Last weekend in Hossegor*, my friend Olivia and I stumbled across Collective Soul and what a little gem it was! Let me show you a few pictures I took with my iPhone because I loved everything about this shop… Decoration, fashion, vintage, upcycling, workshops, this atelier showroom ticks all the boxes and is one address you definitively want to bookmark if you’re planning a little trip near Hossegor and Cap-Breton.
A couple of weeks ago, fresh from returning from San-Francisco, I then headed to Paris to take back my niece Lily after she had spent the holidays with us in the Bay of Arcachon. While I’m still finding my marks, this not so planned ‘gap year’ in France has been fantastic to see more of my family and old friends. I love staying in my sister’s flat. It is such a cosy, beautiful space with a real feel-good, happy vibe to it yet, the happy vibe was not a given…
It’s funny how each of my travel photos on Instagram seem to be driven by a specific colour depending on where I go. Croatia last year was a mixed of dark blue and natural hues, Portugal in February was a celebration of pale blue and white, San-Francisco last week was an hymn to soft pink and soothing pastels and I can’t tell you how much I loved it!
What are you up to this weekend? I’m driving Steve to the airport as he is off to join a friend in Argentina on a bike road trip. Travels are high on my priorities this year so when he asked me if he could do it and be away for 2 or 3 weeks, I was like “yes of course, go ahead, I wish I could come with you” but now it’s departure time, both of us are not looking forward to being apart from each other :-) Here are some cool, fun links for you: The Dune of Pyla (above), which is near our holiday home in the Bay of Arcachon has been listed as the second best beach in the World out of 50 by The Guardian! Here is an article in Sud-Ouest. This video of David Beckham and James Corden cracked me up. I love this hotel in Puglia through the lens of Carla Coulson. Are you a hot skinny bowl fanatic? I finally got around to read this long article and it was so interesting, such a different area …
We had the best of times recently holidaying in Cap-Breton (I really love the vibes in Hossegor & Cap-Breton). We did lots of sports, the girls had a ball skating, we ate healthily, slept well, caught up with friends and in the end, everyone had an amazing holiday and we all trimmed down. Less than 2 hours away from our holidays home, it’s an area we know well. We had planned a trip to San-Sebastian or Biarritz if the weather was bad but it turned out absolutely gorgeous for two weeks so no sightseeing for us but we did a lot of sports and a bit of shopping. If you are looking at visiting the area in the future, here are 10 of my favourite things to do in Cap-Breton & Hossegor. TAKE A 5-DAYS SURFING COURSE Steve, Mila and I had surfed before in Devon and Biscarosse but it was a new thing for Elodie and Lily and they both loved it. We did our course at the Cactus Surf School in Cap-Breton and I can’t recommend them enough, especially Clement …
I wasn’t really feeling the love at the start of March…work was keeping me in London the whole month with no time to fly to the south west of France to be with Steve and Mila and I wasn’t mentally prepared to spend Mother’s Day (UK) AND my birthday alone. So I booked a ticket to head to Paris and ended up spending a fabulous weekend with the favourite women in my life: Mila, my sister, my mum and my best friend. If you are heading off to Paris soon, here are 10 inspiring things that will make you feel good inside out:
One shop that I always visit when I’m in Amsterdam and which never ceases to inspire me and provide visual inspiration, is Sukha on Haarlemmerstraat 110.There is something very soothing about Sukha…Painted in white, with a floor to ceiling window adorned by greenery, the shop is filled with natural light filtering from the glass roof. As soon as you walk in, you feel good. Everything around you is beautiful, handmade, textured, calming…I love how this inviting and welcoming space regularly becomes a large blank canvas to display the most wonderful and inspiring styling.And the styling changes often. Sukha regularly commissioned a local Illustrator to create new window displays or write poems in Dutch on the walls.I told them, they should make wall stickers out of this beautiful writing…I know I would have one in my home. So if they are available next time you go there, you will know where the idea comes from ;-)The photos below are from past displays.When I took my mum and sister last weekend, they had a giant white teepee with mezzanine instead …
