Increasing the cozy factor

 

This weekend we did a little DIY/decorating in the apartment. It is nothing major but the affect is wonderful. As most of my friends and family can attest, I enjoy decorating and creating a home. This process hasn’t been as fast as I would like it to be with our new apartment but I am finding a way to increase the cozy factor a little at a time.

While I was back in the states I was able to hit up my trifecta of favorite stores: Target, Ikea, and TJMaxx, for a few items. Additionally, one of the best things about our new items is that a few of them were made by my grandma with a little help from me (I would like to take more credit but she really did a most of the sewing). I also was able to make a few pillow cases for our bedroom with the assistance of Molly (who is quickly becoming a sewing guru). I love that I was able spend time with both of these ladies and to do some crafty things while I was home. It is one of my favorite activities and I haven’t been able to do much of that in France up to this point.

So I won’t keep you waiting any longer, here are some photos of the lovely additions to our home. There will be more to come as soon as some boxes arrive, as my shopping in the states exceeded the suitcase capacity, no big surprise there!

The table runner with a fun reversible option.

One of the new pillows that My grandma helped to sew (2 others arriving in the boxes)

James installing the curtain rods. Before and after

Maelle’s room, before and during. We underestimated the size of her window so will get another curtain panel to complete it.

The fancy pillowcases I made with Molly.

So there you have it, the fun little updates. There will be more to come…

Reason to celebrate today

Today is the 26th, it's a significant day for more than one reason. First, it is my parents wedding anniversary! Today marks 36 years, and in this day and age I think that is a really amazing thing!

The other excitement attached to today...in one month I will be back in the states and spending time with family and friends! Look out party people!!!!  The only thing that could make this more fabulous would be if James and Maëlle were coming with me. However, I will be flying solo for this trip.

Some of the things I am looking forward to (in no particular order)...
~Seeing my family and friends (super obvious right?!)
~T-A-R-G-E-T (TJMaxx and all of my other favorites)
~Sleepovers with my niece and nephews
~Meet & cuddle all of the new babies (5 to be exact) that are joining the family in the next month
~Connect and talk (all hours of the day and night) with my girlfriends in person, in the same timezone
~Mani/pedi with my peeps at my favorite salon
~Happy hours in the sun/on a patio
~Intajuice smoothies
~Breakfast at Good Earth
~Creative days that include sewing and at least 1 of the projects I have pinned on Pinterest
~Driving a car
~Catching up on some chick flicks that I have been wanting to see
~Going to the Amish market with my Grandma and her sisters
~Time at the lake and on the water
~Running, biking and yoga with friends
~Good old American BBQ with sweet corn
~A day at the waterpark "hippo-ing" or floating down the lazy river

I know that as the time gets closer this list will continue to grow. I am beyond exciting for a little time on my home turf!!!

The new apartment

The new apartment is in a great location here in Chartres. It is about a 5 minute walk from the city center and is also close to the train station so I still only have a 5-10 minute walk to catch the train each day. We will also only be a 5 minute walk from family which makes it convenient to still see them often.

We had spent a month or so looking at apartments online and getting an idea of what was available. In France it is very common to find apartments through agencies and rare to rent them directly from owners. Therefore renting in France requires you to work with a realty agency and agent. Envision it being like buying a house in the states, including the agent getting commission for their work! A rough break down of costs is the typical 1 month deposit, 1st month rent and then additionally another payment equal to 1 month rent goes to the agency. Needless to say it's a decent chunk of change to just get into a new place.

A few weeks back we were alerted about an available apartment just a few blocks from where we have been living. James called and set up a time to go view the apartment and both of us were trying to stay open minded about it; telling ourselves that it was us just getting started on viewing apartments in person and not getting our hopes up that we could afford to move right now.

We viewed the apartment which had all of the basic requirements that we were looking for: 2 bedrooms, simple to modern layout, off street parking, and a nice kitchen that was already mainly set up (It is common here that you have to supply the entire kitchen, even when you are renting. This can literally mean that only the kitchen sink is supplied for you). The agent told us that if we were interested that we would need to get her all of the documents as soon as possible as she was showing the unit to 2 other parties after us on that same evening.

Like everything in France (from my experience) there is a lot of paperwork involved. This included copies of: work contracts, pay stubs (you are not approved to rent more than 1/3 of your income in France),  ID's, letters of our last residence (renting or otherwise), and bank account information. They are not messing around in the rental world here!!! As some of you know I can sometimes be Type A, therefore immediately after the appointment I started filling out the forms and gathering the documents we needed. James was then able to drop them off to the agency the following morning and by late that afternoon he got a call from the agent telling him that the owners picked our file! Good news!

We met at the agency a little over a week ago. In addition to the agent being present for the paperwork the owners of the apartment were there as well. The paperwork was pretty extensive and we had to initial the bottom of every single page (seriously like buying a house in the states)! 

As of today we have keys to our new home! We will try moving some small stuff over there during the week with the major move of things happening over the weekend. We are beyond excited to put down some roots for a bit, this transient life is exhausting and a lil short on space!

Here are some pics of the apartment that I took when we walked through it again this past weekend! Hopefully I will have some new pictures of us getting settled in soon!

Kitchen (left wall)

Kitchen (right wall)

The living room/dining room with a small balcony

Standing at the balcony doors (bedroom 1 straight ahead)

The "toilet room" (separate from the rest of the bathroom, not uncommon here)

The rest of the bathroom (with a tub/shower to the left)

Two birthdays and a move in the works

It's been a month since I posted last and it feels like so much has happened in this last month. We have celebrated two birthdays.

 Maëlle turned 11 at the beginning of March.

The birthday girl modeling her new spring jacket thanks to Grandpa and Grandma

James entered a new life decade in the middle of the month.

Very fun candles to remind him of this monumental birthday :)

Enjoying his birthday cake

For the 40 days leading up to James' birthday he was surprised with little gifts and notes from our family and friends from the states. The gifts ranged from funny and sweet cards, to funny gag gifts (e.g. magnifying glass, large print crossword puzzles) to all things gym inspired (e.g. workout clothes, protein bars) and of course some of his favorite foods (e.g. beef jerky, peanut M&M's). It was really fun watching his expression each day and seeing the smile on his face. So thank you, thank you, thank you for all of you who participated, showered him with love and gave a reason to have a  big smile on his face each day. 
For his actual birthday I made a Korean dinner at home and it was pretty low key with the plan to celebrate with his friends sometime soon...in our new home! Yes, that is the other big news of the last month. We will be moving this next week into an apartment. We have been blessed to be able to stay with family for the past 6 months to help with the transition to a new city closer to Paris (then where James had been living) for me to find a job and to help me have easier access to work in Paris. We are very excited to make the move and get a little settled in before our next visitors arrive. My mom, aunt and cousin will be here in a month! Very much looking forward to this as well!
I will post some more details and pics of the apartment soon!