There are things I want to share with you and I will next week but right now I will simply enjoy a sunny day with my lovely family.

I want to thank and congratulate Sian and her super . . . → Read More: Cybher12, the day after…]]>

It was fun, it was great, it was full of ideas and great content.

There are things I want to share with you and I will next week but right now I will simply enjoy a sunny day with my lovely family.

I want to thank and congratulate Sian and her super ladies, who have worked on a mammoth task which resulted in the first of many Cybher conferences I hope.

Also, Sian, thank you very much for the opportunity to present a session and for organising the best goodie bag ever!

Hope you ladies enjoy a well deserved break now.

My two best friends. I don’t usually like the term best friend. In the past it has always resulted in deep disappointment but now I am older and more mature . . . → Read More: Friends]]>

One morning over a week ago, I was on a plane heading for Nice for a weekend with my girlfriends.

My two best friends. I don’t usually like the term best friend. In the past it has always resulted in deep disappointment but now I am older and more mature I am starting to understand what this truly means.

My two best friends are two strong amazing girls. The three of us couldn’t look more different from each other and our personalities complete each others. We all have different attitudes to life and sometimes offer a different perspective when it is needed most.

Our relationship is now 10yrs old, very close to 11 years old in fact, and it hasn’t been a steady river. We’ve had storms and we’ve had “breaks” but always found each others again.

Our strength is and has alway been our abilities to forgive, learn, adapt and start again but also to accept we are different.

We met at a time when we were all on the brink of becoming adults. We shared flats, parties, dirty laughs and tears over challenges that life has thrown at us.

What results of the last 10 years is a relationship based on trust and sisterhood.

These two girls are the only two people I can share holidays with, with the feeling I am almost with family.

I can’t say how much this means to me…

Photo credit: all the photos have shamelessly been taken from Caroline’s facebook page, the official reporter on this year’s trip (well she has the top notch camera so…)

I am excited because Cybher is one of those conferences that makes me want to jump up and down with a squeal. Imagine the people waiting for Harrods to open its doors on the first day of sales. Imagine their bodies pressurised against the doors . . . → Read More: CybHer 12, it’s tomorrow!]]>

I am feeling excitement with a touch of anxiety.

I am excited because Cybher is one of those conferences that makes me want to jump up and down with a squeal. Imagine the people waiting for Harrods to open its doors on the first day of sales. Imagine their bodies pressurised against the doors about to explode! Imagine their heart racing with excitement waiting to discover plenty new amazing things! That’s how I feel right NOW!!

I am also anxious because I am running a session on something I am totally passionate about. But what if no one turns up? What if they don’t like me? What if they throw their shoes at me (preferably size 6, no heels, oh and if possible both of them at the same time).

I simply cant wait as I know I am going to see amazing bloggers that I haven’t seen in ages but I will also meet new ones…

So for the ones who will decide to come to MY session “Revamp your blog for less than £50″, which is at 15.50 in the Annex, then I will be delighted to welcome you there!

What we will be covering are simple design tweaks and changes that will instantly make your blog look stunning and professional. We will talk about the use of colours, fonts and graphics to speak the same language you are in writing. We will talk about being creative and how to use FREE tools to translate all that.

This presentation is based on (almost) 4 years of blogging, where I went from knowing nothing at all to now talk codes and other geeky stuff. This is all self taught knowledge based on the desire to achieve a sleek look on a budget. I am experiencing and learning daily and I promise to share and update EasyTechClub with lots of tutorials that will help you do the same.

This presentation is based on WordPress blogs, however the major part of the session will be talking about general skills that you can apply whether you are a Blogger, Typepad or WordPress user.

I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow and I raise my coffee to our blogging success! (it’s way too early for gin…)

He wanted to show me and it took a while this morning to get there but it was well worth being late for school just to see the big proud smile that said “I made it!”.

This week I took E to renew his French passport. One our way to London, it suddenly dawned on me that it was almost exactly . . . → Read More: A visit to the French Consulate…]]>

There is a funny thing happening when a French expat announces a visit to the French Consulate to another French expat. We tend to wish each other good luck.

This week I took E to renew his French passport. One our way to London, it suddenly dawned on me that it was almost exactly 5 years ago that I was taking the same trip with a baby only a few weeks old.

I remember being excited to go to London with him for the very first time. It was a lovely sunny day. I also remember that, while getting him dressed on his changing mat that morning, I accidentally let go of his head and he hit the table. He cried. A lot. I did too… I think it was more the shock for both of us but I remember thinking that I might have to have him checked at A&E just in case and cancel the appointment that was going to declare him French… (check out the over-reactive first time mum)

But we did go and he was fine.

The day was eventful and the experience rather stressful. This is the day I have discovered that London Transport are not fitted AT ALL for pram traffic! Also did you know that around South Kensington station, it is very difficult to get a sit in a coffee shop with a pram? This is why in between appointments at the Consulate I ended up sitting on a bench between fossils at the National History museum to feed my baby while munching on a tuna sandwich myself.

Yesterday was a different experience. I now had a 5 year old boy excited to be on a train to London, just with Mummy.

However one thing hasn’t changed: The Consulate.

I have been in London for 10 years now and live with a British husband, bringing up very much British children so it is a real shock to the system to step on French soil so suddenly, the minute you walk through a door. There is something undeniable about us French: we love to moan and complain, and a lot of us are very stingy with our smiles…

Yesterday I walked through the door greeted by an obviously not 100% French security guard, the slight English accent gave it away. He was smiley and polite. Kind even.

