2010 - L'année du bonheur!

La Conscience est le meilleur livre du monde.

 C'est celui que l'on doit consulter le plus souvent

Blaise Pascal

Note to self: get my kids to read about Blaise Pascal too. He was homeschooled!!!

This is the book that keeps me sane at the moment.

It is by Isabelle Filliozat, a very insightful French psychiatrist who has written numerous books and studies on happiness and relationships (all types, not just Mars and Venus ones) So when when I first discovered it in Nature et Découvertes. I grabbed it!

By the way, j'ADORE this shop too because I can even stick to my Dottie Angel Challenge and buy in here as some of the products are made by hand en France by French artisans, some are fair trade too... Mind you, books fall into the Essentials category. Buying them new ensures authors get paid!!

So aside from Dottie Angel's challenge and the Creative Every day challenge, not to mention the general 'living in a house with Beaker and 3 messmonsters' whilst trying to paint challenge - this is another that I have set myself for the year:

365 'exercises' for life - day after day...

Du sport? Non! Well, pas vraiment

(c'est bon, le sport j'en fais déjà ;-)

Inside here,

pas d'agitation, mes amis.

Just CALM

Today, while I lunch with my 3 sweet girlie friends. I shall be mindful of my breathing, how I sit, how my body feels inside and out. Hmm, j'ai un idée... As I feel the weight of my body in that chair (please Isa, make lunch light so I don't feel too heavy), I will make special note to get to the bottom of what a laugh feels like. Seriously possums, deeply conscious laughing is one of the most fun things a girl can do!

Quelle inspiration!!

Speaking of inspiration, I'm going to be starting a new blog! It will be the hilarious account (and I promise I am going to make this humorous, because I like you all too much to see you ripping your hair out like I do) of our buying a beautiful old stone house in the Luberon in Provence, and subsequently trying to sell it.

There will be a real plot and real characters: In fact, they are so unreal that I don't even have to make them up!! The mind-blowingly incompetent real estate agent, the shady property lawyers, the very brilliant trainee surgeon turned sweet wood turner, the 'A Year in Provence' style French farmers and their protective SAFER (local, hands-on tentacle of the Ministry of Agriculture) and last but not least the quiet Dutch gay plastic surgeon dermatologist, and his fabulously boisterous designer/artist friend living in Aix en Provence...  And a beautiful stone house that was built over top of a Roman villa and possibly temple ...with all the 'magnetic' consequences that can have...

As I don't have to invent the cast and characters, you will have to allow me the liberty of inventing their names. The 'baddies' don't live happy lives, they don't need me to make it worse for them as they're digging their own hole all by themselves. They may be vindictive enough to call their  lawyers too so I'd better not be too blonde about that!

The goodies are very much innocent, and have become entwined in a tangled mess that I'm sure even they could never have imagined could actually exist. And how am I coping with all these characters? Thanks to ZEN books like Isabelle Filliozat's up there, I have learnt to observe the whole situation with detachment  and wry humour. But it's just too precious not to share! Will you join me? It starts tomorrow...

Keep your eyes peeled for 'La Fontiane: gentle guidlines for Australians (substitute with your nationality - even French) on how NOT to buy and sell a house in Provence!

PS - It's time to bring the Paris Episodes back... for there is a link between the two... The plot thickens hahahahhahahahaaha!!

5 ways to a successful 2010 and a 100th post give-away game!

Ooh la la it's finally the 31st of December. A magic day that tips us over into the start of a new year full of possibility and and promise. Of course you've all got your 'tout doux' lists ready for 2010: me too!

But rather than bore you with my goals for the coming year and the other 1000 50  things I would like to accomplish in my lifetime (as I cross things off one end - the list grows at the other), I thought it would be more 'ME' to share with you 5 quotes that most inspire me and have done so for a number of years - all with a distinctly 'Ange does it in 2010' twist!

When you've finished reading my version ... you'll have a wee task to accomplish at the end. Are you ready? Let's LEAP!

1) Find your Passion and Do What YOU LOVE!

The trick to success is making your vocation your vacation

Mark Twain 

(photo from here)

2) TAKE CHANCES!

Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. 

You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. 

David Lloyd George

(photo from here)

3) Be POSITIVE

No pessimists ever discovered the secret of the stars, 

or sailed to an uncharted land, 

or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.

Helen Keller 

(photo from here)

4) SPLURGE at least once OUTRAGEOUSLY!

"Anyone who lives within his means suffers from a lack of imagination" 

Lionel Stander ( photo from here)

Was that a bit too much for one year? I suggest we all...

5) TAKE REST! 

A field that has rested gives a beautiful crop 

Ovid

Now it's YOUR turn!

It's GIVE AWAY time... 

(or a 'fun' way to Give Back, as Laura says)

To take part all you have to do is leave a comment on this post giving an inspiring quote that moves you, tickles your fancy, makes you giggle, reassures you... and you will go in the prize draw.

What will you win? One of my 'positive planks,' which, as you know, are recycled from French wine crates, with your favourite words of wisdom, in your choice of colours (or as close as I can get to them) to suit YOUR home!

I will have One plank to give away - and two other smaller objects which I am still deciding on, and will share later on today when I am more awake: but all three will be hand calligraphed with each winner's respective favourite words.

The game is open to every one, in all countries with or without a blog and you don't have to sign up as a follower to be in either. I'd rather people hitched along for the ride with me because they like my work and my writing. But I'm big on including every one when it comes to games ... don't like people to feel left out!

For those of you who are nice enough or a wee bit crazy enough to have accompanied me this far, I'd be really thrilled if you'd grab my 'Signed by Ange' button below (a big thanks to Julie @ Being Ruby for the design she made from a few scribbles I had put down on paper - she's amazing!), put it on your side bar and link it to this post...

Hope you'll join me in the adventure!

May 2010 be an inspiring and giggle-full year for you all and your families...
Oh dear - it's 4.27am and I'm still here...
Bonne nuit
Ange xx

OOPS! I nearly forgot. I'll be drawing the winners on Saturday Jan 9th at dinner time with the kids. It's much more fun, albeit more work, to have the wee messmonsters gleefully drawing names out of a hat than doing the old 'random' machine... Although I know how to do it now n'est ce pas Julie ;-) And I will announce them in my Secret Sunday post... on Sunday Jan 10th.

... Bed? Bed? Where are you Bed? Oh I give up - I may as well make myself a cuppa and wait for the sun to come up!

C'est quoi une Vie Réussie? (it's my French day today...)

Emerson l'a expliqué ainsi :

Laurent Gounelle s'est penché sur la question et nous donne ceci comme réponse:

Une vie que l'on mène conformément à ses souhaits et en accord avec ses valeurs

Une vie où l'on donne toujours le meilleur de soi même

Une vie qui nous donne l'occasion de nous dépasser et de nous consacrer à autre chose que nous-mêmes.

Une vie où l'on apporte quelque chose à l'humanité - ne serait ce qu'un sourire pour les autres...

A travers des siècles et des océans il me semble qu'il n'y a qu'une recette universelle du bonheur..

N'attendons donc pas 2010 pour réussir alors! Commençons de suite!

S'il vous faut un petit coup de boost pour être pleinement heureux, je vous suggère de lire le livre

(MERCI SKIPPY, de me l'avoir passé)

Light the Way ... to 2010

Let nothing dim the light that shines from within...

Maya Angelou

It seems fitting that, as 2009 slowly draws to a close, we finalise old projects in order to make way for the new... Remember these?

You first met them on my blog here when they were still scuffing their toes loafing around in my hallway, waiting for some TLC from me and looking for a bit of purpose in life.

"You must put your best foot forward," I told them, "if you want to move on to bigger things!" So together we decided they would shed a little light on the future. Finally, with an old bike fork, a bit of welding help from my Ferronnier, a thrifted glass lampshade from a  vide-grenier and some deft wiring skills, this is what we came up with:

You will note that I managed to restrain myself from taking to the poor things with a paint brush and my 'patine' effect (Sighs of relief. Applause). My how difficult it is to leave the past behind. I guess it's more about constantly reinventing it so that it molds and shapes itself to the present...

I had to add my signature touch though, in the form of the quote at the top of this post. I've already used it here too. Words always provide a conscious reminder for me to remain in the present and to focus on the positive. No exceptions.

I can see from the exuberant post Christmas posts that you are all full steam ahead already on 2010's projects. Before I get far too ahead of myself, as I am wont to do, I promise myself to take stock of this last year, acknowledge it's highs and lows and objectively observe the results.  This ain't gonna be easy as I have absolutely no recollection whatsoever of the low points. I'm sure there were some, but I seem to have misplaced them somewhere. I must start taking things a little more seriously...

Mostly though, I am going to spend the next couple of days finalising the old projects and consolidating so my next foot forward is not only on solid ground, but REALLY my best! Mind you, how could it not be with the fabulous new pair of snuggly warm slippers I found lounging in a box with my name on it under ze Sapin !!!

Anyway, now that all three of my cherished messmonsters have been lovingly kidnapped by the PiL I am officially on holidays for five whole days. Paradoxically, this means I am free to WORK to my heart's content. Oh Joy! Oh Peace!

Oh Singing Really Loudly to my favourite songs while I 'illuminate' my home!!!

This first lamp is going to help light our very pretty, but rather dark French farmhouse. The next ones will be for sale (at very reasonable prices!). Don't hesitate to email me for details.

More lamps to light your way coming over the next few days

(umm - Mr Ferronnier, about that welding...)