Hello everyone, Long time no see. As I have no other valid excuse than "life" and instragram for being silent here, I will not try to invent one. I have started a new series of floral pictures in front of my black wall in my Parisian flat, that I call the black wall series. You can see them all on Instagram under the hashtag #theblackwallseries.
I enjoy doing it so much that I wanted to share it with you here. I will be posting more of them soon. You can also see some on my portfolio.
Hello everyone, It´s starting to feel a bit weird to have been living in France for a while and still be writing this blog in English. I have taken a big decision today and starting today, I will write my blogposts both in English and French. I will start with the French version, and you will find the English one further down.
Bonjour à tous,
Voilà ça y est, cela fait plus d'un an que nous vivons en France et j'ai décidé de me lancer et d'écrire mon blog en français. Aujourd'hui, je souhaite vous parler d'un nouveau service de vente en ligne de fleurs fraiches qui s'appelle Bergamotte (avec deux t). Leur atelier n'est pas loin de chez moi et j'ai eu la chance de pouvoir leur rendre une petite visite il y a quelques jours.
Leur concept est très simple et révolutionne les codes de la livraison de fleurs coupées type interfolia. Il tient en ces quelques mots:
"La livraison express de bouquets de fleur de qualité"
Des bouquets simples, élégants et dans l'air du temps à envoyer après un diner ou à une amie pour son anniversaire. Les bouquets, à partir de 29,90 € sont livrés en 2 heures à Paris et en 24h partout en France. Ils utilisent les fleurs que j'affectionne : renoncules, anémones, oeillets, roses branchues, de la camomille, des chardons et bien-sûr, encore et toujours de l'eucalyptus ! Je vous recommande vivement ces jolis bouquets qui outre leur beauté ont aussi la particularité de se conserver très longtemps et d'être très joliment emballés.
Pour en savoir plus sur Bergamotte, je vous laisse découvrir cette petite vidéo.
Bonne journée à tous, Elodie
Today I would like to introduce you a new start-up: the lovely online French flower delivery service called Bergamotte. I was lucky enough to visit their Parisian atelier a few days ago and it was just lovely.
Their concept is very simple: They deliver quality flowers within 2 hours in Paris in within 24 hours in the rest of France. This trend of new, more modern and up to date online flower delivery service is blooming throughout Europe at the moment. They tend to break the rules of classical floristry with the continuous trips to the whole sale flower markets at 4 in the morning. They are very agile with the management of their stocks and buy their flowers directly from the producers. I like Bloomydays in Germany or floom in the UK.
Have a nice day everyone.
Elodie
Hello everyone! Today I want to share my new love with you. Last month I bought myself a new smartphone. After a lot of research, and thinking: iphone 5 or not, etc...I decided to buy the new SAMSUNG GALAXY Note II. The main criteria for me were, the battery (which lasts twice as long as the iphone) the size of the display, to read online-magazines and blogs, and the quality of the camera. I must say I am pretty happy. I am also pretty happy about the Mint Cover.
Like a lot of bloggers, I am a big fan of Instagram. You can follow my stream here.
Here are a couple of photos I took with my new smartphone and just a little bit of Instagram magic:
And what about you? Which smartphone do you use? Are you on Instagram too? If yes I would love to see your stream!
Talk to you soon!
Elodie
Hello everyone,today, I will not be talking to you. I am leaving a little of my blog space to my dear French friend Lucile - she will be visiting madame love once a month, with her lovely stories. It is Lucile's first blogpost today, so I am very excited for her, but if you want to see and read more about her, she has a very beautiful photo project with a graphic designer called melocoton et boule d'or. Elodie
Hi! I'm Lucile. Elodie and I met in 2007, in Berlin, where I studied for a semester. We both loved good food, lovely cafés, sewing, design, flowers and home sweet home, so we became friends quickly…Last November, I visited Elodie in Hamburg and then we’ve decided that I could be a guest on her blog… It makes me really happy, thank you again Elodie !I'm now living in Bern, in Switzerland. So every month I’ll make a Swiss post and I’ve decided to share with you every time a lovely café, a walk in the street and some pics from my apartment and my breakfast (my favourite meal !). I hope you will like it… Today is my first post and I'm a little scared. So, not too many words and plenty of photos…
« Apfelgold » is a sweet café, so quiet and gourmand. Always full of light, with books everywhere and the cakes are so good ! I like to order a "café gourmand", this is an espresso served with some surprise cakes. Never the same and always a lovely surprise…
Winter in Bern is full of snow ! This is not surprising, but I grew up in the South of France, so, for me, there is always something magical about snow. I’m like a child… It’s freezing, but I love it !
