In the mood for blue doors

vendée doors blue

blue doors photography kids

If you have been following me on instagram for a while, you know I have this little obsession for blue doors. I even created a hashtag this summer when I was in Vendée (one of the kingdom of blue doors!): #inthemoodforbluedoors! And I promised that when it would reach 200 entries, I would make a blog post with some blue doors I took. And some of my favourite entries in bonus: So that's Vendée. Where my father has a summer house and where the kids learn how to surf. Full of blue doors and making me want to make my kids pose in front of them all the time (and oups, actually they did):And then I found out that the place where my mum has a summer house, Morvan, also has them aplenty:How fun was it to have something to fall back to when creativity is lacking? I wanted to create a hashtag that was easy to use and would give you something to look for. Yet making you go out with your camera and go for a hunt. Maybe a way for me (and for you) to regain inspiration and an eye open on the world around!Brussels, Paris, London, Sweden... There are blue doors everywhere!And it worked! People have fed my hashtag with their discoveries and creativities. More than 200 posts overall! And I promised to share some of the ones I love the most here. It will maybe make you discover some new persons to follow on instagram if you are there:One of my favourite entry is from Gemma of @blossoms.and.wren who adds a lot of amazing pictures of blue doors to the tag!@blossoms.and.wren And then of course, my friend Úna of @MissOuna, if you don't know her account, you should definitely go and follow her: @missOunaAn amazing account to see is also Benedicte from @wanderwonders with so many beautiful traveling tips and photos:@wanderwondersThe one who made the tag reach 200 was another IG friend Louise @Louise_thomasonwho lives far up north in the Shetlands, definitely check her out too:Two other persons I really like contribute very often to the hashtag with some cool pictures:@minalulu@it's_me_zazieAnd some more I liked too:@theloopfactory@styledcanvasfrom my favourite video teacher@xanthebI wish I could share much more of the talented contributions here but this would be a too long post (Maybe already too long? ). So please go and check out the hashtag itself! and now go and find blue doors, and be curious!Maybe next I'll start a hashtag with blue houses? what do you say? 

oh London, I love you so - week-end with my daughter

The title might be misleading. I had planned this post long before the attacks in London. Long before the elections. But the title is still valid! Even more so after those events. Solidarity.We love London. All of us do. We have been several times with the kids. And we are lucky enough to have friends who live there. Pelle got us a trip to London as a birthday present and I thought I would share a a few pictures of the things we have done there:We spent an entire day in Kew gardens. I love it there. It might be a little bit far but it's so worth it. I hadn't been for 7 years. But it was worth the wait. It's especially nice in the spring of course.All the flowers and the hive reproduction was really cool. Also there is a tree top trail that is really nice. A bit too short in our views but still worth it. But one of the thing I liked best in Kew is the green houses. So moody and beautiful. I love it!I also liked the smaller greenhouse with the waterliliesIt's such a beautiful space!The day after we went to the Tate modern. We met the beautiful Siobhan there, she is a great photographer (check her out). And we saw the Giacometti exhibition. I recommend both the place and the latter. Thanks to some great IG advice, we took a boat to the Tate britain and saw the really cool installation from Cerith Wyn Evans:I then took Lily to Liberty to have tea there because they have great teas. And the best scones too!I took her to one of my favourite dim sum restaurant that day and it was happiness for both of us!The third day we spent in Walthamstow with our friends and went to the William Morris Gallery  which I also recommend! Very good with children.And lastly, before heading to the airport, we hung around St Pancras station, close to Saint Martins art school: Granary square. You have a cool fountain, especially good when it's hot! There was also a free Magnum exhibition in the tube station.  All worth it!Overall, what do we think about the week-end in London?Any more tips? I'm happy to oblige, let me know!

