Living French: 7th edition

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Whatever inspires you in your travels or remains memorable to you from your past, why not bring it into your everyday life if at all possible? Cultivate an everyday life that perhaps no one would believe is possible, but rest assured it is. After all, as Annie Dillard reminds us, how we spend our days is how we spend our lives. Why not spend your life living well each and everyday? Think of France and what comes to mind? Wide roads, great-value restaurants, a gentle climate and landscape, rural lifestyle, great pride in national identity and traditions both cultural and social.

And in so doing, paying attention to my home environment, I began to pay attention to how I spend my days. Was I exhausted and unfilled at the end or exhausted and feeling productive? Did I have time in my day to spend it with those I loved, converse with those who engaged in creative, uplifting and thought-provoking conversation or care for myself in such a way that respected my overall health? And depending upon my answer, I would tweak, eliminate, maximize or designate more or less time to those activities that improved the quality of living. Since we are obsessed with all things French lifestyle, there are many French lifestyle tips that we’ve slowly adopted or are trying to adopt. France is one of our favorite countries to travel to and a large part of that is because we absolutely love French lifestyle habits. Our recent three week road trip around France opened our eyes to the French mentality of how to live well. Be sincere, yet kind. While everyone has days that you are simply grumpy for any list of reasons, taking it out on others is something you will most likely regret. And even if you have to deliver news that isn’t favorable, there is always a way to do so with kindness. Being conscious of how we treat people and our delivery will almost always be appreciated, and even if it is taken for granted, at least we can go home at night and feel good about the energy we put out into the world.

And so the dilemma began for this French/English couple. Where do they create home, a base and establish roots? Cook at home. Find simple, yet delicious recipes and discover the pleasures of cooking on your own schedule for your own dietary needs and preferences. (View TSLL recipes here.)

Instead, the French create capsule wardrobes, where a set of basic, high-quality pieces are curated into a closet that the person can practically and fashionably wear on a routine basis. Creating such a wardrobe will not only clear up physical space in your home, but will free up your mind and wallet for better use. 4. Visit the Farmers Market Accept your flaws —which make you charming and unconventionally beautiful— rather than trying to fix them. Similar to the tip above, curate a capsule wardrobe. How often have you looked at your overflowing closet and thought, “I have nothing to wear.” That’s both Bassam and I everyday and it’s because we have so many clothing items that don’t make us look and feel our best. One of our goals this year and is to curate a small collection of high quality clothing items, that all work together, and all make us feel our best. This way, we will always look great, getting ready in the morning will be a pleasure, and we will never feel like we have nothing to wear.If you love the good things in life , a lovely home, good food and drink, beautiful places and people to share them with, then you will definitely find inspiration on our French Living Blog. They believed thatthe dissemination of knowledge would encourage reform in every aspect of life. The fundamental element of French philosophy is intellectual freedom: the freedom to use one’s own reason.

Coursing out your food is a an easy switch, but it really elevates the meal and makes it feel so much fancier; like a special event instead of just a daily part of life. It also forces us to slow down while we are eating, which makes dinner more of an event and allows for more conversation. It also helps us feel satisfied with less. Start a conversation about an interesting idea you read about, heard on a podcast, or saw on a television show (again why it helps to consume a diverse selection of media). Bonus points if it’s a tiny bit controversial to elicit discussion, but not heated debate

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Our French Furniture UK collection adds a refined note to the traditional interior. Graceful scoop corners, button-tufted panels and harmonious carvings evoke a luxurious feel. We took the best aspects of our admired French Furniture designs from the 18th century and incorporated them to produce this charmingly balanced collection. Our French Style Furniture range merges linear shapes and elaborate carvings, it will create an ensemble of balanced composition in your interior. Our French Bedroom selection has felicitously sophisticated look. Produced with sumptuous curves, refined cabriole legs and upholstered in linen fabric. French Bed range has a classic French design perception and offers a divine retreat for a comfortable night’s sleep. French Bedroom Chair provides a perfect spot to read and rest, will also add a relaxed elegance feel to the bedroom. French Console Table range calls attention to aged finishes, raised-panel drawers, unadorned modesty and graciously fluted sides. They look magnificent when styled with hurricane lamps and flowers . Our Luxury Interior designs exhibit all the attributes of the Louis XV antiques we were influenced by, with its classical curves and elaborate carvings. In a village or small town, it pays to remember that any two or more people might be related. Even family members who may not talk to each other can consolidate against outside offence! Routines and Courtesies The way I’ve always perceived joie de vivre and how the French practice this concept is in the way they savor the simple pleasures in life. For instance, it’s very common to find the French sitting at the park in those classic green, Parisian park chairs as soon as the sun peeks out from behind the clouds. They’ll soak up every inkling of sunshine by simply sitting in the chairs and excelling at the art of doing nothing. You might feel slightly off balance if, after you find a job in France, you continue to behave at work as you did in the UK. There are some subtle rules to the working life in France, which can be difficult to negotiate if you aren’t aware of their existence. Taking some simple steps to spot and overcome these little differences will lead to a far more positive experience of working in France. Non, ce n’est pas possible”, “cela risque d’être compliqué”, “c’est hors de question”, “je ne sais pas”, the French have a variety of ways to say no. And sometimes, in France, you might feel like living in a society where the default answer to almost every question is “non”. Why is that?