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Saucisson and delicious olives


Happy Tuesday! Are you taking time to check-in with yourself and give yourself the care, love, and attention you need? If not, it’s perfectly okay to set aside time for yourself to do whatever you want/need to do during ‘me time.’ Maybe your thing is yoga, meditation, running, paddle boarding, reading, tending to a pallet garden you built, sewing some pillowcases for your home decor, making a dress to match your homemade mask, paddle boarding, refurbishing furniture, tooling around with some new tools, or even playing animal crossing with family and friends, but whatever you want to do during your assigned ‘me time,’ make sure you’re doing it and giving yourself a break.

If you didn’t get a chance to read yesterday’s post - “French weddings” - you can click here to read about the most insanely wonderful wedding I’ve ever attended - in, you guessed it, the South of France! Otherwise, if you’re all caught up, buckle up and let’s continue this journey together! We're still in France, baby!

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the chateau wedding venue was rented out for the whole weekend. On Sunday after the wedding, close family and friends of the bride and groom returned to the chateau for the day in order to enjoy a day together in the sunshine and the warmth of each other’s company. I don’t have many pictures from that day since it was very much just everyone spending time together, but it did include lounging by a pool in the back yard area, swimming, and enjoying many delicious cheeses and drinks, as well as a food truck that showed up for the day. It was a very relaxed, low-key day and the perfect way to spend the morning and afternoon after such a late night wedding (4 AM, remember?). At one point, I even took a mini nap by the pool under cabana shade (during which my boyfriend scared me awake by dripping water on me as he tried to sneak his sunglasses off me mid-slumber). The night ended with us watching French Spongebob in our pajamas, which was the icing on the cake of a wonderful weekend.

One thing I totally forgot to write about the other day was a visit my (now) boyfriend and I made to the open air market in Aix-en-Provence! Before our hike to the French Alps waterfall and swimming hole a couple posts ago, I mentioned that we’d woken up that morning in a leisurely manner complete with coffee and French music. What I failed to mention because I was so excited to write about the hike, the swimming hole, and the tomato cake was that after we woke up in our amazing AirBnB that overlooked Aix-en-Provence, we actually spent a lot of time that morning walking around the Market. We looked at many clothing vendors that had some of the cutest yellow dresses I’ve ever seen, we sampled many delicious French cheeses, breads, and olive oils, and we stopped to buy some of the most delicious olives I’ve ever had (pictured above - 2nd photo of this poast; we purchased the garlic marinated ones far left that we ended up sharing later with the family... and YES, they rivaled these) and some proper Saucisson (the picture I took of the sausages at the top of this page is currently hanging above our dining room table - that’s how much we love Saucisson and that French market in Aix-en-Provence).

Do you have a farmers market you love? It doesn’t have to be in France! I also love the farm market in my hometown in Southern New Jersey, as well! Let me know! Subscribe in the e-mail submission box below and reach out, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and reach out to me on the “contact” page. I’m so happy you're here and that I’ve been receiving a lot of really incredible stories, questions, and feedback from a community all over the globe! Other people’s stories that I’ve gotten to read via e-mail, text, tweet, DM, etc. recently bring me such smiles, and I am so grateful for all of it! I hope I get to hear all about whatever stories you’ve been thinking about as we’ve been on this virtual journey together! Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you have any restaurants/eateries/pubs/coffee shops/ice cream joints/theatres/lookout spots you would recommend in other countries or even in your current home town or city, I'm absolutely 100% all ears!! I couldn’t do this without you! So THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, truly, thank you.

Sincerely,

Johny

P.S. - If you want to catch up from the beginning on this series of travel adventures, here's a cheat sheet to the posts (in order in which they were published):

1. Won't you join me?

2. grateful for starbucks and sandymount strand

3. Once Upon a December in the National Gallery

4. plant a smooch for that gift of gab

5. may the 4th be with you: Dingle style

6. cinco de mayo: the best Mexican food in Dublin

7. pizza in roma

8. mussolini’s window and the philosophers’ metro stop

9. father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife

10. it's the vatican, not the vatican't

11. spoiler alert: i did not lose my hand

12. more pizza and gelato and Neptune, oh my

13. craft beer, romper season, and volcano magic

14. bus singalongs and the okey dokey karaoke origin story

15. the beginning of the journey to the land of outlander

16. the boy who lived and the musical rapper

17. oh i just can't wait to be kingggg

18. fudge and haggis, quite the dynamic duo

19. the banshee labyrinth... or, my first time trying buckfast

20. the world's most magical toilet

21. gwyneth paltrow's (improv) sliding doors

22. scottish sombreros and jam, thank you

23. bob seger, a cèilidh, and arthur's seat

24. the next maxim cover girl!! 25. you can vote now!!

26. kindness at… the airport??

27. conversations with strangers and #basic meals

28. aren't gas stations amazing?!

29. not just mac's... supermac's

30. American vs. European Cell Phone Providers

31. brown bread ice cream

32. Black Lives Matter

33. technology and theatre

34. a love of Dublin pizza: Manifesto

35. a love of Dublin pizza: Dublin Pizza Company

36. a love of Dublin pizza: with my dad

37. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness

38. thank you! round 2!

39. a love of Dublin pizza: and every other pizza

40. ahh-oooooh werewolves of london

41. a special london edition nerd alert

42. defying gravity is a WICKED good time

43. that wanker Van Morrison

44. The Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre

45. LA girls love London green juice

46. Super Bowl LII Champs at Wembley

47. champagne fizz and fruity cocktails

48. How-to: DIY Pallet Garden

49. dublin tattoo magic

50. juneteenth

51. thank you! Maxim round 4!

52. dublin bog bodies

53. dún laoghaire ice cream

54. local celeb sighting

55. 13.1 in Dublin

56. thank you! Maxim round 5!

57. every girl likes a bad boy

58. poolbeg lighthouse

59. conflict, bias, and propaganda in belfast

60. bow to your lord mayor

61. HAPPY HAMILTON DAY!!

62. Maxim Cover Girl Quarter-Finals!

63. gulliver's travels in belfast

64. all aboard the HMS Caroline

65. all aboard the RMS Titanic

66. you know nothing, jon snow

67. cave-born shadow babies

68. afraid of heights?

69. giants and their egos

70. the Kingsroad

71. sunsets in Donegal

72. derry dining chains

73. Maxim Cover Girl Semi-Finals!

74. Spontaneity is Key

75. Dear Nana

75. blasket island centre

76. Nana's blue tin cookies

77. a dance lesson in Dublin

78. dublin to Royal Portrush

79. Shane Lowry's Open Championship

80. maxim and Belfast Chinese food

81. Irish beachy wild women

82. my Irish love, Cork

83. my Irish love, Cork: hot chocolate

84. my Irish love, Cork: knit life

85. my Irish love, Cork: English Market

86. my Irish love, Cork: Blackrock Castle

87. one year ago today

88. pastis and the French Riviera

89. French Alps swim session

90. French weddings

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