Switching Off, Blog Anniversaries, & Snowstorms

To celebrate the four year anniversary of my blog, I decided to celebrate by undoing the hoo-doo that I did to my laptop so I couldn't connect to the Internet for an entire month.

I shouldn't be so dramatic.  I didn't completely deprive myself of the Internet for 30 days.  I shut it off on my laptop and used Mr Z's laptop when he was at work on Tuesdays,Wednesdays, and Thursdays. I also had access to the Internet on my phone, which I used when Mr Z was around and I needed Internet access.

This experiment resulted in some interesting findings:

1. If Twitter were crystal I'd have meth mouth to rival Amy Winehouse (too soon?).
2. While it is possible to read Wikipedia pages on a Samsung GII, your eyes will not thank you for it.
3. I primarily use the Internet to look up recipe ideas, tweet, play Settlers of Catan online, and leave sassy comments on Gawker.
4.If I could have found a way to play Settlers of Catan on my phone this whole reconnect to the Internet thing wouldn't have happened and I pretty much plan to disable my Internet for at least 4 scheduled hours a day because I got so much done in a month.
5. I don't need to be online as much as I thought I did.

That being said, I was sort of surprised when I looked at my blog stats and saw how long I've been at this. I don't blog with regularity and I've always sort of wished I had that discipline, but to see the stats has given me a sort of push.

Here are some my stats:

First post - Shutter Speed - A short story about overhearing things from the courtyard outside my Paris apartment while doing laundry that's full of typos posted on March 1, 2008.

My most popular posts of all time include subjects such as Bob Marley, my obsession with my Samsung GII, Karen Blixen, Lee Miller, Man Ray, monsters, the Droste Effect, a Lost Generation, and Surrealists.

Most of my readers are from the US followed by my readers in the UK, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Australia, the Netherlands (hoi!), Spain, and Poland.

Now stats are a nice way to feed one's slightly malnourished ego, but it's also a sign that maybe I should step it up a little.  Especially if my writing is going at a nice clip at the moment.  I had an idea to start a blog that would contribute to my aspirations to be a writer. I'm sort of working out how I'd like to do that now, but I definitely plan on doing something.

Aside from having been paid to blog (which is much easier than coming up with things to blog on your own let me tell you unless you already know cause in that case I will shut up about it now), I'm kind of not a natural blogger. It sort of reminds me that after having read Anais Nin's diaries that I remembered I had all these diaries from when I was little until I was in my 20s. I was super excited.  I went to the trouble of driving ten hours to dig them out of storage to see what treasures there would be in these notebooks and diaries and sketch pads. Most were less than 1/2 full. I had to accept I was never going to be some prolific diarist one day.

I really tried to keep this blog interesting and worked on a premise of "quality over quantity", but it's hard to blog when your life gets boring.  That's why there's so many posts about cooking because my life has to get pretty fucking boring before I decide to eat sandwiches for more than two days in a row.

I've been peeking at blogs and Tumblrs of other successful authors, Neil Gaiman being what I consider one of the greatest in the bunch. JK Rowling's is adorable and full of nifty code and great graphics. Yet none of them appeal to me entirely.

I want to make it completely by myself meaning code, graphics, and all - and although I'll be quite handy at the code bits the graphics bits will be a real challenge. I suppose we shall see. I have lots of sketches and things about I could scan.

So do please keep a look out for the announcement that my new website is up and running. It shall be forthcoming. Ever presently and such.

Silliness aside though thanks for reading. It's gotten me to a point where I found the courage to put myself out there a little more.

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This Is Only a Test.

I wanted to rehaul the blog so I decided to try Blogger's new Dynamic Views template, so I'm going to give it a go for a free days. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section or on Twitter @lafemmeflaneuse.

So far I really like the "Magazine" and the "Flipcard" views. I think the final look would feature this more heavily. One thing I'm already missing though is the LinkWithin widget that places 3 pics/posts at the end of each post that sort of relates to whichever post is being read.

At the moment there's no option for other gadgets or widgets either, which is seriously disappointing. I've been thinking about writing my own CSS for Blogger for quite some time, but with so many template options out there, I haven't seen the point of brushing up on my CSS, but maybe after this I will.

