Lessons from Painting a Mandala

Perigueux Centre Ville

Last summer, I saw a short on Instagram, a place I rarely find myself and this short was from Lauren Saunders of Love & Dots (https://loveanddotsshop.com/), she was showing a beautiful mandala that she had painted and talked about how painting mandalas actually helped her find clarity and a new direction in life. I found…

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Choices in Perigueux

Perigueux Centre Ville

As I write this, it is the middle of February and my time in Perigueux has been wonderful even if the weather has tried to rain on my parade. The center of Perigueux is blocked off to cars so you can meander cobblestone walks with lots of shops and at the center is the main…

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Lauzun and 2025

lauzon

As I write this, a new year has begun, and I am in a new city but before we talk about that I want to tell you a little bit about the place I just left. Lauzun, France has been my home for the last three months. My friends Jason and Raina had done a…

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Annecy

Annecy, France

On the train coming into the area of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France, everything seemed to take on this dreaminess as I looked out the window. The mountains watching over our journey, a bit of rain in the distance creating multiple rainbows along the way. I felt like the rainbows were my very first…

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How can I do this?

hillside in France with homes

I had done months, actually more like decades of preparation for this move. On some level I have been preparing for it for my entire life. As I prepared to leave the US this past summer, I remember hearing the phrase, “be prepared to feel stupid all the time.” This was in reference to living…

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Lessons I learned from 5 days in Sète France

view of the sunny sky in Sète

After a wonderful 35 days in Carqueiranne it was time for me to move on to my next destination. I had 5 days that I needed to cover before moving into a longer-term rental in the Dordogne that would see me through until January. As I contemplated where I wanted to spend those 5 days,…

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Getting Started

My last few weeks in the US were jam packed with a crazy work schedule, last minute things to take care of and spending as much time as possible with my kiddos. On that Saturday morning, I was ready, all the tasks were done, everything was packed into 3 large suitcases and even Paolo was…

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Being Present in Another Loss

It was my birthday and my father’s name popped up on my phone. I was on a zoom call with friends at the time we were all booking flights for a trip this summer to Tonga. I thought I would call him right back since we were almost done but when he called again a…

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The Retreat

As the end of 2023 approached, I knew I needed a reset. I knew I needed to step back and re-evaluate my life, re-evaluate me. I felt like 2023 had beat me to a pulp and I wanted to do some self-care and prepare to go into 2024 differently. I wanted to leave behind some…

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