Happy New Year! Bonne Année!
I don’t make New Year resolutions. Do you? But I do have some plans for my blog. Before moving forward, I thought it might be interesting to look back over the last year of Fancying France.
Just to clarify, I am not a professional blogger – as you may be able to tell! I’ve always enjoyed writing and this blog fulfills my creative side. This blog is not my business, it is written purely for pleasure – mine! Although I have to admit that nothing thrills me more than knowing that someone else has taken the time to read my ramblings. A mega thanks, too, for all the comments I have received. This is one of the most delightful aspects of blogging, connecting with other people, all over the world.
Top three posts of 2017: in reverse order!
- The SPA Carcassonne https://wordpress.com/post/fancyingfrance.wordpress.com/2946
- An Indian…in Toulouse! https://wordpress.com/post/fancyingfrance.wordpress.com/211
- C’est chic…?!
https://wordpress.com/post/fancyingfrance.wordpress.com/2717
This post has had many more views than any other I have ever written, since I began this blog. Interesting!
Blogging plans for 2018? I must update my ‘about’ page. This was written when my dream was to have a home in France and now we do! I really should get a new (better) profile photo too.
I tweet and pin! What next? I’m thinking Instagram. After all, it’s important to keep learning and trying new blog related things. Do you have any recommendations?
Currently, I’m starting each morning with a cup of warm water and lemon and trying to drink more water but I’ve had these intentions so many times before that I’m purposely not calling them resolutions!
I’d love to know any NY resolutions you may have, blog related or otherwise.
Fancying France 
Ah, yes, the New Year resolutions! I would like to say that this year it’s fitness, but good intentions….. However, I really do think it’s important – so will let you know if I’m fitter at the end of year. ‘Cos I’m certainly not at this moment!
Loved those featured posts btw, and especially the one on ‘are French women chic?’ We’ve just started watching the current Spiral and the main protagonist, the woman, is always in the same pair of jeans, as was the lead in Witnesses. So, no, the idea is a myth, although, not wanting to generalise I do remember the village we visited for a day in south, central France where some of the women were wearing slightly wacky outfits – and they wouldn’t have looked out of place in Brighton!
And great that you are thinking of how to develop your blog. But mainly, I so agree with you that blogging is about writing! All the very best for 2018!
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Fitness is so important. I’m so lucky that I have found two classes that I love: Zumba gold and FitSteps. I smile my way through both classes and I love the music. I haven’t found any dance or other classes that appeal, in France. I’m going to keep looking.
I’m a massive fan of Spiral and Witnesses. I am slightly obsessed with French thrillers. Have you across Walter Presents on Channel 4? Some excellent European thrillers are available to watch.
Good luck with the Fitness. I’ve always imagined that there would be a wide range of classes in the Brighton area or are they all very expensive? x
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Hi June. I do love your blog! Happy New Year. I am trying to drink more water too! As for blog I do Instagram but it’s very different and easier for me with food pictures. Perhaps photographs from your travels around France and your village and house. After all, we are all nosy!
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Hi Amanda. Thank you so much & I love your blog too, such inspirational recipes. I’ve downloaded the Instagram app & I’m just trying to familiarise myself with how it works! Thanks for your suggestions. Im always taking photos when at home in France, more than in the UK, so I’ll have to get posting!
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Best of luck. Instagram is very different and I do find it hard. Message me if you want some tips but definitely not an expert!
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Thanks! You’re right it is different. I’m guessing it will take some time to get used to it. Tips always welcome!
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I do so agree about NY resolutions. I was thinking about this the other day and realised that the reason I fail on my one and only resolution each year is because it is so vague i.e. Lose weight. I need to make it ‘smarter’. It’s a work in progress!
I also identify absolutely with your comments on writing a blog. I could have said exactly that – I write it to fulfill a need in me, but I’m delighted to have people like yourselves who take the time to comment. Apart from my blog, I only use Facebook, and then mostly only to keep tabs on my children! I’m not on anything else and don’t think I’d have time to be.
Recommendation for a book that may interest you given your interest in ‘chic’ : A guide to Elegance by Genevieve Antoine Dariaux. There is also an interesting novel by Katherine Tessaro called Elegance which she based on the book by Madame Dariaux. You might be aware of them both already, of course.
A quote about the tessaro book from Goodreads: Unhappy with her looks, her life, and her empty marriage, Louise Canova needs help — and she finds it in a secondhand bookstore. A forty-year-old encyclopedia of style titled Elegance, this slim volume by formidable French fashion expert Madame Dariaux promises to transform even the plainest of women into creatures of poise and grace
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Thank you so much for the book recommendations. I must confess I’d never heard of either them but I will definitely check them out. I’m off for a week in the sun next month and my greatest pleasure is to read, read and read some more. So I’m hoping to add these two books to my collection.
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I hope you will enjoy them. They seem a good fit with the things that interest you.
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Happy New Year June. I don’t make resolutions either, but usually aim to have a clear out of stuff that has accumulated during the previous year and a jolly good clean throughout….and of course to eat better..and less.
I enjoyed your C’est Chic post, I wrote a similar post a few months ago. The French dress very conservatively, the lack of colour is noticeable and yes I also noticed that the actresses in Les Tèmoins, Mystere du Lac and Engrenages lived in the same pair of jeans. Would also recommend ‘Paris’ (Walter Presents on All4)
I also need to update my blog. Can’t comment on IG I’m afraid, I was thinking of giving it a go a while back then I decided that I really don’t have the time for another account but will look forward to hearing about your experience with it.
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Thanks, Fiona. I love a good clear out at the beginning of the year! Isn’t Walter Presents brilliant?! I’ve just watched Beautiful which is also set in Paris. The lead is the same actor who stars in Spiral and he’s playing a flic – again! I’m beginning to get to grips with IG, I think. If I was still working, I wouldn’t be able to put as much time into my blog etc but I think it’s good for my brain to try new things. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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It is interesting, this what do we want to do/achieve? in the coming year. Like you, I spent some time mastering the water thing, and now I do, regularly, drink a lot more. I don’t go to gyms, because I spent years teaching yoga classes in gyms…. and I realised very quickly that gyms were not my thing. The parisian chic thing… why are we all so obsessed by it? I am, and with the french women whom I’ve known… whatever it is about them, is indefinable, for me.
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Thanks for commenting and apologies for taking so long to respond. Gyms aren’t really my thing either; dance, Pilates, tai chi are more to my taste. I once tried Yoga, in my twenties, but it didn’t suit me then. However, I’d really like to take up yoga now!
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It really is worthwhile shopping around for a yoga class, June. Some are so strenuous that they are unpleasant. Youtube has some good wee videos, and you can try hatha yoga, yoga stretch, flow…. to give an idea of what suits.
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I think I’ll do that – thanks !
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