Let me know what you think and which of the tabs are your favourites. The most important thing of course being which format doesn't ruin your enjoyment of reading the blog?

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Thank You!

I've been writing this blog official since April-May of this year and even though I've completely negligent about updating consistently, people keep visiting (mostly thanks to Google's great SEO for Blogger) and so I want to say thank you to everyone who has found this blog and taken a moment to read it.

I have some great posts coming up surely as I've bought a new batch of books in Amsterdam, (I've updated my Reading Table for those interested in seeing what I'm reading), have written perhaps a book (134,000 words now need editing), and am planning on moving to Amsterdam by September 2012 where I will hopefully open up a successful pop-up / living room restaurant with a charitable twist (meaning I'm going to serve lunch on Monday and you pay or don't pay as you want).

In the meantime for people who read my blog regularly, you deserve better, and you're going to get it. I'm back in France, wishing I was in Amsterdam, but ready to get down to business. Thanks for putting up with me again, I've just been very introspective lately and writing other things.

I shall put myself in the corner and think of how to tell you the craziest story EVER. I've yet to put it into text, but have had to tell it to: my boyfriend's mother, the friends who gave me their apartment in Amsterdam, Amsterdammers I met after the "Debbie" incident occurred, my boyfriend, some of my friends in France, and a total of five Amsterdam police officers...

So stayed tuned, but be sure to flog me for my lack of attention to this blog on your way out.

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Celebrating 2 Months of Blogging!!!

Despite fattening up my blog with posts I imported from some older blogs that I never really did much with, today is the official 2 month anniversary of La Femme Flâneuse! So I thought to start I should at least say

and give you some fun behind the scenes facts about the blog.

The top ten countries who read LFF in June 2011:

1. United States (Thank you!)
2. France (Merci!)
3. Denmark (Tak!)
4. United Kingdom (Cheers!)
5. Germany (Danke!)
6. Austria (Danke Österreich!)
7. Singapore (Thank you!)
8. Italia (Grazie mille!)
9. Holland (Dank u wel!)
10. Hungary (I hope this is right because I had a very good Hungarian friend teach me once kur-sum-nurm?)

What really amazes me about my experience blogging these past two months is how patient you all are with my English! If you look at the Feedjit widget I added and see Paris, France that's probably me proofreading because I know I make so many mistakes and have yet to figure out how to tell the widget to stop recording my own page views. Blogger does have this feature, so once I have some patience I'm not saving up to use on some other time-consuming and tedious task I'll look into it. But, seriously, why isn't that just built right into the widget? Am I the only person who constantly re-reads their blog for errors?

There is a "trend" about what people like to read (that being literature), but even when I don't blog about something lit-related you still keep reading. It's rather nice knowing I can blab about anything and that short posts vs. longer posts doesn't seem to matter very much. Here are the most popular posts this month:

The Banquet Years of Apollinaire, Alfred Jarry, He...
Amsterdam Day 8
The Letters of Hunter S. Thompson
Weighing In
The Things that Go Grunt in the Night
Paul Revere Warned the British They Weren't Going ...
The Droste Effect
Live Long and Make Music Videos
The Global War on Drugs
Lolitagation

So you like to read posts about writers (the crazier the better it seems), my travels (limited thus far to Amsterdam and London (but I try not to blog about work), but I tend to stroll around in the same fashion no matter where I go), talk about the "F" Trinity of food, France, or fashion (what F word did you think I was going to say?), when I make fun of Sarah Palin which is fantastic because there is so much to make fun of, and when I talk about my battle against the bulge (which is currently slightly uphill) (again there is so much material ).

I started a blog because it was my job about six years ago and I loved it. I was blogging most of the day even though blogging was supposed to be just to add money to The Shoe Fund, but at the same time I also owned my own consulting firm. I was constantly snapping pictures (with the phone/camera/mobile blogging device specified in my contract), making videos, jotting down addresses, and writing pretty long posts compared to most blogs. When my contract was over I thought I'd never blog again, but a few months later I was blogging professionally again - this time about Paris and France in general instead of fashion, but it wasn't at the same pace. Trust me when I say that when someone says fashion is constantly changing that it is.

