... nouvelle cuisine et la femme douce ~

bonsoir mes amis!

unlike my beliefs & hopes yesterday morning that recovery had perhaps begun, life had other plans for me, ending up in a high fever evening which completely exhausted my organism.

It turns out, it's not a simple cold I caught after all, but that a... hungry, seasonal virus (affecting so many others too!) has come visiting,

playing with my bones and all the nasal system making everything hurt. A lot.

Nevertheless and as feeling sorry for myself & helpless is something that doesn't suit me at all lately,

I insisted on coming out of bed and doing but a few household jobs.

 feeling happy with these tiny achievements:

~ took all the way down the stairs, reached the kitchen {this is indeed a much bigger space than our previous one} organised the clean dishes from the dish washer in their place

~ hand washed a few other ones

~ vacumed cleaned (!) our bedroom upstairs & aired the covers,

~ prepared two laundries to be washed tomorrow, when I' ll hopefully be reminding more of myself

~ managed to slightly work on two pictures of our kitchen to share,

taken just before we departed for {our trip to Malta}

and

prepared an "Aujourd' hui j'aime" post to share with you :)

.........................................

On another notice, I'm looking forward to my camera properly working again as it is partly damaged

& am expecting a part to arrive,

so as to really begin exploring our new home,

through the lens!

till then, the diptych above portrays the cooking corner of our totally new kitchen, 

fully designed by me & built from scratch by ourselves.

{big smiles & tap on the shoulders for that :*) }

I can hardly believe that we already have a brand new, shiny white kitchen,

new appliances

&

new floor which my partner & I are also putting by ourselves in the whole house.

We have still two places to go:

the dining area & the area around the stairs on the second floor

pictures & details will be coming anytime soon :)

just for the record, the first evening our kitchen was completed,

I fell asleep on the floor, {on a flokati & having a pillow}

reassuring myself that this is not just a dream.

When the day will come that more pictures will be shared & I'll also show you the before ones,

you'll most probably understand my {slightly exaggerated, ahem ahem} enthusiasm

till then & cause this kitchen is about four times as spacious as our previous one,

it totally inspires in cooking & baking!

... {this pumpkin & cheesecake recipe} below is one I'd love to try out.

looks delicious, not to mention Nikole Herriott's impeccable styling

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leaving temporarily the kitchen talk behind us,

today I love...  la femme douce.

it's an expression which directly translated into English would be:

the soft woman, but in fact it 's all about a woman who simply knows how to also be soft,

who knows exactly how to be a woman...

a woman that manages to keep her identity in an ever changing & demanding society,

a woman who knows how to love herself, how to love a man & how to love others.

a woman who allows to be approached, but firmly also knows how to decline,

a woman who stands by a man & enjoys being his woman, his wife,

without being afraid that she will be labeled dependent,

perhaps less capable...

 in our modern, sometimes even confusing times,

being a soft woman is something that requires a lot of courage,

 work, persistence & actually

a heart that is not only sensitive but very, very strong

there's nothing easier than "showing one's teeth",

assuming strength, 

but then again, this would mean that aggressiveness

in any of its forms is powerful, when in fact it's the opposite.

so my dears,

today I love all of you who stumble upon these pages,

 cause despite our individual differences we share a lot in common

picture credit clockwise from top left: 1. 2. 3. 4 

just before I say good bye

a few links, posts & on line places I love & would like to share with you:

~ {this} etsy treasury, featuring {this art installation}, put together by {this} fabulous shop & woman behind it.

~ {this} awesome simple & full of character corner in Desire's house

~ Nina's {home office}

~ {Angelica's amazingly sweet view on the world}

~ {this touching mini film}, illustrating a world full of possibilities & hope. 

coming together with wonderful music ~

au revoir for now,

thank you very kindly for all your get well wishes

 &

just remember:

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... it makes all the difference in the world,

 for us personally 

&

  for the outcome we deliver to this world.