An update.

It has been fairly quiet around these parts lately and it may continue to be until the end of the month. Two weeks ago today we (finally!) signed the legal documents for our flat and officially became broke propriétaires. Now that we have the keys to our new home in hand, we can start the big refurbishment. Kitchen, bathroom, toilet, closets, windows, shutters, electricity - we are talking weeks of travaux. And while it is exciting to be redesigning everything from scratch, the task of choosing all the materials is not easy. In which room do we put down carpet, tiles, or wood? what texture do we want? what colour? what disposition? It's super tricky to decide since there is no going back once the choice has been made. I sometimes wish we had hired an architect to help us make all these decisions. But since we cannot really afford one, I've been pinning like mad lately, looking for as much inspiration as possible on line. Fingers crossed that in a few months, we'll have successfully turned this new apartment, into a new home.

Wishing you all a relaxing weekend! I'm looking forward to my girls' night out at Andy Wahloo & the 404; two places I have be meaning to go to for years!

A bientôt!

Celebrations.

Bonjouuuur! I hope you are all having a great start to the week after a lovely weekend. We celebrated my birthday – again – on Saturday and had such a fun evening by the Canal Saint Martin. It’s been so mild in Paris lately, my friends and I were lucky to be able to sit outside for a couple of hours sipping glasses of bubbly before heading to Hotel du Nord for a fantastic meal in a great 1930’s decor (I highly recommend this restaurant if you ever visit Paris). And just as I thought my birthday celebrations were over, my sweet colleagues sprang a surprise “joyeux anniversaire!” on me this morning and treated me to a gift voucher from Zara. Shopping spree it is for me this weekend :-) Birthdays, what delicious treats you bring! So far so good with this 'turning 30' lark, if you ask me.

ps: sorry for the lack of visits to your blogs lately. It's the same old story: so much to do, so little time. I hope to be back on track soon. In the meantime, thank you for always sticking around. 

{images from Hotel du Nord, pterjan, and PhF1}

three-oh, ho ho ho.

It was my birthday last week. The big 3-0. Don't tell anyone, but so far it feels very much like being 29. Mr. Franglais and I both took the day off work for my birthday (I always do that; me no likey workey on my special day) and enjoyed a quiet afternoon being tourists in our own city. We walked, ate, walked some more, ate some more, and I spent all afternoon bearing a happy smile on my face as I snapped away on my brand spanking new lens (thx luv!). We celebrated my birthday a second time with my folks during the weekend and will do so a third time next Saturday with my friends. My birthday has been a welcomed little distraction from all the stresses of buying (at last though, yay!) a flat. So it's now official: I'm 30 and...broke, ha!

Pictures: jardins du Luxembourg, restaurant Alcatraz, Pont des Arts, cupcakes from Chloe's, parc Monceau.

Bonne rentrée to us.

Hello, it's been a while. Nice to see you again. Our Greek adventures ended this weekend and (sadly) we return to work tomorrow after three blissful weeks away. It is always peculiar to come back from holidays: it feels like you have been gone for ages, yet at the same time you get back into your pre-holiday routine so quickly it also feels like you never left, and that it was all just a dream.

After spending 21 days 24/7 together, the separation tomorrow morning is going to be rough. I (have already) cried my eyeballs out this evening after putting my little boy to bed because I cannot bear the thought that I will only see him until after I get home from work tomorrow night. It also breaks my heart to picture him going back to our child minder's teeny weeny flat after two months of exciting outdoor (wild)life. But as Mr. Franglais has had to remind me in my mini post-holiday depression, it is thanks to our days spent sitting behind our office desks that we were able to have this magical time in Greece so yes, I'm looking forward to working my arse off until however long it takes to save up for our next getaway as I'm already missing my boys, the beach, the sea, the sunsets and 30 degree temperatures way too badly.

More on our Greek holiday next week. I have like, a zillion photos to bore your with so stay tuned.

Bonne semaine!

Skies.

Lots of time spent at Paris Plage this weekend. But the newish version, on the canal de l'Ourq. So much nicer and more relaxed than the quai de Seine. We ate ice cream, built (and immediately destroyed) lots of sand castles, played in the water and people watched. Sunday afternoon was so hot, we improvised a little swimming pool on the balcony so that one lucky person could cool off. It was great to have a taste of summer after endless days of grey skies.

Tonight my boys are off to Liverpool to visit the family until Friday. First time L. is going to take a plane and I won't be there. Though it's probably best as I'd stress them out with my irrational plane phobias. Lots to wrap up at work this week while they are away and I've some reading to do in preparation for our trip to Greece (it actually works. I read it before every flight).

Paris - Normandie - Paris.

