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| Place de La Bourse - Bordeaux |
Happy Blog-Anniversary - Two Years!!
Wow - Has it been 2 years already? 2 Years since I started this blog? The saying goes - Time certain goes by fast when you are having fun!
I was just looking back at a few of my early posts - I really did start this blog to share our new experiences with family & friends back in the States. A simple way to share my thoughts, ideas and our new adventures. Additionally, a way to share some of my photography with people.
As simple and basic- as keeping a journal of sorts. American Mom in Bordeaux has truly grown into something so much more - something bigger than I ever imagined. At this point the blog as has just gone over 100,000 views. A number that I truly have a hard time absorbing. A number that means people have been viewing my various posts and pages over 100,000 times. I am really touched and honored by everyone who is reading and sharing this blog. To think at one year ago, as I wrote my one year blog anniversary post - we were at 25,000 views and I was impressed at that number then.
Weekly, I now receive inquiries about moving abroad, questions about France and the Bordeaux area in general. These always brighten my day! I have to say I really enjoy these interactions. It's so fun to connect with other people who have a sense of adventure like myself. Sometimes, I even get to meet some of these people in person. I guess when you are really passionate about where you live and your life - it's just natural to share. I really do love everyone's questions and inquires!
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| Bridge in Le Bugue-Dordogne |
As most of you know - the blog has it's own facebook page, Twitter account, Google + page, and Pinterest boards. Not to mention fun photos on Instagram several times a week. Sometimes it gets hard to balance that fine line between private life and sharing our experiences. I know it's a hot topic out there - how much do you share? what do you share? What impressions are you giving? Yes, so many of these social media platforms give snippets of life and not always the normal, everyday. Yes, we are a normal family - sibling squabbles, preteen and teenage dramas and days where the whole house seems out of sorts. I have laundry to do (constantly!), a house to clean and a family to feed, kids to shuttle around to various activities - I share this as I really am just like so many other mothers out there raising their children in this modern world. I just consider myself lucky right now that we are living in France and I have fallen in love with this area!
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| Chateau Pichon-Longuevue - Paulliac |
The blog has continued to grow and expand & for that I truly am very grateful. There has never really been a full plan of where I'm going with with this blog - intuition and what feel right from my heart often leads me. I connect with other bloggers who are similar to myself - I guest post when asked, if it seems to fit my profile and I'm trying to just be a source here in Bordeaux for English-speaking families.
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| La Rochelle |
Last year I had several opportunities to guest blog at a couple different sites - These links are to my posts that then take you to the other sites:
I was also interviewed by Expatsblog.com - it Can be read HERE
As a family, we made one of our biggest decision about being expats: We decided to stay in France indefinitely - Check out that post - it's one of my most read and most commented on posts all year (with at this point over 3,300 views) : HERE
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| Dune du Pyla - Arcachon |
American Mom in Bordeaux was also voted by Circle of Moms website - as one of the Top 25 European Mom blogs for 2013. - HERE & one of the top 100 -Exchange & Experience blogs 2014 - by the IX14 (International Exchange and Experience blogs) -this is a competition sponsored by bab.la & Lexiphiles. This competition has been running for the past 6 years. - HERE
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| This is me - Jennifer- photo taken by my oldest daughter |
Through this blog, I have also connected with other bloggers who are raising bilingual and multilingual children all over the world - raising world citizens who have a multicultural perspective. It's a great network to be a part of and I learned so much from so many other bloggers and also increase my world knowledge and insights.
Through this group, I participated in a great experience of sharing our neighborhoods - HERE. This was a great opportunity to not only share our town, but to also see how other families live around the world. If you haven't done so already - read my post and then click through and learn about other neighborhoods around the world! It's truly fascinating!
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| The girls in La Rochelle |
My posts in-general cover what life is like living here in France from the American perspective, highlighting family travel experiences, daily life and learning about the French culture. Through my facebook page, I also share links to expat life in general, information on some French traditions and even some recipes. This broad set of topics seem to be connecting for people and I look forward to continuing to focus on these areas. I would also love any suggestions or themes for posts from readers.
I'm still amazed how this blog continues to evolve and grow. The number of views alone in this past year - shows triple the number who read it in year one. It's one of those things that I really had no idea what direction it would take when I started and even now, I'm still not sure exactly where we are headed - What I do know is that I love sharing our experiences, our trials and tribulations of being an American family in Bordeaux, France. I hope that some of what I share helps others to understand more of how life in France is different and yet -the same - and it inspires others to enjoy, travel and live life to it's fullest!
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| Our favorite Chateau in our town. |
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| Grapes ready to harvest - Medoc |
Looking forward to seeing where this next year takes American Mom in Bordeaux!!
This was the 2nd annual event and it was just as fun and interesting as last year! This year it was held at the Jardin Botanique in the Bastide section of Bordeaux. This free event was again a mixture of Chocolate merchants - expert Chocolatiers - selling their wonderful and decadent creations, demonstrations in Chocolate decorating, Children's workshops, tastings and of course, A Chocolate Sculpture Contest in the theme of Aviation.
