Sunday, February 28, 2010

Le Chateau des fleurs grand tour, the Master bedroom

My Friends are asking me to put up pictures of my house, so here it is for you Chelo and Kirsten. Please pray for Kirsten. She just had surgery and is not doing good. I love you Kirsten.


This is the entry to my Master Bedroom. Double doors. I wanted to keep the bedroom dark. A great idea would be to add mirrors in the paneling of the doors. Very French.


As you open the door, you can see a picture i love. Very romantique. It is the welcome to the area, introducing the mood of the room.




I always take inspiration on my house art work do design the garden....Also good if designing for others. Can't go wrong this way. 

The bedroom should be your refuge, so i think that starting with your master when you put together your house should be the first thing you do. I wanted a tranquil, romantic, simple, aqua blue bedroom. I started with the aqua blue on the ceiling, the bed, a French reproduction(300$ at JCpenney.com). Then the chairs(Jc penney.com). Then the bedding, clearance at Walmart. The pillows, at Target. I bought the picture in a thrift store 8 years ago, the frame was Burgundy, i spray painted it gold. Surprise! it goes in my room. I guess, if you go with things and colors you love, you will find the use. The screen is from my husband grand-mother. his grand-pa got it in China when he was a soldier. It was a wedding gift for grand-ma. When grand-ma passed away, my husband's Dad gave it to me. It made me cry. So this is my favorite piece in the room. The colors are Aqua blue, chocolate brown, white, gold and off white.



This is the side table on the other side of the bed where you can't see it in the picture above. I wanted to recall wood tones. Love the painted pieces.

This is my side table lamp. I like to bring a little sparkle in bedrooms.

Hard wood floors are a good investment. It adds value to your house and i SO love it!


The ceilings are Aqua blue.


The paneling is a plus for a Parisian or Paris Apartment style. This is real paneling but you can achieve a good result with molding and trims only.
My house has a lot of white trims and paneling with colored ceilings. It makes the house flow, from room to room the same qualities are found. The Aqua ceiling is found in the whole house except for the kids bedrooms.


Dwarf Hamsters tale

The dwarf baby hamsters are ready to go to a new home. They are 3 weeks. Lola the diva has a crush on this little white one. She called him "Chubby". So this one is staying. Two already find a home and we have 4 left.
The kids play a lot with them and i have been very surprised how sweet those critters are. They don't bite (a hamster will bite you if you wake him up).
This is the funniest thing. The kids put lego guys in with them. They swarm and attack it. 

Bite and nibble on them.


Cracks me up!!! HAHAHA

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Sometimes we need to stop and listen

 This morning, i fed all the animals, dogs, cats, bunnies... I was going to the coop and opened the front door and stopped. I could hear the birds. Lots of birds. I can't remember the last time i heard birds. I wonder to myself. Were they always here and you never noticed them ? Am i always too busy to notice beauty in nature surrounding me ?. Their songs felt good, i smiled. Sometimes the most important and beautiful are the small things. We just have to stop and pay attention.
have a great week-end. 

Friday, February 26, 2010

Le Chateau des fleurs accessory line launch

I am launching my accessory line next week. My stock will be small but YOU WILL ADORE IT!!!

I am very exited!

It's so Paris, so classy!

Le Jardin des Tuileries


This is the Jardin des Tuileries. In the back right is the gorgeous building Le louvre.
When i was a kid, between the age of 3 till 7 years old. I would play with those sailing boats on the fountain. I would push them with a long stick across the water to the other side. So fun. They used to have pony rides, A "Guignol" puppet theatre show. The Carousel was great too. They gave you a stick and you had to grab rings with it to win a free ride. So many good memories...
If you have not been to Paris look in the picture. Everybody is walking!!!
You get very tired feet at the end of the day but you do exercise this way. 

Thursday, February 25, 2010

I did it again!

I won another give away :)))))



The Etsy shop where to find the tags and other goodies are here : Belle Sainte Shop.


