Coffee Break - 5 for Friday & a little blogging jealousy!

Autumn has definitely arrived here in Europe hasn't it? 

There's tales of people putting on the heating, adding those extra layers & cosying up all over the place!

Here in the Peachy household Autumn means dusting off our coats, occasionally braving the cold, 

but mainly lots and lots of hiding in the warmth watching Autumn TV! 

All our favourites are back...Strictly Come Dancing, The Great British Bake Off, 

Downton and now Homeland too! 

I really must get out my knitting again, then I can knit and watch at the same time, 

so all those hours aren't completely lost!

I'm really getting into my blogging now. This week I asked you the most romantic movies of your life, and it's proven to be one of my most popular posts so far. I'm honoured that you've read & commented, thank you.

But the best thing by far about blogging is all the gorgeous people I've 'met' so far. You're some very talented people out there....go and give yourselves a little pat on the back from me please!

I love this part of the week, when I get to look back over the fabulous things I've found.

So, without further ado, grab that cuppa, kick back and get clicking on my

5 for Friday... (actually a sneaky 6...shhhh)

• I love listening to songs in other languages & learned the French word for Umbrella (Parapluie) from a French song. So, imagine my joy when Anna at 'Eat, See, Do' introduced us to some fabulous French singers. Indispensable si vous êtes sur une mission française avec moi! Merci Anna!

• I took this test to prove whether or not I'm addicted to the internet. It said I'm not...which I immediately tweeted. Draw your own conclusions.

• Check out this gorgeous site, My Little Paris, which I intend to get truly buried in, by means of French homework of course ;)

• You say 'Potayto', I say 'Potahto'. You say 'Tomayto', I say 'Tomahto'...but wait, before we call the whole thing off take a look at this guide to being divided by a common language! (of course we say 'NHS', you say 'Obamacare'...and some of you say 'no to Obamacare' and then everything shuts...but the less said about that the better hey?)

• I've saved the best till last. I thought Melyssa at The Nectar Collective had truly excelled herself when she asked, So you're thinking of getting a dog? And then she gave us one of the greatest blog posts you will ever read. If you only click on one link, prepare to get your blog jealousy on and make it this one!

Before we head off into the weekend, I just want to give a big shout, hello and waves to.....

Lauren at LipglossedNinja - all the way down there in South Africa, who will be my partner for my first Snail Mail Collective. Take a look at her luscious beauty blog (whilst trying not to be too jealous that we're getting Autumn, but she's getting Spring!)

&

Katherine aka 'The Duchess of Plumewood' ...who was the first of my nominees to answer my Sunshine Award questions. Such a fun way to find out more about her....plus see if you can spot the 'untruth'!

So what does the weekend have in store for you?

We're off to a 60th 'bad taste' themed birthday party....got no idea what i'm going to wear for that one!

Then lunch with my girlfriends on Sunday, when I'll most likely be coming back super-broody after hanging out with my friend's gorgeous baby boy....watch out Mr Peach!

Have a super weekend whatever you're up to....

hope it's the greatest!

The most romantic movies of my life (so far).

Yesterday I read this article in The Guardian, listing their top ten most romantic movies of all time.
And it got me thinking.
I'm an absolute sucker for a romance.
So, what would my list be? What are the most romantic films of my life?

I'm a child of the 80's. So I spent the best part of my teens, in the 90's, dreaming about finding true love.

I fell in love with a floppy haired, bumbling, poshboy. 

I wanted to kiss in the rain, because 'there comes a point you can't get any wetter' 

& promise to 'not marry' him for the rest of my life.

Then I learned some quick Plato....that men and women were once one, until they upset the gods. 

The gods 'split them right down dead centre'. 

Now we search our whole lives to find that other half again. 

I wanted to be Marisa Tomei being chased all around beautiful Italy 

by another floppy haired boy with pretty eyes.

I fell in love with another beautiful country. 

I wanted to wear a diamond necklace "like ziss", to eat creamy cheese on scenic trains and learn to make delicious wine infused with all the scents of the beautiful French hillside vineyards. 

(although I personally had a more fresh faced lover in mind than Kevin Kline...sorry Kev.)

What romance would be complete without the greatest love story of all time? 

This one re-awoken by Baz Luhrman.

I wanted to be Clare Danes - post So Called Life, but still pre Carrie. 

To wear beautiful wings, dance around neon fishes and kiss floppy haired Romeo in the pool at midnight. 

To wake up and tell him

"Yon light is not daylight, I know it, I.

It is some meteor that the sun exhales."

Whoops....how did he get in there?

Oh well - I know it's not really a romance. 

But nobody can say no to Jakey G in a hoodie, pouting those incredible lips...

Can they?

What romance!

Dreamy Amelie, bathed in sepia tones, who looks in a different way at the people all around her 

and sees the great loves they don't even know that they hold themselves.

