Feel GOOD Friday

Picture taken from my Instagram

I always feel good when Friday rolls around, don't you? The weekend is just around the corner and with it the opportunity to sleep in, or meet friends for a lazy brunch followed by a stroll, or get round to reading that magazine/book you've been so excited to start...Unless you work on the weekend, in which case you'll feel like this at some point during the week.

On the off chance you're not (yet) feeling great about the fact that it's Friday, here are some things that I've come across this week which I hope will help you to feel excited about life in general...Enjoy!

PositivelyPositive.com
If you've had a bad commute/meeting, just connect for 5 minutes and read one article. It will give you the right amount of perspective to remember that life is too short to worry about one bad thing that just happened. Remember all the good that is going on in your life. This post resonated with me, it's basically about how we should never compare ourselves with, or make sweeping assumptions about, people we follow on social media.

L.K. Bennet shoes

Cancun Leather Peep Toe heel

I don't know when I'd ever actually get round to wearing these shoes. But they're glamorous, and would look great with jeans or a black dress. And a red/pink lip. I'd probably just stare at them a lot.

Molly Yeh
Molly's blog features yummy recipes and wonderfully clean photography. These macaroons are one of my next baking projects.

The Times
I finally signed up for the digital pack (they currently have an offer of 1 GBP for 30 days). So I'll be able to read the wonderful Caitlin Moran more often :) I really enjoyed this article by Muriel Demarcus, and promptly shared it with some of my expat friends, as it's basically the reverse situation of what I am living. A Parisienne settled in London gives her thoughts on the differences between us Brits and the Frenchies.

Revealed Rome is feeding my current obssession with ALL THINGS ROME. They do say that all roads lead to Rome so...The blog is an  American in Rome taking gorgeous photos of what we all know to be a very beautiful city and reveals lots of non-touristy information about this city that I am excited to be visiting in March!

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the Golden Globes. No words needed. Except, I love these two ladies. Women should support other women. Men should support women. Women should support men. Everybody should support each other basically...Buzzfeed breaks their hosting highlights down.

I just booked a hair appointment for next Friday. Hairspiration has inspired me to go for it and get a chop similar to these two ladies below...whaddyareckon? #middlepartingmadness

Thank you Charlotte Jobard from Pinterest!

I hope you all have a great weekend and feel a little cheerier about the fact that today is Friday!

Lou xxxxxxx

Tea can take you to unexpected places...

It's Saturday night, you've popped over to a friend's house for tea, so far everything is pretty civilised.

But then you pop open some Prosecco, get a playlist going, grab some awesome hats and things get pretty magical...

Yes, there are framing issues on the above photo and the image is kind of blurry...because we were too busy having fun, dancing like there was no tomorrow (or maybe that was just me) and just generally being fabulous.

I may have gone too far with the hats at one point, what do you think?

So drink tea, dance like a loony toon and have fun with your lovely friends. If there are any hats lying around, well that's just a bonus!

Lou xxx

Ten things that have made me happy this week..

Image Source

With JB leaving for NYC (again) for 7 weeks on Sunday I thought it would do me some good to take stock of what made me happy this week. Always count your blessings etc. I have to admit that I am in a bit of a funk about him leaving...I know we'll be ok because we have done this before and survived just fine. It's just not my favourite thing when he is so far away in a different time zone for so long...Anyway, back to the positive! These posts are inspired by the lovely Rosie.

1) Discovering Orange is the New Black. This show was recommended to me by a work colleague and I'm absolutely hooked. The premise: Piper Chapman finds herself serving a 15 month sentence in a womens' prison for a crime she committed ten years ago. It's a talented cast (if anything the supporting characters outshine the principal characters) and the show manages to fairly tastefully combine the tragic with the comedic. Check it out and let me know what you think.

2) Spending a lovely evening with JB at Epi Dupin, one of our favourite restaurants. The menu changes every season but we are never disappointed with the quality and the tastiness of the food. The staff are very friendly (but not too friendly) and the service manages to be efficient with a laid back atmosphere.

