What to Wear to 9th Grade – Euro Edition
This is Ralph Blair, age 15. Fifteen! If we were in Colorado, he would be starting his freshman year of high school, but here in France he’s in his last year of middle school. They call middle school “college” in France so that makes it sound pretty cool to an American teen’s ears. : )
For outfit #1, Ralph is wearing a heathered henley from Zara, jeans and a scarf from his closet, and tie-up Vans. Ralph’s in that stage where we sometimes pick something up in the kids department and sometimes pick something up from the men’s department. It all depends on the actual item of clothing.
Ralph is a great sport about taking part in these posts, but he hinted to me that it might be his last year participating. Totally his call, of course.
… Living With Kids: Cory Kallfelz
Most of us probably lean toward instant-design, don’t we? We buy a home, change the flooring, update the kitchen and bathrooms, paint and paint and paint, and maybe even buy a couch on a Saturday when we were supposed to be picking out paint colors! And just when we think we can’t take another day of renovation, the project is over! But can you imagine a home renovation that took seven years to complete? That’s exactly how long it has taken Cory and her husband to transform the ancient one-room schoolhouse into a home abundant with thoughtful details and timeless design. Seven years? Time well spent, I’d say! Please enjoy the home that Cory and Douglas (and Otto and Max!) built.
Q: Tell us all about the family who lives in this home!
A: I’m Cory Kallfelz and I live in this special house with my husband, Douglas, and our two sons: Otto, who is seven, and Max, who is three. Our home is located in Rhode Island just up the street from the ocean, nestled in a cluster of very sweet historic cottages. Douglas and I are both architects – a dangerous combo! – and we are passionate about our profession and connect on seeing the world through a similar lens. We met in design school many years ago and greatly value each other’s design counsel. We are avid DIYers and have spent many weekends and nights plugging away at our house project.
Q: How did this home come to be yours?
A: We were sold on this house because of the charm of the immediate neighborhood, its proximity to the water and our little town center, and most definitely because we could get our hands dirty with a hefty renovation. We found the former house – originally an 1890s one-room schoolhouse – and knew that this was our project. Our design juices flowed immediately, and we started our construction two months after closing.
… Lullabies
Last night, as Ben Blair and I were going from bedroom to bedroom, turning off lights and tucking in kids, it occurred to me that the only room where we still sing a lullaby is June & Betty’s. Each of our children was sung to nightly for years and years, but the ritual has faded for all but the youngest two.
The lullaby we use is one that was sung to me by my own mother, and as I was going through the melody last night, I wondered if there were other parents around the world singing the same song. I realized I’d sung the song thousands of times but I’d never thought to look up the source. What I found was predictable but interesting. Both the tune and words I inherited are different than the ones I could hear in online samples. And of course, we decided we like our version best of all. It’s so familiar to us it’s practically tattooed on our souls. : )
… What to Wear to 8th Grade – Euro Edition
Here’s a little tour of what the lovely Maude Blair, age 13, will be wearing to 8th grade. Starting with outfit #1, which features a floral jumpsuit from the Next outlet, and a navy cardigan from Abercrombie. (If you’re curious, you can find a little sidenote about what my kids think of Abercrombie in this post.)
The silver, leather ballet flats are from Carrefour (a French grocery store).
… What to Wear to 2nd Grade — Euro Edition
Here’s another What to Wear to School wardrobe tour, this time featuring 7-year-old Oscar. Fun fact: based on the emails he’s received, Oscar has a bit of a fan club from his roles in the Olive Us episodes. Luckily, it hasn’t gone to his head. : )
For outfit #1, Oscar is wearing a yellow polo shirt from JC Penney, sky blue khakis from a clothing store in Rome, classic checkered Vans and a striped tee from H&M.
It’s fun for me to look at these photos and see how much Oscar moves around. He is active as can be!
… Olive Us: Episode 8: How to Set Up A Study Space
Just in time for back-to-school season, here’s the latest episode of Olive Us: How To Set Up a Study Space. It’s a really cute one!
We filmed this episode at my mom’s house in Mendon, Utah.
Matt and Julie of Tiger in a Jar had such a great vision of how to make it charming. I love the music they found! And a big part of the charm is definitely the fantastic illustrations of Merrilee Liddiard. (Do you know her work? Her excellent blog is called Mer Mag.)
I hope you enjoy the show!
P.S. — More Olive Us videos. What to Wear to 6th Grade – Euro Edition
Hey there! It’s time for some What to Wear to School posts. Let’s start with Olive Jean Blair. She just turned 11 and started 6th grade here in France. Fun fact: because of different age enrollment guidelines, in Colorado she would be starting 5th grade.
In this first outfit, Olive is wearing pale-pink sequin capris we found at a Next outlet near Dover, England. Her pink layering tee is from Carrefour (a Target-like French grocery store chain) and the dark brown oxfords are too. The grey wool v-neck sweater used to belong to Ralph, but it was accidentally washed and now has a cropped, shrunken, felted (but still cute) look. The necklace is by Truebirds.
For years, bright green was Olive’s favorite color, but recently she’s had a change of opinion and currently there isn’t a bit of green in her wardrobe.
… Living With Kids: Rae Friis
I’m stumped about how to introduce this week’s home tour to you. The word that seems most appropriate to describe it is happy, but I’ve spent more than a few minutes trying to think of a better one. I mean, there’s a cozy nook! And a chalkboard! A wall of vintage maps! Over-sized art! A chubby baby! Suddenly, mid-smile, I realized that we can’t do much better than happy, can we? Happiness is a design style we should all covet. So welcome to a glimpse into Rae’s happy home and happy family.
Q: Tell us all about the happy family who lives here!
A: What a big question! I’ll start with the babe and work my way up.
Griffin William (G Dub) just turned one, and has the Scandinavian look like his daddy. Aside from his cute packaging, he is super sneaky and tends to do things when people aren’t looking. For instance, it was a few weeks after he started crawling that we actually saw him do it. No joke.
Tilly Jane (Matilda) is our almost four year old wanderlust. You don’t know where she is going or what she is up to, but you know it’s going to be good. Or naughty. Like when she visits the other team’s dugout after a game to mooch a snack before coming to mooch one from her brother’s team. “Tilly, where did you get that doughnut?” She is also our encourager. If you want to feel amazing about yourself, go talk to Tilly. Seriously. However, she has zero regard for personal space so I recommend a phone call.
Espen just turned six, and if I had to pick a child to spend the day with, it would be this little dude. He gets excited about everything, small or big. Waking up (excited), getting a strawberries and crème at Starbucks (excited), vacationing at Disney Land (excited), having a friend over (super excited). In addition, he is the resourceful child that plays with Legos for hours, cracks the password on my iPhone, and gets the family laughing when we need it most.
… Switzerland Report, Plus 6 Last-Minute Roadtrip Tips
The whole family felt like our last minute trip to Switzerland was even better than expected. So we’ve been analyzing what made it so good, and wondering if we can replicate the experience in the future. Here are some of our tips for last-minute road trips (most are just reminders to me personally : ), plus a report on favorite activities in Switzerland.
1) Embrace the Spontaneity.
I arrived home from my trip to New York City on a Saturday afternoon. While I had just had an adventure, I could see the rest of the family was itching for one too. My first instinct was to take a long, long nap. Then evaluate where we were laundry wise. Then run an errand or two for road trip snacks. And turn the whole thing — if we did it at all — into a carefully orchestrated event.
But I could easily predict that if I even took step one (the nap), I’d wake up with the realization that I was behind on work, that the house could use a good cleaning, etc., and this trip wouldn’t be happening.
So we just went for it. I said this to myself: This is not a life or death situation. No one is going to starve. If we’re not having a good time, we’ll come home. Thirty minutes later, we were packed and on the road.
…Switzerland Report, Plus 6 Last-Minute Roadtrip TipsRead More »
The Perfect Gift: Gilded Moleskine Journal
I love gathering school supplies for my kids, but I’m always tempted to pick up fresh pencils and crisp notebooks for my friends as well. It seems like everyone enjoys a fresh start in the fall! So I asked Jordan of Polkadot Prints to come up with a perfect gift for friends who are trying something new. — Gabrielle
A friend of mine has recently gone back to part time work after taking some time off to focus on her young family. She is in a creative industry, so she’ll no doubt have light-bulb moments and genius ideas on the go! I’m hoping these gilded Moleskine journals will come in handy for her brainstorming and note taking whether in the board room, the car or anywhere in between. They were quite easy to make and once on a roll, I ended up making myself a set too!
So lets gather our tools and get started.
… Living With Kids: Wendy Hyde
Wendy knows how difficult it is to turn a temporary rental house into a never-want-to-leave home. All of us living in rented spaces know this, don’t we? Sometimes, it’s just easier to leave things the same and spend the time and money elsewhere, starting sentences and someday plans with “When we get our own home…” But whether it’s her innate sense of style, her decorating skill, or her husband’s perspective-changing accident that fuels her, Wendy has decided not to press pause on this time and space in their lives. Friends, Wendy’s hitting play. And, boy, does she play well…with colors and patterns and high-end ideas that would feel right at home on magazine pages. Welcome to Wendy’s anything-but-shabby nest!
Q: Tell us all about the family who makes this house a home.
A: There’s my husband, John, who is a photographer with an amazing eye. He’s also very handy, which is great when I need help with my endless DIY list! Then there’s me. I’m an interior designer and blogger who loves to decorate and redecorate our space; thankfully, my family doesn’t mind too much.
Finally, there are our four munchkins: three Lego-loving boys ages 12, six, and five, and our dance-obsessed nine year old daughter. Our family is loud, full of energy, and crazy-in-a-good-way. And I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Q: Where does your home live?
A: We moved to our home in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah after my husband was in a serious car accident that nearly claimed his life. It turned our world upside down. We needed to find a rental house, and this home was a true gift during a time when our family was struggling.
… The Names That Got Away
Question:
I absolutely adore the names that you chose for your children, and I was wondering if you have any names that got away? If so, would you be willing to share? I have to say, I’m always curious what you would name another handful of children! Thanks so much. — Trisha
Answer:
What a fun question, Trisha. I love the phrase you use: the names that got away. That’s perfect. I do have a list. Or at least a couple of little stories. When I was pregnant for the second time, and we’d found out it was a girl, we started chatting about names. I suggested Claire, (which I love!) And Ben started laughing. “Claire Blair?” he asked? Ugh! I hadn’t even thought about the first and last names together! When I realized they formed a full-on rhyme, which I was not okay with, I about burst into tears.
Then, when I was pregnant for the third time, I was positive I was having a boy (I wasn’t), and we starting picking out names. We really liked one of the Blair family names: Charles Sargeant Green, and we planned on naming baby number 3 Charles Sargeant Blair. But baby number 3 turned out to be Olive! And when the next boy arrived (Oscar), Charles Sargeant didn’t feel quite right, so we saved it for a possible future son. Since we’re done having babies, it’s now officially a name-that-got-away.
Other names that have made our short list over the years: Mabel, Maxine, Beatrice and Hazel. But I can’t remember any of our boy names. In general, we’re drawn to the names from our grandparent’s generation. We favor names that are:
-Easy to pronounce
-Easy to spell
-Currently uncommon
-A name with some history — a name our kids will discover as they get to know great books.
As a mental test, whenever we were talking about names, I would imagine my kids as 80-year-olds, sitting at a card table playing canasta. If the name we were considering fit at the table, it got a green light.
And now, I’m so curious I have to ask: Do you have any names that got away too? I’d love to hear them!
P.S. — What if it was illegal to keep your birth name?
The Perfect Gift: Letter Cookie Gift Bag
Hey. The school year is long. And it never hurts to try and get on the teacher’s good side early on. : ) So I asked Amy of This Heart of Mine to create a sweet back-to-school gift for teachers — something fun you can bake with your kids! (Take note: the squeeze bottles are genius.) — Gabrielle
Another summer is at its end and school’s start is coming soon (or maybe it’s already begun!). It’s hard to part with the lazy days of summer, for student and teacher alike. Lucky students, they get new gear, new backpacks, new pencils, maybe new clothes if there was some summer growth. Teachers might get a few new materials too, but why not help start their year with a little extra sweetness?
… Living With Kids: Blair Stoker, Revisited
Do you remember Blair Stocker’s thoughtful, art-filled home? I thought you might. Her family is clearly a creative bunch that surrounds themselves with the treasures they’ve made plus everything else that inspires their artistic leanings. So when it was time to transform her daughter Emma’s room from little girl heaven to teen-approved sanctuary, there was no shortage of brilliant ideas and the DIY-ability to execute them. Welcome back, Blair!
Q: Tell us why you decided to redecorate your daughter’s bedroom.
A: We painted Emma’s room pink when we moved into this house, back in 2002 when she was three. A few years later, we gave it a new coat of paint in her favorite color at the time: purple. A light purple, but purple. A fresh coat of paint, new quilt, and a closet clean-out occurred, and we considered that space good to go for a while.
… Switzerland
Waving hello from Bern, Switzerland! It is jaw-droppingly beautiful. Gasps escape us at every turn.
We walked through Old Town this morning. Did a little back-to-school shopping. Listened to, and watched, the famous clock chime. Swam in the Aare River (hands down the prettiest river I’ve ever seen). Then picked up sandwiches for lunch.
Now we’re at our laptops, while the kids settle down for the afternoon with a movie. Stay tuned, because I have a fun giveaway for you today!