And how she finds her greatest love....then celebrates in the greatest way.....

pedalling around beautiful Paris at full pelt.

OK, a warning. 

We're about to get really soppy, because after this I met Mr Peach. 

Before she went all Carrie-crazy, Clare Danes popped back as the star Celeste...

an actual star, from the sky.

I'm not saying this is the most romantic film of all time, by a long stretch. 

But, for me it's right up there.

Because i'll let you into a secret...

I'm not sure why, but I remember it very clearly...

It was right at the end of this film that I realised for the first time that I loved Mr Peach.

(Of course I didn't tell him right there, because it was quite early on 

and I didn't want to scare him off being all soppy and everything)

Then a few years later we went to Paris.

And you see that bench, right there....

well that's where Mr Peaches asked me to marry him!

(and Woody must have thought it was a good idea, because he copied us 

and jumped right in our place after we left!).

So, how about you?

Do you share my love of any of these? Or perhaps you think quite differently.

What are the greatest romantic movies of YOUR life?

C'est journée internationale des femmes!

Yes, that's right. It's International Women's day so let's celebrate!

Well, since most of the blogs & other interesting paraphernalia I come across here on the Internet are written by women...and women from all four corners of the globe no less...every day is pretty much International Women's day here on [ALP?]!!

Let's hold hands in sisterly solidarity & do a lap of honour together...

First let's head over New York, USA to take in a wonderful blog I've just discovered called 'A Cup of Jo'

Looks like a pretty big blog as Jo is a professional blogger. But, I love her style of writing & there's something for everyone, including musings on dating, marriage, relationships, friendships, style, travel, motherhood....in fact it looks like there's pretty much nothing not either covered or in the pipeline. Take this for example! Good on you Jo....it's what we all want to read really! 

Let's hop down under to Australia and 'Shine Little Light*'

Feels a bit strange that I don't know the name (or even the blog name) of the girl who writes Shine*, but it's a lovely little blog. Amongst other things, each Friday Shine* publishes a little list of Link Love (a feature which I'm-a-stealing!). Perfect with your Friday morning tea break! 

Today this is how I found this delicious looking veggie burger recipe....

(which is how I discovered 'A Cup of Jo' as you'll see)

I absolutely love veggie burgers - in fact, when we're out I'll usually choose a veggie burger over a meat one (I only really like meat burgers made by my own fair hand, so you know they have no baddies in them!) Of course the burger bun would be a no-no for me at the minute, but I'm sure they taste just as good in a lettuce bun!

Let's jump to Africa....Kenya to be exact.

To the Happy House home for the 'Children of Watamu' charity set up by local lady Sue Hayways. Originally from Blackpool, Sue set up the home for abandoned or needy children in Kenya, after holidaying there and seeing the poverty all around. What she and her husband have achieved is fantastic and you can read all about it, from the early days right up to the present day, on this blog. Well done Mama Sue - may there be many more inspirational women like you who really go and get stuck in where they're very much needed!

I first found out about the charity by chance when Libby, one of its major fundrasiers, came into our boutique and we got chatting. Libby is such an interesting lady to speak to herself, having had an incredibly successful career in journalism. She makes the blog very easy to read, little daily snapshot updates of life at the Happy House, with pictures of smiling faces that just can't fail to make your day more peachy!

The charity works on sponsorship programmes, which I am hoping one day I might feel in a stable enough financial position to join. For the time being we try to help with fundraising where we can, giving raffle donations and the like. I'm making a cake for their 2nd Birthday coming up....I'll tell you all about it soon!

Let's scoot on back a little closer to home. A lot closer to home actually...

For a cute Printable by PoppySparkles.....who just happens to be down the road from me in Blackpool!

Printable Here - All rights reserved & attributable to Poppysparkles.

If ever there was a saying after my own heart it was this! I'm always saying to Mr Peach 'you just have to make a start' & 'I can only do what I can'!!

And now our last stop for today, which I just literally stumbled over.......

I know pregnancy blogging is quite a trend, but not having been pregnant or really planning to at the moment, I haven't really looked into them. 

This is Katie Jo's instantly-fall-in-loveable story of her time growing 'little bean'....And the best thing? It's happening RIGHT NOW!...she's literally just announced her pregnancy! I am, of course, going to keep up with her story now until Little Bean makes his/her appearance in the world! Don't miss the little video in this post , it'll make your heart shine peachy all day!

One of my best friends is about to have her first baby in May. She's the first in our little group of friends and it's so lovely to see her and 'bump' growing and now blossoming. There's always a million questions I want to ask her though, so she might be pleased Katie is now answering at least a few of those for me! 

Here's an early Happy Momma's Day to all you Mummys to be!

Et merci à toutes les dames étonnantes inspiration dans ce monde!