Birthday week-end when Lily turned 9

Lily turned 9 not that long ago.  As she didn't have many friends in her class, we decided to avoid trying to have a birthday party. But instead we would have a family week-end full of adventures: I was a bit heartbroken at first that she wouldn't have the usual friends big party. But then, this family/adventure week-end grew on us. And it was actually the greatest idea. She will probably remember it better than all of her previous parties!It started with a little trip to the sea before hitting the road. The water was much chillier than expected (especially because it was so hot in the air that day!)Then we went to our family in Örebro.  It's a place I mentionned before because they have a great open art exhibition every two years. But it's also where Pelle's family lives and it was really good this year to be able to have more reunions with them!I ended up doing the Nigella's olive oil gluten free chocolate cake I was advised to do on instagram and it was quite nice with mascarpone and raspberries on top!Lily got a Ukulélé for her birthday as requested, played right away with it. Such happiness!It was such a beautiful week-end too!We drove to near Gothenburg from there to an amazingly beautiful hotel. Just a bit weird that it's in the middle of a golf course. But if you ignore that fact, you are in paradise! The rooms have a scandinavian style. With woodland and white design. And big window bays giving you a view to the forest:I'm pretty sure the woods have fairies there!The real birthday day was Sunday. We got a little cake and a candle for her and gave her some more presents:This includes that Bellerose dress she really liked!The aim of the trip was to go to Universum, a huge science center in Gothenburg that Lily really wanted to visit. On our way, there was a dandelion field and I had to stop to take some pics of course:Kids had a great time at Universum. If you are in the area, I definitely recommend it!And when we were on our way back to Stockholm, I got totally obsessed with Colza (Rapeseed) fields and thankfully we could stop at one of them so I could take pictures!Great end to a great birthday week-end! Overall, she was very happy about everything. And I'm sure she'll have much more memories of it. I think planning trips is one of the best present you can have. What do you think? 

Easter in the Morvan - Part 3 (Plateau de Bibracte - the end)

Third part of our amazing Easter week in the Morvan. If you missed part 1 and part 2, here is a link to the region. We went on a trip to the famous (in France) plateau du Bibracte.  The site is an archaeological park but it's on top of a mount. And it's at the centre of a forest under protection. Plus, it's so magical, it almost feels like a imps and elves wood. Or Narnia maybe. Isn't the view magnificent? And they have the prettiest installations made to go with surrounding nature. Ceramic pots with holes to make music with the sound of the wind:There was also long strings where pieces of woods were hanging, making some amazing music too:And how about these white branches in the middle of the wood? It's a bit artificial but it looks amazing. Plus, it's very respectful of the Environment:Also, you can find old archeological areas and those kinds of old structures:Overall, the kids and I found the forest of beech trees pretty magical. It felt like imps could appear from anywhere. And each trees seemed to have an entrance to some sort of magical world:Overall, this has been an amazing holiday and much needed break. One of my obsessions during the week has been to try to take those magical blowing dandelions pictures. Mostly failures but here are some outtakes (aside from the ones in the previous posts):Bye bye Morvan. For now!

Easter in the Morvan - part 2 (Portrait of my children in 2017- four)

Second part of the Easter in the Morvan series. There will be a third! It is also the fourth "Portrait together" of the year. This one is all about the egg hunts in the garden.  So for once it's a a little mix of them together and the chocolate frenzy part too. I have had little inspiration lately as my mind was focused somewhere else. But now I'm back and hopefully, I'll have great ideas for the portrait series. But first, chocolate. First the hunt:She looks unhappy but actually, they had quite good catches I would say:What do you say? I think there was a bit of a chocolate overload but it didn't show too much in their behaviour this time. Growing up? Yes. And way too fast!And so that leads to a bit more of the portrait series:This was more posed than usual. They were too excited about eating all the treasures from the hunt:And for something completely different: we did the same as last year with egg natural dyes and flowers. We used blueberries, red cabbage, red onions, turmeric and beetroots. The best were the blues. The recipes I used are in the blog post from last year. I just pre-cooked everything this time and let the eggs soak over night but if you want to have different shades, just leave them at different time rates. I used tights to stick the flowers. If you wet them a little first, it will then be easier to put the tight over.  The blueberries and red cabbage ones are always the best I find:(Spotted: Lily painted one of those eggs in black and glitter)      

Easter in the Morvan - Part 1 (introduction)

We spent Easter in the Morvan for the third time in row. Last year was good but short. This year, we stayed for a week in my mother's summer house and it was a bliss. My sister and her husband were there with her kids too. Quite a rare treat to be all together. The weather was amazing and all the trees and flowers were in blooms. I discovered the area a bit more and would like to show you (it might take a few posts though). Ready?Morvan is a small mountain in Burgundy but it's less glamorous than its vineyard famous neighbour. Nonetheless, it's a regional protected parc and it's beautiful! We came during a flowering time that I have rarely seen before and I was quite impressed with the variety and beauty.I even managed to snap a last minute magnolia bloom and join the frenzy that went on in my favourite social media:My mum planted some beautiful ones in her garden too. And we had lunches, local organic strawberries and lots of outdoor activities for the kids (not pictured: tree climbing, fishing, family and friends hangs) :And my brother in law built brilliant bows and arrows for each of the kids:We also could gather so many pretty bouquets:And go for long walks where I really discovered the gorgeousness of this small mountain (and now be ready for a big photo flow):Wasn't that beautiful? I have so much more I would like to show. So I'll make a couple more post and distill them in time. And hopefully you will appreciate them more that way... Let me know!