Category: Lifestyle
How to Create a 50-30-20 Budget (Free Excel Template)
I started using the 50-30-20 budgeting method in 2011 when I began working full time in Paris. After looking on the internet, I created a very simple Excel document to help me manage my finance. Since then, my life and needs have evolved and I wanted to read Elizabeth Warren’s book, the creator of this…
Au Paradis des Fraises : Picking Your Own Delicious Stawberries
As the confinement softened, my mother invited us to go strawberry picking. When I asked my husband if he was interested in coming, he replied, “What, is it legal to do this?” He did not know of this relatively popular activity in Quebec, which consists of picking fruit directly from the producer’s fields and paying…
Expat: What I Miss from Canada
To celebrate Canada Day, La Presse (a Montreal newspaper) asked Canadians expatriates to send a list of things they were missing the most from our country. I answered, but my text was not published as the journalist was overwhelmed with contributions (see article in French)! That gave me the opportunity to publish it here on Sur…
How to Survive Summer with a Sun Allergy
Ever since I’ve moved to France, I have developed an allergy to the sun. It means that my body reacts adversely to the sun with itchy rashes erupting on my arms, neck and even sometimes on my face. The real name of this condition is “polymorphous light eruption”, but it is easier to get the point across when…
Weekends in Paris: the joys of idleness
Two million two hundred forty thousand six hundred twenty-one Parisians share a territory of 105.4 square kilometers, the equivalent of the entire population of Montreal regrouped in the eastern part of the city between Pie IX Boulevard and the tip from the island. Already very dense, Paris welcomes every day millions of people coming to work, study…
Happy tenth birthday to the 2seconds tent
When I learned about the tenth anniversary of the 2seconds tent, I immediately accepted the invitation. To celebrate in an original fashion, Quechua had installed a rooftop camping suspended over the city of Paris. From the seventh-floor, I ate hors d’oeuvre and marvelled at the Parisian skyline while standing in the grass … very unusual!…
Paris, pink city in the lens of the Lumix GM1
Feeling the craving to blog more regularly, I went looking for inspiration to feed the blog. I found many great ideas on Natacha Birds’ blog (FR) that is very poetic and I’m partial to fact that she’s also owned by a Shiba Inu. I decided to do a photo serie on the colour pink using…
Chub rub begone a dub dub
Last year, I posted about my highly glamorous problem of thigh chafing (post not yet available in English) when the temperatures rise and I have the bad idea of wearing a dress. In the comments, Enila and Olivia advised me to try the Bariéderm cream from Uriage also used by the fashion blogger Stéphanie Zwicky (here).…
A visit to Paris’ Tropical Aquarium
As the temperature are almost reaching 40°C, I will stay on topic with tropical pictures straight out from the basins of the Aquarium Porte Dorée. We had not gone back to this venue since 2009 but one afternoon we were close-by we decided to pop-in and visit with my in-laws. I’m always shared between the…
