Shopping for Kids
It’s fun to figure out the kids clothing scene here. I stop into every little shop and boutique I can find. Some are familiar brands like Jacadi and Zara. Others are new-to-me.
Saturday we picked up June’s cozy little ensemble at a store called Verbaudet. It’s my favorite shade of pink — so muted it’s almost peach. I also window shopped at Cyrillus, which seemed so French to me — stripey boatneck tops and neutral colors. I love it all. Readers have been telling me I must visit DPAM (apparently it’s like a French Old Navy), but I haven’t happened upon one yet.
Any other not-miss stores I should know about? What to Pack When Moving Abroad
So what in the world should you pack if you are moving to another country and what should you leave behind? Great question. And the answer is a vague “it all depends”.
Are you moving to a furnished apartment? How furnished? Will you need sheets and blankets? Will you be there for four seasons? What is the weather like? How much are shipping costs to your new city? How much baggage is allowed per plane ticket? How many kids do you have? How old are they? Will you be working while you’re there? Do you need work materials? And on and on and on…
Clearly, if you’re contemplating a move abroad, your packing list will be very specifically tailored to your family and situation. In this post, I’ll tell you what we brought.
… La Cressonnière: Neighbors
This is a photo looking out our back window. Free range chickens! Roosters too. During breakfast, we hear the roosters making their morning hellos. Which I find very charming.
Our next door neighbor runs a Petite Farm. She brought us some fresh eggs the other day and they were delicious. I’m not sure if my neighbor sells her eggs, but I hope so. I’d love to buy eggs from right next door. Wouldn’t that be lovely?
She raises cows too, but I think they might be for beef, not milk. I’ll have to ask. The cows are pretty and white. At least two of the calves are still nursing.
Baby June likes to stand at the window and watch the animals. We are working on our bawk bawks and our moo moos. I need to find out what French cows and chickens say. Do you know?
How We Shop & Eat in France
There have been sweet comments and emails asking more about food in France, so we took the camera to the market this morning and snapped some pictures so I could write a proper post.
We love the food here. We’re so lucky to have easy access to fresh, local produce, and we think it’s wonderful that there’s a focus on what’s in season. When you buy something at the market, it will be placed in a little paper bag and the corners will be twisted up like this:
The bag is filled with 4 small avocados because I’ve been craving guacamole. Question: should I feel guilty if I still crave non-French foods from time to time? : )
We also bought some gorgeous dried apricots. They were placed in a little bag too. We only wanted a handful or so, but couldn’t remember how to say quarter kilo, so we asked for a half kilo instead. Hah!
At the dairy booth, we bought a nice big wedge of Carrouges cheese. We’ve heard it’s pretty mild and really, really good. I can’t wait to try it.
We also bought a pint of fresh milk at the dairy booth. The milk was in big buckets and it was fun to watch them ladle it into this bottle:
I’ve already had a glass full and it is wonderful.
… Cachou Lajaunie
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.
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.
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.
… 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
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. : )
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.
This headboard is my favorite one in the house. Isn’t it lovely? Here’s a detail shot:
… Happy Valentine’s Day!
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.
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.
… The Treehouse at La Cressonnière
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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