spotted in paris!

click here to see jason-nicholas's photo of my "you are falafel for the soul" post-it in paris.  yay!!

thank you google alerts :)

xoxo,

lesley

found encouragement... mlle. 2nuit

while my husband and i were in paris, we kept seeing these french sayings written in chalk on various sidewalks and streets, signed by the mysterious "mlle. 2nuit."

this one reads, "la vie est belle, et nous sommes comme elle," which translates (roughly) to, "life is beautiful, and so are we."

how lovely :)

xoxo,

lesley

l'as du fallafel

a lot of people might not know this, but paris - specifically the marais district (and even more specifically rue des rosiers) - is known for serving up some amazing falafel.  and since i'm (obviously) mildly obsessed with falafel, my hubby and i were determined to find out who made it best.

we sampled many delicious pitas filled with the crispy, golden-fried chickpea fritters, each one overflowing with accoutrements like freshly made hummus, tahini, roasted eggplant, spicy red sauce, and vinegary cabbage slaw... but we found the king of all falafel at the famous l'as du fallafel.  just to make your mouth water a little bit before i get to the point, here is what their falafel looks like:

can you say, yum?

anyway... after discovering the greatest falafel in the land, i was on a mission.  with my post-its and sharpie in hand and armed with a remedial knowledge of the french language, i ventured back to l'as du fallafel to leave the note i'd been waiting to post...

you are falafel for the soul.

- - -

tu es comme le falafel pour l'âme.

they might be hard to spot at first in this shot... see those two little tiny yellowish squares on the lower left-hand side?  i was actually kind of nervous to post them because i was in a foreign country and i don't know what type of rules they have about posting signs and whatnot... plus l'as du fallafel was super crowded (as always), so i did it hastily and ran off to hide.  

later that night, we came back to eat our final falafel dinner, and i realized that someone had moved my english post-it right onto the middle of the menu board!  i was so excited.

a couple days later, nichole (the amazing writer and frequent paris-traveller behind the blog littlebrownpen) sent me this photo via twitter:

she said, "your post-it note is still at l'as du fallafel!  the owner is very proud of it."

how cool is that?  it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :)

xoxo,

lesley

found encouragement... love, paris.

paris is known as one of the most romantic cities in the world, so it's no surprise that i was feeling the love during our visit!  everywhere i looked, there was another little reminder... 

oh paris, i love you too!

xoxo,

lesley

i'm back!

hello lovelies!

it's true... i'm back from an absolutely amazing two-week trip to paris.  the photo above shows the view from our 6th-floor studio window... so beautiful!  i've only been back for a few days, and i miss paris already.  everything was fabulous... our apartment, our neighborhood, the food, the wine, the museums, the shopping, the music...!  i could go on and on...

this week i'll definitely be sharing more photos and stories from the trip, so keep checking back!

xoxo,

lesley

{paris rooftops... photo by kmsf}

after months of anticipation, the day has finally come... my husband and i are leaving for paris tonight!

sadly i won't be able to blog from abroad, but i'm taking my post-its with me!  i'll be back on the 16th and i'm sure i'll have lots of stories (and photos) to share :)

until then... au revoir!

xoxo,

lesley

en francais

here's another note from my mom, left somewhere in quebec city during the new france festival!  my dad found some quotes with english and french translations, so this is officially the first bilingual falafel :)

my mom also put my blog url on this note, so if there are any quebec residents reading... bonjour!

hope everyone has a fantastic weekend...

xoxo,

lesley

falafel from the road!

my parents are currently on a three week long road trip of sorts... traveling by car from their home in south jersey, through new york and new england, all the way up to montreal and quebec city.  when i told my mom about my new project, she was so excited about it she decided to join in!  here is the note she posted...

it reads, "never look down on anyone, unless you are giving them a hand up."

it is posted on the outside window of ben & jerry's in burlington, vermont.  here is a photo of my mom pointing to her freshly posted falafel :)

the quote is from the author pete hamill, who spoke at a conference my parents attended earlier in the week.  he said it was something his mother used to tell him and his brother when they were growing up... how sweet is that?  a really great life lesson to remember.

thanks, mom!

xoxo,

lesley