Hello. Back to work today after another long bank holiday weekend (for a secular State, we do get a lot of days off thanks to little baby Jesus. I’m not complaining but it is ironic). It was a bit of an odd weekend. Lots of emotional ups and downs. The ups were spent with my little fella à la campagne and with my big fella en tête à tête in the city. The downs, well... I spare you those. Only ten days to go until I’m officially on holiday, but who’s counting?

City photos taken at Paris Plage.

Have a delightful weekend!

Our trio reunites again, after a (long) week apart. Have a good one peeps and see you on Monday!

Bilinguism.

I adored your reactions to my first "I love you" from little big L. It truly was one of the most magical moments in my short life as a mum. In fact, this whole new talking phase is ridiculously cute. Our little fella's vocabulary is getting richer by the day, I feel like I'll barely have time to blink  before he starts chatting away with us. To be honest, I had no idea that he'd be talking and understanding so soon. I thought it was something kiddies did when they were much older. I remember realising how much he actually understood when a few months ago I asked him if he wanted to read the Hungry Caterpillar and he went to his bookshelf and picked the right book. I don't know about you, but there are actually heaps of things I had no idea about when it comes to babies and which I am learning about along the way. I find it great to discover these new steps as we go along rather than read about them in advance and then be worried that L. is has not reached this or that milestone "on time".

What I am most fascinated about at the moment is to watch his little bilingual brain develop. For now, he speaks a mix of English and French, using whatever word is the easiest to pronounce in either language. He'll say "apple", "ball", "cheese", "oh dear" but "tiens" [here you go], "ca" [this/that], "c'est quoi?" [what's that]; and sometimes he'll speak franglais like when we says doudou (a mix between dog and toutou). He can distinguish the difference between both languages but is still unsure which one to actually speak. The other day when we were walking in the forest he was calling for me in French and since we speak English at home, we explained to him that I am "mummy, not maman" and he got really affirmative, repeating " noooon, maman!". It was so cute.

We would really like for L. to be bilingual like us. So many people around us tell us different stories about the best way around it, but it is seems impossible to really know what the best approach is. For now, we both speak English to him and he learns French with the childminder. The only thing we are trying to change is to switch from French to English between Mr. Franglais and me. We feel that L. might otherwise be confused as to why we speak to him in English, and French to each other. It has been really hard to for us switch but little by little we are managing.

Do you have bilingual kids or are you bilingual yourself? I'd be very interested to hear about your personal experiences.

{photo by akynou, taken at the Wall of I love you's near the Place des Abbesses, Paris 18th}

Belated weekend round up.

Hello friends, how was your weekend? I'm a bit late in asking, aren't I?! Well, ours was amazing if you'd care to know. We spent two days en tete a tete, living the carefree life again. We had lazy mornings in bed, went to restaurants, cafes, strolled hand in hand, reminisced about our days in Paris as a child free couple and laughed as we remembered the amount of spare time we had on our hands back then. Those were fun times, and I am glad we both keep the fondest memories of life our BC*. Speaking of which, our little man also enjoy his couple of days without us -- running around naked in his grandparents' garden, picking flowers all day and paddling in his wee pool. That's the life! When we went and got him up on Sunday he didn't even really care whether we were there or not. Too right: for a little city boy like him, exploring life a la campagne is way more interesting than kissing & cuddling his parents!

* before child














Oh, and something else happened over the weekend but that'll be for another post so you'll have to stay tuned!

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Hello! I'm back again. What have I missed this week? Not too much I hope. Can you believe tomorrow is Friday already? I'm a little confused with the days this week as we had Easter Monday off. Three-day weekends should be the norm', don't you think? I took a day off work the week before as well so that's two long weekends in a row for me. It's been great to have a bit of extra time to relax and spend en famille. After almost a year back at work from my maternity leave, I still find it so hard to see my little boy only a couple of hours a day. But, in just five weeks we'll be on holiday all together, which seems like an eternity right now but close enough to start counting down the days. And while we impatiently await the dolce vita on the Côte d'Azur in June, we've been lucky to enjoy amazing summer-like weather in Paris these past weeks. I love going to markets this time of year as there is such a large choice of fruit and veggies and it's a great way to teach the colours to little L.! I've also been on the look out for some plants to brighten up our balcony because it is looking pretty bare at the moment. My favourite summer herbs are already planted though: basil, mint, and coriander... hmmm, those smells, that taste are heavenly! Like most Parisians, we've been having a lot of outdoor fun thanks to this gorgeous weather. In fact, we've been spending quite a few Saturdays outside of Paris as we are becoming less and less tolerant to the city crowds and fumes. We have never gone far - places like the Bois de Vincennes, Bois de Boulogne, Bois d'Arcy - but it makes such a huge difference. Especially for our little monkey who just never gets tired of living the adventurous life of an explorer. It is fascinating to watch him observe the world so keenly.

{Veggie photos inspired by my friend Alienorbd}