Oooh la la!

Source: joojoo

Hier c'était un grand jour pour Rose & Lula. Aujourd'hui je me pince, je me pince, mais je suis déjà réveillée... Alors ca doit être vrai..... Une boutique à Genève va vendre mes produits! 

C'est ma première commande de consignation donc plein de choses à apprendre. Mais quel bonheur.

La meilleure nouvelle? Mes amies Silke (Lulu's Wardrobe) et Petra (Pebbles & Bloom) ont aussi été acceptées à la boutique!

Yesterday was a big day here in Rose & Lula land. Today I keep pinching myself, but I am awake so it must be true... A boutique in Geneva wants to sell my products!

This is my first consignment order so once again so many things to learn. But soooo happy.

And the best bit? My pals Silke (Lulu's Wardrobe) and Petra (Pebbles & Bloom) have also been signed up! 

Happy Monday with Mollie Makes

I hope you had a lovely weekend. Ours was spent pootling, tidying, sorting and hanging out, which was lovely. 

The week started well when I received this in the post today (thanks Mum!):

It's full of inspiration and fun things to try.

It's a wet day here today (the garden will be very happy), so when I came across this post via Susannah Conway, my heart lifted. Enjoy your week!

Project Simplify - food for thought

I'm linking up with Simple Mom again today for week two of Project Simplify. The hotspots to declutter this week were the fridge and the pantry. As we have an open space downstairs so I was able to attack these areas bit by bit throughout the week, whilst at the same time keeping an eye on the kids.

I didn't do before and after photos as the fridge was, well, a fairly well-used fridge (read: grubby!) and the pantry, well, much the same and I didn't want to hurt my poor reader's delicate eyes (read: I was too ashamed!).

So, instead I took photos of what I had to put in the bin. Firstly from the fridge:

I must say I am sighing a sigh of relief whenever I open the fridge now.

On to the pantry and things were much better:

Although I did find four boxes of red lentils! In our defence I have to say they are difficult to find in the supermarket so when we see them we pounce. But clearly don't use them enough...

I also cleared a drawer of twelve empty jars. I'm keen on storing food items in glass jars as you can see what's in there and it's better than plastic, but all this surplus takes up a lot of space. 

Confession time: I didn't take the plunge to recycle these lads, I mean, there may be a kid craft round the corner requiring a jar, some buttons that need to be stored, the list goes on. So I transferred them to a different drawer!! Don't tell Tsh..

Whilst purging the kitchen my thoughts turned to purging our weekly food menu. Out with the winter stodge (and turnips thank goodness) and in with spring! 

Have you been doing any spring cleaning recently?

On the art of doing nothing

Source: Marianne Elliot

Yesterday someone asked me "When was the last time you spent time doing nothing?". Not nothing as in reading blogs, catching up on facebook, pottering in the garden or reading a book. But nothing as in absolutely nothing apart from introspective thinking. I scratched my head and thought long and hard. I cannot remember. Have I ever done this? I, like pretty much all the other mums I know, spend the day going from one activity to another, every minute filled. Even when I arrive at the garderie with 5 minutes to spare you'll probably find me making a list to fill the time.

So the idea of doing nothing but concentrating on thinking about nothing seems not even luxurious but totally foreign and somewhat self-indulgent.

However, I am getting signs from my body at the moment that I need a rest. And external signs like my 4 year old telling me yesterday "Mummy, you need to find some patience". He's right (sorry son).

Today I tried the yoga "corpse pose" while they napped. Trying to think about nothing but I found it very difficult to switch off. 

In the end I just fell asleep. Gah. Does that count?

I am going to give yoga another try though. I started a little bit last year with Marianne Elliot's 30 days of yoga. I'd never done it before and loved it. But then winter came and I went into marmotte mode and all good attitudes to exercise and eating went out the window. But spring is here and time to turn over a new leaf. Watch this space!

First product photo session

My purses

Not having the foggiest about such things, I've been reading The Crafters Guide to Taking Great Photos by Heidi Adnum. I've found it a brilliantly helpful book which in the first half gives clearly explained information about cameras, light, composition etc. The second half focuses on taking photos of specific craft products by topic such as bags, jewellery and fashion. Plus all the photos throughout are gorgeous and inspirational in themselves.

Ready to go out for the day

Yesterday I grabbed my camera and played around with my products, working their thang and styling them up, and trying to find the right mode and light. I need much more practise but came up with a few shots I like.

Iphone snug

If I'm to open an online shop obviously the photos of the products I'm selling are one of the most important things to concentrate on.

With her friend Ms Iphone

Hubby told me I should take the photos with no labels on. Do you think he's right?

Hanging out with her other pals

Snack bag

My favourite photo, what a cheeky face

I haven't got into my stride yet, or found the best light but I'm looking forward to much more practise as this was a lot of fun!

Project Simplify: kids clothes

I'm joining up with Tsh from Simple Mom for a Spring decluttering fest called Project Simplify. Over the next four weeks (well technically three weeks as we started last week but I am late) we'll be sorting out different hotspots in the home. This week was the kids' room.

I didn't think it would take me too long to sort out this area as a) they don't have many toys and b) I sorted out the toys downstairs a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to good old Ikea it literally takes 5 minutes to tidy up in the evening.

My hotspot was their clothes, which we keep in the spare room (easier to put things away and get ready for the next day while they're asleep). As this room is also the guest room, it's the place we tend to chuck stuff thinking we'll sort it all out one day and of course don't. Not the most zen place for our visitors to stay...

I did the sorting in two one hour slots, whilst listening to some podcasts. I filled four binbags - two with rubbish, one with girls clothes and one with boys clothes, which I can give to friends. I've put to one side some things I can sell (they're in one of the little drawers) and kept one big drawer free for visitors.

Just after I finished my Dad called asking if they can come over at the end of month. Phewf, no last minute tidying up for me this time!

Next week, the pantry and fridge. Gulp...

It's officially the end of winter...

Sorry for the two weather posts following each other but hey I'm a Brit and the weather is always a Hot (or cold) Topic of Conversation.

Clowns waiting to start the parade

This week we celebrated "Carnaval" in the town (I haven't spelt it wrong - we live in France). It's a long tradition where all the children get dressed up and parade through the town. The festivities end in the burning of "Mr Winter" but, as the small children were all traumatised with last year's too realistic flaming effigy, this year it was a pile of wood. I struggle with grey sky so, either way, it's a great way to say goodbye to the cold winter!

Lots of confetti throwing

Drummers on the square

The children let go of balloons with a message on - whoever's balloon goes the furthest wins a prize

Au revoir Mr Winter!

At last, signs of spring...

Every winter I get to the point where the grey skies and cold weather (not to mention dressing the children in layers and layers of clothes every morning) really gets me down. I start to dream of the clocks changing and warmth from the sun on my skin.

Well - hurray! - the last couple of days have been gorgeous, T-shirt weather even. I walked the dog this morning and saw signs of spring everywhere. With Livia yesterday we were listening to the birds who seem as happy as me.

Thank goodness. Spring has sprung.

Have a lovely weekend!