I'm moving!

After careful consideration, I have decided to take the leap & move my blog to a new host.  I've spent over three years on blogspot & I feel as though it's time to move on & help develop the site.  I truly feel as though I have grown through my experiences, whilst traveling & nearing my twenty seventh birthday, I feel I now know more about myself, my style & my passions, than I ever did before.

My new site is very minimalist, clean & simple, a style which I have really developed a love for.  Mère has always been very minimalist, preferring every wall in her house to be white, whereas I have always loved colour, both in my wardrobe & my house.  However, having stripped everything away in my life, I have found a great fondness for simplicity.  My (very tiny) wardrobe now solely consists of white, black, grey & a hint of nude pink & I love the idea of a clean, white living space, when I eventually get a place of my own again.

Being continually on my travels, I love writing about my journey & all that comes with spending a life on the road, both emotionally, physically & romantically.  I enjoy photographing beautiful thngs & places, sharing delicious, vegan recipes & giving honest reviews on products & places.  I hope that if you enjoy sharing in my passions, you will join me at my new online home www.ouijetaimeaussi.com.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Merci!

Officially snap happy!

A few weeks ago, I had the great fortune of meeting a lovely English couple, Paul & Pam, living here in France, who run French Photographic Holidays.  Having long wanted to learn how to improve my photography skills & finally learn how to use my current SLR properly, I was thrilled when they invited me along to one of their day courses.

Rolling up to their home in Les Âgés, a week after our original meeting, I spent the day in their in-house photography studio, learning about depth of field, shutter speed & Photoshop.  It took a while for all the jargon to fully filter into my brain & stick, but by the time lunch was ready, I felt I was starting to get to grips with it all.  Thankfully Paul is a very patient teacher.

Both their day courses & photography holidays, come with lunch included & I was most pleased to find that Pam was well equipped for whipping up a superb vegan friendly lunch.  Quinoa salad, homemade guacamole, fresh bread, mixed summer berries for dessert & best of all, a dairy free banana milkshake to wash it all down with!  Delish!

After lunch, Paul took me out into the cosy quiet hamlet, to put my new found skills to the test.  Finding an abandoned building, we took some great shots of the dusty furniture, left by the previous tenants.  Capturing the light shining through the windows & the cobwebs blowing in the wind.  It was beautifully haunting.

I found the whole lesson really invaluable, it truly inspired me to want to get out there & take more photos & start experimenting with settings, lighting & subjects.  Unfortunately, during our lesson, I learnt that after nearly seven years of keeping my camera in auto, the shutter speed & aperture dial has stopped working.  Therefore, in order to feed my photography hunger, I am having to look at investing in a new camera, which, having now been educated on the subject, I will at least be able to make far better use of.  That's my justification, anyway.

Having made firm friends in Paul & Pam, the three of us wasted no time in finding new things to photograph, a week later, when we took a trip to Perigueux market.  Whilst my camera may be a little restricting on some of the settings now, it still seems to work well on macro, so I had great fun snapping away at all the flowers, fruit & vegetables.  I love photographing inanimate objects, it has to be said.  I think a new camera & a few more lessons from Paul & I could be well on my way.

If you fancy a day's one-to-one photography & Photoshop course, or indeed, a week away in the sunny Dordogne, brushing up on your photography skills, whilst snapping the French roses, sipping the vin & nibbling on (it has to be said) fantastic food (Pam's vegan chocolate brownies are divine, whether you're a vegan or not), pop along to their website here & check them out.  I fully recommend them!

Insightful Sunday - Completion

I was having a late night chat with my favourite person, Miss Charlotte, last night, about our dreams & I came to the realisation that a very LARGE & important part of mine, is having a partner.  Which, startled me in a way.  I'd always been such a feminist growing up, fully under the belief, that "you don't need a partner to complete you," but now, well, I kinda feel the opposite.

I want to share my life with someone, to share the highs & take comfort in their arms during the lows.  I've grown & developed over the past year, during my travels & I'm confident in myself & what I'm capable of, but sometimes, it's hard to do it all alone.  

I do think it's important to enter into a relationship on equal footing, knowing you are quite capable of being on your own, but appreciating being with someone else.  There is nothing more damaging in a relationship, than being reliant on someone else to make you happy.  It only serves to build up resentment & dependency, which wrecks a relationship like a bad case of woodworm.

Equally so, it's important to have a strong & healthy relationship with yourself, before you can have one with anyone else.  How could you ever accept someone's love, if you aren't capable of loving yourself, as you are, flaws & all.

Your partner should be your bestfriend, you should inspire each other, encourage each other, care for each other, be there for each other & LOVE each other, completely & unconditionally.  There is no compromise.  With billions of people in this world, there is someone, who fits with you like a jigsaw piece, who balances you out, who makes you want to be alive, to live, to breath, to feel, just because they're there & they make the world better.

I've had countless relationships start, then crash & burn before even becoming legitimate.  I've given my heart away, like a goody bag at the end of a kid's birthday party & had it shredded into confetti, on numerous occasions.  I'm done with dead ends & poor choices, I'm ready, ready for the end goal.  To find someone, who completes me, who fulfills me, who makes my life whole.

If they happen to be brown-eyed, bearded, have a penchant for skinny jeans & happen to be open to living in Paris, then all the better.