Salut là...

How are you all? We made it to Paris and have been having a wonderful time. Our tiny hotel in the 1st is perfect, and Paris is as beautiful as ever! We've viewed the city from the Jardin des Tuileries ferris wheel, scaled the eiffel tower, whiled away time in sidewalk cafes, battled the crowds (and I mean crowds) at the Louvre, shopped St Honare and Rue des Francs Bourgeois (love the July soldes), metro-d about, wandered the Marais, visited Notre Dame in the sweltering heat, viewed the Arc de Triomphe, and eaten an awful lot of croissants! And now it's time to pack our bags and head for Spain. We won't have internet for at least a week, but I will be back with pics and so on soon. A bientôt!

À bientôt...

Thank you all for your kind comments this past week. We are finally packed and ready to go. Amongst the last minute running about I ran out of time for what:nots, and didn't manage to respond to this. And now the boys have finally gone to sleep, and as we have awfully early flight tomorrow I am calling it a day. However, Parisian and Spanish wifi willing, I aim to post updates of our adventure, and other bits 'n bobs, over the coming weeks. Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you soon!
Image from Contented Me.

Two sleeps to go...

Yeep! Things have been a little chaotic around here hence the lack of posts... Despite the sultry summer weather (so tempting to sit in the sun), combined with having the boys home (chaos - lovely, but chaos) and R away (flying solo once again), I seem to be just about organised for our wee holiday. I'm hoping to settle in this evening and catch up on all your blogs, pop up a few posts here, and finally respond to my Happy 101 award (thanks Engracia)! Oh, and just generally breathe...... I hope you're having a lovely week, and that the sun is shining for you.
Image from Donna Pitsch.

L'arnacoeur...

This french comedy looks utterly hilarious. Sorry I couldn't find a subtitled trailer, and the English trailer is, well it doesn't do the film justice.
Clip from You Tube.

Grassroots soccer...

Jessica Hilltout spent seven months traveling across Africa documenting the continent's love of soccer. The photographs of her journey are spell-binding, as is the story of the people she met. "So many people have so  much and do so little with it," she said. "The people I met had so little, yet managed to do so much with it." Hop over here to read an interview, and here to have a peek at the book of her travels. And her quote below is so true. 

"I have always been interested in the poetic character of the small, seemingly unimportant things.To me, there is hidden beauty in the ordinary and great beauty in the overlooked."

Image from Jessica Hilltout, quote from NY Times.

Sparse, yet detailed...

Loving these sparse, yet detailed illustrations by Lucinda Rogers. You can see more of her work here. I hope you had a grand weekend, ours whizzed by in a blur of activity and sunshine. Hopefully your week is off to a good start, we are on countdown to l'aventure grande, with lots of last minute things to do...

Images from Heart Artist's Agency.

What:nots...

Or should that be belated-what:nots? After one too many late nights it was early to bed for me last night, and today has been the usual hurly-burly round of Saturday things. Anyhoo I hope you all had a fun week. We survived another week of the hols, as well as sweltering temperatures, and are now on a countdown toward our next adventure. We have a four hour layover in Chicago and I'm wondering whether we should explore beyond the airport....if anyone has any tips I'd love to hear them. Right-o let's get on with what:nots, or it will be next Friday before you know it!

Dark hair, wild brows and ice blue eyes at Alberta Ferretti.

Loving Burberry's new 'beauty' range - especially the lip glows.

How to personalise (or pimp) your Moleskine.

Lovely ballet flats by Maria Sharapova for Cole Haan.

Could Clu have made the perfect little black dress for summer?

Delicate nested 'rose' bowls from White Forest Pottery.

kai perfume oil a sublime blend of gardenia and tropical white flowers.

And a small pop of colour to end with. I not sure what I love more about Uxua Casa - the idea of staying here, or finding a little piece of paradise and creating something similar...

I hope you have a fun weekend - I'm off to make cardamom cooler from here.

Images from Style.com, Burberry, Neu Black, Cole Haan, Guilt, White Forest Pottery, kai and Uxua Casa Hotel.

Summer...

"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world."

Ada Louise Huxtable

I think this quote sums summer up particularly well don't you think? We are basking (or melting depending on your perspective) in the high high 90s. Pure bliss! I'd quite like to climb into the cool waters of the image above - if only we were by the sea...
I hope the week has been kind to you - I shall be back this evening with what:nots.
Image from here.

The river...

The River a short film by Derek Henderson - serene, breathtaking, beautiful....
You can see more of Derek's work here and here.
Clip from The Anthropologist.

Clever...

How clever are these illustrations? Miyuki Sakai uses a sewing machine to create intricate 'stitched' illustrations - lovely. You can see more of her work here.

Images from Miyuki Sakai.

Hello week....

How was your weekend? Ours was fab - a perfect mix of relaxing and doing things. I hope your week is off to a good start. Ours started off gently enough but will no doubt get busier. R leaves tomorrow for NZ then Germany, so we will once again be three. But late next week the boys and I fly out to meet R in - drum roll - Paris!!! Woohoo uber-exciting! After five days there we head to northern Spain where we'll spend a week pottering about exploring, before travelling to Barcelona for four days. Yippee! I've never been to Spain so can't wait to explore, and as for Paris I can't wait to go back. Although I imagine it will be quite a different experience with two unruly ten-year olds! I'd love to know any suggestions you might have on must sees, where-to-gos, or don't misses. Yippee! 

Image from here.

Weekly what:nots...

Hello Saturday! I hope you're having a grand time in your neck of the woods, and that the past week has been good to you. Ours flew by with the boys at sewing camp, dinners out, movies, horse riding, walks in the park, and so on. I also found time to fiddle with Pinterest and tumblr. Do you use Pinterest? Isn't it the most brilliant invention? What are your weekend plans? We're planning to head out and explore the northern Oregon coast, watch movies, potter about, eat pancakes, and finalise our uber-exciting summer travel plans for later this month. I'll tell you more on Monday once everything's set in stone....until then, here's this week's what:nots.

Lovely light, blunt ends, and pretty lace found here.

An ideal tote for 'toting' books about.

A delicate tea light holder (found via here).

Moleskine notebooks, perfect for recording ones journeys, thoughts, hopes, dreams, artwork, or...

Soft sheer linen cashmere from Eileen Fisher.

Ecostasy's simple and beautiful basketry (found via Bliss).

The colours, the history, the people, the enchantment of India.

Anthro's bungalow view maillot - swimsuit perfection.

Images from Matt Sundin, Luxist, And the flowers pick themselves, Benfor, Eileen Fisher, Ecostasy, Icebreaker, and Anthropologie.

Untitled 2008...

How was your week? I hope you had a lovely one - I'm just stopping in to say I will be back tomorrow with what:nots, and possibly some travel news. Until then hop over here and have a peek at Georgia Gray's gloriously colourful paintings.
Image from Georgia Gray, found via here.

A little bit of pretty...

...for your Thursday (or Friday). I hope it's going well.
Image from Mrs French of Bliss.