Paris, Blogs, Julia Child, and Photos!

I don't think I have jet lag, which is pretty awesome. I stayed up a little later than I should have last night, but I was functional at about 10 am, which isn't too bad. I did some grocery shopping, and then decided to beat the heat by going to see the movie "Julie & Julie". I enjoyed the movie immensely.

The movie complements many aspects of my recent life. First of all, as you all know, I completely fell in love with Paris while I visited, as did Julia Child when she was there. I am currently reading Julia Child's "My Life in France" and I'm loving it now that I have a picture of Paris in my head. Also, Julia Child is a pretty neat person, who didn't really find love or her niche in life until she hit her mid-to-late thirties, which makes me feel pretty darned hopeful. I think I've found my niche as a quirky science teacher, but the whole love thing hasn't worked out quite yet.

The second story line of the movie is based upon Julie Powell's book "Julie & Julia". I picked up this book and read it quite quickly while I was in the UK. As she approaches her thirtieth birthday, Julie decides to cook her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year. Julie's experience with blogging made me reflect upon my own experience in blogging. I really respect how honest Julie was in her blog; her husband encouraged her to skip the aspics (they are a gelatin dish made with meat stock... ew), but she didn't want to be dishonest with her readers. Good on her.

I also could completely relate with how Julie found community with her fellow bloggers. In my past 4.5 years of blogging, I've made some really great friends, and meeting strangers who connect with you through your writing is a wonderful experience. Of course, the whole second part of my trip was me hanging with a blog-buddy who is a great friend in real-life, and I'm so blessed that somehow through the world of blogging, Claire stumbled upon my blog, or I stumbled across hers, I can't remember how it happened. Incidentally, Julia Child had a sort blog buddy of her own; she had a pen-pal that she didn't meet until 8 years into their relationship, and this pen-pal had a hand in the publication of MtAoFC. I am so thankful for the friends that I've made through honest blogging.

I had totally intended to do a post just with pictures today, but I just had to blog about this movie. See it and/or read the accompanying books.

I have so many awesome pictures from my trip that show food, Paris, and blog buddy fun!