It's no secret that I love martinis. For the record, I do not love them in the 'I wish I was a girl in Sex and the City' sort of way, particularly since I have never been a big fan of that show in the first place. No I love them cause they are strong, tasty, and lets be honest, I have a serious soft spot for des olives verts. One of my local haunts is host to a great bartender who serves me with a shot glass full of those tasty green devils on the side of my drink-now that's good service.

Leaves crunched deliciously under my feet as I wandered the winding paths of Park Monceau this past weekend with a friend. I had stumbled upon it days earlier when the fiance and I had been viewing an apartment nearby. The landlady had mentioned the park as a main feature of the neighborhood, and I received a typically disgusted stare when I announced I had never explored the famous beauty. I have to say I fell in love with it after stumbling across an incredibly aged stone stairway tucked snugly away underneath two enormously weeping trees.

Finding a favorite cafe in Paris is no easy task. The streets are completely packed with bistros. Terraces spill over onto sidewalks and as an outsider, it can be downright impossible to determine the difference between them. In general it's a good idea to avoid any cafe that looks directly onto a national monument, which in itself can be tricky considering how many of those lurk unexpectedly around most corners of the city. I am fairly certain those cafes are the reasons that many Americans claim the French to be completely rude and obnoxious.

I have a secret, it's my first time. I have spent the past twenty minutes coaxing my little white keyboard into being gentle as it sends my words out into the abyss of cyberspace for strangers to view my thoughts for la premiere fois. It helps to have my trusty sidekick gently snoring away at my side, pink belly fully exposed and paws slightly mimicking the action of running as she dreams of chasing the hundreds of leaves littering the streets of the city at the moment.