Breakfast of the day : some yoghurt, an egg, homemade pear compote, some crunchy choco muesli and a cup of tea (not in the picture). It helps me to get out of bed ! :) That’s all for today… See you next month ! xxx Lucile V.
Hello everyone, I posted about Stockholm last week in drips and drabs, but now the time has come to tell you the real reason why I went to Stockholm. I attended the blogging conference "Meet the blogger" at the beginning of February. The conference gave me the occasion to meet new bloggers from all over Europe (mainly from Scandinavian countries), to network and to be inspired. The conference is an international event for homedesign and lifestyle bloggers and a lot of creative and interesting people gathered in Stockholm that week-end. The reason why I bought my tickets the day they went online is because Will from the blog Bright.Bazaar was giving a keynote lecture - and I must say he didn't disappoint me at all! His talk about building a successful blogging brand was great! He gave us some tips such as Transport your readers into your world, Believe in your voice, or Give your readers a reason to return to your blog. For me the most precious tip that Will gave us was: Be a creator not just a curator! After the talk, he gave us brilliant infographics that he kindly allowed me to post on my blog for you today. So here you go:
Designed by Amanda Jane Jones for Bright.bazaar
By the way, another great and very informative talk that day was held by Kirsten Jassies about the rise of visual content; and infographics was presented as one of the big trends in this context. Another great talk was given by my German friends Thea and Toni from the beautiful sister-mag about their creative process, giving us a lot of useful tools for blogging. The girls convinced us once again how much they believe in digital and mobile publications and promised that sister-mag will never ever exist as a printed version. For me, they really are pioneers and visionaries in that field.
So, as you see, it was a very interesting and rich week-end and, above all, I enjoyed spending time with my friends Clara, Ricarda, Kathrin, Toni and Thea and also meeting new blogging friends such as Judith (you have to visit her blog! I love it and she lives in my home region in France: Picardie), Gudy and Iris.
I will be posting a last post about Stockholm this week, before heading to some new adventures.
Have a lovely week!
xxx Elodie
Have a wonderful Christmas!
Speak to you in 2013!
Elodie
Dear readers,
My German blogger friend Ricarda, from the blog 23qm stil had this great idea to review your 2012 via 12 pictures. As I started searching my photo archive from 2012, there were far too many photos and great memories to only post 12 photos, so I decided to make 12 photo collages for the 12 topics that influenced me the most this year and which tell my story the best. The birth of my blog (on July 15th) was definitely my highlight and all the great projects I realised through the blog, the workshop and conferences I attended and the many more to come in 2013, and most of all, the brilliant people I met through blogging.
1- My year in flowers:
Flowers have been my main source of inspiration for my blog this year, they made me improve my photographic skills and transform my flat into a photo studio. I love working with flowers and will continue to do so in 2013. I love picking the right vase, waiting for the perfect light, before work or on Saturday morning and playing with colours and textures.
2- My year in shops:
My blog made me visit a lot of beautiful interior shops in Hamburg. Each photo belongs to one shop: here are the links to the blogposts (from left to right and from top to bottom) Akiko, Palais 13, Küchenblume, Johanna Schultz, Lieblingsstück, Nordlys, Lieblingszimmer, my perfect Sunday, Manoir/Palazzo, Morgenthau,das 7te Zimmer,Richard, Eden Living, Lys Vintage, Human Empire, SmuukeStore.
