Thursday 28 December 2017

Noël à Bon-Repos






This is my last Christmas related post, I promise! January is just around the corner so I have no better time to share our festive day at the Abbaye de Bon-Repos. Plus, I don't know about you, but I intend to stay in that Christmassy mood as long as I can!

The weekend before our holiday, we made our way to this beautiful place that we always like visiting, expecting to see a full-on Christmas market. Well, that wasn't quite the case but we still had a very nice time! I think I didn't quite understand the fact that although there were a few activities inside the Abbaye and that the place had been decorated for the occasion, the rest of the area didn't have anything Christmasy happening, so of course, no market was taking place at the same time.

Anyhow, we still went inside and enjoyed hearing the band playing whilst looking at the current exhibition. More photos below!





We really liked some of the artist's illustrations and you can tell straight away that he's passionate about the whole celtic culture around Bretagne. Some of them really had a nice feel. He's known under the name of Brucero and you can have a look at his work right here.

Also, even though the photos don't look great because of the lighting, we enjoyed discovering some parts of the Abbaye that were all decorated for the various activities they'd planned. The dragon was quite impressive!











After warming up with some hot mulled wine (you can see the steam coming out of the glasses!), we went for a long walk around the Abbaye, waiting for the sun to go down so that I could take some photos of the historical building with the lights on. We didn't stay until it was properly dark though so the lights don't look very impressive unfortunately!

I hope you all had a great Christmas and I'll see you in the new year!


Sunday 24 December 2017

Joyeux Noël + some news!

First of all, Merry Christmaaaaaas!! I've been off work for a couple of days now and I'm currently staying at my parents to spend some much needed time with my family! My sister is home too and as she's been living quite far away the past year, it's so nice to catch up with her too.

I'm looking forward to a nice meal tonight with my auntie and uncle Nadine and Titi and my cousins that I haven't seen for a long time too. And of course, I'm looking forward to a very festive Christmas day tomorrow, exchanging gifts, eating way too much food and spending time with some more family. It's days like these ones that I feel so grateful for life in general and even if things are not always perfect, it's so much better to concentrate on the positive and spend time with the ones you love :)

I'm hoping that you're all having an amazing time too!

As for the life update, boy have I got some news for you... Last weekend, Jason proposed to me!! Yes, we're ENGAGED! I feel so grown up just saying it haha. We're both very happy and although we're not spending Christmas together this year (he's back in North Wales for two weeks), the fact that he did it just before leaving made everything feel extra special. Every time I look at my pretty ring, I have a big smile on my face and it makes me think of him and how much I can't wait to be married to the love of my life. I know, very soppy indeed, but it's the truth!

You should have seen our parents reaction when we announced the news! We kept it a 'secret' for a couple of days as we wanted to see Jason's parents on Skype to tell them and we waited to see my parents before announcing the news too. Plus, I definitely didn't want to share it on social media before telling our close family first.

You're going to ask me 'So how did he propose'? Well, it was nothing crazy or over the top but it was perfect to us. He took me to a restaurant for a nice meal on the Saturday night and as we didn't come back home late, we just watched a bit of TV before going to bed. The problem is that he didn't plan the fact that I would fall asleep on the couch in my PJs! But it turned out quite good for him as whilst I was snoozing on the couch downstairs, he prepared the bedroom all nice upstairs and put some candles on so that when he woke me up and I opened the door, it was a proper surprise to me! He said he wanted to treat me to a nice massage but that first he had something to ask me about.

And so he kneeled down (bear in mind that I was half awake and in my PJs) and asked me to marry him! I of course said yes :). We're super excited about it all since then! If you'd like to see a picture of the ring (that is just so beautiful and perfect for me), head over to my Instagram!

I'll probably post some updates about the wedding but I have to say, don't expect anything big because it's going to be the smallest wedding in the world ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!



