Wednesday 31 December 2014

Holiday cheer (Part IV: What my Holidays looked like)

.MEMORIES.



 Times of cheer and anguish.
Missed opportunities.
Half-finished projects.

AND

Finding my way amidst all of it.
Finding purpose.
Repurposing.
Reevaluating.
Accepting.

.CHEER and JOY.


Red.
A tree.
Strings of light.
No clutter.
Peace.

.QUIET.


The peace of it.
Concentrating.
Sensing what matters.
Enjoying what is.

.MY CHILDREN.



Because life has a way of going on. 
And giving us sweetness when we least expect.

xoxo

Goodbye 2014
Thank You, 
with all my heart.

Tuesday 30 December 2014

‘Loulou de la Falaise, the Glamorous Romantic’

Original
Bohemian
Hippy-Deluxe

de la Falaise's style somehow reminds me of Ines de la Fressange, some decades later.
Both ladies were/are so idiosyncratic. 
Fascinating, indeed.








Read more here, here and here

Noel with Cote-Sud (my favorite deco magazine)


{The editorial from Cote Sud my favorite home magazine of all times}

Année après année – en 2015 nous fêterons les 25 printemps de Maisons Côté Sud – ne rompons pas la tradition et embrassons la fin décembre sous l’olivier.
En Provence, les blancs et les grisés sont par nature toujours de mise dans les maisons, même si la mouvance actuelle les pousse à se raviver d’esprit plus contemporain et les illumine par des cuivres nouvelle vague. Oui, le cuivre est omniprésent cette saison sur toute la déco avec son allure pseudo or dernier chic qui, sans être bling-bling, donne vraiment de l’éclat aux intérieurs. Festif incontestablement, il se marie à merveille et comme nulle autre teinte aux poudrés de Noël et aux
délices chocolatées de l’hiver.

L’objet chaleureux serait-il devenu « l’indispensable » du moment ? Il est vrai que s’enrouler dans le
plaid en laine que l’on jette négligemment sur son canapé ou son lit va bien au-delà de la gestuelle mode et que le chocolat est devenu bien plus qu’un simple péché mignon.

D’ailleurs, vous le découvrirez dans ce numéro, nous n’avons pas résisté à la tentation 100 % cacao et nous sommes partis cueillir les cabosses et trier les fèves au nordouest de Madagascar pour mieux savourer l’exceptionnel des crus et ces huit desserts à faire fondre plus d’un gourmand les soirs de
réveillon.

Car, accrocher la fête au menu des jours, il n’y a rien de tel pour donner un goût de joie au lendemain et éclairer le futur.

Mille et un rayons de soleil sur 2015, voilà ce que nous voulons vous offrir
comme un bouquet aussi éternel que l’olivier !

Françoise Lefébure
Directrice de la rédaction-rédactrice en chef

(A  voir egalement ce video-chouette)


Monday 29 December 2014

Holiday cheer (Part III: Creativity)

Hello Friends,

I hope you enjoyed visiting my Holiday cheer posts and places.
If not yet, read first here and then here.

Today I am posting about Creativity.

.GARDENING AND COOKING.





Gardening and Cooking
 (in that order)
make for my best comforts
so womanly
so primitive

Jane Brocket of Yarnstorm is definitively one such whole person, so creative in all ways.
Her book "The Gentle Art of Domesticity"
is my desert island book pick.


Thank You, Jane!

.HOMEMAKING.


Making house a home is such a  talent
i do own it 
and i do yearn for it

(Gwen Moss is a wonderful lady, in talent and in soul)

.FLAIR.


Making all this 
and all the above and the previous
with flair
is the ultimate refinement.

French flair, ah oui!
bien-sur!)
hosted by my favorite home magazine ever

HOLIDAY CHEER is about what makes LIFE WORTH LIVING

I hope the New Year brings us all of this and more cheer and joy

xoxo

P.S. Demain, check for what my Festive looks like!



Sunday 28 December 2014

Use this breathing technique to lose weight (and feel elated!)