3- My culinary year:
Even if food is not the main focus of my blog, this year I took part three times in the project Post aus meiner Küche (with the strawberry lollipops, the speculoos stars, and the mini-madeleines. I also took part in the food-blogger event France Bon Appétit. Here are some impressions:
4- My creative year:
I started sewing a lot at the beginning of 2012. I was seriously thinking about creating my own little label: L.O.D. Love On Delivery, and open my own Etsy store. In the end, I used my spare time for my blog and not pursuing my first project. I took part in the designer market - Kleine Dachladen organised by my friend Merret in May, though, and I really liked it. What do you think, should I open my Etsy store in 2013?
5- My year in Hamburg:
Hamburg treated me much better in 2012 than in 2011. Especially because I found a job I like at DDB Tribal and my friendships grew deeper. Thanks Hamburg - you almost made me forget Berlin (but not my dear Berlin friends).
6- LOVEly white dinner
In August, I shared a beautiful white dinner with my dear friends from Girl Gone International.
7- LOVEly cruise
In May, just before starting my new job at DDB, I went on a cruise with Mr. Love. Venice, Dubrovnik and Corfu. Needless to say, it was lovely!
8- LOVEly Antwerp:
To celebrate my birthday, Mr. Love and I spent a couple of days in Antwerp, and as expected, I really enjoyed the city, its architecture and interior shops.
9- LOVEly Amsterdam:
On the way back to Hamburg, after leaving Antwerp, we stopped in Amsterdam to visit friends and I loved the city very much too. As another friend of mine just moved there, I will be visiting again soon. My blogpost about Amsterdam is coming up soon as well...
10- My star obsession:
Another thing I noticed while browsing through my pictures, is that I have been using a lot of stars this year in my sewing and DIY projects, as well as in my food projects....
11- My year in red & pink:
...and that I have been using a lot of red and pink in everything I did.
12- My year with Cheddy
My cat Cheddar loves being the centre of attention, and while searching for photos, I found a least one picture of him in each album. So here comes a little collage - *cat content*
So I am ready! 2013 can come. I hope you enjoyed my little review. If you want to read what other bloggers think about 2012, here is a link to Ricarda's blog.
Only 7 days to go before Christmas!
xxx
Elodie
Good morning dear readers, This week I took part for the third time in the German food swapping project, Post aus meiner Küche (mail from my kitchen) initiated by my fellow bloggers Clara, Jeanny and Rike. The theme this time was Christmas, and I must say it was a bit tricky for me. The concept of Post aus meiner Küche is that you cook or bake something in your kitchen, and send it by mail to your randomly picked swapping-partner.
In France, we don't have this tradition of baking small biscuits (Plätzchen) before Christmas, so I hope my wonderful partner in crime, the lovely Sabine from the blog azurweiss will forgive me for having only sent some simple home-made speculoos. I received on Wednesday an incredible delivery from the south of Germany: what was in the box can be seen here. I hope the star-shaped biscuits tasted good. I had the idea of making them after our trip to Belgium in October. They don't really look the same as the ones you find in France and Belgium because you have to use "Vergeoise" which is a very dark brown sugar that you find in the north of France and in Belgium, and it gives the biscuits a very dark golden colour.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Receipe for the Speculoos dough:
for 40 to 50 pieces - preparation : 10 minutes
500g flour 180 g salted butter 300 g brown sugar (Vergoise) 1 egg 1 teaspoon yeast 2 g of salt 8 cl milk 2 soup spoons of speculoos spices
Preparation:
Mix the flour, brown sugar, spices, yeast and salt in a bowl. Add the egg and the (not cold) butter cut into small pieces. Mix the ingredients together gently. Start to add, bit by bit, the milk and continue mixing until a consistent dough is formed. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for at least two hours.
Remove the dough from the fridge and leave for one hour. Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Flour the work surface. Use a rolling pin to achieve flat dough around 3-4 mm in height. Cut into shapes using your form of choice. Place on baking paper on a baking tray and place in the preheated oven for around 15 minutes. Ensure that the speculoos are golden before taking out of the oven.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
I wish you a nice Sunday afternoon.