Monday 18 December 2017

Coup de Coeur - Alyssa Guerrero







I've discovered this super talented lady through Instagram (check her out!) and I'm so pleased I did. I love everything she does and I'm always looking forward to the next piece of design she's going to share.

Alyssa Guerrero is truly an inspiration for me in terms of her illustrative and lettering skills. She manages to represent a fruit or even a building with only a few lines and honestly, I'm always in awe of people that can do that! Plus, her artworks always have this vintage feel with a lot of texture, which is exactly what I like!

Lately I've been working a lot more digitally for my client projects and Alyssa makes me want to grab my brushes and paint again. If you're digging her art too, you definitely need to have a look at her shop right here. Also, check out her blog to download the 'Just Start Yo' wallpaper!


Friday 15 December 2017

A Christmassy Break in Port-Louis




Last Saturday we went to the Christmas market in Port-Louis for a couple of hours and one thing is for sure, it definitely felt more festive than the last one in Poul-Fétan! When we arrived, there was a band playing Christmas songs and when they decided to take a break, we could still hear some nice songs all around the main square thanks to the buvette (the stall where everybody was as that's where they served the drinks!).

There were a few long tents dotted around outside the chapel and we found a lot of very cute homemade products. It was hard not to buy them all! We did splurge on a couple of mini Christmas stockings hand-made by La Boutique Célia (photo above). They were too nice to resist and very reasonable in price. I took a photo of one of them in our tree! It matches the rest of the baubles perfectly :)











We loved the fact that all the small shops made an effort and decorated their windows and shop fronts with loads of garlands, lights and pine branches. It really helped the old streets to feel Christmassy and even though it was cold and grey (only 2°C!) we enjoyed walking around and taking some photos. We also walked all the way to the citadelle and Jason took the camera to snap some photos of me (which is really rare!). You should see some of the 'behind the scenes' photos haha! On many of them I was either making a weird face, closing my eyes, or my legs looked like they were deformed.

We found this stall with homemade jams that are a bit different than the usual jams (photo above) and we bought the prune jaune et eau de vie one that tasted DE.LI.CIOUS! We honestly liked all the jams that we tried so we could have bought more :). The lady making them is called Stéphanie Saliot and everything she does is organic!




We finished our little break with some hot mulled wine and a piece of chocolate cake, with all funds going to the community in Port-Louis. Everybody was super nice and we could see that they all put a lot of effort into organising and putting together this Christmas market. It's a shame it wasn't sunnier as I'm sure more people would have shown up!

We've got one more Christmas market we'd like to go to before Christmas is here so I'll make sure to share it with you all too! This one is supposed to be quite big as it's happening at the Abbaye de Bon Repos (you might have noticed that we love this place already!).



Monday 11 December 2017

How we manage our money!

If you’ve been following me for a while, you might have read once or twice that I left my full time job last year and that my partner Jason did the same two months after. Yep, we both went freelance within a short amount of time of each other, and trust me, it wasn’t the easiest thing to do! We managed quite well though. It was a big challenge but we didn’t end up on the street and a year and a half after, we’re still going strong, so I guess we’ve done ok!

Don’t get me wrong, we’re not making a lot of money and we’re not spending much apart from the necessities, but we’ve got a few rules and a way of managing our money that means that we’ve never been in the red even though we might have had a terrible month income-wise.

If you’re curious to know how we do it, here are a few points!


The obvious: We’re super careful with our money.
Before leaving our full time jobs to become freelance designers (Jason is a graphic designer too!) we put aside at least 3 full months of expenses just in case things were not going great at the beginning. That means 3 months worth of rent, bills, food, fuel and insurance. This took a little while but it was definitely the right thing to do. Whilst putting money aside, we made sure to count every penny we were spending, and we carried on once we started our self-employed adventure too (still doing it even now!).

