Monday, November 24, 2014

Hello, again!

Hello...Let's try this again!

I've been on a hiatus...a very long one. And for some good reasons. I've been crazy busy trying to set up my store, something i've been dreaming for a long, long time.
In the past year or so i have worked days (and nights...eh, mostly nights!) to bring to life my new online clothing shop: www.cestlavi.com

My husband and i were able to open up the store this past July (on the 14th) and i am so happy this has become a dream come true. I will try to keep you posted as i am learning to juggle my shop, blogging and being active on social media. You can also find me on Instagram under @shopcestlavi and on my personal account where i share my daily thoughts (not clothing related) under @cestlavilife .

The store i envisioned is drawn from my love for art, traveling, and the past. Lovely details, intriguing prints and patterns have always been a  part of this romantic story i am trying to capture in the clothing i bring to C'est Lavi.

It's a story for the free spirit, artists at heart and world wanderers. I hope you will travel along with me in this beautiful journey!








Thursday, July 18, 2013

Happy, happy 1 year birthday, dear blog!

I've been absent this past year, but i haven't forgotten about you! I started this blog with good intentions of keeping it updated, but a lot of things have changed since my last post.
I am hoping to really keep things a bit fresher and more interesting this time around!

I rarely write because i'd rather read or look at other people's blogs. However, i feel that i am at a time in my life where i would like to make some changes. For the better...

So i hope you would visit me more often this time around. 


Sunday, July 29, 2012

Going places

One of the many things my husband and i love to do is travel. Even though the two of us mainly travel within the continental US, we have had many memorable trips for the past eight years. When we got married, we made a promise that we will make it our priority to go places as often as we could. 


Then came the news that we were going to have a baby, and things slowed down a bit for us. I was in bed for the first four months of my pregnancy due to severe nausea and vomiting. Once i was able to get out of the house, we managed to go places. I was six months pregnant when we celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. We chose to go somewhere close to our house. To our surprise, we found this little gem of a resort 30 minutes from where we live. 


The place is called Highland Springs Resort and it's truly a lovely place to go visit, or even spend the night in one of their modern vintage cabins. This place was built in 1853 and was a favorite spot of relaxation for Albert Einstein and Ernest Hemingway. They also have an impressive 1100 years old oak tree on their property. Oh, how i wish we knew about this place when we got married! Maybe this will be the place for our vows renewal. 


The resort holds the annual Lavender Festival every June and it's a delight to be there. If you are ever in the vicinity of Cherry Valley/Palm Springs, please go there. They also have a great restaurant on their premises called  The Grand Old Steakhouse & Bar where they serve delicious organic food. Here are a few photos of our time there this past month. 






This is our son, Mattias.


The impressive 1100 year old oak tree.



                   And here i am with my handsome husband, Eugen, whom i call "B" (from baby) and my mom and dad.

   








Friday, July 20, 2012

Enchantment

“When the object is perceived as particular and unique and not merely the member of a family, when it appears independent of any general notion and detached from the sanity of a cause, isolated and inexplicable in the light of ignorance, then and only then may it be a source of enchantment.” Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), Irish dramatist, novelist.

I found this quote on thesaurus.com while searching different meanings for the word "enchantment". I liked this quote so i wanted to share it with you today. I find many things full of beauty, although some may either ignore it, or simply not see it there. I get inspired by the most meaningless things, and sometimes i wonder if everybody sees what i see. I know we are all unique with different pairs of eyes, therefore we "see" and "feel" life in our own particular ways. 

However, i am forever thankful and blessed to have found my other, better half, eight years ago - my husband. We not only share the same interests in art, music, cooking, interior design, travel, but we also finish each other's sentences on many occasions and come up with the same ideas at the same time! 
To this day, i am bewildered by our love story: how we met unexpectedly, got married after nine months of courtship, had our ups and downs, got through hardships, shared beautiful moments, had some amazing trips throughout California, fell in love with Yosemite and then had our first child ten months ago. 


We are both share the same hobbies, especially with photography. I particularly enjoy styling ...he loves the technical aspects. I have a keen eye for detail, and i am very particular about presentation. He is constantly coming up with new ideas. We complete each other. So yes, i am enchanted by our love story, by turning our dreams into reality.

I believe this image relates to the quote above. If you've ever been to Salton Sea, California, then you know exactly what i mean. If not...well, it's hard to explain it. Like my husband said once we got there one very hot summer afternoon: "it's a beautiful ugly place." And he was right. 

For many people, this is  an undesirable place to be or wanting to be. It's in the middle of nowhere, in the desert, where it's always hot and dry. However, this place is very hot and very humid - the worst combination. This place was once a very popular swimming place. Today...it's a death trap. For fish that is! It's filled with dead fish, mosquitos and flies everywhere. The water is very salty; air is so filthy that you can barely breathe. You do get used to it after awhile though! And yet, we found ourselves enchanted by this place. We chose this place by our old method of browsing the map of California on google and choosing some random place. We went on a Sunday and arrived right before the sunset. It was just the two of us, and some lonely guy fishing in the distance. We only took our old film cameras and some films we haven't developed to this day. I remember it was a gorgeous sunset, something that we still talk about to this day. Ironically, this place is known for the beautiful colors forming in the sky at sunset. I know that many would think that is totally insane to like...or even find enchantment in a place like this. But we "see" together...

Photo credit: Flickr (photo by ransomriggs )



Photo credit: Flickr (photo by Brazilfox )



Photo credit: Flickr (photo by Jerry Ting )

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Inception

I warmly welcome you to my little corner of everything that catches my attention, to all that is beautiful to me and what inspires me in life. I've never been a good writer, but i would like to share with you my thoughts, dreams and stories as best as i can. With that in mind, I still hope you would like to stay for a while with me here...

Napping in Nature 70/365