xxx
Elodie
cone pine candle-light holder from the shop Nordlys in Hamburg (I don't remember the brand) wooden candle-light holder - Frau Sieben (soon available in the online shop), black plate - Habitat, little vase from Miss étoile, from the shop Rubios in Hamburg
Hello everyone, I hope you had a lovely week-end! My week-end was just fabulous. I took part in a foodblogger cocking Event on Friday and in the German blogger conference BLOGST on Saturday and Sunday - and decided to write my first blogpost in German, as the topic is more relevant for my German readers ... I will come back to English soon. I promise! so there you go...I am so nervous. ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Ich weiss nicht warum es mich so nervös macht auf Deutsch zu schreiben. Für mich, kam das überhaupt nicht in Frage als Ich mit dem Blog angefangen habe, auf Deutsch zu schreiben. Deutsch ist für mich die Sprache in der ich arbeite, und mit der Ich mit meinem Deutschen Freunden rede, aber meine "private languages" sind Französisch (meine Muttersprache) und Englisch (die Sprache von Mr. Love). Es ändert sich langsam, da Ich jetzt ganz viele wunderschönen Deutschsprachigen Blogs täglich lese. Ich war am Wochenende, als Teilnehmer bei der Deutschsprachigen BLOGST Konferenz in Hamburg. Die wunderbare Lou von Happy Serendipity hat mich dazu animiert, jetzt auf Deutsch zu schreiben. Lou ist Italienerin, lebt in Frankfurt und schreibt meistens auf Englisch und ab und zu auf Deutsch, wenn das Thema besonders interessant für die Deutschen Leser ist. Wie Lou gesagt, das ist dein Blog, Du bestimmst die Regeln! Wie die tolle Danny aus Cozy and Cudly es schön formuliert hat: Dein Blog ist dein Zuhause! Ich schreibe normalerweise auf Englisch was es mir leichter fällt und weil Ich denke dass es gut zu meinem Multi-Kulti Lebensstill passt. Ich würde mich auch wünschen, dass die Leute die Kommentare hinterlassen auf meinem Blog, sich frei füllen, mich auf Deutsch, Französisch oder Englisch zu schreiben und sich kein Stress machen, weil sie denken, sie müssten unbedingt auf Englisch schreiben. Ich wollte heute ausschlafen, bin aber so aufgeregt noch vom Wochenende, dass ich seit 08:30 an meinem Computer sitze und an meinem Blogpost arbeite! Das ist auch das schöne an einer Blogger Konferenz. Es hört nicht auf am Ende der Veranstaltung, sondern, es wird danach noch berichtet, ausgetauscht und getwittert #blogst12
Neben sehr viel Input und interessanten Vorträgen, war es besonders spannend die Leute, die Persönlichkeiten die hinter diesen Blogs stehen zu treffen. Ein Rückblick über die Vorträge, werde ich an der Stelle nicht geben, das haben schon viele gemacht und ihr könnt es da auch nachlesen zum Beispiel bei Angelika Schaff oder Backbube. Wie die liebe Jeanny von Zucker Zimt und Liebe in Ihrem Vortrag gesagt hat, "die Leser lesen keinen Blogs, die lesen Persönlichkeiten" und das ist es genau! Wenn man die Organisatorinnen Clara Tastesheriff und Ricarda 23qmstil kennt und erlebt hat mit wie viel Leidenschaft die beiden animiert sind, hat man gleich doppelt so viel Lust deren Blogs zu lesen.
Ich habe auch Aurélie von Französisch kochen bei BLOGST endlich kennengelernt, eine andere Französin, die über Französisches Essen und natürlich auch über Macarons auf Deutsch blogt. Es war toll wieder Französisch und viel über Essen sprechen zu können. Wir hatten uns schon am Vortag, beim tollen France Bon Appétit Koch-Blogger Event kennengelernt. Das Event hatte die charmante Barbara von Finfint organisiert, die über Schwedisches Essen blogt. Das Event fand im Kochkontor statt in Hamburg.
Ein sehr inspirierendes Gespräch hatte ich auch mit der wundervollen Thea, eine der zwei Schwestern von Sistermag. Es gibt Menschen mit der man sofort eine Verbindung spürt, und das war so mit Thea. Ich freue mich so sehr Thea und Toni wieder in Stockholm bei Meet the blogger zu sehen!
