Moving On Up...

...to the East side.

And by East side, I mean the southern part of Paris!

With everything I had going on in the month of December, I was fortunate enough to move into Paris over the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day weekend.  I thought it would be the perfect gift to myself to wake up in my new place on Christmas morning :)  Many thanks to Susy who provided an extra suitcase and helped me haul my things from the house where I was staying, down the main street to the commuter train (for the 22km ride into the city), up and down flights of stairs to switch trains, down the sidewalk in my new neighborhood and into my building where everything was safely delivered to my door.  The fun continued as I began to unpack and tried to find a location for everything!  I worked for a number of hours cleaning and organizing and finally took a break to visit with some family friends who are currently living in Dubai but decided to spend Christmas in Paris.  While making me wax nostalgic for my own family on Christmas Eve, it was lovely to be surrounded by both an American family, and the French family with whom they were staying, for a couple of hours.  It was also wonderful to return to my place at the end of evening :)

I brought the first batch of things on the day I received the keys...

It's already filling up!

My little "corner kitchen"...

Standing in the room, looking down the "hallway" to the front door...

Standing in the doorway, looking down the "hallway" to the room...

I gave all the dishes a thorough washing...

And started to spread out...

Perfect lunch: Salami and chaource (soft cheese) on a baguette,

with cornichons (pickles) and a yogurt

Tired, but happy!

Bathroom (rather large given how small the space is...

but at least it's not out in the hall, and I don't have to share it with anyone else!)

For my first night, I made a 'nest' on the couch...

Tara helping Findley write a letter to Santa on Christmas Eve

Little French kiddos dancing...

Tara and our hostess, Cécile

15 years in between visits is too long!

I thought I could save room by sleeping on the couch, 

but alas, my back rejected the idea and I had to open the sofa bed...

Greatly diminishing my "storage" space...

Ah, well...c'est la vie.

I didn't think it would work out for me to live on my own in the city this year...

I'm so glad I proved myself wrong.

Love when that happens ♥