We’re moving to THIS sweet little village in the south of France on May 13!!

If you’re curious about the steps involved in manifesting a dream of this multi-faceted magnitude, check out this conference call REPLAY where we share everything we’ve been doing to bring it into reality.

This call is designed for “friendly cannibalizing’! You’ll love it whether you’re:

• a fellow Francophile
• an armchair adventurer
• an expat wanna-be

Listen in HERE if you want to osmose some potent manifestation techniques for whatever dreams YOU may be gestating!

Some before and after photos of my recent studio re-vamp.  These pictures really do NOT convey the main benefits gained, which are more kinesthetic than visual. I now have a mountain view from my Morning Pages Nest and my sewing table — as well as a design wall that’s more than twice the size of the original AND a much bigger rolling-around-on-the-floor space. Plus, when you walk into the room from the kitchen and back part of the house, you enter into a big open space.  Not to mention, I got to clean all the nooks and crannies and oust the dust bunnies. Win-win-win-win!

Before (northeast corner):

After (northeast corner)

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Before (southwest corner):

After  (southwest corner):

Before (northwest corner):

After  (northwest corner):

Before (southeast corner):

After (southeast corner):

Here’s the mondo-magical house we made a one-year lease on in the Languedoc region in the south of France.

A mere 7 months until The Big Move in May 2012!  Whee!!!!

And here’s a bit of the moving-to-France backstory on what led in to our decision to make this incredible decision.

It’s the house in the center of the frame with the awning and balcony.

Roquebrun, France. Painting by Nicola Blakemore

Painting teacher Nicola Blakemore

Allow me to introduce one of my most treasured friends in France, Nicola Blakemore — a true kindred sister for sure!  Nicola is an artist and a painting teacher who is offering lovely painting holidays in the Languedoc region of France.  The Languedoc is considered the other south of France, nestled between Provence and Spain along the Mediterranean Sea — as beautiful as Provence, but less crowded.

Nicola and I met when I signed up for her weekly painting classes just outside of her village of Quarante, France, during our month-long stay in the Languedoc 2 years ago.  (Ken and I were there for our big Recon Trip to narrow down our short list of villages we might like to move to when he retires next Spring!)

Even before I arrived in France, Nicola and I struck up an immediate friendship that seemed more like picking up where old friends left off rather than meeting a NEW friend.  She even acted as a brilliant sounding board as I fussed over what sort of shoes to pack for the big trip.

Now, Nicola and I support and celebrate each other from afar — via email and Facebook — as she becomes more creative and prolific in her offerings as an artist and teacher.  I am SO looking forward to being neighbors next Spring — her village is not that far from ours!

Do hop over to her two sites and see what she is up to!

• Nicola Blakemore
• Painting Holidays in France: Relaxing Art Course in Southwest France

Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook, too!

Here is a photo of one of the locations she uses to host her France Painting Holidays — not too shabby!

Chateau Ventenac, Ventenac-en-Minervois, (Aude, Languedoc).

My friends over at Piccola Mag: Successful Women in Small Business & Design are running a drawing for a copy of this great book…

Craft Inc: Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business

Hop on over there to enter if you like!

To borrow a line from an Indigo Girls song:  “Everywhere I turn, oh, all the beauty just keeps shakin’ me…”

Our veranda, just now…

Springtime in the south of France reliably brings carpets of wild red poppies.  Photo taken from the shore of the Orb River, looking north up into ‘our’ little village of Roquebrun, France, Languedoc.

Through the screen door, from the bedroom (facing south-southeast)

The nun’s bed, for those hot Sonoran nights (facing southwest)

A little mood lighting (facing west)

Door to kitchen on left, door to hall that leads to studio and Ken’s bathroom on right (facing northwest)

Taken standing with my back to the kitchen door (facing east)

Looking south-southeast

Last night’s sunset

This morning’s sunlight

Fountain view laptop perch (bedroom)

“Everywhere we are is Sacred Space…”
–Marty Weiner (1943-April 17, 2011)

Our village, Roquebrun (Herault, Languedoc) with its magic apparent.