P.S. — Feel free to join our adventure on Instagram.
Olive Us Episode 7: How To Buy Eggs from a Petite Farm
Here’s the latest from Olive Us! Join Betty, Olive & Maude as they visit our French neighbor to buy eggs.
Bonjour hens and roosters!
The Perfect Gift: French Braided Welcome Wreath
August is one of the year’s biggest moving seasons and chances are you have a dear friend settling into a new home right this minute, or some new neighbors who looking to make friends. So I asked Miranda of One Little Minute to come up with something lovely to make as a housewarming gift. Take a look at her adorable idea! — Gabrielle
Inspired by the french braid trend, I came up with this simple, french-braided fabric wreath and know it will make an easy, versatile housewarming gift. I chose to make it with bright gradient colors of fabric scraps, but I think it would look equally amazing in raw burlap or all white linen. Gorgeous! There are so many possibilities that you could use this technique to match any style.
After you make your wreath, feel free to download and print the free Welcome Home Tag to make your gift complete!
… Love The Place You Live: Haras du Pin
Not long after we moved here, when we’d driven around a bit, we noticed signs that said Haras du [fill in the blank], all over the place. When we inquired about them, we were told they indicated horse breeding farms, and that the horse-breeding capital for all of France was right here in the town of Argentan. It’s called Haras du Pin. (You can pronounce is Huh-rah-do-pan.)
I can’t wait to tell you about our visit, but first, I need to apologize. I intended to write about William the Conquerer’s Castle in Caen for this post, because we spent Saturday in Caen running errands. But I didn’t get any photos! Not one. So I’m sharing our visit to Haras du Pin instead. It happened one year ago this very month. So the good news is: at least the photos look seasonal. : )
… Another French Cottage, But It’s Already Fixed Up!
After posting cottage prices last week, I’ve been getting emails from readers who are curious about buying property in this region of France. With good reason! It’s definitely a buyer’s market right now. But many people want to know if there are any cottages available that don’t need an overhaul — that have already been redone.
Which made me think of the charming cottage pictured here! It was purchased and lovingly revitalized by a couple from England (I know them from church). The couple is moving back to England to spend more time with their grandkids and have decided to sell.
The property is amazing. The kitchen, living room and bedroom have all been redone. The garden is full of fruits and flowers — apple trees, raspberries, blackberries. Ivy grows happily up the stone walls. And it’s very near the charming town of Carrouges, home of a super cool castle and one of our favorite cheeses.
There is plenty of storage and barn space, like behind the green door above. FYI: Here in the countryside, empty barns that are attached to homes act as garages, filled with bikes and gardening tools and tennis rackets. We park our vintage Renault in a barn at our house.
And the property includes a terrific outbuilding (the photo with the brown door). The outbuilding could be turned into a guest house or an artist’s studio. It’s super inspiring and gets my imagination going whenever we visit.
But maybe the most inspiring thing is the views of the countryside from the cottage. Rolling hills, fields and forests. Gorgeous!
And all the work is done.
Of course, that means the price goes up! A cottage like this is listed for 199,000 euros (which is approx $280,000 depending on today’s exchange rate). Not a bad deal for a nice-sized slice of the French countryside. You can see the full house listing, plus interior pics, here.
P.S. — For those who are seriously shopping, if you don’t speak French, a house like this is extra-dreamy, because the sellers will be easy to communicate with. Even better, you can contact the owners directly and get a price that’s 10,000 euros less (because no agency fees). If you do want to contact the owners, just let me know and I’ll send you their email address.
New York
Here I am, feeling like I just got back to France, and now I’m flying to New York today. Hooray! I can hardly believe my luck. I’ll be there through the week to help host and put on Alt Summit NYC (which is going to be amazing!). The weather will be summery and hot (no surprise), but even in the dog days of August, New York is so appealing to me. You too?
Extra-fun: my French friend Caroline is coming too! She’s never been to New York — never been to America, actually — and she’s over the moon about it. I have meetings and appointments throughout the week, but Caroline will get to play tourist. During the plane ride, we’re going to map out an awesome NYC itinerary. For Caroline, it will include cupcakes because… SHE HAS NEVER HAD ONE.
(Don’t you think that deserved all caps?)
She’s had plenty of chances when she visits Paris, but she wanted to wait until she could have the real thing in America. Isn’t that fantastic? If you were planning a New York itinerary for Caroline, what would you put on your don’t miss list?
Historic photo of Grand Central Station from the NYC Municipal Archives.
P.S. — I have tons of fun posts for this week, including 3 more for today, so definitely stay tuned.