March 2025 – The Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist

Paris Days Seven – Nine: Auvers-sur-Oise, a Blogger Meetup (!!!!), and the Phantom of the Opera

Paris, Travel
Mar 31, 2025
54 Comments

Beautiful lights inside the main staircase of Palais Garnier Opera House in Paris.

Oh friends, it feels so sad to come to today – my final summary of adventures from our Paris trip. I’ll ease myself gently out of Reflecting on a Super Fun Vacation mode by coming back tomorrow with a roundup of what everything cost. Day Seven (Saturday) Hooray. A day for sleeping in! We all…

Happy Things Friday: 28 March

Another week and another batch of Happy Things. Let’s dive right in, shall we?

CROCUSES AND SNOW

Yes, it was -8.5°C one morning. But, there are crocuses and birds singing. I can go outside the door…

Never Have I Ever…Part 5

Over a month ago I wrote up and scheduled Part 5 of my little blog series on Never Have I Ever for this week! Hilariously, the Best of Both Worlds podcast released a Never…

Today I’m Talking Gratitude…over at The Frugal Girl Blog + Walking Club

Months ago, when Kristen and I first started chatting about blog swapping (here’s my guest post and her guest post), she suggested the idea of having me write a follow-up guest post about gratitude…

Paris Days Five – Six: Stained Glass Windows, Block Blast, and the Mona Lisa

Before we knew it, another day had dawned!

Day Five (Thursday)

It was another early morning.

We had tickets for Notre-Dame de Paris at 9:30 am. Entry is free, but you can book skip-the-line tickets online two days…

Paris, Travel
Mar, 25, 2025
35 Comments

Paris Days Three – Four: Roller Coasters, Nicolas Flamel, and a Labyrinth of Skulls

Let the travel recaps continue!

Day Three (Tuesday)

Tuesday morning at our apartment wasn’t the high point of our trip. We had a big surprise in store for the kids, but we didn’t want to spoil…

Paris, Travel
Mar, 24, 2025
29 Comments

Happy Things Friday: 21 March

We’re back home and, as usual, the first week after a vacation feels like a blur of catching up, re-adjusting to “normal” life, and making plans for upcoming events (which somehow got forgotten during…