***Update*** I never received the tags :(



Les petits plaisirs de la vie. Little life's pleasures

My friend Juli is an amazing cook and doesn't get enough credits for it. She has 2 blogs. Both amazing.Triple chocolate silk recipe.


She has a dessert blog.  HERE




Not only is she talented, she is very friendly with a big heart. When we met we totally "clicked". I am so glad she is in my life.


Halo-Halo recipe



For any of you with food storage, you will love her second blog. It's all about beans. Last year i opened a container and wondered. "what on earth am i going to do with beans!!!"
Well Juli's blog is my life saver!!
She also has 88 recipes for vegetarians.( Beans is full of proteins).
I went vegetarian for a month and i could not find any blogs with recipes!
So this blog is a keeper.
Go check her beans blog HERE. Leave a lot of comments. She will appreciate your feedback :)

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Lavender farm in Utah

In Southern Utah, not too far from Provo, we have a gorgeous Lavender farm. They have the only Lavender farm American own in Southern France too. In Simiane-La- rontonde. SEE HERE
This is one of my favorite place here in Utah. Well, they have a 5 k in July. HEEEEEEK.
Running is so hard for me and i REALLY want to do this. So this is my goal. Training for it.
My friend Cami (She is a pro and so encouraging, thank you my friend:) ) gave me this link to train. This is what i will use. Changing it a little bit. SEE HERE


I am very exited. I love goals, they make me happy! This 5 K is one of my dreams.
I'll see you there!!!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A window open to Italy with my friend Alex Bigney.


Alex Bigney lives down the street from me. He is such an amazing and interesting person.

Alex Bigney was born in Boston and raised in rural New England. He is an accomplished and gifted artist whose paintings are exhibited in distinguished collections in the United States and internationally.

While living and studying art in Italy, he developed a lifelong and profound relationship to Italian art history and culture. This passion continues to sustain and inform the particulars of his artistic life—a life that is extended to students, colleagues and friends where a substantial, relevant new vision of painting is nurtured and generously shared.

“There is a rising interest among artists today,” Alex has stated, “in reclaiming a painting foundation where discussions of the past are new and alive in the present. What is exacted from us as artists and viewers is that we wholly participate.”


I really like him. He is smart. He has a gorgeous voice. I love listening to him, he is so smart and enriched with travel, knowledge and experience. there is something special about him that  make me like him and he is a super nice person...I love Italy too and have been there. 

He is a wonderful author. He wrote Talking to Tesla. Here is some parts of the book i really like, although there are so many:

“Love is resonance, an effect of the coincidence of frequencies, a marriage of patterns,” stated Tesla, “making their combined influence greater than the sum of their individual effects...Love attracts like a magnet, joining those who love in oneness, as a melodic progression attracts harmonious notes...." p 238, TTT ...

So I keep looking back, picking through the clutter of my life for clues, hoping to stumble upon something that suggests a beginning to this story—my childhood and youth, life as a painter, my travels in Italy; all motifs in the complex pattern that led me here. p i, TTT

Most travelers know; you don’t arrive at one destination by focusing on another. It’s another open secret—that you always end up exactly where you’re headed. p 338, TTT

“You have already learned that order is born from disorder through awareness, but you are only now beginning to believe that perhaps you can actually participate in bringing things into being that were beyond your awareness—which power is called faith.” p 393, TTT

...I have started lowering the volume on things, turning off the radio in the car and letting the house stay silent when I’m alone. I’ve stopped looking at things I don’t intend to see, stopped responding to what isn’t important. I’m trying to listen more, to pay attention to what was there before my life filled up with so much junk. p 88, TTT

He is amazing...


Here is my favorite painting by Alex Bigney.
See his website to see more about him and  to buy his book.
Alex Bigney HERE.

Monday, February 22, 2010

A french treat is always welcome :)

This chocolate mousse taste like the cups i used to eat in France...SO goood!!! We eat a lot of Chocolate mousse. Homemade or bought. I was so exited when i find this!!!! Taste like home!!!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

How to become an Naturalized American



I have been in the States for more than 12 years now, and i Am still of French Nationality. I have been annoyed not being able to vote locally and Nationally here. I pay taxes...I live here permanently. My life is here...Not going anywhere i can assure you. LOL.
It is time to renew my passport to be able to renew my green card and go visit my family back home.

