Bonne année.

Helloooooooo and bonne année! I hope you have all had an amazing holiday season. I disappeared from the face of the blogosphere a little unannounced, but it has been a busy few weeks around here. Lots of intentions of blogging and zero time in the end.

We celebrated Christmas eve, Christmas day and Boxing day at our place this year. Needless to say, many hours have been spent in the kitchen of late. We had three days of delicious franglais food (foie gras, oysters, turkey, mince pies, & many more naughty treats) and a fair amount of delicious wine and Champagne to go with it. If you're interested to know what our franglais traditions are all about, I did a little guest post on Diana's stylish blog Express-o last week. Pop over and take a peep if you'd like.

As Christmas has come and gone and we have now bided farewell to 2011, my head is full of hopes and plans for the coming year. Mainly, I hope it will be more stress free (see my guest post about this on my friend, Vanessa's lovely blog Coisas Minhas) and that, selfishly maybe, I will have a little more time to myself. Not easy with a toddler and a busy job. But here's to hoping: below are 12 things I would be happy to achieve in 2012.

1. Be. More. Organised - Priority #1 to lower my stress levels. 
2. Exercise - I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't done any regular exercise in almost six years. Some days, I have to run (literally) to be on time to pick up my son from the child minder and I am splattering my lungs out each time. How did I go so far in my "unfitness"? The plan is to start off slowly: yoga lessons for now and maybe later, when we are in our new flat, bikes rides on Sundays in the forest. 
3. Prints photos - Especially, make a photo book of L's first year and his second (which is almost over - blimey!).
4. Be less pragmatic - And more romantic.
5. Learn how to sew - my oh so generous brother and his girlfriend bought me a sewing machine for my 30th birthday though so far there has been zero progress (*cough* sewing machine is still in its box *cough*) but the plan is to become a regular visitor of this fabulous place.
6. Finish my knitting projects - I have two on the go: one scarf and an ear warmer. Better get knitting if I want to use these this winter!
7. Move flats - I mentioned a few months ago that we are *whoop whoop* in the process of buying an apartment but France being France, the paper work isn't yet complete so we are still waiting to become the official owners. Once we get the keys, there will be a lot of refurbishing to do, and by March we hope that we can move into our new home. Fingers crossed!
8. Get more sleep - I am terrible at going to bed. Even if I am exhausted, I will find any old excuse to stay up (movie, blogs, books, photo editing, etc.); I'm never ever in bed before midnight, if that. Trouble is, these days there's no more sleeping in at the weekend to catch up on all that lack of sleep so I need to change this bad habit. It might help with my moodiness too, ha. Two birds with one stone, eh.
9. Say goodbye to my glasses & contacts? - After speaking to several friends who have undergone the surgery themselves, I'm deciding whether or not to go ahead and have the laser eye surgery. I have been wearing contacts for almost ten years but I'm always having trouble with them and my glasses, well I've never liked wearing them. Thoughts anyone?  
10. Revamp my blog - six months ago I drafted a new blog layout but it is still sitting in my drafts. 
11. Follow these wise words (photo above) - with no limits.
12. Plan a wedding - oh, did I forget to mention last year that we are getting married? Well, we are! Just as soon as we find time to organise a wedding.

ps: thanks again to Diana from Express-o and Vanessa from Coisas Minhas for inviting me to post on their blogs. It was a great experience. x

{images: right via Justbesplendid ; left via Kenzalab}

Bread loaf.

Lack of time and good will are keeping me from maintaining this space up to date like I would like to at the moment. Blame it on my end of year to do list which is never ending -- I always seem to adding items to it, never ticking anything off. Do you have that same problem? So while I'll be away this week fretting about various deadlines and running after time, I leave you with this hilarious bread loaf*. Smile!

* Mr. Franglais says you're going to think I'm weird for posting this picture, but I'm hoping some of you out there have the same sense of humour as me. I hate this webbie abbreviation, but I seriously lololed when I saw it!

{via Think Big Chief}

++++

I'm taking a little bloggie break for the rest of this week to recharge my batteries. I'll see you on Monday bright & early avec le sourire. Till then, have a great week! xx

wowsers, 200 followers and a giveaway!

Last week my little blog made it to 200 followers! Thank you wonderful peeps for visiting this space, for sharing your stories with me via your comments, and for showing me so much bloggie love! The thought that anyone else other than my family and friends would ever have any interest in what I write is truly flattering.

To celebrate your loveliness, here's a special something just for you. Cassandra Allen, an Australian born artist specialising in children's books and illustrations, is generously offering one Smallesthings reader the chance to win a print from her shop! That's right, you get to pick whatever one print you prefer from her entire shop - lucky you. And if don't have kids, don't forget this would make the perfect gift (for your nieces, nephews, godchildren, best friend's baby shower, etc.!).

✭✭✭For a chance to win this awesome giveaway, please visit Cassandra's shop and leave a comment below before Sunday telling us your favourite print. The winner will be announced next week.✭✭✭

Good luck everyone. And if you'd like to say 'hello' to the talented artist or follow her Swiss adventures (Cassandra is also a cooking/knitting/crochet/DIY queen + a busy mum!), it's this way to her blog.

Incroyable, mais vrai.

