A British expat in Nice

IX10 - The Top 100 International Exchange and Experience Blogs 2010

>> Monday, 1 February 2010 – IX10

I have, somehow, been nominated for inclusion in the list of The Top 100 International Exchange and Experience Blogs 2010. Thank you, whoever nominated me.

The rest of you can show your undying love (or lukewarm apathy, I'm not picky) by going to http://www.lexiophiles.com/ix09/vote-for-ix10-here and scrolling down to the last bit of the page, where you will find me, and then voting for me. The other blogs on there are also probably worth reading, since all us expat people are clearly fabulously interesting. (But vote for me, not them, even if they are more interesting.)

Thing-A-Day 2010 - the beginning

>> – black, copper, earrings, green, jasper, jewellery, photo, posterous, sea, sunshine, Thing-A-Day

February has started. Unfortunately, February has started with me being sicker than a very sick thing, so the Things I make may not be up to my usually impeccable (!) standards.

Today's thing is an unfortunately badly wrapped pair of earrings - it's serving as a prototype for pieces I may work up for sale later. I've also run out of wire, which is why I didn't redo them properly - it's not (just) because I'm lazy. Or ill.

Also attached is a photograph, taken from my balcony today. In the hopes that it may distract you from the bad workmanship in the earrings. Also, photos count as a creative Thing, in my book, so I'm submitting two amateur Things, in the hopes that it makes up one good Thing.

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from thing-a-day 2010

Posterous and cross posting...

>> Sunday, 31 January 2010 – posterous

I think not. It's slow to load pictures, isn't it? Or is that just me? And would it bore the 2 or 3 of you who ever read this to see the new things I make every day in February? (For that is, indeed, the point of Thing-A-Day as the name cunningly suggests...) Unless there's a keen desire to see it, in which case I'll keep the link, my inclination is to kill it and post manually every now and then.

Up to you, my loyal readers. All 2 or 3 of you. What do you think?

Raindrops Keep Falling...

>> – copper, earrings, Etsy, grey, jewellery, photo

Testing out a new way of posting to my blog (cross posting to Posterous, where Thing-A-Day.com seems to have migrated this year).

You should see, below, if everything works, pictures of the new earrings I made this morning. The rain woke me up this morning, hence the name. I even made the earwires, I'm quite proud of them for a first attempt. The earrings are long and dangly, and will be added to my Etsy store later today.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Nicole - Thing a Day 2010

Snow!

>> – France, photo, snow, Villefranche, winter

We have snow! Admittedly, not much. Barely even worthy of the name, really. But still, white stuff. On the ground. On the beach, even! The rest of the world must be freezing if snow has got down here.

Cookies

>> Friday, 29 January 2010 – chocolate, cookies, domestic

Chocolate chip cookies. Don't they look nice?

Shiny things

>> – 1950s, bracelet, earrings, jewellery, necklace, photo, purple people eater, sheb wooley, song, video

Purple People Eater bracelet and earrings:

Purple People Eater song, in case you ever managed to miss it:

Chainmaille necklace I'm not sure I showed here before:

Saint Raphael and Frejus

>> Thursday, 28 January 2010 – beach, boat, church, coast, France, Frejus, Mediterranean, photo, Roman, Saint Raphael, sea, seagull, sunshine, Villefranche

Yesterday was a national holiday in Monaco, so we were both at home. It was sunny (as you can see from the photos) and warm and I actually didn't feel like I was dying, for the first time in ages, so we decided to go exploring - and went to Saint Raphael, along the coast towards Marseille.

Photos of sunshine
Upside down boat, now colonised by seagulls:

That part of the coast is beautiful - huge red rocks and cliffs, as you can see a bit in this photo from the train window.

Saint Raphael is nothing special - the beach is nice, though, and the church is pretty from the outside.

Church:

Beach:

The old town in Saint Raphael was... limited (I was feeling ill again by that point, though, so I might be doing it a disservice. Or we might have missed bits.) There's a museum that might be worth going to, we walked past it. That was about it.

Frejus was pretty, but small. It's noted for its Roman ruins - we got as far as the amphitheatre, which is being re-built, and got bored and went home. The church is prettier on the outside than the inside, but it is pretty.

Marché nocturne in Nice 2010

I've sent off my application for the marché nocturne for the summer tourist season, in case nothing comes up work-wise before then. If I get accepted, and it works for me (stall fees aren't too high, etc, etc) then it would be a really good thing for me, in terms of professional development - and making money. The night market in Nice is mentioned in all the guide books I've ever seen, and was busy whenever we wandered through over the summer - it runs from 18:30 to 00:30, daily. So that's one of my big questions: do I have to go every day, if they accept my application. We'll see what they say.

Because I know you're all so interested, there's a picture below of the pieces I submitted as part of the application. One of the things this has made me realise I need to do is put together a proper catalogue - it will be useful for approaching shops, too, if I decide to go that route.

1. Bronze European 4-in-1 Necklace, 2. Japanese 12 in 2 stainless steel and bronze earrings1, 3. Sterling silver and Pearl chainmaille earrings, 4. Lui - Copper byzantine bracelet, 5. Indian Summer - bronze and crystal bracelet, 6. Japanese Bronze - bronze chainmaille bracelet, 7. Thunder - steel chainmaille bracelet, 8. Steel Half Persian 4-in-1 bracelet, 9. Copper Euro-4-in-1 Necklace, 10. Anastasia - silver and green crystal bracelet, 11. European Square - copper chainmaille bracelet, 12. Jessica - copper and sodalite bracelet, 13. Garnet and Carnelian earrings, 14. Goldstone and sterling earrings, 15. Raspberries - garnet and sterling earrings, 16. Azure - Pearl and kyanite earrings, 17. Osiris - turquoise and copper pendant, 18. Isis - lapis lazuli and copper pendant, 19. A Star is Born - ruby and sterling necklace, 20. Desert Winter - desert jasper and snowflake obsidian bracelet

Eze - heavy on the photos, sorry about that...

>> Sunday, 24 January 2010 – Eze, flower, fountain, France, photo, statue, village

We finally got around to going to Eze today - we didn't go into the gardens, we'll save those for a sunnier, warmer day.

But, Eze is pretty! I think St Paul de Vence was prettier, but Eze is nice. Some photos follow - better photos to follow when the sun is out, though there may be more tourists. There were more than a few today, and it's not exactly peak tourist season!

Anyway: