Wow! How does time fly so fast? This weekend is the weekend I am off to my summer of adventure. I have not started packing, running errands, or anything else I was suppose to do. Typical. Much to the dismay of my sweet husband I am last minute and totally type B. However I have this feeling that everything will fall into place as it should. I am not putting any pressures or stresses on this trip as I want to take it day by day and really live the experience.

To be honest the question I get the most is – what will you do with the blog? And to that I say, I don’t know. I have thought about it quite a lot and am leaning more towards making the blog a little diary. A place to unwind and jot down my thoughts. I don’t think it will be as fashion centered (unless I find a photographer) but more photos of my wanderings around Paris. To be frank, I struggle with the feeling that I really don’t want to work when I am over there. I have seen time and time again people who go abroad and the entire time they are concerned if they are meeting with the right brands, taking the right instagrams, and concerned with getting a post up. I truly feel they miss the beauty of the trip. In a world of oversharing (I am so guilty of this) I am looking forward to unplugging, unwinding, and really living. It has been a while since I have done that and I can’t tell you how ready I am! I plan to get lost in the streets with just my camera and me. I want to dine alone. I want to travel alone. I want to wander endlessly and not stress about any outside influences (ie. did I do a blog post). I want to soak in every ounce of this experience. So I hope you all come along for the journey, whatever that might be, as I am sure this will be a really great growing period and I always love your feedback (positive or negative).

Another reason I am taking this trip day by day with no pressures (or agenda to “grow my blog”) is because it is something I have literally wanted to do since I was little. I was reminded of this the other night when a dear friends mom (who was like my second mom growing up) wrote me a message saying how proud she was of me. That she still remembers even at the tender age of 12 me telling her, with complete conviction and confidence, that I was “going to live in Paris one day.” And while this trip may be short (I have to get back for a family trip to Nantucket in August) it is a chance for me to live out one of my dreams. And I think that is so much more important to grasp and appreciate.

I leave tomorrow morning and I am full of emotions. I am proud of myself for doing this, I am nervous something will go wrong with my school (like I didn’t sign up correctly), I am sad to leave my husband and my dog, I am anxious to just get it started, and mostly I am excited. Excited to: grow as a person, make life memories that I can pass on to my kids one day,  learn another language (or as much as I can), be pushed out of my comfort zone, and to know that I am finally getting to live a dream. Au revoir!

photography by Meredith Braden