Cachou Lajaunie

cachou la jaunie breath mints french
cachou la jaunie breath mints frenchcachou la jaunie breath mints french Here’s a fun little thing to show you. I was looking for a breath freshener and saw these at the supermarket. They’re called Lajaunie and they’re made in Toulouse. The “mints” are black bits — they look so small but have quite an impact. Very intense. The taste is somewhere between licorice and mint. I imagine the main ingredient is anise. Pretty packaging. To get out the bits, you twist the top and bottom till a little opening appears. The mints in the container make a nice shaking noise, so June thinks it’s a rattle. Want to try them? You’re in luck. cachou la jaunie breath mints french

La Cressonnière: Floors

Here’s another mini-tour of La Cressonnière. Today, I’d like to show you the old stone floors and a the view down the pretty upstairs hallway. old stone floor La Cressonnière dates to the 17th century. And it was added to in the 18th century. From what we understand, the stone floor in the kitchen and living room are original to the 17th century building. Apparently, in the summers, these floors and the thick stone walls keep the house very cool. (In the winter, that means slippers make a lot of sense, so that little toes stay toasty.) The photo above is actually of the floor in the hallway upstairs. But you can find photos of the living room and kitchen floors below. la cressonniere hallway

Living the Language

Many readers have asked how Ben Blair and I are handling language learning for ourselves. The answer: French is the language we both studied in high school, and a little in college too. So we do know a few words. And I have to say, Ben Blair can do amazing things with the little bit he knows. So far, I have seen him interact confidently at all sorts of stores, at the school, on the phone and with our neighbors. He is so daring! But our little bits of French aren’t nearly enough, so we do have a plan. We are trying to hire a tutor who will come to our home and work with us Monday through Friday. Surprisingly, a tutor is proving hard to find, but I’m crossing my fingers it will happen this week. In the meantime, let’s all be inspired to learn a new language after watching this incredibly charming little video. Originally seen on The Paper Dialogues. Thanks for the link, Khali.

School in France

french school notebook red elephant
Are you curious about how we’re handling school while we’re in France? Today, I thought I’d write up a little report for you all about it. But first, let’s admire these pretty French school notebooks from Laughing Elephant. Aren’t they handsome? I love school supplies at any time of year and from any country. They make me want to write a book report. : ) french school notebook red elephant Now to business. We have gone back and forth, back and forth on how to handle school for the kids while we’re here. But in the end found it was something that needed to be decided once we were actually here and could check out the schools and see how our kids were adjusting to the move. …

Olive’s Room at La Cressonnière

Here’s another peak of our rental home here in France. Today, I’ve snapped some of my favorite details from Olive’s Room. It’s actually Baby June’s room too, but my pictures of the gorgeous antique crib didn’t turned out, so we’ll revisit that yummy little tidbit later. gorgeous headboard This headboard is my favorite one in the house. Isn’t it lovely? Here’s a detail shot: gorgeous headboard

Happy Valentine’s Day!

felt heart DIY

We woke up to a fun surprise this morning. Eleven year old Maude set her alarm super early, so she could get up and play cupid. She set a fancy table for breakfast (with napkins folded into hearts) and sprinkled heart confetti around the house. So sweet! She also left a little gift at each place setting — a friendship bracelet that she made herself.

Breakfast was pancakes with raspberries and whip cream, and raspberry milk to drink.

What about you? Do you have any fun traditions for Valentine’s Day?

P.S. — Did you see the cute little felt hearts by Yeri Yun?

La Cressonnière: Halfbath

I want to share more of the details that make this house so interesting. But there are so many! Too many to share all at once, so I’ll start small. With the tiniest room in the house. A little halfbath on the main floor located under the staircase. la cressonniere half bathla cressonniere halfbath The first thing I noticed was a row of little metal plates nailed to the door. I’m not sure what these plates were originally used for, but I think they’re so pretty. Do you know? I’m guessing some kind of printing. …

Financing a Move Abroad

Here’s another practical post. Many readers have written in asking what the real costs of moving abroad are. It’s a great question. So let’s do it. Let’s talk about the nitty gritty of how much money it took the Blairs to move to another country. Spoiler: it wasn’t free, but it likely wasn’t as much as you’d guess. Also, I’m going to write this using a tone that assumes you’re interested in moving abroad. If you’re not, no stress. Feel free to skip this post. Our rent for La Cressonnierre is almost exactly the same as the rent we paid on our modest home in Denver (around $1500/mo). It’s actually slightly less or slightly more depending on the Euro exchange rate. If the house was closer to Paris, I’m sure it would be much more expensive, but because it’s almost 2 hours away, the price is very reasonable. After some research, we can see that our daily expenses and utilities in France will be quite similar to what they were in Denver. Which means that really, our monthly family budget won’t change much at all. So the good news is: if you can afford to live wherever you’re living right now, you can probably also afford to live abroad — assuming you’re flexible about location. In fact, if you move to a country with a lower cost of living, your monthly budget costs could even go down. But, there are real costs leading up to the move. …