It’s so easy to spend £10 or £20 here and there (almost a year back in France and I’m still thinking in pounds!), go to the restaurant or for a coffee once in a while or even doing some shopping and buying some clothes you might only wear once. When you don't need to be careful with your money, you can do all this, but when you do, that’s about £200/month easy that you can avoid spending. So we did that. Every time we were buying something, even food, we were thinking ‘Do we really need it?’. At the beginning, the only luxury we had was the Unlimited card for Cineworld. That. Was. It. Apart from the bare necessities, we weren’t spending on anything else.

It’s tough sometimes, and even today, I find it hard to be so careful and not being able to splurge on something I really like, but for now, that’s just what it is and I’m still happy about my decision of leaving the security of a regular paycheck to do a job that I really love and am passionate about. But if you’re thinking of doing the same, be prepared to make some big changes in the way you spend your money!

We (almost) never buy anything new or full price.
Not only have we never been in the red with both our bank accounts, but we’ve also never taken a credit card or a loan since we’ve been living together (so almost 4 years). And that really helped us when going freelance and even now, the fact that we only have to pay the usual stuff every month and not worry about multiple loans for a car, furniture, or whatever, that’s the best.

So how did we do it? Anything that we can do ourselves, repairs on the car, building furniture we need out of palettes, or even food that we can prepare in advance instead of buying some ready meals or takeaways, we do it. It’s never the easy choice, it’s always a bit more stressful and time consuming but oh my god it saves you so much money.

Second hand shops are our best friends (hell, most of our furniture is second hand!), and we’ll never buy home appliances unless there’s an offer on. Also, we only buy clothes when there’s sales on now (which is rare in France) and trips to the restaurant are limited to once a month as a treat. Basically anything that we can save money on, we do. It sounds easy, but it can be hard sometimes when you can’t be bothered and just want to have a nice sofa in your living room without looking at the price. Our kitchen is still not complete after 9 months renting our house, but that’s only because we haven’t found what we want yet at a good price.

Very important too: we don’t spend on something we can’t afford. If we really need something but don’t have the money right now, we wait until we’ve saved enough money to buy it. Jason really wanted a new phone for example and to be fair, his old one was almost dead, so he saved enough to buy himself one a few months later (and again, it was on offer on Amazon). You’re going to tell me: what about the urgent stuff that can’t wait? Well, this is why it’s important to save money every month, for the unexpected. If tomorrow our washing machine dies, we’ve got enough money to buy a new one without using a credit card or a loan.

We both save money every month
As I just said above, this is the key to any unexpected expenses. We ‘sacrifice’ ourselves by only spending the minimum every month so that we have enough money to put aside on our saving accounts. It’s so important to us to make sure that we’re not spending the same amount of money that we’re earning. We also prefer it this way as it allows us to have some time off every now and then. Yep, when you’re both off when you’re freelance, it means that you’re earning no money at all for that period of time. So you better be prepared for that!

And let’s not forget taxes. Our good friend Hollie from Follow Films told us that the best way to be ready for it at the end of the financial year is to put at least 20% of what you’ve earned aside every time. So at the end of the month, when we calculate how much we’ve earned, we also put 20% of that amount aside, ready for our taxes when we’re having to pay them. We’re our own accountants, so we’re careful about all this and we keep track of all expenses and income regularly. I personally check my account every couple of days and I have a spreadsheet for each month of the year where I write it all down. Organisation y’all!

We stick to our budgets
We try to stick as much as we can to a budget for everything that we can’t avoid spending on. Now that we’re in France, we try not to spend more than 60€ a week on food. To save money, every Sunday night I cook a big batch of soup that we will have for lunch during the week.

Even though we’re both working at home, we spend about 60-80€ a month on fuel. We live 2 hours away from my family so we do spend quite a bit on fuel sometimes, and we also need to take into account the occasional trip on weekends to discover a nice place in Bretagne. Let’s face it, fuel is not cheap! But the one thing we can’t do is just staying at home all the time. Weekends are for discovering!

