I first read Bonjour, Happiness! in a time when I was exhausted, overworked and, truthfully, quite brokenhearted. I devoured it in one lazy summer afternoon, on my living-room couch, and suddenly the world looked just a bit more joyful.

It wasn’t only about the way it spoke to my heart, reminding me of all the little things that I had ignored, paused or simply never stopped to think about anymore. No, it was also about the way it made me feel. Hopeful, serene, with the acute sense that there is a life out there that can be more beautiful, more meaningful and more soothing with only one minor change: me getting reacquainted with the daily magic of the little things in life.

French had been my first foreign language, as a child, and I had already traveled to France extensively, but somehow I needed a clever and charming American lady to remind me that my life truly needed a makeover and a changement des ideés, like Jamie charmingly puts it. A change of thought. That was over four years ago, but Bonjour, Happiness stayed with me, as I re-read it, re-bought it and gifted to all

Jamie Cat Callan (Personal Archive)

the dear people in my life, in certain moments of their struggles and quests.

Jamie Cat Callan wrote Bonjour, Happiness! (and other two books) channeling the wisdom of her French grandmother and getting reacquainted herself to the tiny and gorgeous daily reasons for happiness: from enjoying a scalp massage to learning how to eat, shop and age beautifully.

She interviewed hundreds of French women on the secrets of their inborn serenity and joie de vivre, so I simply had to interview her for a change, on the little pieces of wisdom that can make everyday life truly magnificent. Read, enjoy and get inspired, since in our global age of endless possibility being Parisian is a state of mind more than a mere question of geography.

Here we go:

Jamie: What an insightful question! Yes, in fact, all my books begin in my journals.  I’ve been journaling since I was a teenager, and in fact, even today, I journal daily.  For me, it’s a way to puzzle out what’s going on in my life—what is working at any particular point, and what is not working.  I began Bonjour, Happiness! shortly after I remarried and moved with my scientist-husband to Cape Cod.

Now, for many women, living on the beach by the ocean would be a dream-come-true.  However, for me, it was not where I found my joie de vivre.  And this got me thinking about the nature of happiness and how every woman must redefine her source of joy at various points her life.  And I think it’s important for women to create their own roadmap to happiness, because no matter what the outside world might tell you, happiness is something you find in your own heart.

Jamie: Another great question—yes, I often “fall off the tracks” and get swallowed up in the social media/computer/smart phone over-sharing.  However, I do have a mantra that keeps me grounded.  And that is this:  I always ask myself if what I am doing or sharing is of service to others.  It is always my goal to be helpful.  This is what my books are about.  And while I might talk about my own life or my personal struggles, I do this to be of service, to offer by example how I found my happiness.  For me, it was France and the example of French women—beginning with my French grandmother.  However, I don’t think all women will find their sense of self necessarily from following the French way completely.  I do think, the essential point is go look at your family, your own personal history and to appreciate who you are as a woman in this world, and to celebrate femininity.

I love spending an hour in bed in the morning, before I’m fully awake.  I daydream and write in my journal and plan my day.  I also think about all the things in my life that feel me with gratitude.  I heard that the author Edith Wharton used to spend her early mornings in her bedroom, as a kind of secret garden, and so it seemed like a good idea.  Then, one day, I told my husband how much I love this morning time and he offered to bring me coffee in bed.  Oh my goodness—this sweet and generously gesture changed everything for me.  I am so grateful and delighted every morning when he arrives with my cup of hot coffee.  I do believe it’s the simple pleasures that make our lives especially delightful.

I would stay on the Left bank—in the art gallery district, off Boulevard St. Germaine and then I would wake up and go to one of the cafés along the boulevard.  Perhaps, Café Bonaparte (right near Café Deux Maggots), after that, I would stroll along Seine, and cross over to the Louvre Museume. Then I would spend the afternoon, strolling through the Tuileries.  I would stop and people-watch.  And then, I would visit Monet’s Water Lilies in L’Orangerie.

After this, I would cross over to Rue Cambon, and stop for lunch at Les Flottes, then wander down rue St. Honoré, and finally, end my day by meeting a friend for a drink at Fumoir. Oh, and then a walk over to explore the Marais, then back to the Latin Quarter for dinner at my favorite Bistro Mazarine.  In between all this, I would shop and buy flowers and gifts and take in all the sights and sounds of Paris, including catching glimpses of the Eiffel Tower all lit up and shimmering in the night sky!

I don’t really see French women succumbing to the temptations of consumerism.  It just doesn’t seem to be in their nature.  However, I do see more iphones on the café tables, but the French tradition is so fully engrained and the French are so protective of their heritage and culture (we could learn from this!) that their authenticity will never be lost.  It’s in their DNA.  I think it’s because they had very little for a long time and learned the art of making do with what was available.