Ok, time for a celebratory, pre-workout coffee me-thinks,

Adieu, Mlle Péche. x

Mes blogs préférés

Bonjour les petits,

So the weather today has taken a less peachy turn. The beautiful sunshine we've had for the last two days has been masked by a layer of white cloud. Not the worst it could be but not as Spring-like and inspirational.
So I thought I'd treat you to a little fantasy trip to my favourite parts of blogland, where I like to disappear for inspiration and, in many cases, dream of living a life in these people's shoes!
So, grab a cup of tea, treat yourself to a biscuit & let's go......

D'abord arréter, Sara In Le Petit Village:

Note: For some reason blogger is not allowing me to link to Sara's blog so please copy and paste as follows:

http://www.sarainlepetitvillage.com/

I'm not entirely sure how I came across Sara's fantastic blog, but I immediately loved it. It might have been the fact that we share the same name (give or take an 'H') or that it was deep winter and sunny days of French joy was just what I needed, but I was instantly addicted. I spent several days reading back over three years of Sara's blog, written in her fabulously easy to read quirky style. Sara writes about her days in the mystery Le Petit Village (or LPV...now the NLPV, New Le Petit Village....still with me?). Originally from Texas, she moved to the South of France in 2009 to be with 'the boyfriend', now 'the husband'. With her cute dog 'Fifty' and a cast of quirky characters, Sara lives a mightily enviable life. Your envy will grow as you see Sara visit a myriad of beautiful places, including my favourites Avignon & Cassis, eat a tonne of delicious cheese & enjoy a good bottle or two of vin Francais without seemingly ever putting on a pound! You may envy, but you can never dislike Sara as she's such a friendly blogger and the fact she writes nearly every day is brilliant, to get that daily fix of French life!

Prochain arret...la Dordogne...for 'Little Buckles'

 (Photo Credit: Andrea Hornbuckle)

'Little Buckles' is Andrea Hornbuckle's blog about her life in France with her husband and two (soon to be three) utterly adorable children. Andrea mainly documents her life in photos, beautiful, well presented snapshots of family life. She has such a fabulous sense of style and collects gorgeous vintage objet d'art that she sells in Etsy shops 'Rhubarb & Apples' (for grown-ups) and 'Petit Bonhomme' (for little ones). Plus there's a link to her incredibly talented husband's website for his professional joinery. All topped off with a talent for fabric craft, in particular dressmaking for her little ones....this is the place I go for daily inspiration!

Now, did I mention that Mr Peach & I are to be wed in July?!.....well this lucky lady has the pleasure of trying to make my completely unphotogenic self look just peachy...

(Photo Credit: Sarah Jane's Photography)

I first met Sarah when I was bridesmaid at my friend's wedding, at which she was photographer. Even before I'd seen a photo I just loved the way she worked, dotting around in all the right places catching precious moments, but never getting in the way or pushing people around, as I've sadly seen other wedding photographers do. And then when I saw the photos she takes....sigh....magical! Sarah is such a lovely person too and literally as soon as Mr Peach popped the question I knew who we would be turning to. My fellow bridesmaid from that initial wedding did too! Sarah is always in high demand - she's booked up already for 2013 weddings, which is testimony to her wonderful work. Her blog is clean and sweet, where she documents her wonderful photoshoots - not just limited to weddings I might add! We have a pre-wedding shoot in a few weeks and I just can't wait! In the meantime I'll continue to ogle over her blog on a daily basis and I think you should too!

Et le dernier mention de 'W' mot pour le dernier blog de la journeé ......Bridal Musings:

When we got engaged my excited friends asked me if I would like the 'wedding bible'...a collection (well a huge box) of wedding magazines collected by friends who have consecutively married over the last few years. I politely said a big no, on the basis that I wasn't going to look in one wedding magazine as I firmly thought (and still do) that they simply make you think you 'need' things for your wedding that you really don't (like favours & chair covers...say what?). I was doing really well with my stubborn manifesto right until I discovered the world of wedding blogs (& pinterest)...big oops!

Wedding blogs....there are thousands of them! But, after hours of research I've whittled it down to this one, Bridal Musings. Written by and English girl originally based in the UK, the blog has now moved with her to the U.S.A. It has just the right balance of real weddings to inspire, DIY projects, recommendations, tips, pointers to other wedding inspiration online...and is updated nearly every day to keep your wedding excitement suitably well fed.

There's loads of other blogs I like to look at but these are my current daily favourites. There's only one thing missing.....I must go and hunt down some French language bloggies to help me on my Francais way!

Oh I also bought myself this little peachy delight whilst I was writing. What do you think? 

I love playsuits in summer - this one will be coming on our mini-moon!.....more on that soon.

  So, how's that cup of tea getting on? Time for another I think....

Adieu, Mlle Peche. xx