If you can't say anything nice, don't say anythin at all

For as long as I can remember, I have been in love with France. Not just France but Paris, France. I am in love with the culture, the food, the art and just the fantasy of all the lights and romantic places you see in photos and movies.

I will go someday, maybe not to live and have my children grow up there, but travel, eat, explore and enjoy everything the city had to offer. But until I go, I fill my room and house with little things that inspire my imagination of what is Paris. Tacky and overdone, maybe, but to only those people who are snobby and think they are better then everybody else. Call me a romantic or unrealistic, even tacky.

I serve my meals on paper plates because it saves me money and they can be recycled, rather then wasting gallons of water washing the china that no one would notice or care was under their food.

I make semi homemade cakes, pies and cookies because I have a 10 month old who likes my attention and who is learning to walk, I don't always have the time make a homemade cake and frosting.

I am fat because I choose to be at this point, having a kid changes your body and it is not always easy to bounce back.

I clean my house everyday but when it comes time to choose, I choose to spend time with my daughter then scrub the kitchen floor.

I keep my mouth shut when I think people are putting me down for what I like, how I cook or if they think I am even good at it, until now.

Most of all, I am a 24 year old full time Mother and college student who is trying to plan a wedding and write a cookbook.