Yippee, I won the Seventy Tree giveaway from my bloggie friend Diana over at exPress-o! I'm a big lover of Kerry's art work so I couldn't be happier to know that two of her prints will shortly be on their way to Paris. Lucky gal I am (especially after having already won this fabulous giveaway not so long ago) and what a good start to the week! :)

Hope you all had a great weekend!

{image ©Kerry Layton}

Enfin les vacances.

Bonjour friends, how is your week going so far? We are on a family holiday in the south of France this week which has so far been very relaxing, despite the gloomy weather. How ironic that we've had two months of non-stop sunshine and that the one week we are off work it's been raining cats and dogs?! Tomorrow though is meant to be sunny so we are planning on having some pool fun in the morning before heading off the beach in the afternoon. It'll be exciting to watch L. to discover water other than in his bath.

As I logged in to my account this afternoon while it was raining, I briefly saw some interesting posts in my blogroll which I look forward to read later tonight. I have some serious catching up to do in terms of blogging. In fact, I wanted to thank you for all the sweet comments you have been leaving me these past few months. Since I started my new job in January, I feel have been receiving far more than I have been giving on the little space, and it often makes me wonder how come I still have any readers at all. I feel guilty for not always taking the time to reply to each comment and e-mail, but despite my lack of response I can assure you they do mean a lot to me - way more than I could ever express so thanks for sticking around!

xx

Knock, knock. Still there?

Hello blog, it's been a while. Winter came and went and here we are in the middle of spring - already. I feel like all I need to do these days is blink and vroom!, the day has gone.

I have missed being here. Thank you kind blog friends who e-mailed and commented when I dropped off the face of the earth. I did keep reading some of your blogs but mostly, there is going to be a lot of catching up to do. There were many evenings when I attempted to blog again and though the desire was there, I found it difficult write anything. So many things happened since my mammoth absence, where would I begin? Well, I'm going to tiptoe my way back into blogging, so for now here's a simple collage of the past few months:

More soon, I promise. It's good to be back!

A très vite xx

Bonjour!

Dear readers,
I am just dropping in to say a quick hello as I have been very quiet here lately. It has been a busy two months in our franglais lives and I have to admit that I have also secretely enjoyed taking a blogging break. But I promise to be back soon with more regular posts and new features which I have had on my mind for a while. Until then, here's wish you a sunny week!
A bientôt, la franglaise xx

{images bunnyandthekids and dazeychic}

bonne année & merci.

Dear readers, I wanted to drop by one last time in 2010 to wish you all a happy new year but also, and especially, to thank you for reading my little blog. I created Smallesthings earlier this year when entering motherhood without realising blogland would be such wonderful place. I have loved meeting so many bloggers from around the world and sharing parts of my life in Paris with you. I am grateful for each and every comment and e-mail (I still owe a reply to some of you!) and for your support throughout this year. It has been great thus far! I look forward to exchanging more posts with you in the new year and keep on reading your blogs which are so inspiring to me. I am addicted to this space!

xx

{image via natzfirefly}

Bora Bora Baby Giveaway.

I have just joined the Bora Bora Baby giveaway on Babble. Bora Bora Baby offers eco-friendly children's clothes inspired by the South Pacific and donates a portion of its proceeds to help preserve the coral reef. Be sure to visit the Etsy shop or enter the giveaway to a chance to win one of these beautiful items. I am hoping to be the happy owner of this tote bag...

A franglaise in Madame Figaro.

I’m excited to share with you that today, little me appeared in Madame Figaro – a French fashion magazine. I was interviewed for this article back in September but with my busy bee life, I had completely forgotten it was due to be released round about now (thanks Kenza for texting me this morning!). The magazine will be available in newspaper agents as of tomorrow but in the meantime the full article (in French) can be read here. I’ll be going down to my local newsagent first thing tomorrow morning to stock up on a zillion few copies of “almost famous me”.

Hope you are all set to have a lovely weekend, my dears. We are a babyless since yesterday so tonight we are going for drinks, dinner and a movie; tomorrow, we are having a house party to celebrate my 29th wrinkle and I can’t wait to boogie on the dance floor.

Mila's Daydreams.

photos ©Adele Enersen

I discovered a wonderful blog earlier this week called Mila's Daydreams. New mum, Adele, imagines her baby's dreams and snaps a shot them while she is napping. How dreamy!

{via Le Poussette Café}

Award.

I have just received this award from my friend Vanessa at Coisas Minhas. I have to share nine things about myself, so here goes:

1. I love everything Brazilian (language, food, culture, music, fashion, everything!).
2. I am actually 3/4 English and 1/4 Welsh and my son is 1/4 French, 2/4 English and 1/4 Welsh.
3. Italian food is my favourite. If I had to eat one meal for the rest of my life it'd be pasta.
4. Rude people make me mad, therefore Parisians often make me mad.
5. I found out I was pregnant at 8 1/2 weeks! (I'll spare you the details of how come)
6. In recent years, I have developed an online shopaholic tendency (amazon, ikea, etsy, fnac, you name it).
7. I have also developped a phobia of flying, which is ironic for someone who loves to travel so much.
8. The sea is what I miss the most from living in a city.
9. I can play the piano.

In return, this award is handed out to:

• My Parisian blogger buddy (I realise I don't even know your name!) from Bright Lights, Big Cities
• Sarah from Koo and Poppet
• Randi from Eye See
• Mariane from A Brand New Baby
• Fer from Nina e Lili