Life has been a whirlwind recently! I thought i’d update you on some of the lovely things i’ve been keeping myself busy with.
I’ve been making plenty of paper dresses (it’s got to the point where I never want to fold paper ever again)….
(you have no idea how many newspapers I used doing this)
And i’ve been playing with fabric too 😉
How have you all been? And HAPPY OCTOBER!! 🙂
A Bientôt!
Once again.. long time no see my lovelies. How have you all been?
Recently life has been quite fabulous. I passed all of my A level exams, got into a college to do an Art foundation course and I got a new job! It’s all been happening in the life of Holly!
I was also lucky enough to spend 2 weeks in france visiting my Aunt in the extremely beautiful Loire Valley.
I met some wonderful people, practised my terrible french, and learnt a lot about enjoying the simple things in life while I was there, and I thought I would share a few photos of my adventures with you.
My Aunt lives in a gorgeous village called Montreuil-Bellay. The architecture around is just unbelievable, and there is even a hogwarts-esque chateau right in the centre of the village!
On the third day I was there, the village was holding an art competition. I wandered around the village with my camera and tried to make friends with as many of the artists as possible haha! There was some beautiful work happening (and most of it made me feel quite unworthy to be honest), and I met some very interesting people, who then proceeded to nag me to enter the art competition (oops).
The man in the photograph below had one of the best ideas ever in my opinion. Instead of using paint, he painted only using Red Wine! I just thought this was such a fantastic idea- so original (and so very french, ha) I just wish I could remember his name.
The sunday market in the village was probably the busiest it ever gets in Montreuil-Bellay. It made a nice change to see all of the locals out and about, as they were usually tucked away inside their houses, or out doing other things in the week.
I have a slight obsession with french chateaus, so of course I had to take a visit to the famous Saumur Chateau, as the last time I went was almost 10 years ago. Lets just say, it totally lived up to my memories.
I also got to visit one of the exciting troglodyte cave villages they have scattered around the region! I have never visited one of these before, and I was completely amazed at the idea of people still living in caves until very recently. There was even an underground church located directly underneath the ‘real’ above-ground church of the non cave village. When the village church got burnt down during the protestant vs catholic disagreements in the past, this cave church became a secret place that only a select number of people knew about- and could secretly go and worship in. I found it fascinating and amazing, and if you ever get the chance to visit a cave village, definitely do it- you wont be disappointed.
Finally, on my last day I went to visit the beautiful walled village of the famous Cardinal Richelieu. As it was a monday, (and the french have to have their mondays off! haha) there wasn’t much happening, so after a quick look at Saint Bernard in the church (Bernard being my second name, I couldn’t pass up the chance!) we decided to take a picnic to the Parc de Richelieu just a walk across from the gates of the town. It is such a beautiful park, and I had a lot of fun butterfly spotting!
I had forgotten how beautiful the Loire Valley is- the fields of sunflowers and roses at the sides of the roads, how remote you feel driving through the country roads- yet you are never far from a village with everything you could need (and you are never far from a Super U 😉 ) and just the pure beauty of the architecture and nature of the place- there is literally no place nicer to be during the summer time. Who needs beaches when you have all the beautiful picnic areas and rivers you could ever need?
I hope your summers have all been as perfect as mine has!
Speak soon~
Holly
I once again apologise for dropping off the face of the earth for a whole week. Man I cant wait until my interview is out of the way!
Anyway, I finished all of my beautiful Laduree Macarons (yes all of them, Holly doesn’t share macarons), and can I just say they were perfect. I think I would marry them if it was socially acceptable.
The flavours that I got were Pistachio (Which was so so so nice, and the only one that I didn’t take any photos of because I took it to work with me to eat at lunch haha!), Vanilla, Lemon, Rasperry, Rose and Brazil Pure Origin Chocolate (one of their limited edition Macarons).
I treated myself to a gift box too, because the boxes are pretty, and I thought that I could keep little things in my room in there!
Ok, so the first one that I tried was Vanilla. Whilst it wasn’t my favourite from the box, it was still pretty lovely.
This is the Raspberry macaron and I’m actually shocked to say that it was my least favourite out of the ones I bought! It wasn’t horrible though, I dont think a macaron could be horrible even if it tried- lets just say, I wouldn’t buy this particular flavour again!
Lemon (anything lemon flavoured is yummy in my opinion).
