C'est Moi

Salut!

I'm Sarah & this is my personal blog where I document & share 

all the little things I come across in life that are just peachy. 

Come & share in it with me & prenez une pêche!

Let's Connect:

      

(Psst...over here....

look before you read the next bit & think 

'jeepers, she's a waffler'

...sorry, I wrote it ages ago, 

I'm working on it. 

If you'd rather get to know me in a far more random fun way 

then hop over here)

Ok, let's hit that waffle.....

Ou habitez-tu? Et un peu plus sur tu sil tu plait....

I live in a pretty seaside town called Lytham, in the North-West of England. It's a gorgeous, picturesque place to live. For a small town there's quite a lot going on, including a thriving dining & bar scene. I grew up here, but I really consider myself a city girl at heart.
I went to university in Leeds & knew instantly that the city lifestyle was just....well...me. After graduating I lived in Manchester for several years & was happily enjoying city life when I went and met Mr Peach.
Gradually I ended up moving back to Lytham, to be with Mr Peach (clever Mr Peach who had just been given his first qualified teaching position locally). I've officially been back here around 5 years now, since we have lived together (comme le temps passe!).
I studied art at college & have a degree in Art History - so I'm a big culture head! I worked for a big stock-broker (amazing experience that I loved), then a little stock-broker (horrible experience I might tell you about one day). For the past three years I have been running our little family boutique, alongside my mum who still has a hand in the business she set up over 30 years ago.

This will be a very exciting year in the orchard as in July we Peaches are planning to tie branches to officially become Mr & Mrs Peach. Then after that I think it's time to shake up the orchard a little bit more & put into place a very peachy masterplan, which I am hoping we will see growing right here on my little blog!

Learn more about the other trees in the Peach orchard here:

Pourquoi la Pêche?

'Avoir la pêche?' in its most basic translation simply means 'Is everything Peachy?'.
I first learned the phrase in conversational French classes at university, with my very passionate (about the language not about me I hasten to add) Parisian teacher Olivier.
I loved it. It's such an adorably cute, chique way of asking an everyday question, with such typical French style, that I've never forgotten the phrase since.

I like to think of myself as a 'glass is half full' kind of person. For me asking 'Avoir la pêche?' rather than 'is everything ok' exemplifies that. How boring to just settle for what is 'ok' & how exciting to look every day for what is divinely 'Peachy!'.

I have kept a blog for our boutique (on & off) for several years now. The aim was to update our customers on goings on and new arrivals in store. However, I've found Facebook to be a far more practical facade for these kind of quick updates. On the blog I found myself drifting into personal thoughts & observations instead. Since, to my mind, this is entirely at odds with what should be a purely professional blog, I decided it high time to establish a personal blog instead, where I can truly capture the moments of my life and freely document my thoughts at will.

Thus is born 'Avoir la pêche?': A place to capture & discuss all the things I come across in life that I deem to be suitably 'Peachy' - under a sea of peaches, greys & turquoises (a colour scheme I have taken a mighty shine to recently) & quite possibly under the influence of a peach-bellini or two, when I choose to perfect that recipe!


(There is a glorious and far more extensive definition of the phrase 'Avoir la pêche' here on Clothilde Dusoulier's blog 'Chocolate & Zuccini', complete with a cute sound-bite too. Be warned though, if you're a foodie Francofile like me you might just find yourself getting lost in the pages of Clothilde's fabulous dual language website, only to emerge very hungry several hours later!)

Pourquoi la Francais?

Put simply, because I love France. I love the French lifestyle, French culture, French food & French language.
Since my first childhood experience staying in a farmhouse in Lot, where we visited the local market and ate unadulterated fresh-from-the-fields strawberries that tasted like sherbert, where we gobbled cheese so fresh and creamy we christened it 'yoghurt cheese', where we visited the local vineyard and (even at 14 years old) I was allowed to sample the local vin Francais, I have been in love with the French lifestyle.
I fell deeply in love with the south of France, visiting Provence as an art college student in the footprints of all those artists who had tread the ground before me. Years later I spent three glorious weeks as a penniless university student touring around the south of France with a best friend, a tent, a cooking stove & a bottle opener. Most recently I fell head over heels for la Belle Francais all over again when Mr Peach proposed to me in Paris under the spell of St Valentine.

Over the years I have tried hard to learn French. I believe it's important for everyone to try to learn as much of as many languages as they can, especially if their first language is English. I'm not a natural linguist, but I've now reached the stage where I can just about understand and make myself understood in French, even if the grammar is totally appalling. Now that I've ditched the terrible habit of filtering my French words through a strong Lancashire accent (a habit I adopted as a self-conscious teenager first learning the language) I am told that my accent is apparently very good. Plus, it always improves after a few days surrounded by the language, as does my vocabulary memory. One day I would like to be fluent (I would actually like to be fluent in several languages, but I think we'll start with my best shot first!).
I recently read an article highlighting how there has never been a better time to become fluent in another language, simply because of the proliferation of easy to access material on the internet. As the web makes the world smaller it is far easier to immerse yourself in a language other than that which is native to the place you happen to be.


So, in setting up this personal blog I thought that if I can just embrace a little French every day alongside my first language of English, I might absorb a little more vocabulary & grammar and place myself one more step along the path to fully conquering la langue Francais!

Voulez vous parler Francais avec moi?

J'adore la France et j'adore la Francais. Ma grammaire est terrible. Parfois j'invente les mots. Parfois je utiliser Google Translate. Je n'ai pas honte, parce que plus j'essaie plus je vais apprendre. Même si c'est juste un peu de français à la fois.

Sur ce blog je voudrais practiquer mon Francais. Si vous voulez m'aider, vous pouvez laisser vos commentaires sur mes posts en Francais. Sil vous plait corriger mes erreurs, mais souyez gentils, parce que je ne cherche.

Si vous avez un blog en Francais, sil vous plait laissez un commentaire dans les details aussi.

(I love France and I love the French. My grammar is terrible. Sometimes I invent words. Sometimes I use Google Translate. I'm not ashamed, because the more I try the more I understand. Even if it's just a little French at a time.

On this blog I would like to practice my French. If you would like to help me, you can leave your comments on my posts in French. Please correct my errors, but be kind, because I'm only trying.

If you have a blog in French, please leave details in a comment also.)