Back from the void.

Hi again!

So. It’s been a minute.

Five months, to be exact. If you’re reading this wondering what happened - fair question. (Or maybe not! Who am I to assume people care or noticed.) Either way, this feels more for me than anything: a way to mark the pause, rather than coming back as if nothing happened.

What happened.

Remember when I was all hyped about Paris? Grand plans, endless to-do lists, recommendations queued up? Yeah. Life had other ideas.

Plot twist: I got pregnant.

Joyful news - especially after a miscarriage that left me feeling less than hopeful about the whole thing. But it also came with the full symptom package: nausea, heartburn, exhaustion that no amount of sleep could fix. My body felt unfamiliar. Mentally, I felt foggy. And creatively, completely switched off.

And then, for the ironic part: around the same time, one of my posts here travelled much further than I imagined. People shared it, commented, told me my recommendations actually worked for them. I’m genuinely grateful for that generosity.

But instead of motivating me, it paralyzed me completely.

Imposter syndrome arrived in full force. Who was I to be writing advice? I’m not a professional content creator. I just like food and travel and wanted to share stuff. Watching Substack fill up with actual experts didn’t help. Suddenly this personal outlet felt like it needed to be something more polished, more professional, more... not me.

Cue the spiral: self-doubt meeting pregnancy hormones meeting physical exhaustion. I slipped into survival mode. Getting through each day felt like the best I could do. So I stepped back. Much longer than I imagined.

Where I am now.

Third trimester. Finally feeling human again.

The fog has lifted. Very importantly, my appetite is back. So is a sense of steadiness - in my body, my mind, and my ability to take things as they come without spiraling.

And I’ve been thinking about what this year actually held, even if it didn’t look the way I imagined.

• I moved countries. My friend Claire once said, very wisely, that it takes a year to truly settle somewhere: to experience all the seasons before it starts to feel like home. On the darker days - the ones where I miss my old routine and the De Beauvoir deli - I try to remind myself of that. A wanted move is still a transition. It takes time to arrive.

• I completed a 200-hour Vinyasa yoga teacher training here in Paris with the wonderful OlyBe team. It felt grounding, challenging, and deeply rewarding. (Sharing a reflection piece at the end of this post I wrote for my course for anyone curious about how ancient yoga teachings apply to modern life - it captures why the practice means so much to me.)

• I grew / am still growing an actual human who will be here soon. Wild.

• And I started this Substack! Coming up to a year now.

Not bad for someone who spent months feeling like an imposter.

What’s next.

I'm done treating this space like it needs to be anything other than what I want it to be.

Travel and food will always be part of my Substack - I still love them, still want to write about them. But so will the strange adjustment of moving abroad, pregnancy brain, yoga, teaching, and the quieter parts of life in between. The side quests. The parts that don't photograph well though still matter.

I'm slowly exploring Paris again: eating properly, wandering more, collecting small moments. We're attempting an arrondissement-by-arrondissement approach.

End of January, Matt (husband-in-chief) and I are heading to Rome for a couple of weeks of working remotely - which will almost certainly find its way back here. All the dolce vita content you can handle.

But more than the content plan, here's what I'm taking forward: I'm choosing presence over perfection. Sharing over overthinking. Less imposter syndrome, more just… showing up.

If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking around - whether you've been reading from the start or just arrived.

Here’s to taking things as they come, not getting paralyzed by our own brains, and reconnecting with the reasons we start things at all.

Happy 2026!

ENG translation: Title: The Whirlwind of Everyday Life. 1: Commute, work, sleep… We’re constantly rushing. Under pressure. Overwhelmed. 2: Without even noticing the tension in our shoulders, the knot in our stomach. 3: Even in our leisure time, we have to perform. Push ourselves. Go further. Always more.

ENG translation: Title: Exhaustion. 1: We come home exhausted… 2: Drained… 3. Completely worn out… 4. That feeling that something is missing. That despite everything, we’re not really present.

ENG translation: Title: The Discovery. 1: What if one of the keys to finding balance lay in ancient texts? Texts that speak of something else… 2. YOGA SUTRAS - SUTRA I.15. Non-attachment leads to a state of consciousness that frees us from desire in relation to the world around us. BHAGAVAD GITA - Chapter II, Verse 45. Arjuna, go beyond the opposites. Remain steady in being, beyond action and rest; free yourself from self-possession.3: Even in the simplest posture - standing still - there is an entire universe of sensations to discover. No good. No bad. No judgment. Just… feeling.

ENG translation: Title: Putting It Into Practice. 1: It’s not in the most advanced or acrobatic postures that we find yoga. It’s in the moments when we pause. 2. Where we welcome ourselves as we are, on that particular day. Without judgment. Without force. 3. To observe thoughts, emotions, sensations… and let them pass.

ENG translation: Title: Integrating It Into Life. 1: This pause, this awareness, can be taken anywhere. At work… On the metro… While doing the dishes… 2. Feeling our feet on the ground. The wind on our face. The weight of our steps. 3. And when we return to the mat, it’s no longer to prove anything.It’s to reconnect with the present moment. Less harsh toward ourselves. More alive. That’s yoga.