Writing for myfrenchlife.com
I would like to introduce you to the awesome people over at MyFrenchLife. They asked me a while back to be a monthly contributor to their site. Their moto is “Searching for the ‘French thread’: Connecting like-minded people in French & English globally”.
The site is chalked full of great info on life in France, culture, gastronomy, art and design, travel and a whole host of other things. You can also find them in my blogroll. Give’m a whirl and please let me know (and them!) what your favorite stories are. We would love to hear your comments.
Check my my “contributor page“, I’m pretty proud of it 🙂
Posted on July 28, 2011, in French Daily and tagged blog, France, writing. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
Welcome to my crazy life in the south of France. I love to write and photograph the day to day experiences that I encounter here in Provence. I hope this blog will give readers an inside look at some of the insane, funny, and beautiful experiences that I have had along the way in making a life for myself in France. 
backyardprovence 
Hi Ashley,
I saw your welcome post on french life’s link this morning. I am surprised I’ve never read your blog…how could that be?
There are a few of us France bloggers who get together sometimes and if you’d like to join us let me know.
Looking forward to reading your blog and congratulations on the new house.
All the best,
Aidan
Hi Aidan,
Thanks for the kudos, it is much appreciated! I would love to get together with everyone. Maybe around September. At the moment we are busy restoring our “you are a dumb American to buy this huge thing” house 🙂 and moving. We have a deadline to be finished with everything by end of August because we have to move out of the apartment we are currently live in by then.
Please keep me informed on when and where you meet. Thanks again for the invite!
Bonjour,,
I just meant to congratulate you on your blog and your new appointement so to speak as a contributor to MyFrenchLife. I found your blog through a website called ExpatBlog. Just browsing without purpose on lunch break (don’t want to read the news, it is too depressive)… Interesting and fascinating to hear from expats and their experiences in France and so much enthusiasm. Yours is very well written and I’ve yet to explore what’s on the first page.
Anyway, I am Bernard and I live near Salon (I work very near Aix). Funny you lived in Aix some years ago. It’s a small world after all! I lived there from 1997 to 2009 and who knows, we could have met. I spent 3 years in the US as a student but never returned to live permanently. I think I am too much attached to the French culture and way of life (especially that of Provence) and Minnesota was too cold for me!
I wish you the best and I’ll make sure to bookmark your blog so as to visit it again.Too bad I got some assignements to complete this afternoon to stay on but a 3-week holiday is coming up soon!
Amitiés,
PS: C’est émouvant de voir des personnes comme vous qui expriment tant d’attachement pour notre pays.
Bernard
Thanks for your congratulations and encouragement. Interesting that you live in Salon. I have been there a few times and have passed through a few times, as well, on my way to visiting some wonderful Provencial towns. We were most recently in Salon the beginning of July after a visit to the Zoo de la Barben. We happened to need some ice cold drinks and found the E.Leclerc ( I really love that market) I don’t have one near me. Doing a lot of construction around there these days, huh? That is nice to see.
As far as France is concerned, I really do love it despite a lot of issues that we have had to face . My preference is to tsay here for good. I really hope that happens.
Thanks for bookmarking my blog. Feel free to leave comments anytime. I really appreciate and love to hear what people think!
J’ai adoré vivre à Aix. C’est une belle ville!
Ashley,
I actually live near the Etang de Berre but it is easy to say ”Salon” to give a clear picture. I don’t go that much to Salon (I’ll take a chance to visit it more thoroughly during my holiday) but my brother works there and it reminds me of Aubagne, my home town. It’s about the same size. Anyway, I moved from Aix to the countryside and I love it. I am surrounded by olive groves, vineyards, singing birds, a black cat and wasps! Of course, I got to drive quite far now and then (compared to before!)and plan my trips accordingly (as gasoline is not so cheap) I am more of a Carrefour type of person than a E Leclerc one by the way!. Visiting local towns and open-markets will be the core of my holiday activities as there is a lot more to see than I already have.
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog today going back to older posts. You express a lot of enthusiasm and positiveness (is it a word?) . Je peux aussi écrire en français si ton blog est bilingue!
I am loving the countryside, as well. I am surrounded by lovely vineyards and mountains and I just love it! As far as Carrefour vs E. Leclerc, I used to love Carrefour, but since I have had to stand behind that dumb blue line too many times, they have kind of made me mad. I actually prefer Auchaun, but there is not one near my new house 😦
Bilingual blog?? I wish! I am bilingual, but my blog is not. This is mainly for all my friends in the states who wouldn’t able to read it. Also, for my husband and kids, they are not bilingual either. The kids used to be when we lived in Aix, but when we moved back to the states, they lost it after going back to their American ways. It was a little hard keeping up with it.
I managed to set up my black Berry phone théy gave at work last week and this is my first time on the internet using a cell phone! Kids are like sponges and they can learn languages so quickly. The hard part is to keep. I know for myself i used to be a lot More fluent when i returned from the states .but your children Will get it back quickly when they return here.it’sa huge asset to be bilingual.
Congratulations on the Blackberry, I love those! You will get the hang of it soon and then there will be no stopping you! When I got my new phone, I must have played with it for 3/4 days straight (I was all excited about the cool stuff I could do). Even now I still find most fun apps I can download.
I sure hope my kids will get the language back, but my youngest doesn’t seem interested at all in re-learning it. She says she can’t wait to go back the the USA for college!
You seem téhnology savvy with this blog twitter and all that! Yes it’s’exciting to be able to stay connected almost anywhere.hope your youngest Will change her mind about here. Shé ll be fully bilingual, something that Will remain out of my réach for ever…
Well, tech savy I am not. I just pretend a lot and sit on my butt for hours trying to figure it out. Sometimes I do and sometimes I call Dude to figure it out for me:) As far as my daughter is concerned, I hope she changes her mind, too. I think she is going to be missing out on a lot, if not.