Ireland: The Burren Perfumery

While driving around the near-lunar landscape of the area known as The Burren in County Clare, we managed to make our way to a stop recommended in one of my guidebooks. The Burren Perfumery is buried deep within this already-isolated region, so getting there via the tiny back-country roads wasn't exactly easy. We almost turned around in frustration a couple of times, but we ended up being glad we didn't.

We were rewarded with a visit to this lovely place, which became a highlight of our trip.

All of their herbal products, from the soap I bought for the friend watching Yoshi for us, to the calendula balm I bought myself, to the Harvest fragrances I coveted, are truly all-natural and often organic.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. After making my purchases in the shop, I thoroughly enjoyed wandering the award-winning herb garden paths, taking way too many photos of various plantings. Aren't the spiral wire plant markers cute? I think I'll make some of those for my own garden.

We were pretty hungry and thirsty after our meandering drive, so we couldn't resist ordering something from the adorable tearoom.

We saw this guard-kitty and also the Perfumery's owner, Sadie Chowen, with her little daughter in tow.

Let's just say that it was all very much my cup of tea.

Flea Market Fail

So, to explain my absence for the past month and a half: several days following my previous post, I headed across the pond with the fam for our annual visit to see family and friends. Every year at this time, I tell myself that I'll post at least once a week, but sadly, that never seems to happen. This year, I don't have that great of an excuse, as we haven't done as much traveling to several states as we normally do. However, I simply haven't been taking photos or doing anything terribly blog-worthy (watching back-to-back episodes of "The Millionaire Matchmaker" and making Sonic runs for Cherry Lime-Ades don't count, do they?). So I'm retro-ing it a bit with this previously-promised Fail account. Here goes...

A couple of months ago in Germany, The Husband and I had a free Saturday (The Girl away managing girls' soccer and The Boy without a baseball game). It just so happened to be the right Saturday of the month to head down to the Homburg Flea Market, a favorite haunt of my blog- and books-buddy Eurolush. It's just far enough away from our town for us not to have visited already, but this seemed like the perfect day.

The town of Homburg is really overtaken by this monthly market, which is really, really huge. We had difficulty finding a place to park, and in fact, our chosen spot resulted in the gift of a little white ticket on our windshield at the end of the day. Yeah, that should give you some idea of how the day went. Here is another clue:

Do you ever see something so very ugly that you go, okay--how could anyone want to buy that? Well, we found plenty of those kinds of things at Homburg. Here is another plum specimen:

Can you believe we didn't buy this? Me neither! But to be fair, there was lots of cool stuff, especially some great French enamelware in several stalls. It was hard to resist, but alas, it was pretty pricey. After several hours of browsing and enjoying the sunshine and a brat or two, we almost left Homburg empty-handed, but at the very last stall I visited, I found this:

No, not the sweetie dog, silly, we already had him--the photo! It's an old photograph of a German boys' school--maybe just one class, I'm not sure--and their stern, bespectacled schoolmaster. I found it charming, and it cost me all of one euro. I fixed the frame a bit, and up this went in our living room. It's simple, and I like it. Maybe I'll do a bit better the next time we venture to Homburg, though, and here's hoping it'll be a ticket-free trip.

Savon de Marseille

I know. I've been away from here for a couple of weeks, and now I'm back with a post about--soap. Not just any soap, though; it's savon from the famous perfume town of Grasse, where we took an excursion on one of our spring break days in Southern France. Notice this soap; it's pastis-scented! What's not to love? I picked up a couple more at the shop, too--in "olive" and "cedre" scents. I got a little overwhelmed by the many choices available on the rack in the front of the shop, but I settled on three that really say "Provence" (and "Riviera") to me. They're from L'Eau de Cassis, and they're delightful.

In non-soapy news, I didn't quite make it into the Top 25 Expat Mom Blogs, but I came pretty close (41st?). Thanks to those of you who voted! It's an honor just to be nominated.

Go Away I'm Reading

I could spend so much money at U.K.-based The Literary Gift Company. Thankfully (or not, depending on your bank account), they ship to the European Continent as well as to the U.S.

Fun Things from Paris

We got back on Thursday from our five-day trip to Paris. Thankfully, we didn't fly (it's only a four-hour drive--well, make that five if you're actually braving driving into and out of the heart of Paris, as we did--not for the faint of heart or claustrophobic, mind you). Of course, we had a delightful time and ate waaaaaay too many croissants, crepes, and baguettes. But more on that another time. Right now I'm sharing a few things I picked up while we were there--just some items that are small and (fairly) inexpensive and which make me more than a little bit happy.