But that blog wasn't personal. It had very little to do with me except I was quite snarky. I was ready to get out of the industry. Saint Laurent was gone and I knew even then Valentino would be the next to retire. The art I loved was dying a very slow death. So when the going was good, I got going.

This blog is personal. What you don't know is every morning I wake up, I try to see if I feel thinner (usually not), I brush my teeth, and it begins. I look at myself in the mirror and ask myself in my head if I think I'm going to write anything today. I pick on myself like a silent bully that still manages toimpressively taunt my dignity, my dreams, and my confidence.

Most of the time I feel like a jackass. The book I've been trying to write remains mostly unwritten. The best is when I find old Post-It notes that no longer stick to anything that read "Will finish book by September 2011". I suppose deep down I am an optimist of a sort.

I can point to all kinds of examples of people who didn't start writing until later in life - but I simply don't want to be one of those people. I want to write a book and soon. I told myself that if I didn't manage to write a book I was proud of by 2012 that I would give it up and do something else with my life, but there's nothing left to do really. I've been an engineer. I've worked in fashion. I work in the publishing industry. There is no excuse for my inadequacies.

So while this blog is one of favourite ways to procrastinate it's also done a lot of good. Maybe in another two months the forcing myself to write (i.e. blog) will pay off in the way Tom Wolfe and Stephen King say forcing yourself to write (even if it's about a brick wall as Wolfe says).

I suppose I should post this now and go back to snoozing on the sofa, dreaming about chocolate, and taking care of my cuticles to trying to write again. I just like to say thanks every now and then and I'm usually horrible about remembering the dates of anything (I'm the girl who never remembers my romantic anniversaries and can date a man for years and not remember what day his actual birthday is), but this time I remembered.

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Thanks and Praise

I have a number of new readers, which is very nice to see. I've tried to keep up with blogging while on my trip, but sometimes it's a bit hard. The nice thing is that it forces me to take pictures, which is something I rarely do. I want to show you all the things I love about Amsterdam and what's been inspiring me here. There's been lots of bad weather, but that's A'dam. I'll have to run out in the rain in a few hours to fetch a friend from the station, but I've just had a yummy lunch of perfectly eggs, bacon, and raisin toast, and I don't have to get going until at least 5, so I've got a few hours yet.

It's been quite inspiring to me to have this blog. It's been just over a month now (not including old posts from my older blog I imported to here) and I'm always pleased to see visitors. I added a widget to see where everyone is from, but if it bothers you, contact me, and I'll remove it. I just thought it was amusing to see where everyone is from since I get readers from lots of different countries.

To contact me - I've created an email specifically for this blog now, so if you're shy about commenting and feel like getting in touch for whatever reason you can email me at lafemmeflaneuse@gmail.com. I've also put a widget up for it. I'll never reveal your email address or any of your other info.

No other major news to share, just watching the rain fall, listening to The Zep, and wondering if I should try to find someone to illustrate these little "fables" I've been writing with an Amsterdam theme to them on Craigslist.

I might...

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Updates & Karen Blixen

So I am only a few days away from leaving for Holland and to say I'm excited would be a massive understatement. I'll be meeting a few friends, hanging out at Zandvoort, and eating a massive quantity of Thai food. I'll be blogging my daily adventures in Holland, so be sure to drop by.

In the meantime I have a house to clean, packing to do, and all those other little errands one must run before leaving for a trip. I hate packing. I really do. I've decided to make it easier on myself and just pack a few things that I can wear over and over again since the place I'm renting has a washing machine though I have recently lost a bit of weight and want to flaunt it a little!

A word on dieting. Don't diet. I've been trying for the past few months to simply move my ass a little more than usual and since deciding to cut out processed foods (I make my own ketcup now even) what I eat has become a lot more healthy. I know I'm going to gain a little weight in Amsterdam because I need to eat all the things I love to eat in Holland (Febo satekrokets being one of the things I need to eat) since I might not get a chance to go back for a few months. But hey, who doesn't gain a little weight on vacation?

