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“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it.

You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it.

You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.”

— Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Hotel Nessay, Saint-Braic-sur-Mer, France. Images are my own, all rights reserved. Merci!

My friend,

As I write to you from the most enchanting turret room overlooking the rugged coast of Bretagne (more on this fantastic location below), I find myself thinking about touchstones. I love that reminder from Gilbert - that happiness is not something that simply arrives, but something we cultivate, protect, and nourish. It’s a practice, a gentle discipline of sorts, much like tending a garden or caring for a beloved old home. And alongside it…

Henry Miller once wrote, "To make living itself an art, that is the goal."

That quote has become a recent manifesto, my touchstone in the truest sense of the word. It carries both meanings beautifully:

the literal Paris of stone, those façades weathered with time, cobblestones underfoot, marble statues glowing in candlelight,

and the figurative sense of a guiding principle I return to again and again. A touchstone is something enduring, something that holds fast even as seasons change. Paris itself has become the physical embodiment of this philosophy for me - a city of artful living, built stone by stone, moment by moment, just as I've learned to curate my own life.

Together, these quotes remind me that beauty and happiness do not land by accident. They are created by choosing, season after season, to participate in our own lives with intention.

Which brings me to this autumn. It’s my birthday today! I often treat September 1st as the start of a new calendar year for me. A birthday is all about renewal, a new year, and with this in mind, I wanted to share a new series with you too.

The private rooftop view from my hotel room at Hotel Nessay.

You might call it a bucket list, but I like to think of it as my seasonal curated list of joys. Is that silly? I think you know what I mean - the experiences I most want to savor in each season. Unlike a wish list, which can feel like daydreams, this is more grounded, more attainable. Sometimes I choose things that I think will stretch me (often out of my cultural comfort zone, i.e., pressing against my language skill limits). Others will be simple, but all of them are about practicing happiness, about leaning into the season with open arms.

And I would love for you to join me in this practice. Whether you’re here in Paris, or halfway across the world in your own hometown, the idea is the same: to ask yourself,

Birthday sunrise, Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, France.

What will make this season feel beautiful, meaningful, alive?

What experiences would light you up, however simple or small? Perhaps for you it’s lingering in a local café, finally visiting that little museum you always pass by, or filling your kitchen with the scent of autumn spices. The details may differ, but the intention is universal - to craft a life that feels like art.

This year, I’m beginning my autumn planning somewhere very special: Château du Nessay, perched on the Emerald Coast of Brittany. The castle itself is a story. The site once held a 12th-century fortress, later transformed into the current château, built in 1882 by a Count named Maurice Goislard de Villebresme, who became the mayor of this little commune.

But the land itself holds much older secrets. There was a fortified castle here dating back to the 12th century, called "La Houle" then, home to the Elbiest family for generations. In 1914, the château was sold to Georges Bergès, a papermaker-turned-chemist who invented an explosive called Cheddite, which was widely used during the First World War. During the Second World War, the Germans occupied the castle, leaving it in ruins when they departed.

What followed was a fascinating journey of reinvention, from holiday camp to municipal building to school retreat center. Sadly, by 2016, the château was falling into disrepair, seemingly forgotten. Then something extraordinary happened: after much deliberation, the town leased it to a hotel group that invested eight million euros to transform it into the boutique hotel where I'm staying now. They welcomed their first guests in July 2018, making this place both ancient and beautifully new.

I’ve chosen a suite tucked into the turret, complete with a reading nook overlooking the sea and a bathtub large enough to dream in. Here, with my notebooks and a strong cup of coffee, I’ll lay out the experiences I want to pursue in Paris this autumn: the exhibitions that intrigue me, the gardens I want to revisit, the quiet cafés where I hope to spend whole afternoons with a book. It feels a little like weaving a tapestry — threads of history, art, food, and simple pleasures, all bound together by the season’s colors.