3) Eating a pain au chocolat almost everyday for breakfast this week. This has done neither my insides nor my waistline any good whatsoever, but I'm having a final patisserie splurge before stocking up on veggies and fruit again. When Jon goes away, I want to dedicate some time getting back to good eating habits but still enjoying the odd indulgence of course!

4) Discovering Meg's blog post on a brunch spot in Paris which I'd never heard of before! I'm excited to check out Claus this weekend with JB (we've reserved a table for brunch there tomorrow). I will let you know how it goes...but I have a feeling it is going to be great. The product packaging alone tells me great things will happen there!

5) Planning weekend trips away with friends. Two of which will take place whilst JB is away, so that will keep me busy and occupied instead of staying indoors and moping!

6) Having the opportunity to re-read "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro because it was chosen for book club. It's classed as science fiction which is a genre I tend to avoid. I think it is such a beautiful book. I'm going to be sure to also watch the film.

7) Selling things on eBay. It always feels good to have a clear out of my closet! And to get money for it is even better!! I'm not a big eBay user, I went through a period of buying some items from there and never had any bad experiences. I've had only positive experiences with people who have bought my clothes so it comes in handy from time to time. I have to accept that I should probably let go of the clothes I wore at university...

8) Living in Montreuil. I love our apartment. I love the space. I love the area (it is so much more peaceful!)

9) Spending a lovely evening in the company of good friends to celebrate (yet again) JB turning 30. Everyone had a great evening and boy did we manage to get through an impressive amount of wine and champagne!! At about 3:30 am my batteries totally ran out and as we were hosting at our apartment I simply climbed the stairs to our bedroom and dived under the covers...oops! Won't be winning any prizes for best hostess, sorry guys!

10) Work has been a little different lately, in that I have been doing new tasks which I'm less knowledgeable about. It's a good feeling to know that you're learning something valuable!

I have a busy weekend ahead of me, full of fun stuff with friends. I hope you all have a lovely weekend! Lou xxxx

Rhye

I first came across Rhye when i was in New York.

A couple of their songs were on the Strala class playlists.

I've been listening to them since i came back and have had the joy of discovering their whole album.

I think my favourite is "Open".
I also really like "Last Dance"
But here's the shocker.

The vocalist is actually a man.
*reader frames hand with face in dramatic shock gesture*
Yes, i had the exact same reaction.

Who: Mike Milosh and Robin Hannibal
Where: Mike hails from Canada and Robin from Denmark although they're now based in the USA
Genre: I'd describe them as soul, although Wikipedia describes them as indie, alternative RnB and downtempo so i guess it is open to interpretation.
Album: Woman, released 5/03/2013.

Do you know them? What do you think? Got a favourite song?

Lou
xxx

I'm in love with a jumper

Josie Sweater by Toast

Howdy folks!

It's the 2nd September. Summer is on its way out and therefore Autumn is just around the corner.

The leaves are already falling from the arbres here in Montreuil...

I am in love with this sweater! What do you think? I'm thinking of getting it in 3 colours (bottle green, claret and ink blue of course) But my bank account is firmly shaking its head. I have been known to be a little fickle when it comes to clothes/desired objects. So i'm going to see if I am still so in love once we have seen the last of the sunshine.

Book wise, I have now finished "The Pursuit of Love" and "Love in a Cold Climate" by Nancy Mitford. It's hard to say which one i preferred best as they're sort of tied in with one another, and both have fabulous quotes, but i think The Pursuit of Love wins (marginally) for me. I have just ordered Don't Tell Alfred, also by Mitford, on the advice of The Accidental Londoner! I also ordered Gone Girl for my next book club meeting on the 19th September. I first spotted the book over on Charlotte's amazing blog.

So there we have a little bit of my news.Last week was rather taken up with a wedding - post to come soon!

I spent my first weekend in Normandy with a large group of Frenchies - we were blessed with some lovely weather!

I hope everyone is coping with the post-holiday blues/return to work malarkey. I'm being kept fairly busy on my first day back which helps the time to go much faster, but i will have to have a tidy of the apartment tonight and do a clothes wash before i feel totally back to normal. Going to impress JB by cooking dinner too - Spanish omelette as seen on Suzi's blog, A Rosy Day.

Ciao for now friends!

Lou xxxxx