Source: theballadofdorothyparker.tumblr.com via Chloe on Interest

Lovely Spaces will be a little quiet until 2012, but I just wanted to stop in and wish you all happy holidays.

I would have shared a picture of our holiday decorations, but this year we are spending Christmas and New Years at our home in France. With traveling and then settling in, we didn’t even buy a tree – and all our decorations are at home in the states.

Fortunately, the holidays in France are all about good food, good friends, and being around people who love you. And that I have in spades. Here’s hoping that you all do as well.

Merry Christmas & Joyeux Noel!

The last month or so has been crazy. I switched jobs, got married, lost a family member and went on our long-planned vacation to our little house in the south of France.

This is the view of the country side just outside our town:

It was fantastic to spend a whole 2 weeks there and get a break from everything. When we returned to the states, it was suddenly fall and the weather was perfect for breaking out warm sweaters, cozy scarves and fun hats.

It’s also the perfect time to get caught up on some projects and get back into the swing of posting!

Yay! I created a new Lovely Spaces Flickr group to share photos of beautiful interior spaces.

Share photos of your favorite corners of your home and garden, or of your favorite rooms. I’ll also be posting pictures of our own place as we slowly finish unpacking everything and making it perfect.

Our group looks a little empty right now, so please join and help it look a little less sad. We’ll be featuring photos from the group regularly on the site.

Oh Hello Friend is starting up their 2010 Lovely Package Exchange which works like this:

• You sign up and are paired with a random person with similar interests.
• You put together a package of tiny (or big) gifts that are around $20-30 total.
• You put it all together in a beautiful package and send it off to your partner.
• You receive a lovely package of your own from your partner!

I think it’s a fantastic way to do something small that’s creative and fun, meet some new friends, do something really nice for someone else AND get something in the mail to brighten your day. How often do you really get wonderful surprises by mail anymore?

The exchange is free to participate in, the only requirement is that you have a blog or a website or twitter (to cut down on people who don’t follow through).

It’s the first time I’ll be participating too, so don’t hesitate to sign up if you weren’t part of the 2009 Exchange. You can get all the details HERE and have until March 9 to sign up.