My French grandmother was like this.  She sewed clothes for my mother and for me.  She recycled long before anyone talked about it.  And she always embraced the simple pleasures of gardening and cooking.  And she truly understood the philosophy of less is more.  Oh, and the Secret Garden!  French women don’t seem to want to give up their privacy for the temptations of over-sharing.  They understand that the thing that makes them so attractive is their mystery.

I adore and admire the style of three very different French women.  First, my grandmother.  She was a dancer in Vaudeville, a farm wife and a seamstress.  She was so elegant and always created a sensation wherever she went.  Even into her eighties, my grandmother was beautiful.  I believe her charisma came from her dancer’s posture and her sense of simplicity.

I also admire Marie Joelle. I featured her in my first book, French Women Don’t Sleep Alone.  She owns her own hair salon in the university town of Besançon. She is so bohemian and artistic and I just adored her style—different every day, as if she was playing a great role on the stage. I also loved her home, which features hot pink and zebra prints.  It sounds wild, and it actually is wild, but it all worked beautifully.

Finally, I adore Madame M.  She’s my French teacher.  She truly believes in protecting her secret garden, so I am not even allowed to tell you her name. I have learned so much about the French language from her—not just vocabulary and sentence structure.  She has taught me where words come from and how a French word might derive from the Latin root.  She loves language and respects books, and I learned to slow down and really look at my world and appreciate history.  From Madame M. I have learned to bring a sense of intellectuality to my style.  Madame M. has taught me that beauty and brains go together!

I always feel extra pretty when I let my hair go natural and wavy, rather than getting a blow-out.  Also, if I’m rushing out of the house, and I want to look chic in a second—I put on my favorite red lipstick.  J’adore red lipstick. My go-to outfit is a simple shift dress in a solid color—navy, cream or black.  And then, I wear a scarf, cute ballet slippers (or heels, if I want to be dressier) and voila, I look put together. The secret is really the addition of the scarf,  I have lots of them! It’s very French.

Whenever I feel blue and I’m in Paris, I like to go the Jardin du Luxembourg.  It’s impossible to feel sad in the midst of such beauty.  Also, I love to see the children launching their little boats in the water.  I feel so inspired by people-watching, that I definitely changement des ideés.  I suppose it’s the theatre of life and I am swept away in my imagination.  I take a step back and see my own life as if it were a story and perhaps this blue period is just that and that soon the sun will come out again!

My husband taught me to live in the present moment. He’s just retired as a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and we now live on a farm in Upstate New York. It’s a new beginning for us. We have apple trees, we’re making apple cider, and growing lots of vegetables, this week we’re getting baby chicks and next spring, we’ll get sheep and make cheese and yogurt.  It’s a little bit of Provence in our own backyard!  He’s taught me sooooo much—about gardening and cooking and be aware of the beauty that’s right in front of me.

And, I believe I’ve taught my husband to be more playful and fantastical.  I love dancing and make-believe and laughing.  I bring a lightness to the serious business of being a lady farmer. Plus, I wear pretty lingerie!

I love the scene in A Room with a View where Lucy Honeychurch is in the square in Florence, Italy.  She witnesses a brawl, faints, and then is rescued by the man she will eventually marry. It’s so romantic!

Actually, yes, for books, it’s often a coup de foudre!  That said, I often return to the classics.  I was a literature major as an undergraduate and I adore Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Collette, Edith Wharton, Jane Austen.  In addition to this, I read all the books about French women, French style, Paris style, and French travel. After all, embracing all things French is my life’s mission!  And for magazines, I read Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, and sometimes Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The New York Times, O Magazine and Martha Stewart Living. 

Oh yes, absolutely. I think, particularly when I was younger and wanted to be hip or cool, I neglected to listen to my heart.  I came of age in the 1970’s and by the 1980’s women were entering the work force in a more powerful way.

I wanted to succeed and move up the “ladder” but I must say, I found wearing these big-shouldered suits and pretending to be a corporate-type, rather disheartening.  It took me a long time, but the day I discovered that I was an artist, and that I need to respond to the thrum of my own heart, the struggle ended.  I’ve found my true calling and my own special joie de vivre in writing and traveling and embracing all things French.

I first visited Paris in 1976, right after I graduated from college.  I was so bent on being cool and hip and not looking like a tourist—I didn’t bring a camera!!!!  Oh my goodness, if only had some photos from that life-altering, heart-stopping experience!  Still, I learned the lesson—it’s okay to not be cool.  It’s okay to be a tourist.  In fact, I think we are all tourists of life, yes?

La Vie en Rose. Why? Because it’s French and it makes me cry.

1. Perfume (you sense it the moment you arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport).
2. Strong coffee (walking past the cafes, there it is and you feel the allure of café life).
3. Freshly baked bread (in the boulangerie, promising the joy of a new day and the simple life of the French).

3 of My Favorite Quotes from „Bonjour, Happiness!” by Jamie Cat Callan