Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Standing where I Stand

Living in France is not like living in the USA.

It just ain’t the same.

Wine is replaced for beer.

They wear jeans and make them look like a little black dress, they have savoir-faire when it comes to such things… you would think after 19 years of living in France I would come home chic and hip and well maybe with a new flair….certainly grown-up…

Heck no, my feet wear mud, and it looks like mud.

Rich with texture,

the beauty of life is,

making it real

and knowing it looks good on you,

wherever you are…

be yourself.

Photo: Old jeans I found folded neatly and dirty in my Dad’s barn. My feet, while I walked around outside early this morning listening to the birds and feeling the earth under my feet, mud and all.

Comments

44 responses to “Standing where I Stand”

  1. Jeanne

    My cousin lives in France and said the way of life there is superb!
    I always love to read your postings.
    Your pictures are fabulous and so are you!
    Embrace your bliss.
    Love you Sugar Plum!
    Jeanne
    X0X0

    Reply
  2. Shannon L

    That’s why I love you…you’re so down to earth 🙂
    Nothing more chic than that.

    Reply
  3. ally bean

    maybe you’re grown up on the inside– and the outside has yet to catch up!! heck, in 19 more years you’ll be so stylish you won’t know what to do with yourself.

    Reply
  4. Lisa

    Ah Corey, it is only a matter of perception. For we all find you to be an amazing woman of style and much better, a woman with an amazing soul.

    Reply
  5. Brother Mathew

    That mud is also known as clay. Great for throwing cause when it’s damp as shown in your photo it forms a nice ball. Throw it when damp cause when it dries it becomes hard as rock. (hurts) This type of soil is also great for growing rice.

    Reply
  6. berrie

    above all else be yourself! I so love that* xoxoxo
    & you could wear a dress of mud or hard clay and still be class and style all the way!

    Reply
  7. Candy

    YES! I love this – so many times we want to be who we are not. I have finally come to a time in my life when all I want to be is me. What a huge relief that is.

    Reply
  8. stephanie s

    ‘atta girl!

    Reply
  9. Ulla

    There is French mud, and then there is American mud… Your toes look wonderful in either, I bet they taste different though… 🙂

    Reply
  10. la vie en rose

    i prefer mud between the toes too!

    Reply
  11. Sylvie

    I’m finding that it’s nice to be older and more comfy with myself. By the way Corey, I’ll be planting my toes in French mud in September. Can you say, “Marché aux Puces”?!

    Reply
  12. susan@artstream

    i’m with ulla, they may taste different, but viva la difference!
    such a cute foot photo…
    they seem blissful.

    Reply
  13. mary ann

    gotta love a gal who loves to walk barefoot on mud!
    follow your bliss corey…
    🙂 mary ann xo

    Reply
  14. Joanne

    Corey,
    I just *love* every single one of your posts…your wording is just so perfect!
    I am glad that you are enjoying yourself in California, and being all that God created you to be, with abandon!
    Joie de Vivre!

    Reply
  15. Willow Grace

    Awesome! Love the feeling of the earth, muddy, soddy and all. Very organic!

    Reply
  16. Cat

    I’m way to American to make my jeans look like a little black dress!
    You wear mud well.

    Reply
  17. madeleine

    Being you is so much more gorgeous, though 🙂
    Here’s to mud slung jeans and feet…

    Reply
  18. Heather

    Is there anything better than feeling your toes in muddy or sandy dirt? hehe

    Reply
  19. bella

    I loved this.
    Be true to yourself.
    So simple yet so powerful.

    Reply
  20. DebR

    I really like both these photos!

    Reply
  21. amber

    Life is way too short to be anyone you are not. That is for sure. You have nice feet!
    🙂

    Reply
  22. Kit

    The squelch of mud on holiday toes, jeans relaxing into themselves, no more trying to be little black dresses, earthing themselves.
    Lovely to hear you again too.

    Reply
  23. Catalina

    Oh! I love to walk without shoes! touching the Earth is such a nice contact!

    Reply
  24. ms*robyn

    sometimes, Corey, being yourself is difficult. People don’t like it. I know, I am being myself this past month or so and being attacked for it. People get scared of the truth & being yourself.
    Love those tootsies of yours… xoxo
    been missing you! (are you going home via Australia?)

    Reply
  25. lauren

    Ah… I see your brother Matthew is as goofy as you are!
    …good for growing rice…what a nut.
    P.S. did you get to take a nap, or are the trains still running?

    Reply
  26. cruststation

    love the fact that the two cultures make you who you are, you integrated so well and still retain your loving upbringing and joy of being American 🙂

    Reply
  27. catherine

    I don’t think I could even make a little black dress look like a little black dress – no matter how long I spent in France. Though I don’t likle jeans, too stiff and unyielding. But I do like mud. The Flanders and Swan Hippopotamus Song springs to mind.

    Reply
  28. simple me

    Your words are touching me deeply at the moment. You are giving me strength.
    Walking on the mud with bare feet is such a wonderful experience…releases bad energy.
    Take care Corey,
    bjs
    paula 🙂

    Reply
  29. Ellen

    As always, I love your way with words and the images they create…….along with the images of your photos. I love the feel of the earth beneath my feet, cool soft grass, warm sand, the squish of mud between my toes…..what a lovely way to spend summer!

    Reply
  30. expatraveler

    I think I totally experienced the same feelings when I returned too.

    Reply
  31. mad

    Life is and can be good everywhere. Being true to yourself, ah there is the tricky part. In youth, I sought identity in my community. Now my community supports my identity, not always happily, but there you have it! Be authentic, no matter where you are, no matter who you are and no matter who you hang out with. The big challenge of growing up, maybe? 🙂

    Reply
  32. Cookie

    I totally understand what youre saying Corey. I lived in Italy for a while and they are like the French…..they wouldnt dare be seen in anything that wasnt chic….but Im Australian and we are like you Americans….we are down to earth ! mud and all! Dont ever change. Hugs

    Reply
  33. andrea edwards

    I love a good pair of blue jeans…and mud in the toes? Perfect.
    a.

    Reply
  34. AnnieElf

    You can take the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl, Corey. Love the mud in your toes. I couldn’t do chic even American style. My pull-on pants and cotton-Ts are just too too comfy.

    Reply
  35. Kristen Robinson

    Your ability to embrace each moment and observe life as it happens is phenomenal Corey!

    Reply
  36. josephine

    You can take the girl out of America, but you can’t take America out of the girl!!
    Much to my fiance’s chagrain sometimes, too.
    He just can’t figure out why I think we should be allowed to burn the flag. He thinks it’s disrespectful, I think it’s MY INHERENT RIGHT!

    Reply
  37. weirdbunny

    I just love to go bare feet in the garden. It drives the woodcutter nuts, and tells be it’s a bad example to set the kids!!

    Reply
  38. weirdbunny

    I just love to go bare feet in the garden. It drives the woodcutter nuts, and tells be it’s a bad example to set the kids!!

    Reply
  39. lauren

    Rice growers! ha! I should have known, that’s all there is up there in Willows! So does this mean that your brother isn’t goofy…? Somehow I still think he is….
    hehee!

    Reply
  40. mikaelah

    isn’t mud the best!
    cute toes…

    Reply
  41. wishes&Heros

    Love your feet photo!

    Reply
  42. Gina

    What cute little feetsies they are!

    Reply
  43. carolg@ParisBreakfasts

    Very pretty feet…

    Reply
  44. jinxthegypsy

    Fabulous post! 🙂

    Reply

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