Luggage & Travel Day

Another practical post to start off the week. Today, I’ll be sharing the luggage we chose and reporting on our travel day. blair family at airport Our luggage search was fairly extensive. First we window-shopped, just to get a sense of what was out there and what might work for our family. We started at TJ Maxx, which is my favorite spot to find great individual pieces at bargain prices. Next, we checked out the Army Navy Surplus store to see their enormous, sturdy duffel bags. I even approached Lands’ End about a possible luggage sponsorship because I love their totes and figured their luggage would be excellent as well — but during discussions, we figured out they didn’t have quite the sizes we needed for this particular voyage. So we kept searching. suitcases lined up blair family What I found out in my research: luggage can be really expensive, but there are true bargains to be found. We eventually happened upon the brand fūl (pronounced ‘fuel’) during a Costco trip. It gets great reviews and is very reasonably priced. We ended up buying 7 duffel bags (they were $40 in store), and then bought 7 carryon/backpacks online. That’s 3 pieces for $90. Not bad! Especially considering most of the carryons we looked at were around $200 each. …

Knitted Jewelry from Rachel Faucett

Note from Design Mom: While I’m busy with the move to France, I’ve got a crew of talented Guest Moms filling in for me.Rachel is back with another great find for us today. This one would make a sweet Valentine gift. Enjoy! As knitting and crocheting fill the fashion world with new twists on centuries-old crafts, Tanya Aguiniga takes it a step further and adds knotted rope to the mix with her Unraveled Cotton Rope Necklace line. …

Abstract Art For Kids from Dani Henriksen

Note from Design Mom: While I’m busy with the move to France, I’ve got a crew of talented Guest Moms filling in for me. Today Dani is sharing three terrific painting projects with you. Enjoy! This is such a thrill for me to step out of my life as a full-time mom for a moment and share some painting ideas here on one of my favorite sites! I hope that these art projects inspire you to go out and buy your children some paints and canvas and encourage them to express their own unique creativity. Since my first son was born almost 6 years ago I have looked forward to providing each of my children with opportunities to create through art. You will see that these projects are not complicated (or expensive) and only require a few simple materials. My sons Liam (5) and Lance (3 ½) created 3 simple Abstract paintings to share. …

Taking Off

Phew, I can hardly believe we made it. Today we’re boarding the plane (all 8 of us!) and embarking on our adventure to France. Send happy thoughts our way for our kids to survive the entire flight. Hopefully the iPad doesn’t get old. : ) The pretty photo is from Cori Kindred, the plane just needs to be directed slightly south. And don’t worry, I have a lot more great guest posts lined up so there won’t be any radio silence.

Accordion Folder, Movers & Storage

accordion folder open
accordion folder open Here’s another one of those practical posts about France. It’s features the accordion folder above (which has lately become a beloved object of mine) and how we are moving and storing our belongings while out of the country. file folder sticky notes But before I tell you about all of that, I must show you these post-it notes I’ve been using with the accordion folder. They’re part of the organization system designed by Peter Walsh. They come with tapered corners(!) and I think they are much prettier than the typical post-it colors. …

Countdown to France

map pillow My Bearded Pigeon
map pillow My Bearded Pigeon We fly away a week from tomorrow. The Countdown to France has begun! I am back from Alt Summit. (Yes, it was totally amazing.) I can’t wait to tell you all about it, but my report will have to wait a bit, because it’s time to get packed up for France! The whole adventure seems entirely pretend and all-too-real at the same time. I’m excited and enthusiastic, plus overwhelmed and terrified. Mostly, I’m just working through my to-do list as efficiently as possible. This morning, I’ve been scanning in essential documents (like passports and birth certificates). Later today, I’ll go through my clothes and sort them into piles for France, Goodwill and Storage. Because life is particularly hectic at the moment, I’ve recruited some talented Guest Moms to join me for the next two weeks. They’ll be writing up all sorts of great posts, and I’ll (hopefully) be adding in my own posts about how-t0-move-to-France. Plus, there will be two fun Giveaways on Thursday. Watch for the first guest post shortly. Let me also say, that I can’t thank you enough for your encouraging words, kind emails and thoughtful advice. I truly do not know what I would do without you! P.S. — I am in love with these map pillows by My Bearded Pigeon. They scan in actual maps and then have them printed as textiles. Thanks for the link, Emma.

