Guest Post: Arnelle Louise Kaas

 

This November my blog will be 16 years old. To celebrate I am asking you my readers to submit a Guest Post for my blog as a way of celebrating our connectedness as a community through social media. 

I hope you will send me your story or at least a glimpse into your life (please send your story and JPEG photos to my email then I will post them to my blog. This will introduce you to one another.

Some of you are feeling shy, or worse not worthy as if there is a prize for the best life lived. I hope, truly hope, you will take a leap of faith in telling me and my readers about yourself, a cherished memory, a recipe, a hobby, what inspires you, what you dream about, and more importantly how are you? What are you living with or through right now?

Your story, as all of our stories, are one, interconnected by the weaver, the river, the dreamer, the wind, the path as we are on moving forward to the light. Please consider sharing a bit of yourself with me.

Thank you in advance for being part of French la Vie / Tongue in Cheek. 

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To All… The tribe of French la Vie,

 

 

I am Arnelle Louise.

Corey asked if I would share a little of my life but where do you begin? Maybe by telling you about a box I opened. The cardboard had that mildewed smell of staying in a damp basement for a way too long. I will add that my husband had been after me for years to go through this mystery, so one morning he put it in front of me and said, “today is the day!” Not to dwell on all the bits and pieces of my childhood I found hiding, I will just say my childhood scrapbook held the key to what became and still is my career. This large-format, 5 and dime book held page after page of furniture, room layouts, house facades, and close-ups of fabric. I always thought my memory was fairly on point, but I do not remember ever cutting or gluing these pages. So there you have it, I became an interior decorator.

 

 

 

This path was not direct.

-I was a postman.

-Worked in a now-famous Hippie Leather clothing company (Lenny Kravitz collects vintage pieces)

-Nurses Aid for terminally ill children

-Worked in a Vietnamese refugee camp in Hong Kong

-Had a small catering business

I have no formal training.

My drawing skills are pathetic.

But the realization that came to me was the importance of ‘finding home”.

 

 

Creating environments that clients feel safe, happy, and reflect who they are becoming my goal. Early on I realized that meeting a new client was not unlike being given a script of a character in a play. My goal was to be my client, walk in their shoes not the other way around. After almost forty years I have had the opportunity to act in many different roles in many different homes.

 

The rewards of this career have been tenfold. Working with individuals and families helped me to become more flexible and understanding as a person. I had to put aside how I live and what I like. How wonderful it is to look at colors with new eyes. Using colors that you thought you hated but now loved because the purple fabric and paint were perfect for your client.

How lucky I am.

 

On another note, I do not know how I know Corey, that is the truth. We share being independent California girls. We both grew up in a state that was filled with small farms and had a much slower pace. All I know is that my own journey to “finding home” lead me to France and my truly generous friend, Corey Amaro.

Yes, COVID 19 has taken away temporarily half of our lives, but Roger and I are healthy and look forward to returning to our corner of paradise... and also being reunited with Corey and Yann.

Peace and Health to All-

 

 

 

• What was the most helpful thing your parents did for you when you were growing up?

   My father was a house painter and would sit with me on the front porch while I colored in my coloring book.  He would blend colors with one,    two, three different crayons making it OK to come up with new colors. He would say, "You don’t have to stay within the lines".

 

That has been my life’s mantra!

 

 

 

 

 

• What inspires you when you create a home for others?

    Three things
   It always starts with architecture.  Is it a thin house or a thick house?  These two simple questions answered helps to define many decisions down the line

 The client. The client allows me to look at color, texture, light through their eyes which I find exciting and yes inspiring.

  Travel.  The French have a word which of course I have forgotten which translated means to be transported to an unknown or unfamiliar place.

  It is believed that this experience is good for the soul.

 

 

 

 

• How did you find your home in France?

  This story could be a long chapter in a book.  Let’s just say after many years, and before the internet was organized and helpful, we looked and looked.

   Finally, Roger said no more looking and that was that.  

But a trip to visit his family in Spain took us also back to France for one more try.  

I fell first in love with the country road that takes you to our last turn with a field cross, a petite statue of Mary, and 3 cypresses.

We entered through a gate walking along with the orchard...

My husband Roger looked at me

I knew I had made up my mind even before I had seen the house.

 

Since I do not speak French I have had to listen very carefully and not interrupt which I have a bad habit of doing.

Living in the countryside allows you to hear nature devoid of the white noise of the city.  Corey, you wrote about sitting by our pool and hearing something that you could not comprehend, you looked up and realized it was the sound of doves wings. Is that not a beautiful gift?

As you know Corey (maybe a book) that is the question that intrigues me.

I think it is that the South of France reminds me of California when I was a small little girl.  You ate fruits and vegetables based on the seasons.  Sundays were for family and drives out to the countryside. Life was slower and there was always a respect for nature. My Mother-in-Law spent her childhood near Montpellier escaping the Spanish Civil war.  She became our cheerleader as we searched for our dream.

 

 

• How does your life differ from France to the USA?

It is a small thing, but yet a big thing.  When in France we can go for 3 or 4 days without getting in our car!

Since we live in what I would say is a deep country,  we eat is definitely based on what is in season and available where we live.

When it is cold we definitely try and conserve heating fuel.  If we have a fire we cook in the fireplace, sharing a glass of wine, listening to music, and staying warm.

 

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Comments

[Jeanne]

Each guest blogger brings such a lovely posting.
Thank you Corey for introducing us to them all.
I enjoy reading these very much and always love your own postings.
Blessings
Jeanne

[Lil]

Another reader living my dream life. I love the story of how you found your French home. Are the photos of your house? The stone work is beautiful and the interiors are wonderful. I'd love to live there. Is it very old?

[jackie]

Another great story. I want to go to "Camp Corey:)"

[Texas Francophile]

So interesting!!!! didn't understand if you live full time in France or if you spend half time in calif and the other half in France. Thank you for sharing

[arnelle]

Dear Lil and Texas Francophile
Thank you for your comments-
Yes, the photos of the stone house is our bit of heaven in France. Parts of the house are 300 years old!
We love living there and miss it very much.
We divide our time between San Francisco and the South of France..although we are not allowed to return at the present, which is very sad.
Arnelle Louise

[penni]

I think you are living a dream shared by so many of us, interior decorating and living in both California and France! I love the description of finding your French home, I think we may have all fell in love with it too! Thank you for sharing your story!!

[Arnelle Louise]

Dear Penni,
Some mornings when I wake up to the stunning light of the south of France I have to pinch myself!
My other life in California is very different, but very special.
The clients I have invite me into their homes and families and then extend the gift of trust.
I am a very lucky women.
Arnelle Louise

[Kathy]

Lovely posting- such beauty! Thank you.

[Arnelle Louise]

Kathy,
Thank you for your lovely response!
Arnelle

[Susan]

I thoroughly enjoyed your post, the beautiful photos. You must miss that lovely spot in France very much.
Thanks for sharing with us!