As for electricity, water and gas, well, the only gas we use is for our cooker and we spend 34€ on a big bottle every 6 months. Electricity is a bit more tricky as we need it when we’re working all day, and also for heating the house along with all the usual things. So we’re pretty savvy with it. We rarely put the heating on and when we do, never for a long time. That means that I have to wear a big jumper and scarf often in the house during winter, but it’s all for the greater good! We never leave a light on when we’re not in the room anymore and we never leave anything charging (phone, laptops, etc.) continuously. Little side note: we also switched all our bulbs to LED ones so that they don’t consume much. In Spring/Summer (so without heating), our electricity budget is only 35€ a month thanks to that.

Same thing with water, we’re super careful to use just what we need. To the point that we won’t flush the toilet when we only go for a wee. It doesn’t bother us and to us it’s not just about saving money, it’s also about being responsible for the planet.

We share our expenses equally
We don’t have a shared bank account, but we work as a team. For example, even if the rent is coming out of my bank account, Jason has an automatic transfer of half of the rent going from his account to mine every month so that we both pay half. Usually, I’m the one managing money. When we do our food shop, I’m the one paying, same thing with fuel and other similar expenses. So at the end of the week, I calculate how much we spent and Jason transfers half of the amount to my account. We’re also splitting bills as equally as possible which really helps.

The only thing we won’t share is personal expenses. For example, I didn’t put money towards his new phone, and he won’t put money towards my skin products. There’s a limit to it! We’re both responsible adults and we can manage our own money the way we want to as well :)

However, when one of us has earned a lot less and is struggling to pay the bills, the other one that earned more will help. When I went freelance first, I had a bad month soon after where I hardly earned anything. Jason had just left is full time job and had more money than me, so he naturally paid more towards everything that month. But then earlier this year, it was Jason’s turn to have a horrible month with almost nothing left in his account, so I took charge of everything until he could help financially again because I was earning more at that time. Basically, we always discuss about how our money is doing and when you’re living together, I think it’s crucial.


Well, I think that’s all! We’re still new (kind of) at this whole freelance life but we feel that we’re managing quite well and we’re proud of the fact that we’re making it work even though it can be hard sometimes. The only thing I miss a lot is traveling. We used to be able to go on holiday to a different country every year and go for a few weekends away, but this year, we haven’t been able to. I have to say though, it’s not just because of freelancing, it’s also because we moved to France with nothing but our clothes and a few personal items and we’ve had to start from scratch. We’re hoping that next year we’ll be a bit more settled and we’ll have more money to spare on holidays and trips far away.

I hope this helped you and if you have any questions, feel free to ask me! I would of course be happy to help :)



Tuesday 5 December 2017

Marché de Noël in Poul-Fétan









The first weekend of December marks the beginning of Christmas for us, and I guess it does for a lot of people! We put the tree up and decorated the living room on Saturday and we made sure to prepare a festive lunch that consisted of a platter of cheese, homemade mulled cidre (based on the recipe from Jamie Oliver!) and apple stollen for dessert. Our tradition is to watch Elf (or Harry Potter) on the same day and we absolutely love it. It's bound to put us in a good mood, no matter what's going on in our life.

On Sunday, we went to Poul-Fétan's Christmas market to carry on with our festive weekend. Although we felt that there wasn't enough decorations around and that the Christmas spirit was a bit low, we enjoyed going back to this beautiful place (previous blog post here!) and we found loads of great crafty items and foodie products, all artisanal. Plus, the galettes and biscuits were delicious!








We found this tree made out of palette wood and we felt it would look perfect in our house! The lady that sold it to us had a cute stall with loads of products sculpted from palette wood and the prices were so reasonable that we couldn't resist. We also found some delicious chocolate products from Lady Merveilles for my parents but I didn't take a photo of these unfortunately. We did try some samples though, and thinking back, I think we should have bought a couple more for ourselves ;)

All in all, we had a nice time, but we're hoping to go to another Christmas market soon that will have more of a Christmassy atmosphere and maybe more stalls with a larger range of products. We'll keep searching!