Hello Steemit community!

My name is Yael, but online I mostly go by Le Urban Explorer these days.
I've been interested in Steemit for a while, and finally decided to jump in, see what I can offer to this wonderful community that seems to be growing rapidly here.

As is polite, I would like to introduce myself, and of course – get to know who you are, too. That is, after all, the way to make friends, right?

So, who am I?

I'm Yael, Israeli in origin, but living in Paris, France for the past six or so years. My husband is the coolest hacker-fighter ever, my daughter is the Overlady of the Internet, and my two cats are absolutely adorable supermodels. All in all, I'm happy with my life.
My day job is editing and translation of all sorts of texts, but my secret identity is Le Urban Explorer, an expert custom trip-planner in Paris and France. If you ever come to France and need to know where to go to make the most of your trip – that's where I come in. I've been helping friends and clients on their trips for several years now, and I hope to share some of my knowledge about super-special places and things in Paris with you, too. As part of Le Urban Explorer, I also have my Instagram account on that exact name, where I publish my own viewpoint on Paris, France, and life in general (but mostly those two).
As if I have too much free time, I also make jewelry and sell them on Etsy. I've been doing that over the past year, when I realized my creativity needs some additional, sort-of meditative outlet, and so far I've been evolving and developing my style, making things I'm very proud of.
As for what I'm doing here really, my wonderful friend @techslut brought me here, and is still constantly helping me understand this strange new platform and its kinks.

What would I even do here?

Well, apart from sharing my unique, first-hand intel about Paris, I'd love to share some of my photos with you, as well as insights I learn about this wonderful city I live in, the strange French people I live among, and also talk about creativity of all sorts, jewelry, and happy thoughts (did I mention cat photos?).

Is there anything more? Well…

I know it's not something a lot of people like to talk about, but it's important for me to say it. I have an autoimmune disease. It's called Rheumatoid Arthritis, and while I was only diagnosed with it in 2016, I started suffering from symptoms as early as 1999, in my high-school years. Yes, sometimes it takes such a long time to diagnose these things. And this is another thing I'd like to write about, from time to time. I would like to help other people with acknowledging pains and symptoms that may lead to an early detection of such diseases. No, it's not pleasant to know you have one of those, and that you'll have to deal with it for the rest of your life, but it certainly helps when you start treating it at an early stage, and not after some damage has already been done. Just saying.

So, in a nutshell, this is me. Thank you all for dedicating the time to read this post. I hope to get to know you, too, and see each other around. If you enjoyed this post, please introduce yourselves in the comments, I'd love to know who might be interested in reading what I have to say :-)

And in the meantime – don't forget to have a wonderful day.