(image via here)

Looking for a surefire way to lose weight or stay trim in 2015? Don't hold your breath — quite literally.
Over 80 percent of fat loss happens when you exhale, suggests a new study from the University of New South Wales School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences.
Fat cells store a combination of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen called triglyceride. To shed fat, the body unlocks the triglyceride molecules through oxidation — a process that breaks the molecules apart when they come in contact with oxygen through inhalation.
Twenty-nine pounds of inhaled oxygen is needed for the body to oxidize and exhale ten pounds of fat. For every ten pounds of fully oxidized fat molecules lost, 8.4 pounds leave the body through the lungs as carbon dioxide. The remaining fat becomes water, flushed through urine, sweat, and other bodily fluids, notes the study published in the British Medical Journal.
At rest, a 155-pound person releases around 6.7 ounces of carbon dioxide per minute over twelve breaths. In one day, 17,280 breaths accumulate to 0.44 pounds of exhaled carbon. Raising the metabolic rate through exercise increases the carbon loss sevenfold.
"These results show the lungs are the primary excretory organ for weight loss," say Andrew Brown and Ruben Meerman, authors of the study. "None of this is obvious to people because the carbon dioxide gas we exhale is invisible," Meerman adds.
"The exhaled carbon can only be replaced by eating food or consuming beverages. Keeping the weight off simply requires that you put less back in by eating than you've exhaled by breathing," the authors advise.
Qigong master Chunyi Lin is no stranger to the benefits of breathing. "Simple adjustments in your breathing could have an immediate effect on your health," he says in our Spring Forest Qigong course.
Chunyi recommends "Breathing of the Universe" to heal the lungs and clear blockages so they can support your body most effectively.
Take a few minutes, and try it. While it is best to practice this exercise standing, you can also do it while sitting or lying down.
  • Begin with both hands facing each other in front of the lower dantian (naval area).
  • Keep a space between the body and the hands and between both hands. In this way you can keep the feeling of emptiness.
  • With your awareness in your lower dantian, take three deep breaths.
  • Then, as you inhale, move your hands open to the sides; exhale as you bring your hands close together. Your hands do not touch each other. Use your hands and body to feel the energy while you use the elbows to guide the action.
  • Use your whole body to breathe. While you inhale, visualize the pure universal energy flowing into your body and gathering in the lower dantian.
  • While you exhale, imagine any sickness, pain, or extra weight turning into air or smoke and shooting out from every part of the body to the end of the universe.
  • Stay relaxed. Gently rest your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Wear a smile.
It's that simple! You can do it for as short as two or three minutes or as long as you would like.
Learn more about the healing energy of Qigong and practice directly with Chunyi Lin during his upcoming seminars in three new cities: Seattle, Miami, and Singapore. Learn more at the link below.

Holiday cheer (Part II: The Whimsical)


Hello, Friends!
Here with the second part of what Holiday Cheer looks like to me.
If you've missed yesterday's post, about The Familiar, find it here.




About
Hiding (who you are)
or
Finding (who you are)
and 
Choosing who to show and with whom to share

(Red Ridinghood via The Girl who married a Bear-isn't this a wonderful name for a blog?)

.COMPANIONSHIP.



About
Loving who you are with
or
Finding the one to share your life with

(wonderful posts about living in Nature via The Noisy Plume-i love the tag line though, "i love your soul-what a blessing being able to say that!)

.FEELING WHOLE.


The good life, the whole life of bringing about fruit off your labor: children and animals, stitching, music, crafting. The Nature way.
(And probably my #1 destination in the blogland, Soulemama)

What's Whimsical to you?

Another stop tomorrow, talking about 
Creative

Saturday 27 December 2014

Found #1 Natural materials

: 1 : 
 {source unknown}

This is a shop in the States that I totally forgot to pin.
I love the carpets: modern and traditional, the pebble weave and the colour.
Plus the blush pillows.
Homey an feminine with a decadent feel.
2nd pic: lovely stone bracelet/curtain ring and mother of pearl coloured dish, with a golden accent.
Nice colours and styling.




: 2 :
{From Greige}
Grey and natural wood.
Modern.
Eco.
Perfect.



: 3 :

{From Dreamy Whites
I looove the knit trea skirt! So traditional and so NOW!





:: I hope your day was lazy and beautiful
May inspiration flow your way
and mine ::
xoxo

Holiday cheer (Part I: The Familiar)

Athens Christmas, pre-euro


Merry Christmas, Friends!

May your days be Merry and Bright
and filled with God's presence and Joy.

What does the Holiday Season whispers to your ear?

.TRAVEL.
in dreamlands seen in movies and blogs




{i love gold lettering!}


{visions of Youth and Fairytale}


{this is sooo my adolescence!}

::images via Travelling Mama, one of my "go to" happy places::

.HOME COMFORTS.


{meatballs, that and bolognese, and mac n'cheese the ultimate comfort foods}

::picture via Posie -love-love-love this lady::

.SIMPLE PLEASURES.



End of the year~New beginnings

::images via Attic24-one blooming lady::

What does your "Familiar" look like at Christmas?
Come back tomorrow for The Whimsical
Then I'll show you what my Xmas looks like

xoxo



Best buys