And, please, let me be transparent with you, because I think that's important. I'm sharing this not to show off or make it seem like this is all I do with my days. I normally do this seasonal planning on a cozy Sunday and this trip to the beach is a birthday present to myself. From an everyday perspective, I work as a brand strategist, I have a regular life with its mundane moments and challenging days, just like you.

Really, what I'm offering is a glimpse into how I've learned to carve out intentional time for the things that make me feel most alive. It's taken consistent effort! That Elizabeth Gilbert quote speaks to something so true about happiness requiring our active participation.

This isn't about luck or chance, though I've certainly been blessed and had help along the way. It's about what that quote captures so perfectly: you have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. You can't be a passive recipient. The difference lies in actively seeking out and nurturing what feeds your spirit, then making the mighty effort to maintain it.

I've realized that in our current world,

it's become easier to copy someone else's itinerary,

to mimic what looks beautiful on social media,

without taking time to reflect on what truly makes us happy,

And what genuinely feeds our souls.

While you're absolutely welcome to do the same things I'm planning (please! take a seat at this table with me!), the deeper purpose is to encourage you to step back and curate your own seasonal list, regardless of where you are in the world.

You deserve it. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to give yourself the time to enjoy life in whatever way brings you joy.

The things that make me happiest are quite simple when stripped down: art, books, and gardens; reading in cozy cafes; wandering through quiet bookstores; and discovering hidden courtyards where light falls just so. I'm simply doing these things in the context of Paris, which I recognize is a luxury. I've worked incredibly hard to be here, and it feels like a privilege to share this life with you.

Complete with a big cast iron bathtub and rain shower, all overlooking the wild Brittany coast, this feels like the perfect setting for a princess to plan how she wants to live out her dreams - which is exactly what I'm doing.

Then, throughout the autumn, we'll spend the season together as I actually experience these things. You'll see what happens when plans meet reality, when weather interferes or unexpected joys appear, when some dreams unfold exactly as imagined and others surprise me entirely.

This is where I'll be planning my autumn in Paris, showing you not just what's on my curated list, but HOW I go about creating it in the first place.

I'll share where I find inspiration,
how I organize my research,
and the way I balance aspiration with reality.

Then, throughout the autumn, we'll spend the season together as I actually experience these things. You'll see what happens when plans meet reality, when weather interferes or unexpected joys appear, when some dreams unfold exactly as imagined and others surprise me entirely.

Each week, I'll focus on a different experience from my list, sharing not just the practical details but the honest feelings: what it felt like to move through these moments, the small discoveries, the gentle mistakes that make me laugh at myself, the quiet magic that emerges when you're paying attention.

This won't be the typical tourist guide to Paris. You won't find me at the Eiffel Tower or listing the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay for the umpeenth time (unless it’s one of their fabulous temporary exhibitions!). I do love these icons of Paris, truly I do. However, that’s not the purpose of this program.

Instead, this is for anyone curious about the city through the lens of someone who has been living here since 2017, who loves academia, books, and art, who's drawn to garden corners and café conversations, who believes in the soft, feminine energy of creating beauty in everyday moments.

If you enjoy this format and it resonates with you, I'll continue this practice throughout each season. I believe there's value in showcasing a life that's consciously curated, in demonstrating how consistent, gentle effort can create something beautiful. Not perfect, ha! never perfect!, but intentional and nourishing and alive with possibility.

Whether you're planning your own trip to Paris, dreaming of similar experiences in your hometown, or simply wanting to embrace the season more fully wherever you are, I hope you'll join me in this practice of making living itself an art.

This program will live on my Instagram with short videos and daily posts, YouTube as videos for deeper exploration and (what I hope!) beautiful visual tours, and the long-form updates here on my blog.

What do you think, dear friend? Does this speak to something in your heart? Are you ready to curate your own seasonal dreams?

So, here at Château du Nessay, on the cusp of my birthday and the turning of the year for me personally, I’ll begin. With paper, pen, and a view of the sea, I’ll sketch out my autumn, not as a rigid itinerary, but as an invitation to myself. And then I’ll carry it back with me to Paris, where we will wander together through the season, one experience at a time.

With love,

Shannon