Gros Bisous de la France

Oh, hey. Remember when I had a blog?

I think I got wrapped up in my life for awhile there, which is quite forgivable given what has come to pass. It would be impossible to catalogue everything that’s gone down since I last left you in Ireland, but here are some snapshots and stories from some more photo-worthy things.

First of all, l’appart. The palatial Chez Michelle. I moved into an apartment on a street that looks like this. I’m living in an adorable lyonnaise studio with a river view above a puppet museum, which is several levels of ridiculous. It has big French windows which I can throw open in the mornings when it’s sunny. This is cobblestoned route I take home from the metro.

I’ve been travelling too. I, uh, went to Sweden. Casually. I flew up to Stockholm to spend time with my beautiful Finnish 1930s extraordinaires Riikka and Jirina. And we have many, many photos to show for the weekend. I recommend you pop across to Riikka’s blog to perve on the out of control vintage dinner party we had the pleasure of attending with Miriam and her lovely Swedish friends.

I had another London fix. Going to London is good for the soul. I go there and I brunch, I drink good coffee, and just generally potter around feeling content. I’m gradually becoming more and more convinced that the rest of my life needs to happen in London.

In this travel frenzy, I made it to Paris too for my favourite francophone Sabra’s burlesque debut. She was fabulous fabulous fabulous, and you should go lurk her blog here. Here she is, photo courtesy of Meler Jean-François.

And here are some rad French burlesque girls.

And soon after, with Sabra in tow, I went to Marché de la Mode Vintage, Lyon’s veritable vintage event of the season. We met 1940s girl Jessica of Leçons de Retro.

Also in Lyon, I’ve been winning latté art competitions.

And attending parties at chateaus.

And taking day trips to fairytale lakes.

To add more ridiculousness to the ridiculousness, the week before last I went to Finland (again). Riikka and I made trouble and threw picnics all over Helsinki, and I took a boat to Estonia (say what?). The photos on photos we instagrammed and added to our personal collections deserve a post of their own, but here’s a preview.

And I swear I’m not making all this up, but right now I’m in Nice on the start of a side-trip into the South and down through Italy. Sigh.

But really, there is so much more absurdity to come, so I shouldn’t be getting all overwhelmed. Just when I put it all together in a post like this, it seems out of control. I’m really having a fabulous time in France, and would rather not come home. My days here are numbered now, so I’m throwing as many dinner parties while I still can. It’s all red wine and cake until the end of July.

Lovely to drop by again. I might be back soon, I might not. But in the meantime just imagine the decadence.

Gros bisous de la France,

Michelle