celebrating joyful living every day. and dachshunds.
Bonjour! Last year, during the throes of another COVID winter and pregnancy, L'Husband and I celebrated Valentine's Day at home with romantic homemade mini pizzas followed by chocolate fondue for dessert. Today's post shares some photos of our meal and ideas for your very own fête à la pizza. We all know chocolate is traditional… Continue reading Romantic Pizza for Valentine’s Day
Think for yourself, or others will think for you without thinking of you.” – Henry David Thoreau Bonjour! Let me preface this post by saying that when I entered the wet and wild world of parenting, I knew nothing about children and child-rearing. Scratch that: I knew less than nothing. The learning curve was steep,… Continue reading Why Do We Make Parenting So Complicated?
Bonjour! Thank you for being a part of Joie de Vivre this year! I started 2022 with some bold plans and a commitment to posting once per week - which I mostly did. I also revisited and revised my Joyful Living Mission Statement to reflect my personal values of authenticity, sustainability, and joy. As we… Continue reading 2022 Blog Year in Review
The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away." – Pablo Picasso Bonjour! I founded Joie de Vivre in 2019 to celebrate joyful living everyday. Joie de vivre is a a French phrase meaning “joy in living.” I write about ways to incorporate simplicity and pleasure… Continue reading Joyful Living Mission Statement, Revisited
Bonjour! Today, I will not read or listen to the news. I will not look at my calendar, or my day planner. I will not worry about how much I weigh, or how I look. I will not check work email. I will not even think about laundry. I will not let my stomach/back/headache stop… Continue reading The Perfect Day
Bonjour! The change of summer to autumn always has me looking forward to seeing the leaves change colors, decorating with pumpkins, and wearing flannel anything. Today’s post features a simple recipe for a tasty apple fritter cake with maple icing - just in time for fall! I love apple fritters and had fun tinkering this… Continue reading Recipe: Apple Fritter Cake with Maple Icing
Bonjour! I spend a lot of time at home by choice - I’m a natural-born homebody - and by necessity - the COVID-19 pandemic has me (mostly) sheltering in place with a newborn, a dachshund, and my reentry anxiety cranked up to eleven. I’ve always loved being at and making a home. When I was… Continue reading My Happy at Home Basket
Bonjour! Spoiler alert: Being pregnant is gross. Naturellement, I was thrilled to actually be pregnant and experience the magic and mystery of having a healthy bébé growing inside of me. But I was also exhausted and generally uncomfortable, what with ongoing morning sickness and nosebleeds and charley horses and insomnia, to name but a few… Continue reading Pregnancy Survival Kit
Bonjour! Part of my commitment to joyful living and an organic and eco-friendly lifestyle includes using household products sans synthetic fragrances, such as laundry detergent or bath soap. Today’s post shares how make your very own all-natural air freshener with essential oils. Making your own room spray is eco-friendly and better for the air quality… Continue reading How to Make Natural Air Freshener with Essential Oils
Bonjour! During my pregnancy, I thought a lot about how to have a more positive mental attitude as part of my commitment to joyful living. I realized my bad habits of centering negative thoughts and vibes was not only dragging me down and holding me back from living my best life, but sending bad energy… Continue reading Positive Daily Affirmations
The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”Coco Chanel Bonjour! Now that the tiny human is here, I am in full recovery mode from pregnancy and childbirth. I expected many aspects of self-care in the fourth trimester, such as healing stitches, resetting hormones, and baby blues-slash-crying (oh, the crying). I also greatly… Continue reading Unexpected Postpartum Pleasures
Bonjour! The tiny human is here! Le Bébé was born on a certain day weighing a certain number of pounds and ounces and measuring a certain number of inches! Sidebar: For now, I’m loathe to share online the personal identifying information of a minor child with no agency to manage their own privacy. For more… Continue reading Hot Mom Summer Has Begun!