The receptionist, well there was no mistake to be made, he was French. Very elegant guy, nicely dressed and with a walk suited for a catwalk, lack of smile and all.

When I spoke to him to ask for my way, I was shown a rather elegant index pointing at rows of chairs. “You’ll be called” that’s all I heard from him. “Good morning, what can I do to help?” totally useless thing to say when you are on a schedule of 35 hours work a week.

Sitting in that room I was surrounded by sighs and confusion. A sea of people feeling awkward, not knowing where to sit exactly, who will call them and what to do with themselves.

The actual appointment on the other hand went really well and we were lucky to have a very lovely helpful lady, even if most of the time she spoke to me as if she was talking to the dumbest of people. I am ok, I can take it.

She pointed out that I was not registered on the French electoral roll with a first round of big election coming this Sunday. I am not voting. She didn’t like that.

It might sound totally unpatriotic but why would I when my life is in the UK? When I have no intention of returning to live in France for the foreseeable future? I don’t even feel the right to have a say in a country that I no longer know. Ten years is a long time to be living abroad. So no I will not vote on Sunday and this is my final answer, merci! Can I have my passport and ID card now?

Photo credit fdecomite

I am not sure what the hell is going on. All I . . . → Read More: Am I losing my way?]]>

What do you do when your drive hits rock bottom? When all the professional projects you have been building for over 4 years just don’t feel the same anymore? When you don’t get the same yearning feeling to make it a success?

I am not sure what the hell is going on. All I know is that for nearly 8 weeks I have been struggling between my head telling me that I need to get back on track and my heart saying why the hell are you clinging onto to it all?!
I feel I lost my way a little but the heart of what I do is still where I thrive.
I feel like I am drowning and don’t know which branch I should grab to be rescued.

There is a huge battle between ambition and pride and self protection instinct. Something I cannot clearly recognise is pushing me to slow down, to get back in touch with what really matters. But my pride is pushing me to keep going and “show them!”.

What I personally need right now is pressure release…  I want to wake up in the morning without the feeling I need to deliver in every way.

The hardest bit about running a business on your own is that you are on your own. Noone else is here to share the load with you. I am extremely lucky to have a tight network of lovely business people who believe in me and help me through it, but I am not sure why it all seems to be so hard at the moment.

What do you do when you reach that plateau?

While V thought collecting pennies was lots fun, E couldn’t wait to part with them hoping for more to fall in his hands…

Something quite fascinating is happening in this house. I suppose it has something to do with the high level of testosterone hanging around. The boys are asserting their place in the pack. Two of them wanting to be top of it is obviously not working. I sometime feel like I am watching two . . . → Read More: Ready, steady, FIGHT!!]]>

Something quite fascinating is happening in this house. I suppose it has something to do with the high level of testosterone hanging around. The boys are asserting their place in the pack. Two of them wanting to be top of it is obviously not working. I sometime feel like I am watching two cockerels fighting for something that usually has the shape of a car or a cardboard tube that they stole from a perfectly good wrapping paper roll, which at the end of the process, looks like a fine piece of rubbish!

They are at it all the time!

E is definitely making the most of his privilege of having been born first. It gives rights that you would be stupid to ignore. One of them for example is to twist your brother’s mind into giving up his biscuit or the iPad and making him think it is the best thing ever. The problem with this is that the younger brother is not so likely to believe such things now that he is getting older himself. Hence the house turns into a cage fighting scene at times.

It is fascinating to observe. We are currently in a prime location for anyone researching how a brood evolves with age, however not a great place to be in when your main role becomes the one of the referee. That’s mine by the way!

Not such fun…

My current main worry is to remain fair but also sane and articulate, refraining any swear words to come out of my mouth. That’s probably the hardest thing ever!

Despite a mean hangover (never plan something like this the . . . → Read More: A visit to Harry Potter Warner Bros Studios]]>

A week ago we were invited to visit Harry Potter’s Warner Bros studios located in Leavesden (north London). Even if the boys are still a bit young to have watched the series, we are not! So we were delighted to be offered the opportunity.

Despite a mean hangover (never plan something like this the morning after a 40th Birthday Party… NEVER!), so despite a hangover which lead me straight to the spanking new coffee shop I was decided to enjoy the day out. And we did.

It was quite mesmerizing to watch where the magic began and we all loved it. The boys were fascinated and so were we.

The visit takes you through the most popular sets including the Great Hall which was amazing, and you also get to see the Gryffindor common room, the boys’ dormitory, Hagrid’s hut, Potion’s classroom and Professor Umbridge’s office at the Ministry of Magic.

The visit ends with the awesome Hogwarts Castle Model, which is truly fascinating.

Once the visit is over you exit via the shop… Here is a lesson to learn: don’t promise a wand to your children upon exit, DON’T! unless you have £25 to spend for each one of your children because all the wands are the exact replicas to the ones used in the film.

Who wants a 5 and 4 year old to play wizard with a wand this price? The shop is totally not catering for the younger age and that’s a shame. They really need to introduce token items to the shop like a plastic wand or a Harry keyring not just giant lollipop or chocolate as only alternative.

This aside it is a great day out for any Harry Potter fans, so enjoy!