I’m convinced that it’s the small things in life that make all the difference, and you have to find the little things that make your days, well, awesome.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
Spill it.
You can also spill on
The Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/ObservingParticipant
or The Twitter : http://twitter.com/#!/michmski
or The YouTube : http://youtube.com/MiChmski
Awesomeness 
Posted in Monday's Confessions of an American in Paris
Tagged A Christmas Story, americaine à paris, american expat paris, american in paris, baby panda, coconut tree, confetti, cowboy, disco ball, encyclopedia britannica, expat, flags of the world, guilty pleasure, hedgehog, Hugh Hefner, hula hoop, laundry room, Mary Poppins, michelle chmielewski, michmski, mini eiffel tower, Mrs.Field's cookies, my little pony, observing participant, peche mignon, plaisir secret, playdough, power ranger, red bull, Sarah Palin, secret pleasure, sprinkles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, waffle maker, wash room, washing machine, wok
OK, so after more than 2 people seemed to enjoy learning French in 1 word, I figured I had to reciprocate for the “other side” 
Enjoy. P.S. I apologize in advance for my hair and bad southern accent.
The rest of the Observing Participant videos are over here
Continue reading
Posted in Monday's Confessions of an American in Paris
Tagged 140conf, americaine à paris, american in paris, bless his heart, cultural understanding, english in 3 words, English language, expat, Facebook, french language, Jeff Pulver, jon reep, Languages, laugh factory, Linguistics, magical phrase, michelle chmielewski, michmski, observing participant, social media conf, southern accent, southern expression, Twitter
Learning French was never so easy
Other newness :
Keep up with videos over here and have a great week
And remember — use it spaaaaringly. You wouldn’t want people to think you’re uneducated or don’t have any words other than this one…unless you really don’t have any words other than this one.
Don’t forget -> you can still help me make Extreme Jump Roping a reality at Tribeca by signing into your YouTube account and hitting the green “thumbs up” over here
Kickass. Thank you.
This was just sent to me by Faskil 
Posted in Monday's Confessions of an American in Paris
Tagged aficionado, baby got back, champagne, expat, francais, France, french, french lesson, hedgehog, hungry, learn french, magic, paris, putain, rick roll, rickroll, rickrolled, sir mix a lot, sombrero, summer, tourism, tourist, travel
Last week an article from Slate caught my eye about cultural differences between Americans and the French that just might explain a few things..
In the U.S. it’s true (admit it!) that we’re raised with a certain American dreamish “you can do it” attitude. Not everyone is raised the same way and there are certainly circumstances in which children are discouraged, but growing up in the U.S. has definitely made me appreciate our spirit that is willing to try. Why else would someone have thought it was a good idea to try and reach the Pacific Coast? Or build a giant highway system just in case of a Cold War. But I digress.. Continue reading
Posted in Question posin
Tagged americaine à paris, american in paris, axelle tessandier, cultural differences france us, expat, expat paris, France, Jeremiah Owyang, michelle chmielewski, michmski, my little paris, observing participant, observingparticipant, paris, reseaux sociaux france, Silicon Valley, Slate, social media france, the next web, Twitter, United States
To get ready for the New Year, though, a Vampire Weekend for the Holidays
I would do the lame “see you next year!…” but… I’ll just see you next week
Happy New Year — wherever in the world you are
Sorry about this I just realized it’s almost the end of Tuesday here in Paris, so I only have a bit of time left for my Tuesday geek post, but I just discovered how I CAN watch the ball drop over Times Square — and no, not by finding the one bar in Paris that will be showing it at 6 am
Of course shopping in Paris can be a bit harried – there are far too many people in far too little space sometimes. Although I’m often thankful to be so far from a Wal-Mart (and sometimes miss the convenience of just going to one place where I KNOW they’ll have what I’m looking for), I figured out a couple tips for Paris Christmas shopping
Well, and, we all know the major tips are to have fun and try to get together with your family if you can
The other “day in the life” videos are here
After having used “I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” as the background music — clearly one of the best Christmas songs ever and therefore unable to be reproduced on my blog — you may have to watch the video on YouTube.
Sorry for the incovenience and thanks for visiting !
If there are 5 apps I could have RIGHT NOW, I have to say I’m wondering why no one has invented :
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the “go go gadget”, first of all, take a trip back to memory lane to rediscover Inspector Gadget, and then imagine a reindeer sled popping out of your hat and flying all of those presents to all of your family and friends…especially those that are overseas. I give you :
Inspector Santa
BONUS : you don’t have to figure out how to pile up 4 large bags and an overstuffed backpack onto the back of a scooter just to get them home.
There are multiple benefits to all of these, but for this one it mainly involves no longer waiting in lines to :
We already have the technology to identify objects using virtual technology à la Google Goggles, how much harder can it be to take that, mix in a Facebook Connect, and BAM I have already liked my sriracha sauce, so family can please send me more for Christmas. This could also be integrated into shopping sites, obviously any type of social media, you could receive your family’s “like” lists to make holiday shopping a whole lot easier (Anna- just to make sure – you wanted the sausage baster or the duck thermometer?..)
I figure, if it worked for the Kardashian sisters, it can work for an app…ESPECIALLY around holiday times when who doesn’t want to indulge in a little extra fois grois or apple pie and be able to download an app that radio-waves your extra jiggle away?..
This may seem like the m&m that isn’t quite the same color as the bunch, but think about it. Santa only gives presents to children that are good. And you have most likely been naughty seeing as you’re probably an adult. Clean up the earth a little bit this year and maybe Santa will leave you lots of nice presents
That being said, what apps would make your life easier? (Real ones are welcome, too )
LeWeb, for me, is Silicon Valley come to France. It’s hosted by Seesmic’s Loic and Geraldine Le Meur and this year is in the north of Paris.
Check out LeWeb program and if you’re not going in person, no worries – it’s going to be livestreamed on UStream and you can always follow the hashtag #leweb on Twitter, and there’s a huge list of “official bloggers” that will be posting about the event.
Gary Vaynerchuck will be there – host of the infamous WineLibrary TV that boosted his family’s company with his crazy fun videos that showcase his knowledge of wine and his fun spirit and that clearly if you watch just one of his videos will see why I’m a huge fan.
My friend Matthieu Blanco is also going to be there podcasting with Christopher Ramel (aka Kriisiis) at LeWeb for NetVibes and broadcasting videos in almost real time.
I have to admit, I’m not 100% sure what to expect, but I’m pretty excited. See you there
Posted in Tuesday's cool thing geek
Tagged american in paris, expat, LeWeb, LeWeb10, Loïc Le Meur, michmski, NetVibes, observing participant, paris, podcasting, seesmic, Silicon Valley, Twitter, UStream, winelibrarytv
One of my favorite subjects..thank goodness there are 5 types of champagne
About the t-shirt (warning, you might be offended)
The rest of the “day in the life” videos are over here
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