Living French: 7th edition

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Living Room - La Maison Chic | French Living Room Furniture | Classical Sofas | Elegant Coffee Tables | Linen Armchairs | Console Tables | Footstools | Bookcases | Display Cabinets | Writing Desks | Occasional Tables | Cupboards | Sofas Appreciate the small things in life: do not fuss too much about how you look or what people might think of you and do not try too hard to be healthy. What’s the truth behind all these myths – and could French life work for you? If you plan to buy property and live in France, either permanently or part-time, it pays to be flexible about embracing the culture and keep an open mind and heart. So find out more about the many different aspects of living in France. Family life Since we are obsessed with all things French lifestyle, there are many French lifestyle tips that we’ve slowly adopted or are trying to adopt. France is one of our favorite countries to travel to and a large part of that is because we absolutely love French lifestyle habits. Our recent three week road trip around France opened our eyes to the French mentality of how to live well.

The tragic loss of travel agent neighbour, Richard Jebb, and the closure of his long-standing independent business, gave French Living the opportunity to provide more seats for its hungry customers.

French Lifestyle Tips

One of the most notable differences between the American lifestyle vs. the French lifestyle is how much reading is still very much a part of daily French life. In a day and age where most people tend to get their news or information from digital sources, it’s quaint and refreshing to see the French still reading the paper or supporting their local bookstore.

Whatever inspires you in your travels or remains memorable to you from your past, why not bring it into your everyday life if at all possible? Cultivate an everyday life that perhaps no one would believe is possible, but rest assured it is. After all, as Annie Dillard reminds us, how we spend our days is how we spend our lives. Why not spend your life living well each and everyday? And so it began when I was a child, no doubt, as my mother always cultivated a warm home, but as I grew up and became responsible for establishing my own abode, it took much exploration, dead-ins from time to time and investment to create a space that allowed the everyday to be just as stimulating as new experiences brought about by travel.Taking a newspaper, book, or magazine with me to my local breakfast spot has become one of my favorite ways to replicate living in France even when I’m miles away here in the States. 8. Visit the theater or a gallery To live intelligently, thoughtfully and sincerely each day to experience fulfilling true contentment every day. Then there are the negative clichés - national arrogance, language inflexibility, unprincipled self-interest, impenetrable bureaucracy, slow working practices.

Similar to the tip above, curate a capsule wardrobe. How often have you looked at your overflowing closet and thought, “I have nothing to wear.” That’s both Bassam and I everyday and it’s because we have so many clothing items that don’t make us look and feel our best. One of our goals this year and is to curate a small collection of high quality clothing items, that all work together, and all make us feel our best. This way, we will always look great, getting ready in the morning will be a pleasure, and we will never feel like we have nothing to wear. French cooking is considered by many to be the most prestigious and respectable cuisine in the world. The French Gastronomic meal is even classified as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of humanity.Lunch time breaks in France are a sacred thing. A survey found that half of the French spend over 45 minutes eating lunch each day, and it’s over 30 minutes for three-quarters of them. This is by far the biggest percentage for the extended break of all 14 countries surveyed.

And in so doing, paying attention to my home environment, I began to pay attention to how I spend my days. Was I exhausted and unfilled at the end or exhausted and feeling productive? Did I have time in my day to spend it with those I loved, converse with those who engaged in creative, uplifting and thought-provoking conversation or care for myself in such a way that respected my overall health? And depending upon my answer, I would tweak, eliminate, maximize or designate more or less time to those activities that improved the quality of living. The French are often forced to practice a less is more mentality because of space limitations. French homes and apartments tend to be smaller than those found in America. The closets, in particular, are tiny and limit the French’s ability to amass tons of clothing. And if you want to know more about this typical French custom, I’ve written a guide to hosting the perfect French apéritif. From the optimum time for apéro to préparing the table, to the types of drinks and foods to serve, you’ll learn everything you need to know to create the perfect French apéritif at home. 12. Take Long Lunch Breaks This means that happiness lies in living humbly and being modest even when experiencing a resounding success. This proverb implies that there is a cost to shining in the world or being successful; think of emotions it can arise in others like jealousy or envy —which are normal human emotions.Mossuz-Lavau attributes this historical French reluctance to three factors. First, there is the role of Catholicism which “is a religion for the poor” and gives a negative image of personal enrichment. Then, there is the influence of Marxism whose (oversimplified) ideology is that “profit is bad”. Create an evening routine to look forward to. At the end of the day, your body and mind may be entirely taxed which is why making time (even 15 minutes) for unwinding with a favorite pastime is crucial. Being able to look forward to this simple routine can be the silver lining no matter what your day has unearthed. Contemporary Bed range is influenced by suave patterns and elegantly understated mid-century interiors. Ravishing and sophisticated, Luxury Interiors from La Maison Chic also take inspiration from a mid-century aesthetic. We combine lavish upholstery with opulent metal accents, sublimely contrasting structure and tone. Symmetrical trim frames each item, further accentuating the clean, linear forms. Dressing your best doesn’t mean you have to dress like a movie star every single day. Rather, dressing your best is simply making sure that you’re representing yourself in the best possible way that you can each day. It means that you’re taking the time to make sure you look polished and refined before you walk out of the door.