This one was strange. Really really nice…. just in a strange way. In the shop it was named “Rose Petal” and I have no idea how to describe this, but the taste was actually somewhat like the smell of rose petals. It was interesting, and I would definitely buy this flavour again!
Ok so I saved the best for last. This one was insane. It kind of tasted like a macaron/ chocolate brownie and it was just perfect. It was so nice that I forgot to take a photo of the inside until I was almost 3/4 the way through haha! I’m sad that this is only a limited edition, because it was amazing- if you have the chance, definitely try one before they vanish again.
So overall, they were all gorgeous, and if you’ve never tried a Laduree macaron, I suggest that you fix that as soon as possible!
I apologise for the state of my nails in these photos, I didn’t realise quite how bad they were until I looked at the photos on my laptop. Oops.
I have lots of posts planned, and I promise I wont disappear for a week again!! How have you been? I’ve missed you all.
Much love,
Holly
Now that 2013 is officially upon us, i feel its time to welcome in the new year with some sparkly champagne and a few resolutions to make this year fabulous.
Personally, i always like to have more than one resolution, and i always like to make them pretty achievable. My continuous resolutions that i still haven’t finished from last year include bake more yummy cakes more often and learn more french. Haha! Thinking about it, I should probably learn how to cook some more proper food because my limit is literally toast. With the occasional tin of pasta shapes if im feeling adventurous ooh!
This year, however, I have gone for~
1. Visit a place that I have never been to before.
This has crept onto my list for the past few years, and it is always the most satisfying resolution to fulfil. In 2012 I was lucky enough to visit Paris for the first time in my life, a city I have since completely fallen in love with. To say that I would move there in an instant is an understatement, it is a beautiful city with a fabulous way of life, the only thing stopping me from returning straight away is the boredom that i like to call college. Sigh.
Here are a couple of the photos I took on my trip. I was so lucky to be blessed with such a beautiful sky on my first morning in Paris. Beautiful Beautiful.
2. Eat better, be skinnier.
I want to be skinny and elegant. Waif-like and delicate. I know its an unhealthy obsession, and I know im skinny enough already. But if i just loose a few more pounds i will be happy. I promise.
Really I just want to be stricter with my day to day food routine and cut back on the amount of ‘treats’ that i allow myself throughout the week. I want to tone my arms and I want a completley flat stomach. I want to look good for summer (bikini season is fast approaching!)
3. Spend more time dedicating myself to college art.
I need to begin to live breathe and sleep the kind of art that my college needs me to submit. I may not enjoy the themes that we have been given to study as much as i enjoy my own kind of art that I spend hours and hours reading about, but I need to put in effort to enjoy what I’m doing more. If i put in the effort now, when it comes to picking uni courses and making scary life changing decicions I hope I will be more prepared for that than I am at the moment. One of the reasons i havent applied to a uni for next year like pretty much everyone my age is because i still dont know exactly what kind of art i want to do in life. Or even if I want to restrict myself to one media at all. Who knows.
4. Blog frequently to fill my spare time reminding myself of the things that inspire me.
If I begin to loose hope, if I begin to question why I have chosen the art path at all in my life,(which trust me, has been happening a lot lately purely because I have no solid idea about my future), I hope that this blog will be somewhere that I can call home, somewhere which holds all of my true creative influences and somewhere that gives me comfort. I will gradually begin posting my own work, maybe this blog will even become something that universities would be interested in seeing- part of my portfolio in some ways.
5. Dont forget about the small pleasures in life.
Things like scented candles and fairy lights, face packs and long bubble baths, laying in the grass on a summers day and simply having time alone. I need to remember to take a break every now and then, to relax and just enjoy some of the simpler things in life, the things that make me the happiest.
Finally, enjoy life.
I’m young and I need to remember not to stress about every small thing. Sure, there will be times when i have lots of deadlines, personal issues and annoyances, but I need to remember to just breathe. I need to remember that more than likely everything will turn out fine in the end, and the stressing will have been completley pointless and unessecary.
I need to remember to keep life sparkly and fun ^^
What are your new years resolutions? Do you usually stick to them? Let me know in the comments and i will give you a cupcake of your choice 🙂
À bientôt!! ❤
My name is Holly, and i finally decided that making a blog where i could keep ideas would be a good idea~
Welcome to my blog please excuse the awkward video of awkwardness pfft. I hate first posts what do you even write in a first post so i though yes a video PERFECT idea (and then i realised how terrible it was eee).
Better posts coming your way very very soon~ ^^
A bientôt!
Clutching to Clouds 