The Big Spring Clean Chez Moi (& Chez Toi)
A few days ago, I started to tidy up my Paris place to prepare for a visit from some New York friends. My apartment is only 258 square feet (24 […]
Tag Archives: pied-a-terre
Keeping House (In French)
This was originally written for my memoir, My (Part-Time) Paris Life: How Running Away Brought Me Home, published by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, but didn’t make the final edit for reasons of story flow. In this […]
Five Years On
Five years ago today, I found the apartment that would become the vehicle for my life change. This is the first year I will be in the apartment to mark this […]
Life Lessons from the Water Fairy
I honestly don’t know how to tell you this, but, well…I sprung a leak in my apartment. I hear you all, the collective thwack! of your jaws hitting your tables. “What?” you’re […]
Coming Home (Again)
Nearly two years after I was ousted from my little Paris apartment by destruction and mold thanks to a leak from the upstairs neighbor that took 18 months to fix, my luggage and I moved back […]
The Saga of My New Little Paris Kitchen
If you’re following along, you know I’ve been planning a kitchen update chez moi since 2013. But between the rising exchange rate at the time followed by a leak that made […]
(Re)Renovation Part II: The Healing Begins
In early 2014, signs of a leak began to distort the wall in my entryway. It would take nearly two years and an order from the French courts before that leak […]
The Book I Was Destined to Write (In Spite of Myself)
In 2014, my life would change forever. I had decided to leave my beloved job, then a day later, received an email from a woman named Kat Brzozowski from St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books wanting to discuss turning […]
Drying Out in Paris
No, I’m not talking about that kind of drying out. In fact, after the intense month I had in Paris, I think my wine consumption may have ticked up a bit. I’d […]
The Path of the American
If you’ve been following along, you know I’ve been having a tough time with an unresolved leak in my building that is damaging my dream home. Toxic mold has grown, forcing me […]
La Rentree (Re-entry)
August in Paris is coming to a close, which means Parisians are returning from their vacations. You can tell because the Métro is busier, the streets are more bustling and […]
Dear Tourists, Please Unlock Your Love
Dear Tourists: I know it seems romantic, a lock signifying your everlasting love fastened forever to a bridge in the City of Light—and sure, a few years ago it was […]
Christmas in Paris Next Year?
I just spent a wonderful Christmas with my sister in Florida. Eighty degrees but still Christmas-y. This was the first year since mom died that I felt the holiday spirit […]
La Cuisine Parisienne: Chic and (Kinda) Cheap
I’ve spent the better part of the last four months researching kitchen designs for my on-again-off-again-(maybe)-on-again renovation project in my Paris place. What I’ve discovered: high style comes at low […]
So You Want to Buy a Place in Paris?
Updated 9/4/2018 Think you’re ready to buy an apartment in Paris? Before you take the plunge, you might want to take this quiz: Am I Ready for a Pied-à-Terre […]
With This Key, Responsibility
After several stays in my new pied-à-terre, something has occurred to me: my trips to Paris have ceased to be vacations. This is to say, I’m no longer truly unplugging. […]
Change of Ownership
On March 17th, I celebrated one year since I found my Paris apartment. It would take three months before I took ownership officially, but it felt like mine from the […]
Lisa’s ‘Hood
While exploring my new neighborhood, I came across a shop that stopped me in my tracks. I whipped out my iPhone to snap a shot. The sign, written in English […]
The Housewarming
La pendaison de crémaillère: the hanging of the iron rack thingie that suspends the cooking pot over the fire. It’s the French version of the word, “housewarming.” In centuries past, […]
Yes, This is Paris
When most people invest in a pied-à-terre in Paris, they settle in the central part of the city—the chic 6th or 7th arrondissements, or the trendy Marais—where resale values will […]
Paris Au Beurre
The original tagline of my blog was: I Got an Apartment in Paris So I Could Buy the Butter. This is not me being clever; it’s the deep-down, primal, driving truth. […]
Under Water (Part Deux)
During my first stay in my new Paris apartment, my main water pipe, located in my bathroom, sprang a leak. My contractor, who was on vacation, left it to me […]
Paris-o-rama!
Don’t you just love names that end in “-rama?” It just sounds like bigger and better fun, doesn’t it? Try it right now and you’ll see what I mean: take […]
The Homecoming
[Note: This post had been unpublished while we filmed House Hunters International. I’ve recently republished it.] I hadn’t seen the apartment since June, when it was covered in an inch […]
Leaving Left, Turning Right
A creature of habit, I stayed in the same hotel in the Left Bank every time I visited Paris. I grew very attached to the quartier, and to the hotel staff […]
Les Soldes? I’m Sold!
I’d just arrived in Paris to oversee the renovation of my apartment and was profoundly jet-lagged. I threw myself on a bed, my limbs heavy, my head fuzzy. “Moins 30%” read the […]
Coup de Coeur
Coup de coeur is a favorite expression of French real estate sites. It literally means a blow to the heart, which sounds like a bad thing, but it refers to […]
My (Parttime) Paris Life 