Automne en Paris...

Jardin des Tuileries

La rive gauche de la Seine



La Tour Eiffel c'est très belle

~Rebe

Photos taken by and are property of Rebecca Leese, edited in Instagram (Paris, France 2013)

Long talks and Rosé à la plage

Just another wonderful day à la plage ...

~Rebe

Photos taken by and are property of Rebecca Leese (Nice, France 2013)

After the rain...

That moment - the sun breaks through clouds - happiness.

~Rebe


Photo credit: Rebecca Leese (Plascassier, France 2013)
Haiku by Rebecca Leese

Painter's light

                                  

                        The shadows are long,                    
                and the sunshine warms the soul,                            
                       soon the day will end.

I love the way that the late day sun casts it's glow across the valley outside our flat. Painters and photographers say that this is the best light of the day, it makes everything more beautiful.

Have a wonderful day!
~Rebe



Photo taken by Rebecca Leese (Plascassier, France 2013)
Haiku by Rebecca Leese.

Zen retreat

Before flying to France I was home in Pennsylvania for five weeks with my family having sort of a zen retreat experience. It's not quite as glamorous as it sounds, I was at my parents' house and breakfast in bed and daily hot yoga were not on the agenda..but it was pretty amazing nonetheless. I did get to spend lots of quality time with the fam including my nephew who is still young enough to think I'm cool (okay well most of the time at least) and my absolutely adorable 12 month old niece. What was on the agenda: hikes with the dog, cooking and dining al fresco, outdoor play with the kids, pool time, and lots of sleep! Ahhh..it was wonderful. It's sad to think that summer is over. But with the welcome crispness of autumn comes many things to look forward to: my favorites being cosy sweaters, comfortable boots (I love sandals but my old lady feet not so much!), and cuddling up by the fire with a loved one, a good book, or both! Happy Fall!

 

~Rebe

Photos taken by and are property of Rebecca Leese, McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania 2013

Days on the Cote d'Azur

These photos are from one of my favorite places in the world, Nice, France. Located on the Cote d'Azur or Blue Coast, named as such for obvious reasons. I first set foot on these pebbled beaches at age 18 and it was love at first sight. Now over 10 years later I am blessed to be staying in a nearby village for an extended holiday...and what a dream it is! I will be sharing photos from Nice quite often as that I try to get there at least once a week. It's 20-30 min by car or a one hour bus ride.

I'll let the images do the talking from here...sigh.

~Rebe

photo credit: Rebecca Leese, Nice, France 2013

My Expat Life in France

If you told me a few years ago that at age 30 I would leave my job, my life, my family and friends and move out the country I probably would have laughed. Sure I caught the "travel bug" at a young age and I've been blessed to have had the opportunity to travel to some places that many only dream of: France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Singapore, Indonesia to name a few. But partly I was able to travel to these places because I had a good job with a comfortable salary as a medical professional in New York.  I also had a very comfortable and happy life there for five years which included the aformentioned job but also a wonderful circle of friends, a cute apartment in a great location, and supportive family only a four hour train ride away. So why leave? 

Well, you may have noticed that I used the word comfortable a few times in this post. That sense of comfort in my life was part of the push for me to jump in to the unknown. I was too comfortable, working a job that I liked (most days) and going through the motions of life. New York is a great place to do this. You can "go through the motions" but still feel like you are living an incredible and exciting life, after all you live in NYC! To outsiders New York often seems big and crowded and scary. At first it is all of those things, but living there for an extended time provides a different reality...it can actually begin to feel quite enclosed and small. New York welcomes solitude without ever making you feel alone. For me it was a place to extend my youth a bit longer. Just living there made me feel as if I had accomplished something great. "I did it! I lived in New York!" But now what...

I started to get the itch to leave about a year before I made the move. My life had become too repeatitive and I felt that I was suffocating amongst the noise, the traffic, the people, the buildings. I needed fresh air and open spaces. Hadn't I always wanted to live at the beach? Why didn't I ever do that?  I was worried that five years would turn into ten and then I would be a 40 year old living in New York in the same comfortable life as now (with a few cats in a studio apartment, yikes!). Please don't think that I'm ungrateful for the life that I had. I am eternally grateful and I wouldn't trade the experience for the world. I just needed a change.

And then... I met a guy at a party. Aren't the twists and turns of life funny like that? There's just one minor (major?) detail, this party was in the South of France. Flashforward a year of long distance dating, Skype rendez-vous, and increasing our frequent flyer miles and it was decided, I was ready for a new adventure! Join me as I share some of the experiences and images from this next chapter, my life in France.

~Rebe


photo credit: Rebecca Leese, Paris, France 2013