The cold and rain arrived at Paris and made me miss my sunny country even more :) How I miss those glorious sunny days!

Even though the weather is not the best I try to keep my weekend routines that include, always, some hours spent on the cafe by the canal near my house. Usually, I take some magazines and spend my hours reading, drinking cappucinos and people watching. This was always one of my favorite hobbies in Portugal. Just sitting in a cafe, observing and wondering about people. Although in Portugal this may sound strange, in Paris I'm just one among many. People watching is a national pastime in here and I love it! Everywhere you go there's cafes right on the sidewalks providing the perfect view of Paris's life and its inhabitants. Depending on the hour you can watch all kinds of people. For instances, on sunday mornings by the canal there's the mothers with their young kids than run and scream oblivious to their mothers' warnings; there's the runners from all ages and genders; there's the elder women with their dogs; there's the occasional tourist group; there's young men with books and newspapers under their arms...It's a feast for the observers that sit, drink their coffees and watch. One thing I've noticed immediately is that teenagers are all very different. In Portugal you normally see the same kind of kids: they all dress in the same way, have the same hair styles and almost seem like copies of each other. Here it's different. There's so much variety, there's a little thing called individuality. Of course they also group themselves according to a specific style, but in a group of 5 kids they look, surprisingly, all different in their coherence. Style is a big thing in Paris and people make that extra effort to look stylish and fashionable every day. But, at the same time, it looks so effortless. Even on weekends most women wear make up and high heels. It's not an obligation, is part of their identity. One effect this had on me was that I started to feel "pressure" to do the same, to not rely on my faithful baggy jeans and sneakers on weekends. And now it's becoming more and more natural, also a part of my identity. This doesn't mean I don't have my days when the only thing I want to wear is a large sweater and sunglasses, but even on those days I now wear a necklace or earrings just to make it a little bit more "special". Living is paris, at first, was like dressing up every day. Now it's just part of who I am and I love it! One of the perks of people watching is the ideas and inspirations that come with it...Every day I see something new, something that i adopt and transform to my own style. When people say Paris is the fashion capital they usually mean that the most important designers are based here; that fashion week is one of the most important, if not the most, in the world and so on. To me it was the same, but now i see it differently. Paris is the fashion capital because it is a trend setter. Trends are born here and people follow them and adapt them to their own sense of style. It's not just the designers, it's the Parisians! It's the fact that fashion is everywhere you look, on everyone around you and you are influence by them, as they are by you, every single minute. This is, in my opinion, what makes this city so special, so fashionable! And I am every day more happy and grateful to be a part of it :)

"It's all happening...!"

Until next time...

Papillon