Thursday 24 May 2018

Meeting the Local Ostriches & Guidel-Plage

Whilst the Royal Wedding was kind of entertaining, it was way too nice out there last weekend to stay in front of the TV! So what did we do? We went to a local farm to make friends with ostriches, and goats, and even chickens haha. To be honest, it wasn't a bad idea to go on that day because the farm was literally empty! Even the owner was complaining that everybody was too busy watching the wedding. So all good for us!

The Ostrich Farm is located in Guidel, about 30mins away from where we live and is actually very close to the coast, which is a bonus because the farm is not very big and we didn't spend more than an hour and a half there (and that's taking our time!) so we headed to the coast before going back home.









We were lucky enough to see a couple of males doing their crazy dance to seduce the females that consisted of opening their wings as wide as possible whilst shaking their head from left to right. It's kind of impressive as they're making such a weird noise whilst doing it! Jason thinks that the sound we could hear was from their head hitting their body. Unfortunately my photos are not amazing because the male was very close to the fence, but still, I wanted to share! The rest of the time they were super curious and staring at us :)

Oh and the tiny ones are the cutest thing ever! Honestly, they were craving attention and would always run like crazy in group which was really funny. I wish I had more photos but I mainly filmed them with my phone so those of you that saw my Insta story would know what I mean.




I'd say that the highlight of the visit for Jason was meeting the little goats. One of them was smaller than the other ones and was always following Jason, looking at him as if to say "take me with you!". I think Jason almost wanted to in the end ha! It's not that I don't like goats but we would need a proper garden to welcome one of these ;)

Anyway, we were like two big kids trying to feed them and touch them whenever we could so I could imagine how nice it must be for families to visit the farm!



Before going home, we decided to go for a walk along the beach in Guidel-Plage and stayed a lot longer than we thought in the end. The weather truly felt like a Summer day and we just didn't want to leave. We treated ourselves with a banana split to share at the nearest restaurant because we were thirsty and wanted to stop for a drink, but the moment I saw that they had ice cream on the menu, I couldn't resist ;)

It was really a perfect day and weekends like that are the best for recharging the batteries and coming back to work more motivated and inspired than ever!



Friday 18 May 2018

Portfolio Update - Café des Orfèvres




I don't do branding projects a lot, but when I do, I enjoy it SO much! Sometimes it's more of a challenge than others but it's always worth it in the end. Mathilde, the owner and founder of the Café des Orfèvres, is my first official French client that contacted me directly and I was thrilled to be able to work with her! We knew exactly what we were going for and the process went really smoothly.

I was invited to the launch party back in April so I took the opportunity to take some photos of the café. I wasn't too sure what to expect as I rarely see my work out in the world, but wow! I was stunned to see the logo, something I created, on a massive vinyl displayed on the window! It felt very special indeed. Also, I created some illustrations that she hung in the main room of the café so seeing them printed out was really cool too. Anyway, if you'd like to see more photos and learn more about the project, head over to my website!



Monday 7 May 2018

Wallpaper Giveaway - Everything will be Alright





It's been a while, I know! But I've been busy, and life happens, and so I didn't really take the time to do anything just for me until now.

I chose this quote because it actually reflects quite well how we've been feeling, and thinking, lately. France so far has been such a good experience, except for the paperwork (like I've previously said, it's hell), and after more than a year living in Bretagne, we finally feel that things are getting sorted. Jason finally has health insurance, we're sorting out our taxes, wedding plans are almost done, and the paperwork for Jason's car is underway. And that's just the most important stuff! As you can imagine, there are loads of other little things that needed to be done too (#adulting).

So since we came back from our holiday, I keep thinking "Everything will be alright in the end". And that's true. We're not the kind of people that give up on something. Even if things are hard, we carry on and do whatever we can to make it better and sort it out. So I think that's a good reminder: when things feel rubbish and you can't see the end of the tunnel, remember that eventually, if you keep working at it, it will all be fine in the end.

It's such a happy and feel good quote that I wanted to have loads of cute and colourful elements around it, so that it brings a smile on your face every time you look at your screens!

These wallpapers are free as usual but I would just like to remind people that they're only for personal use, thank you :)

Download:
WHOLE SET // PHONE 1 // PHONE 2



Tuesday 1 May 2018

The Beautiful Cotswolds

Aaaah the Cotswolds... We were lucky enough to arrive in Bourton-on-the-Water on a sunny and warm Saturday afternoon, after leaving North Wales in the morning. When looking at places to stay in the Cotswolds, we found a lot of people mentioning this area so we didn't think twice about booking our B&B in Bourton-on-the-Water. And we weren't disappointed! It felt a little bit magical to arrive there and after a very long Winter, being able to roam the streets in t-shirts felt absolutely amazing!


Our B&B was really well placed, meaning that we could walk to the town centre no problem, and was really top notch. First, it looked nice inside and outside, and secondly, the room we had felt quite luxurious compared to other rooms we've stayed at before (sometimes in B&Bs that charged the same amount of money!). I should have taken photos of the bathroom because honestly, everything was spotless, with a brand new big shower of dreams. Oh and their breakfast was perfect! I couldn't recommend the Red House East B&B enough if you're planning to explore the Cotswolds.

PS: Can you spot the Capri through the window? ;)











We were only staying one night there as we had to leave for Portsmouth to catch the ferry the day after, but we made sure to do and see as much as we could whilst we were there! It was so lovely outside that we quickly brought our belongings to the room we were staying at and went straight outside, heading for the town centre with its small river and romantic bridges.

We walked around Bourton-on-the-Water, soaking up the sun until it was time to stop for a drink. Jason really enjoyed the local beer and I have the feeling it was just what he needed to relax a bit. Poor Jason had done all the driving (no way I'm driving his Capri) and it had been a tad bit stressful. So this amazing afternoon was like a blessing after the trip in the morning!







With Stow-on-the-Wold only 10mins away, we decided to go and check it out at the end of the day and found another very pretty town with the cutest buildings. It was a bit dead because all the shops were closed and restaurants were having a break before reopening for the evening, but nonetheless a really nice place to walk around and discover.

We came back to Bourton for a delicious meal at the Rose Tree restaurant to finish the day on a high. Jason had the steak and I had the duck and to be honest, just thinking about it now makes me want to go back! It was really good and although it was a bit expensive for us (we usually go for cheaper meals), it was so worth it.

We woke up feeling great on Sunday and were ready for our trip down to Portsmouth! Before leaving though, we stopped at the Roman Villa in Chedworth as it was on our way and we had a bit of time in the morning, and we also stopped for lunch in Cirencester.

The Roman Villa was really interesting but as it started to rain and was alltogether a bit gloomy, I thought I wouldn't share the few photos I'd taken. Same thing for Cirencester! It wouldn't stop raining and although it looked like a really nice town, we unfortunately didn't explore it much and decided to leave quite early.

Everything went well and the Capri did really good on the road, which was a massive relief. Apart from me being pretty ill in the ferry, it all went brilliantly and we arrived on Monday morning in Saint-Malo, with only two hours left to drive to get home. We did it! Now onto the paperwork to get the Capri registered as a French car... Ugh.