (not so) secretly love it.
– Season 2 of You, love how dark it’s gotten!

Walked to the bar, takes around 45 minutes. When I see this, I know I’m nearly there. Our second home.

Wearing:
Only pyjamas and comfy wear. Yoga pants, soft sweaters and fuzzy socks.

Businesses are doing all they can do keep their heads above water. The flower shop around the corner from the bar has started selling veggies.

Eating:
Homemade stuff! D. is a vegetarian who can’t eat anything in the garlic and onion family, add on the fact that we have zero income and you’ve got a challenge! Lots of tacos with bean salad lately, tonight I’m trying my hand on ravioli for the first time!

The walk did me a world of good, so good to get a stretch of the legs and some sun on my face.

Drinking:
– Clipper teas, my favourite is Sweet Mint.
– Red wine, whiskey and rhum drinks. Wintery & warming stuff.

We cleaned up a bit, made sure that nothing was leaking etc, and packed our bags. Brought home things that will expire, cause who knows when we’ll be able to open again?

Missing:
My family. My friends. Normality. 😥

Got a CityScoot home, which means that since Duncan is driving, we can only fit on the bike if I put both bags on my back 😂

Feeling:
Anxious mostly, telling myself that that’s OK and a feeling a lot of us are struggling with this year. Working on feeling relaxed and taking deep breaths.
Like my wise bestie Carolina says: one disaster at a time. 🖤