Oh La La J'adore - Blogs I Love!

I was recently tagged by my OLF (online friend?) Anabelle, who writes a beautiful blog about her life as a mother in Paris.  She is creative, thoughtful and has an eye for design, which all come through in her blog posts (that I love reading!).  Her partner is American and guess what else? She writes in English, though she is French - interesting non? 

Last week, before I went to Toulouse, she tagged me as one of her favorite little known blogs (merci Anabelle!).  I'm joining in the game, which consists of linking to the person who tagged me, posting my fave blogs and letting my fave bloggers know. If you've been tagged below, you can also play along :-) 

So, without further ado,  please find below five of my favorite little known, or not-so-little known blogs from around the web (including Anabelle's, bien sur!).

Alt-Mama - New York mama moves to Austin, Texas with baby in tow. All things organic, massage therapy, including natural mama tips. Alt-Mama inspired me to try coconut oil muffins :-) She's also started a new blog for Parenting.com, called 100% Natural Parenting.

Lemon and Raspberry - Amy, photographer extraordinaire and seeker of all things creative, posts seeds of inspiration and ideas from around the web (including her own!).  She is also one of the creators of 30 Days of Lists (which will begin starting March 1st!)

Nothing To Read Here - hilarious musings from a 30-something father of twins.  P-dawg notices what no one else does, analyzes it, finds the absurdity and spits it back out with a twist that only he can achieve. Who ever knew that finding the best route from your desk to the bathroom at work could be blog-able?! 

The Ups and Downs of an American in France and More! - fellow American expat based in Marseille and mother of two Franco-American little girls writes hilarious stories about her trials and tribulations in France.  Learn about the grossest street in Marseille and the crazies who shoot up in front of her yoga studio - nothing but laughs. 

Max and Mande (All You Need is Love) - Mande, elementary school teacher of "firsties", California girl living in Arizona with her engineer husband, Max, writes about their home improvement projects, classroom ideas, baking adventures and more. Mande is a little ray of sunshine, wherever she goes. 

(sorry, I can't just have five!)

French By Design - Si, a Frenchie who writes in English, posts beautiful, inspiring design ideas and quotes from around the web.  (I love her finds - hopefully one day I'll be able to use them in my very own apartment...if I can ever afford to buy in Paris, that is...sigh).

Hipster Heaven

I found this link on another one of the blogs I love (thank you Amy!) - you have to have to have to go and check out Verbal Vomit by Hannah Hillam, especially the posts on How to Be a Hipster -chapters 1, 2 and 3 - HILARIOUS.

After reading Hannah's post, I took a walk through the Marais, holy hipsters batman! The Marais = Hipster Heaven.  It's ah-mazing. I can't NOT see them now.

I think this is what the French would call a Bobo - bourgeois/bohemian - the kind of folks who manage to spend 80 Euros on a shirt that looks like it came from the Goodwill (or rather, Emmaüs, if you are français). This New York Times article sums it up well, and even though it was published in the year 2000, the Bobos are still a thriving breed here in gay Pareee. They've even started affecting the real estate market in France according to this article...

Merci Hannah, spectacular posts.

Shout Out - Le Monde est Petit

Funny thing about blogs - you read one, which leads you to another, which leads you to another.  It's like 6 degrees of separation - blogger style!

So here is how I came across Anabelle Tess of Pregnancy, Joy and Other Things, a Parisienne who happens to blog in English...

I often read this blog (blogger who has great bangs and inspired me to try to cut my own - insert scary music here)
which lead me to google this (how to cut your own bangs)
which lead me to this blogger, who also has this blog
and while I was reading this blogger, I found a comment by this person (a Frenchie who blogs in English)
and then a response by Anabelle Tess - commenting on why she blogs in English despite the fact that she is French! (see the comments at the bottom of the post)

When I saw that she was in Paris - I started reading...not only is she in Paris, but she just had a new baby (félicitations!) and her partner is American. Plus, she is creative (check out her other blogs!).

Le monde est petit non?  Merci pour le shout out Anabelle!

PS - I did end up cutting my bangs all by myself - quelle catastrophe.

30 Days of Lists

Now that I'm back in the blogosphere (what happened to me for two full months? - yeah, I'm still figuring that one out myself), I have been clicking around my neglected blog list "Read This!" and have found some stuff that is très intéressant...



I'm particularly intrigued by 30 Days of Lists - a collaboration between Kam of Campfire Chic, Amy of Lemon and Raspberry and Justine of A New Beginning. 


Sounds cool right? I may just have to try it...it sounds like the perfect way to jump back into the blog without completely overwhelming myself (which may be one of the reasons I had to peace out for two months...hmmm).  I feel like I can definitely handle one list per day since I'm such a list freak to begin with (Type A confessional here).  


Yes, I actually enjoy making lists - compartmentalizing my life...gives me a sense of I've got it togetherness. I get that this challenge is more of a prompt for creative expression and journaling than a list for the grocery store or the To Dos of the week, but I have a feeling it will give me the same feeling of happiness that any organizational list generally does. 


Can I really stick to 30 days of lists? We shall certainly see mes amis...now I just need to figure out the ins and outs of how this challenge works - care to join me?? 

Spring Cleaning in Fall

I'm trying out a new design style over here at French Cannes Cannes...whaddya think??