Well......I swear...It is easier to adopt a child than renew my French passport... So much paper work...So many trips to San Fransisco where the French Ambassy is. No work can be done by mail. Why does my country make it so hard for me to live here?
After many nights stressing about it...it came to me. Why not. Become American. You love this country...You build your life here. You support Capitalism. Love politics...Love the land....Your husband is American, your kids.....This is a free country and i feel safe here.

It was not a hard decision.....I checked the USCI web site HERE.
This is the government web site. Other webs are just people trying to get your money from you.

I have to congratulate the USCI and their website. It is clear. Easy and complete. It took me one evening to get all the papers filled out and ready. All photocopies i needed gathered. I understood it all. I know the steps. They also give you all the material to study for your final interview. I was exited about their Politics and history material. Loved it. I am very exited to memorize it all....

My story is very easy. 3 kids. American husband. Lived more than 12 years in states. No felony....
No problems to get papers!!!

What i thought would be a very scary and intimating experience ended up being very easy and exiting. I am happy. Sending out my papers on Monday...
2010 is really a new beginning and new journey for me.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

My life in France

Bonjour Madame blog..HERE, is passing along a very good thought...Not a Cent for Lent, the basic premise is, stop buying things you don't need. If you run out of something it's OK to replace it if you really need it, but not if what you ran out of is a bottle of body wash and you have 10 others in your linen closet that haven't been used or are half used. Use them up or find a substitute around your house to use instead.


It inspired me ...Picture by Associne.


This is where i lived for most of my youth. In an Apartment. I was very happy. My Mom is divorced and raised 3 kids. She had a very good job, but compared to the States only made as much as working for McDonalds. My Mom is a Saint, she sacrificed for us. She worked hard and still is.

We only lived on what we needed. I would used everything till it fell apart. I remember looking at my shoes with a big hole and saying to my Mother...I need new shoes this month. We walk everywhere in Paris. Cars are for rich people.
I had a very small closet and not a lot of clothes...i would even borrow my Mom's.

Because of my youth, i learn very important lessons...Be grateful for everything you have even if it is small...enjoy life, even small things...be happy for others when they have success in life...Never compete....If you love someone, you don't want them to be a looser .
Only buy things you love...and they need to serve more than one purpose....
That a key to happiness is to work hard.

When Hubby started his first business in Utah, i told him that i would be happy in an Apartment with him. That money was not my priority.

With hubby's second business, i told him that i would be happy in an Apartment with him. That money is not my priority.

With Amber alert GPS now, i still tell him the same.

Houses can burn down, the market can crash...loss of a job. I will still be there with him. Because i learned in France that material things don't make you happy. Your family and relationships does.
No matter what my journey will be, good or bad. I will keep goodness in my heart and stay the same...I keep it simple....It's not about the Journey, but about the person traveling...

Big French bear hugs to all of you!
Frenchy

Date!!!

We went to Salsa Leedos, a Mexican restaurant in South Jordan...Hubby always takes blurry pictures...
And makes me laugh..:)
At least i got my shoes nicely....HAHAHA...I love red shoes....
Beef Fajitas....YUM!
Next, to Barnes and Nobles......Hubby, economy books...
Me...Shabby Chic.....OH YEAH...



 Your blog party link is on my right side bar on the day of the party. It is there 24/7.

Today in Utah



Going on a date...See you tonight...

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Little gift..Even late makes me happy!

Hubby's Valentine gift finally arrived.
Valentine is a great excuse to get perfume. I took no chances. I even sent a picture of what perfume i wanted to Hubby. :)
Miss Dior....Cherie.

Last night after school



My French cowboy wrestling with teddy...

My little fairy all tired and a little sick with a cold, cuddling Chocolate, our dwarf bunny...


Contact me at: isafrenchy@gmail.com