Passports & Visas

Here’s another post filled with some of the practical bits of moving to another country. Today I thought it would be fun to chat passports and visas. Our long-stay visas were approved last week!! They are an addition to our passport that allows us to stay in France as visitors for an entire year. Hooray! A word about visas: these aren’t visas as in credit-cards. These visas are a document issued by governments, allowing a non-citizen to live or work in their country. In France, you can automatically receive a 3 month visitor visa without having to apply for anything. But if you’d like to stay longer than 3 months, you need to apply for a long-stay visa. I found the visa process to be a bit grueling. If you’re interested, I’ll tell you more about it below. …

Ask Design Mom: Vacuums

Question: Dear Gabrielle, I am shopping for a new vacuum. Is it worth splurging on an expensive one? Or are they just a lot of hype? I’d love your opinion or recommendation. Thanks! — Sara Answer: Great question, Sara. I made do with a $40 vacuum I picked up at Costco for like 6 years or something. It wasn’t great, but it was fine. I only had a couple of area rugs that needed vacuuming. So the short answer is, if you’re not doing much vacuuming, a budget option is probably fine. But my real answer is: I adore Dyson vacuums. (This is not a shocking statement, I’m sure. Design-centric people have long loved the Dyson.) We finally splurged on one when we moved here to Denver because we have mucho wall-to-wall carpeting. My sister advised me to buy it at Bed Bath & Beyond with one of their 20% coupons to help take the edge off the high price. It helped, but it’s still a big purchase. Like you’re buying a major appliance. But man oh man, it’s such a great vacuum! It picks up so much more than any other vacuum I’ve tried. It’s built well and it’s easy to empty and maneuver. We chose the DC24, because it’s a manageable size for both the kids and the grownups to handle. If you’re in an apartment or other small space, my assistant Melanie swears by the new Dyson City. It’s super compact and made for all floor types. What about you, Dear Readers? Any favorite vacuums you want to recommend to Sara?

Christmas Card Basket

What do you do with all your Christmas cards after Christmas has come and gone? We’ve tried a few different things. Before the days of photocards, I would save the pretty paper and use it to make gift tags for next Christmas — and I would save any enclosed photos in an album, but those days are (mostly) gone. This is what we do now. About 3 years ago, as Christmas mail arrived, I started putting it in a little basket so I could attend to it when I had a calm moment. Turns out, I liked keeping them in the basket, so I kept doing it. The basket has turned into a sort of Guest Book of Our Lives. The basket stays out year round. Sometimes it lives in the family room or office. Once it even lived on the mantel because it looked good in the display I had put together. And through the year, I add graduation announcements, wedding invitations and baby notices. Because they’re stacked flat against each other, the cards don’t take up much space at all, and our basket can hold several years worth easily. If envelopes indicate a new address, I keep the envelope at the back of the basket until we’ve updated our records. Occasionally, I’ll clear out any cards we no longer need to keep, but mostly it just keeps filling up, up, up. I love sitting with the basket every month or so to look through the familiar faces. It always makes me emotional — so many people that I love! What about you? Do you keep holiday cards? Or do they hit the recycle pile with the Christmas tree?

Ask Design Mom: Putting Christmas Away

Question: Dear Gabrielle, how long do you let your Christmas decorations stay up? Just curious. — Janice christmas ornaments Answer: Fun question, Janice! I don’t have a hard and fast rule, but if possible, I do like to have everything put away before the kids start back to school. It makes me feel like we’re getting a fresh start. This year, I packed up everything on Saturday (New Year’s Day). Packing happened lazily in the morning, then we shifted into a celebratory mode and went to the King Tut exhibit in the afternoon. I took extra special care putting things away this year because they need to stay neat and secure while they live in storage for the next couple of years. Although I did set aside a few of our Christmas Essentials (some books, a handful of decorations) that we’ll pack up and bring to France — to help us feel less homesick next December. But the kids were shocked to hear we wouldn’t be bringing any ornaments. I’m hoping to come up with something cool we can make for ornaments while we’re in France — and then surprise them with the awesomeness. : ) christmas ornaments Last to leave the house was our tree. It did a great job staying fresh and green this year — hooray! I followed Jordan’s pro-tip and stopped at the hardware store to pick up a $1 plastic drop cloth. Very helpful. What about you? Do you put away holiday decorations right away? Or do you let them linger through January? P.S. — I took these images of our ornaments sitting on the sofa as they came off the tree. So many great memories attached to each of these! Made me happy. christmas ornaments

Plane Tickets & Books

french breakfast family
french breakfast family I’ve decided Thursdays will be my days to write about our France preparations and share anything practical we’ve learned. Updates this week: We bought our plane tickets — whoo hoo! And we’ve been piling up a stack of books about France and French culture. One thing I’ve read is that snacking is not really done in France, and that meals are a bigger deal than they are here — at some fast-food restaurants there are even cloth napkins! Also, apparently it’s custom to eat with a knife in your right hand and a fork in your left. I tried it tonight and I need practice. : ) photo via The Nature of Order
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