Bonjour! One of the reasons I knew my spouse was The One was his sense of humor. L'Husband is funny and lighthearted, a classic class clown and jokey jokemaker, which suits his easygoing personality and balances my tendency to be a little Uptight. C’est vrai: At least fifty percent of our conversations are based on… Continue reading What I Need My Partner to Say to Me During Labor & Delivery
Bonjour! This past January, I had the unenviable experience of taking Le Chien to the emergency vet. Things happened very quickly. The little fellow started looking a bit peaky mid-afternoon, just a little tired really, and then proceeded to slink behind the family room couch to vomit twice. And then twice more. After Round One,… Continue reading A Trip to the Emergency Vet
Bonjour! When my friend, Ryan, was pregnant with her second child in 2018, I flew from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (my home at the time) to Birmingham, Alabama (the state where I grew up) to attend her baby sprinkle. It was lovely to visit one of my former home states, to see daffodils blooming in February, and… Continue reading The Problem with Mommy Drinking Culture
Bonjour! One of the pleasures of pregnancy has been le nesting (cleaning! organizing! shopping!) and preparing the nursery for le bébé. And wearing stretchy maternity pants. And napping. And eating snacks. But I digress. Once L'Husband and I knew we were good and pregnant after fertility treatment and the first trimester, we were comfortable investing… Continue reading A Dachshund-Approved Car Seat (and More Baby Gear)
The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – Pablo Picasso Bonjour! I founded Joie de Vivre in 2019 to celebrate joyful living everyday. Joie de vivre is a a French phrase meaning “joy in living.” I write about ways to incorporate simplicity and pleasure… Continue reading Joyful Living Mission Statement
Bonjour! In honor of the first day of spring (yay!), today's post shares a simple homeopathic recipe for soothing seasonal allergies: organic ginger-lemon-honey tea. Since they're predicting the 2022 allergy season will be a doozy, we'll all need some extra self-care. I'm planning ahead so a sore throat and runny nose won't diminish my usual… Continue reading Recipe: Ginger-Lemon-Honey Tea for Seasonal Allergies (Repost)
Bonjour! I started Joie de Vivre - a French phrase meaning “joy in living” - in 2019 so I could write about some of my favorite things, from food and travel to ways to incorporate simple pleasures to make everyday living more joyful. Over the years, my priorities and focus have evolved to include caring… Continue reading What Is Joyful Living?
Bonjour! It’s the beginning of a new year and I’m feeling (oddly) invigorated. Languishing in a fugue state during the last two years of the pandemic (le sigh) makes me crave a fresh start, eager to embrace life again. A few things precipitated this unexpected but exciting turn to new positive outlook: Settling in to… Continue reading 2022 Goals: Sustainable, Organic, Mindful
Bonjour! Happy New Year! Bonne Année! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a refresh. It’s been a long two years of pandemic and political tragedies (a long, long two years; le sigh) and I need a new, more positive outlook (and some extra self-care). One way I’m getting to reset button it… Continue reading 2022 Plans for the Blog
Bonjour! As we come up on one year of quarantine and staying at home, I'm thinking about ways to incorporate yoga tips into my work routine. I tend to sit rigid at my desk, hunched a the computer, without taking enough breaks to stand up, shake it off, and make time for self-care. Today's post… Continue reading Yoga Tips for the (Home) Office
Bonjour! “Mindfulness” is a popular word to throw around but a difficult one to understand, let alone put into practice in daily life. It is the notion of being present, and therein lies the challenge: what does “being” present even mean? The Buddha teaches us not to dwell on the past, not to worry about the future,… Continue reading Daily Mindfulness
“Sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is relax.” – Mark Black Bonjour! If you’re like me, you value feeling “productive” – start one more project, fold one more load of laundry, send one more email. As fulfilling as being productive seems, it has some disturbing side effects: racing thoughts, feelings of inadequacy, and… Continue reading 4 Ways to Relax Today
Bonjour! Today is World Yoga Day! The goals for most yoga practices are to undo tension, rest, breathe, and release chronic muscular holding. As I loved to remind my yoga students, softness is not weakness! Rather, the point of yoga is to open a channel of energy, find release, and allow positive change to manifest.… Continue reading 4 Restorative Yoga Poses
Bonjour! This year, I am trying to focus more on self-care and not let winter get me (too) down. Part of my journey to yoga practice and yoga teaching was meditation. I never really got into meditation because it requires a level of patience and persistence my hyper-nervous monkey brain lacks (le sigh). That is,… Continue reading 5 Easy Meditations for Relaxation
Bonjour! As I wrote recently, I'm spending a lot of time at home and enjoying extra family time with L'Husband and Le Chien. We are adjusting to our new home in Vermont and working from home. And despite the uncertainty and stress of the pandemic, we are trying to stay positive and also trying new… Continue reading Quarantine Scenes: Yoga
Welcome to another installment of How I Work! How I Work #7 introduces Ayanna Coleman, 32, who currently lives in Tokyo and runs her own business efficiency and marketing consultancy, Quill Shift. Ayanna writes, “I’m a business efficiency and marketing consultant. I work with new entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofits who know their passion and… Continue reading How I Work #7: Ayanna in Tokyo
Joie de Vivre 