the conversation that birthed this blog as we prepared to move to france:
"did you pick french names in french class in high school?"
"yep."
"mine was dominique. what was yours?"
"remi lebeau."
"you all picked last names, too?"
"no. just me. i was serious about my french name."
"hahahahaha...okay, so we can call ourselves the lebeau's. how do you say that in french? lebeaux? hahaha..."
::blank stare::
"but no for real, how would you say that you're at the lebeau's? oh yeah! chez lebeau!"
and taken apart, chez le beau translated is "in the beautiful" and that was how this blog was born.
not very deep. corny, even. ah well, let the beautiful adventures begin!
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Havas Paris - Carte de voeux 2013 (par Havas Paris)
My new “office” and outdoor patio a few blocks from home. Lots of writing will happen here. :) (Pris avec Instagram)
musée du quai Branly: Human zoos
i wish i knew this was happening…but i’ll have to get the book…
got a random free personalized tour of opéra garnier today. i hadn’t been inside, even though i walk past all the time, as it’s down the street. but today i was late meeting a friend for lunch and so she got chatted up by the security guard, which led to him taking us past all the tourists and into the secret parts of the opera house!
here’s a quick video of a choir that was visiting. how apropos!
what a week with mes beaux-parents! delicieux, opéra, le louvre, notre dame, sacre cœur, montmartre, le marais, bikeabouttours.com, la tour d’eiffel, bastille for an amazing gig (the greatest souvenir, said mom), versailles, bastille day parade, and fireworks, oh my!
Pris avec Instagram à Château de Versailles
First time on this side of the Louvre… #bikeabout (Pris avec Instagram à Pyramide du Louvre)
i had an absolutely fantastic time in the netherlands! it was my first time leaving france since we moved here! (meanwhile, he’s been all over the world…lucky…) but i went to see him hit with blitz the ambassador at the north sea jazz festival in rotterdam (officially my favorite music festival - i went years ago, but this has definitely solidified it - can’t wait until we’re headlining there!). but since i was so close to amsterdam, i decided to spend the day in amsterdam with great friends! amsterdam is an absolutely beautiful city filled with canals and “coffee shops” and “window shopping”…i didn’t take part in all of the things that amsterdam is known for, but i had a wonderful day with fantastic tour guides!
then we drove down to rotterdam for the festival. and since i snuck in with the band and got an artist wrist band, i had all-access, and saw ron carter and christian scott and a bunch of other big names at dinner. and saw trombone shorty and jill scott perform. but of course, my favorite was blitz’s performance - and this was my favorite of the 4 i’ve seen! the vibe was so spiritual and it was sooo much fun! and then at the after party, robert glasper and co. were chillin (and i fell asleep standing up, i couldn’t hang…)
but we stayed at the festival hotel in the hague and i shook hands with seun kuti the following day! and then i made my way back to paris all by myself. i was very proud of myself, as this was my first time being somewhere where i didn’t even almost understand the language, but i didn’t want to leave! it also helped solidify my french and i remembered my first french dream on the train ride back, and i kept speaking to people in french instead of english - which is weird because they speak english much better than the french do. but it was profound to feel at home when i heard french. like yesss…i know what people are saying!
but this tour is over and another one starts up in a couple of weeks, but first, a week with the in-laws: our first visitors! it’s our turn to play tour guides! :D
Writing view today. #nofilter just time passing… (Pris avec Instagram à Avenue du Président Kennedy)
My new écran bureau…I could sit under that tree forever… (Pris avec Instagram à Jardins de Claude Monet)
