four years.

//macarons from  Pierre Herme, recommended by my friend, Erica//

It's been over 2 weeks since we were in Paris! The time has been flying by! We didn't know if we would be able to make it to Paris for my former roommate's wedding, but the timing ended up being perfect with my teaching contract ending, my summer Chinese course yet to begin, and our wedding anniversary falling just a few days after the wedding. (It helped that we found unusually inexpensive tickets that we also got miles for). The last time I was in Paris, I stayed in the city for two weeks as part of a music-history travel study. I was lucky enough to get to travel around with one of my best girlfriends, but we spent a good part of the time talking about how we wished our new significant others could be in the city with us. Six years later, that dream came true.

//we had a blue theme going//

We started off the day at the Champs Elysee. We were planning on getting brunch at Laduree, but then we ended up stopping at Pierre Herme soooo... we had macarons for breakfast. We did a little shopping for friends, stopped at Notre Dame, ate yummy crepes (lemon sucre for me, nutella for Dave), and spent a little time at the Seine.

//bisou//

One of my favorites part of the day was putting a lock on the lock bridge. I know it won't be there forever, but it was still such a fun experience to remember the day by. Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky and get to revisit Paris while the lock is still there.

//being silly// //locking it up//

We spent the afternoon at the Louvre, and I made Dave take a billion pictures of me with my favorite statue. If there's anything we've learned in four years of marriage, it's how to drive each other crazy! (just kidding, but really). And, of course, because in all honesty, this was my ONE must-do in Paris... we had steak frites for dinner. It was the best. Atmosphere, service, food, funny table neighbors - the best meal that we had in Paris. Dave even did a great job picking our wine (a 2007 Les Penitents Pinot Noir). Our dinner started at 8 and didn't end until 11. That's what I love most about Paris in the summer - long,  perfect days ending in long, leisurely meals at the most charming restaurants, with loved ones.

//dinner at Le Bistro Paul Bert//

I feel so blessed that we've been together for so long. I know we're still young, but it's still wild for me to think that we've been together for almost 1/4 of our lives, and four of those six years, we've been married. I've always wanted to travel around the world with my husband, and I'm thankful that, little by little, we're actually doing that. We're building a shared vision for our future and executing on it, and that's something that I'm so excited about. So, 4 years! Woohoo! Now I can say, we'll always have Paris.

living across the world...

Today, I'm guest blogging at Where My Heart Resides. So happy to be on Ashlee's blog today - she's an inspiring friend who makes beautiful pictures and posts.

planners: electronic v. paper

This has been a big debate for me. I'm a huge fan of paper products - Rifle notebooks, Minted holiday cards, anything from Paper Source. I'm especially picky about planners. I was on the verge of pre-ordering (six month early) the Day Designer by Whitney English because it seemed to fit everything I've been looking for as I attempt to streamline my organizational process.

I ended up waiting, and I'm glad I did, because I came across Todoist. I have never been more impressed with an electronic "planner": tasks divided into "projects" and sub-projects (so much more efficient than my separate work and personal planners), integration with iCal and google calendar, synchronization across devices, a well-designed interface, the ability to add file attachments, color-coding (!!!), and my favorite, the capability to assign an email as a task directly from gmail. I was sold. At $29 for a year of Premium use, it also cost less than most of the planners I've purchased. The nerd in me also loves that it tracks your productivity (graphs!) and archives everything, so you can see exactly what you accomplished (one of my reasons for sticking with paper in the past).

You know that I have a problem with over-planning, so this is great. Less focus on spending time trying to organize my to-dos within the planner itself and more about setting and forgetting. It's also less to carry around. I have the app on my phone, and I don't have to remind myself to jot that to-do down in my paper planner later. So electronic v. paper? I'd never thought I'd say this, but electronic is winning.

Anyone else use Todoist?