Yes, those are Nathalie Lété notebooks! One is a garden journal, and the other is for "idées folles" (crazy ideas). I couldn't pass up either one. One came from the largest shop in the Pompidou Museum--so much great stuff there--and that's also where I got the "carnet de collages" book. The other came from a little shop I loved in Montmartre, called Trait, which is also where I bought three rolls of washi tape. They sell the "carnet de collages" book (and others in that range), too.

Aren't these just the most adorable key chains? I found them at Les porte-clés, on rue des Rosiers in the Saint-Ouen (Clignancourt) flea market. There were so many porte-clés in that little place, I had a very hard time choosing--but the French cheeses won, and for only one euro apiece! And just down the way I found...

...these little vintage tins, in a stall run by Tombees du Camion. They also have a shop in Montmartre--I also visited that one, but I didn't buy anything there. So much cute vintage stuff, all displayed in lots, though you purchase most items individually. Nothing's cheap, but it's a stylist's dream.

Yep, I had to make the requisite stop at Ladurée. The macarons really are as tasty and beautiful as you've heard. Trying different flavors is a must, though I think I could be happy sticking with chocolat forever. And speaking of macarons, the lovely Katrina of Pugly Pixel, which has become one of my favorite blogs, is kindly offering an adorable set of free macaron digital clip art! I know, isn't she sweet? 

I'd been wanting to go to a Kusmi shop, and we found one in the Marais. I'd actually never had Kusmi tea before, but I've been a fan of their packaging for quite a while. Now that we're back home, I'll be trying out the tea soon!

Fairytale Friday

For your Friday, some Fairytale fabulousness from the Rice Spring-Summer 2010 catalog:

It's snowing (again) today.  These bright, cheery images make me smile, despite the gray skies.  Wishing you a colorful weekend!

Catalog Love: Gudrun Sjödén

I have more pretty pictures for you today, this time from the Spring 2010 Gudrun Sjödén catalog.  I had never even heard of Gudrun Sjödén before moving to Germany, but once I admired some of the unique clothing and accessories in a German magazine and found the wonderful styling in her catalogs and on her website, I knew I had to get on the Gudrun Sjödén mailing list right away!

The fairytale boho aesthetic is right up my alley.  I'm especially liking this collection inspired by Provence.

You know how much I love the COLOR!

Isn't it great to see a mix of younger and older models?  And I'm loving this caravan, or cottage--whatever it is, I want it!

Here's a different colorway.  Isn't the little bag necklace cute?  The setting here is Aix-en-Provence, a lovely place I'd like to visit again sometime soon!

Can somebody please turn this stuff off?

Enough with the snow, already.  I mean, how about just a quick break in the action--say, ten minutes or so?  As I write, snow is blowing around the yard--blowing.  As if falling straight down from the sky for hours isn't enough, it has to blow.  Being a daughter of the American South, I am simply not accustomed to snow at all, so blowing snow?  Nuh-uh.

Like a good faux-German, I was out front sweeping and shoveling this morning--although not quite before 9 a.m., the Magic Time by which any Germans worth their weight in rock salt are supposed to have taken care of this delightful chore.  As I scraped, swept, and flung, I tried to meditate on the idea that because of the workout I was getting, I wouldn't have to pretend to feel bad about not doing the Wii Fit later this afternoon.  But the blowing snow was not adding cheer to the situation, and it wasn't helping my hair any, either.

But what was this?  Our friendly DeutschePost mail-frau alighting from her yellow car-truck-thing and coming toward me with these two adorable packages in hand.  She presented them with a pleasant "Bitte-schön," (here you go, sista), and I accepted them gratefully and ran inside so I could see what I got before my eyes froze.

Of course, I already knew what it was, because it was (obviously) from Cath Kidston and I had (obviously) ordered it for myself.  I know, you'd think I'd have gotten a decent fill of Cath goods during our Christmastime trip to London (more on that later), and I did indeed buy a couple of items at the Covent Garden-area shop.  But when I saw the after-holiday Online Sale, I couldn't resist.  I needed a Spring purse and skirt, you know?  Anyway, the lovely floral print on the bucket bag provides a moment of encouragement for someone who is experiencing blowing snow.  See, it's almost medicinal!