I have posts scheduled to go up over the weekend in case I don't have a chance (or the energy) to blog. So be sure to check back and thank you to my new readers in Austria, Mexico, Russia, Pakistan, and Vietnam. Most of my readers seem to be from France and the US (which makes sense), but also Denmark.

If you've read my archives you probably know one of the women I admire most in the world, Karen Blixen was from Denmark. I pick up one of her books every now and then, randomly open it, and just read. She had a truly beautiful soul that woman. She was also a beautiful storyteller.

Here's what I read today:

"People who dream when they sleep at night know of a special kind of happiness which the world of the day holds not, a placid ecstasy, and ease of heart, that are like honey on the tongue. They also know that the real glory of dreams lies in their atmosphere of unlimited freedom. It is not the freedom of the dictator, who enforces his own will on the world, but the freedom of the artist, who has no will, who is free of will. The pleasure of the true dreamer does not lie in the substance of the dream, but in this: that there things happen without any interference from his side, and altogether outside his control. Great landscapes create themselves, long splendid views, rich and delicate colours, roads, houses, which he has never seen or heard of..."
I collect pictures of her, this is one of my favourites.

If you would like to read Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), you might want to read her book "Anecdotes of Destiny". It's now my favourite and the last she ever wrote. (My favourite before was Shadows on the Grass, which I was happy to have found a beautiful first American edition of a few years ago.)

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A Multilingual Show of Appreciation & Other Miscellany

Since I started this blog I admit I've cheated a little. I took material from another blog that I kept and added it to my archives. No one read that other blog because I didn't really do very much with it, so when I see things I've written a year or two ago getting attention, it makes my heart sing.

I don't want to be overly sentimental, so instead I'd like to say the following:

1. Danke schön
2. Merci beaucoup
3. Thank you very much
4. Cheers
5. 谢谢
6. 감사합니다
7. Dank u wel
8. Tak
9. Gracias
10. Grazie mille

to my readers in Germany, France, the US, Canada, Singapore, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Taiwan, South Korea, and Australia.

*Since posting I realised I now have readers from reland and Belgium as well.

You might have found my blog through various search phrases, but here are some of my favourites:

1. Dr. Scholl's
2. Amsterdam
3. Date "La Falaise" was painted by Henri Rousseau (which wasn't on my blog but I found the date. 1894)
4. Carla Bruni
5. Inigo Montoya's backstory

I added a poll to see what you'd like me to blog about, but I also have a few subjects I'll be blogging about over the summer months including a few "series" of posts.

Here Be Maps

A series on the history of cartography, maps of imaginary places, and maps in fictional literature.

Mysterious France

A series on myths, legends, and folklore from various regions of France including Paris, Fontainebleau, and Provence.

A Korean Banquet - Hanjeongsik (한정식)

Hanjeongsik damyang is the ultimate Korean meal once served only to royalty. In this series there will be lots of recipes broken into their various components, as well as covering a bit of the history of Korean cuisine.

I trained for three years in Korean cooking on my own by cooking from 4 am until 2 am every Saturday while in college in order to learn not only how to cook the dishes I love, but also to learn more about one of my two cultures.

If it makes you feel any better it made me hungry too.




Other than that I've been tyring to make a few small technical improvements to the blog to make it more enjoyable to read, but if you do experience any problems viewing my blog feel free to comment about it. Blogger has been especially glitchy lately, but I hope it's only for me. I added an About page recently as well, so I've removed my profile widget as the About page has a lot more spoilers on it.

Again thank you for supporting my blog. It really encourages me to come up with new ideas, inspires me, and gives me a little boost - all things which are helping me to be a better writer.

In other words:

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Want to Know About Ama?

I've been taking a peek at other people's blog and thought maybe I should create a page that would tell my readers a little bit about me. Not a CV mind you, but a petite histoire de la Madame.

And now I want to know something about you, my darling readers.

What do you like to read on my blog?

Is there anything you'd like me to blog about?

Post your ideas, suggestions, or comments in the errrr comments!

Yours,
Ama




I love bangles, animal prints, and hats. I forgot to mention this on the About page.



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