Fall Descends

It has been really cold in Lyon and rainy. I do not love this change as I am not a Winter person at all. After all my years in the beautiful Hudson Valley and after shoveling more snow that I can possibly bare to think about, I have quietly admitted to all the defenders of Winter and the cold, that I don't like it. I don't like it at all. I had Winters in Red Hook, one in particular, where I swore I would embrace the season with great zeal. And I did. I bought the girls, then 8 and 11, new cross country skis. We used them once, maybe twice until one of the girls ended up in tears her hands were so cold, she could ski no more. And I bought Canadian ice skates. We skated on our bumpy pond, which was admittedly fun, just cold. I do love to skate.

Again I am going to try to embrace Winter, but here in Lyon where the season is admittedly milder, I think I have more chance of success. I'm gonna put my Winter on, tout de suite.

On Vacation in Charbonnières-les-bains

On Habite La!

I have been meaning to post this lovely sneak peek that Grace of design*sponge did of our apartment in Lyon. It's small (and I'm not kidding) but we now call it home! It will soon be featured in Grace's upcoming book project along with our country house in les Monts du Lyonnais.

Country Chic

Halliday just has a way of putting things together that is very relaxed and chic. She has real style. This is laundry day in les monts du lyonnais.

The Shipley Girls

I love this picture of Tish (my mother,) Gran and Aunt Bun in Beach Haven. Plaid was in then too, tu vois? I predict this to be a big plaid year and my thought is to wear a Liberty of London shirt with a plaid kilt over Paul Smith skinny jeans. The girls will never forgive me!

Raising the Bar

I sold my house in the Hudson Valley today and I am absolutely thrilled. No regrets. I have moved on. I will though miss with all my heart all the wonderful people I have met, that I've learned so much from—but all those people, the ones that stick, will always be in my life. I am as faithful as my German short-haired pointer, Clementine.

I've been thinking about all of the things I am grateful for. Sometimes I feel really lucky, sometimes I feel really blessed, sometimes I feel like I just work really really hard. But, mostly, I just feel grateful for all the lessons that I've learned along the way, for the love I've received and been able to give in return.

I want to do interesting things for the rest of my life, but more importantly, I want to do good things. I want to love and respect myself and earn others love and respect. I want to go to sleep at night with a clear conscience and know that I made someone else's life better every day. These are my simple goals. I'm raising the bar.

Joyeuse Fête des Pères!!

My girls + I

have the
2
best dads
in the world!

Bowdie et Dan,
les deux
meilleurs papas du monde!!

Weekend a` la Campagne

It was so beautiful in les monts du Lyonnais. Hard not to love it. The dogs are happy, the girls are happy, I am happy.

Vide Grenier

In a little town, Grezieu le marché, on the border of the Rhone and the Loire, this is what I found this morning. I love to go antiquing and yard saleing. I am a born buyer and it gives me such pleasure to find beautiful things and see them come together. I always have a theme, a story, going in my head, which could be color, subject matter, style or some other unifying factor. One week I might be taken by imagery of woman, or vintage typography, things that are silver toned, things that have been stamped, rustic ironstone. And it is only when I arrive home with my basket filled with stuff, that I become aware of the thoughts that lead me around all day, all week, all month, all year.

Tennis Anyone?

Tomorrow is the bi-annual tennis round robin at our very sweet tennis club in La Croix Rousse, and hopefully we will all be brave enough to play, haha. Not wearing an outfit like this however...

Les Ados + being an Expatriate

Oh la la to be 14 again (no thanks :) I never pictured myself living on my own with 2 teenage girls and 2 dogs in France. But, here I am and while this is truly the most challenging experience I have every had, it is also the coolest and most fulfilling. Every single day, I am stretched in ways I have never been before. fascinating/hard/lonely/amazing/thrilling/frustrating/allthat

Mowing the Fields

I am really behind on yard work and when I say yard work, I mean really field work. When we arrived this weekend at Balmont, I was flabbergasted by how high the grass had grown (and is it really grass?) Surrounding our house, all the way up to the front steps was knee-high green. "Je dois tondre les prés," I say to the farmer next door, who looks at me like I am absolutely out of my mind, images of Carrie and "Sex and the City" flashing through his head. My daughter, Abbie, asked me if I had ever owned a pair of Manolo Blahniks. I must draw the line somewhere. These days, I can be found exclusively on the weekends in my old pair of leather Vejas, painty, ripped pants and comfy "le love" shirt {a Basic French exclusive,} cutting down les lilas to offer in bouquets to my neighbors, pulling up the endless mauvaise herbes, and mowing the fields...

Night Sky

It's staying light until about 9 at night. I love that.

Le Printemps

I have become such an urban girl again, living in Lyon over the last 20 months that I truly have a hard time dragging myself out of the city to our amazing little country house only 50 minutes from the center of the Presqu'ile (almost island.) But wow, when I do, I can't believe how unbelievable it is and how truly rural France is. And the funny thing, after a day or two, I truly have a hard time dragging myself away from our little hamlet. I am blessed with my lovely, blossoming girls, my sweet and loving dogs and this dual life I lead. I am so grateful.

Trop Fun!

It was so beautiful in les Monts du Lyonnais and we just had too much fun.

Home Again, Home Again

And then there was Basic French Tees...