Unsere Hamburger Blogger Fraktion war auch da natürlich, mit zum Beispiel Antonia von Behind the Gorilla oder Susanne von Lieschen heiratet und wir haben viel Spass zusammen gehabt wie immer! Ich habe auch zwei anderen Hamburgerinnen kennengelernt und zwar, die liebe Mel von Gourmet Guerilla und Stefanie von Genuss sucht. Ganz am Ende der Veranstaltung, habe ich auch Heike von Relleomein und die tolle Katharina von Essraum, die wunderschöne Food-Fotos macht.
Hier sind ein paar Fotos, zuerst von unserem Foodblogger-Event am Freitag und dann von BLOGST.
Wir haben zuerst zusammen gekocht
und dann zusammen gegessen und getrunken von 10:00 bis 17:00! Ich habe mich wirklich wie in Frankreich gefüllt.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Für die Blogst-Fotos, habe ich mich entschieden einen kleinen Spiel zu spielen, ich habe tollen Bloggerinnen von Hinten fotografiert weil die so schönen Frisuren hatten. Könnt Ihr die zuordnen? Habt Ihr Lust mitzuspielen?
Einfach als Kommentar die Nummer und die Bloggerin daneben schreiben. Ich hoffe die betroffenen sind mir nicht böse, aber ich fand die Frisuren so schön, dass ich nicht widerstehen könnte!
Pfff! ich hoffe es war alles verständlich. Speak to you soon!
Elodie
Today was a little summer bonus after the grey weather we had last week - and it definitely had some of the ingredients that make a "perfect sunday"!I went to flea market around the corner of my flat - and even I didn't come back with a treasure this time, it was still very inspiring to walk around in the sunny Sunday afternoon.
On my way back I decided to take a couple of photos from my lovely front garden and its beautiful Hydrangea. I especially love them when their colours start fading.
and my neighbour invited me to take pictures directly in the garden! This may sound like a detail, but I was soooo happy he asked me that. It is another example of something that wouldn't have happen to me without my blog. So here is a picture of the little on the fountain, protecting my building.
and oh! I almost forgot. As yesterday was the last day of my first giveaway, and I am happy to announce that the lovely Masumi has been randomly chosen and is the happy winner of the beautiful nighty Lilly.
So I hope you had some highlights today too. I wish you a wonderful week.
Some people say that curiosity killed the cat...Cheddar is definitely not convinced and keeps smelling everything.
I got my first awards today! youhou! I got nominated by the charming Annastella from the greek blog Decofairy. Thank you!I got the "very inspiring blogger award".
The rules are the following when you receive an award from a fellow blogger:
The rules: 1- Link back to the blogger who nominated you. 2- Paste the award image on your blog. 3- Tell 7 facts about yourself. 4- Nominate 15 other blogs that you would like to give the award to. (I’m going to reduce this number.) 5- Contact the bloggers that you have chosen and let them know about the award. I have done 1 and 2. and here comes 3:
Here are 7 random facts about myself:
1. I love collections. In my flat, I have a globe collection and a collection of vases. That is probably why I love pinterest - for me it is really a virtual treasure hunting tool. If I could I would also collect animals, and adopt another cat and a dog - but as I live in a flat at the moment, I will better not and stay with one lovely cat.
2. I love danish movies, danish design, the danish language and Copenhagen.
3. My favorite fabrics are from Liberty of London and Marimekko.
4. I am completely crazy about Japan. I love the design, the patterns and the sewing books. In fact I think Danish and Japanese design have a lot in common.
5. I am part of the organising committee of Hamburg International Women - a group of International Women that started a year and a half ago and already counts more than 1.000 members and is very inspiring.
6. I love gazpacho and cold soups in general.
7. I love storms.
Here are the blogs I would like to give the awards to - I am going to nominate 5:
1. Caroline Biel -because I find her photos are very poetic.
2. Cachemire & Soie - because of the French touch.
3. Griottes - because it so creative and because I love the books of Emilie as well.
4. Melocoton et boule d'or - because I love it some much that I ordered one print from the blog.
5. Little Fabrics - because the DIY projects are really beautiful and using my favorite fabrics.
today, I had to stay home with a nasty sinusitis. Exactly when the weather starts being summery...At least I am not completely alone. My little Cheddar is keeping me company, even if the weather seems to make him pretty tired...
