We’re off to spend a four-day weekend with R’s mother and Tuesday is Bastille Day here in France which I still, after all these years, have not seen the celebrations for! I’m really hoping to show Élie his first fireworks, especially since he loves saying “booo!” (boom) after any loud noise.

Have a wonderful weekend, long or short!

xo,

Loving

Loving List

Amber Interiors | One Pan Pasta | Bordezac Bracelet | Mon Imagier de la Forêt

Today starts a heat wave here in France and heat always makes me nervous. I am such a Northerner. But I’ve got the apartment shaded, lemon sorbet in the freezer, and thank goodness for double pane windows, so we’ll be fine.

I was wrong about the yard sale last weekend – it’s this weekend! Opps. So I’m still looking forward to that and my list may have grown. Stay cool and happy Friday!

xo,

Life, Loving, Uncategorized

Christmas Tree Anticipation and a Loving List

2011 sapin de Noël

Word on ~~the street~~ the texts I keep sending to R. is that tonight is get-a-Christmas-tree-or-else night! Here in France the most common way to set up you tree is with the trunk fitted into a whole drilled in a halved log. This is hard for a Maine girl who most of the time cut her own tree from farms to swallow. It means that the tree dries out much faster (or fossilizes as my mom calls it) and we both love having the tree up through January if we can. So I had this idea that buying the tree sooner would mean a fresher tree that would be more able to suck up water for a good long time. We didn’t make it to the garden center last weekend but I really want to get there tonight and then I’ll test that tree freshness theory out. I bet you already have you tree, don’t you?

Here’s some things I loved this week:

I love reading posts by E who writes so well and with such funny honesty. Her latest post where in her little EE meets the doctor and the mall Santa in the same day with unexpected mixed results cracked me up!
I really, really, really want to get my box-loving cat one of these for Christmas. Could I ever get him out? I’d have to tempt him with a ball of brown paper or by pulling a tissue from a box, both of which have his complete and devoted attention. (Blowing your nose at our house must be awkward for guests. Sorry guests.)
The pretty Griottes blog posted a list of wonderful boutiques in Paris to find treasures. Virtual windowing shopping anyone?
In the past two weeks I’ve stumbled upon some incredible food blogs. One of them is farmette and her Juniper Junket recipe had me at ‘juniper’. I can’t wait to try it or her Sh’mores but I’m sure to be spending plenty of time in the future getting lost in her archives because her posts feel like sitting in a warm country kitchen with a friend.
Then there’s the French country kitchen, Manger. Just click that link. (Oh my gosh! A Scottie in a brocante!!)

I would like holiday cards, hot chocolate, Muppet Christmas Carol, decorating, Christmas music, and gift wrapping to be on the menu for this weekend, please. What have you got planned? If you’re near Boston, MA, you must stop in at one of Aran’s events!

xo,

Life, Loving, Styling

Carotte Sauvage & Loving List

This week’s flowers are making me so happy! I was thrilled to find a huge bunch of green carotte sauvage (wild carrot, aka Queen Anne’s Lace) at the marché on Wednesday. It was one of our inspiration flowers for our wedding here in France and it’s so lush, wild, and delicate that I can’t get enough of it. R. could not believe at first that I had paid for carotte sauvage but then I reminded him that we live in a concrete jungle, I only ever pay between 3 and 5 euros for flowers (twice a month), and they make me so happy! He ‘got’ it, then. I’m really hoping they might be hardy enough to last two weeks (please, flowers?).

And I’m finally stealing the time to get a loving list together! Here is what grabbed me this week:

We love watching the Daily Show on their site (thank you Comedy Central for not blocking us because we are in France) but don’t always love the loud MTV commercials that play between every segment. But this month they introduced us to Rudimental and this song and be. still. my. heart. Yes. (But be warned, the visual of the video has some very sad themes. But listen.)
Growing up, my father would bring my mother and I gifts once in a while and from his travels and they often came from museum gift shops. He always chose beautiful, timeless pieces that where often reproductions of pieces from their collections and I always loved the history. This piece or these matching earrings are on my wish-list to continue my collection.
How beautiful would a tree full of these porcelain houses be with little tree lights peaking through their windows? I love how simple they are. Everything I want for my holiday this year.
Jamie Oliver. I might not need to say more. I have been enamored with his work for years. He has a new book out, 15 Minute Meals, and a television series in the U.K. and I have been loving it! The recipes are simple but the flavors so bold. You can’t watch Jamie and not get excited about food.
You know about Damn You Autocorrect, yes? If you haven’t discovered it yet, do. But not when you’re eating lunch. True story: I nearly choked laughing doing that once. Seriously. This one has had me laughing to myself for two days (not while eating).

Do you have a favorite find of the week? I’d love to hear! This weekend, I really want to get some decorating things crossed off our list and get this place finished! Hopefully I’ll have something to share with you on that front next week, ~~God~~ husband willing!

xo,

Loving

Firecracker Flowers and Loving

These orange flowers are on our table from Wednesday’s market and I love them so much. I’m always so happy when I splurge on flowers (and by splurge I mean I paid 5 whole euros for these) and vow that I’ll always have some fresh ones gracing the apartment but I often fall off the wagon. Then I crack one day and rediscover how much it adds to a living space. With these, I was hoping for a bunch of wild Queen Anne’s lace that I had seen the week before but the vendor didn’t have any this week. So glad I got these little firecrackers in their place! It’s dahlia season, too, and I think they’ll be on the table next week.

Have you been reading Ann Mah‘s Tuesday Dinner series? So good! I love hearing about everyone’s go to meals. Looking forward to reading more.
One of the great things about Pinterest is rediscovering what you pinned but may have forgotten about. Well, I rediscovered my pin of this pink mercury glass cake stand (yes, pink. mercury. glass) and it has got me all obsessed anew. So beautiful.
Remember when my friend Lindsey rescued an abused street dog from India? She made the paper! Read all about how Meena is looking for her forever family. (And she had a photoshoot here. Look at those eyes!)
The comments section of Wednesday’s post now has some ideas for finding hazelnut flour in the U.S. for the Brandy Roasted Plum & Hazelnut Cake.
I have no idea what started the tumble of 90’s songs and bands that started to surge back to mind this week but I’ve been reliving the music of my high school days. Crazy!
I have to thank Ann of Uni homemaker for nominating me for a One Lovely Blog award! It’s so flattering! I’m supposed to tell you 7 things about myself which kind of has me stumped. Let’s see what comes up: 1. I just became obsessed with Lonny. Don’t ask what took so long. 2. I don’t like bananas but love banana bread. 3. Apparently I know the names of more Ikea furniture than my husband is comfortable with. 4. I love calling R. my husband. 5. Heights above my head (read: cathedrals) seem to make me more nervous than those below my feet. 6. Julia will tell you, I call eyeballs eyebobs. Which was confusing for my French husband. (There I go, “husband” again!) 7. I actually enjoy ironing dress shirts. (Ok, I did it! Tell me about you? Pretty please?)
I’m finally finishing off one of these klismos chairs and it is so sexy it’s killing me: black stain paint and a black velvet seat. Sigh. (Don’t remind me about the orange and white furry cat that lives here just yet…) I’ll share the finished product soon.

Happy Friday!

xo,