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TA­DA! Excitement is in the air, like during each trimester, I’ll give it to you, but this time, it’s a little different! A little different because Friday the 29th marks one year since the Wear Lemonade adventure started. I can’t believe it, not one bit! It’s also different because Friday we’ll have a new e­shop! 2016, a year of digital changes for us! While creating this collection, the team has matured and we’ve put all we’ve got into it, our craziness and our hearts, so it’s a little bit emotional!

Can you believe it? I’m talking about the fifth Wear Lemonade collection... these last 12 months went by at lightening speed, 12 months of little prayers in hopes that you like our collections, so that the website doesn’t crash, so that the post office doesn’t loose your orders, so that we can get the prototypes for the photo shoots on time... 12 months to get to know you better and listen to you (the “Mon Petit Chat” poll), to make mistakes we’ve learned from (coming out with short overalls in August while you’re already buying stockings), to jump with joy when sales take off (the adrenaline rush from positive feedback), racking our brains for ideas to surprise you (the shipping experience, packaging is my passion). And then 12 months to learn that nothing is impossible if we believe in it.

This year has been the most enriching of my life and I’m very proud to present to you a sneak peek of our latest collection, “Les baigneuses” (“The Bathers”). This collection is the fruit of real teamwork that keeps learning and having fun in mind while working!! We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from you on the website, we’ve watched your behavior as customers during the sales, read your emails asking for bigger pictures, more pictures, etc... It’s as if we’ve mixed it all up to give you the newwww.wearlemonade.com.There are two days left to shop the current collection because on Thursday the website will be put on stand by (psst, there are still a few sizes left)...

This collection is also the first time that we’ve collaborated with an illustrator for our print: Charlotte Molas, a petite lady, that I’ve known for a long time and who started illustrating only a few years ago. I was familiar with her work, but didn’t know she was the one behind her drawings! I find her style very poetic, a little vintage and modern all at the same time! I was thrilled when she agreed to collaborate with us to draw up an exclusive motif that gave its name to the collection: “Les baigneuses” (“The Bathers”)!

And what would bathers be without swimsuits? We decided to work with the best, the amazing ladies from Noo Underwear (Girl Power keeps us together). Elissa and Anaïs are the incredible entrepreneurs that created this lingerie and swimwear brand: fits, materials, and customer service that are way better than big brands. A friend got us in touch and we figured we could work well together! We’ve created two must­have really retro swimsuits! The URSULA is a frilly two piece (Andress, forget the little mermaid) and EVA is a one­piece with pockets (Green, still a James Bond girl!)... I’ll tell you more about them when they’re available for sale!

And since we get the feeling that when you shop at Wear Lemonade, you’re looking for that little something extra special, so for the more ‘sensible’ pieces we finished them off with our little heart embroidery, which I think is starting to become our signature. And since I also think about pieces easy to wear for those days lacking inspiration, ANA was created, the sweatshirt dress that can be worn without hesitation, with a boat neck (no repeats) and a scoop back (not too deep, so your bra won’t show...).

On Friday you’ll get to see the CHIARA, last but not least, available in five different colors! We’ve been on the lookout for the perfect satin stitch, sweet and delicate with polka dots, the perfect white, without being transparent. It’s great for nice days out or really neat for a civil wedding! And for fans of the color blue, our light, washed denim will go with everything! Since it’s the time of year for weddings and prom, the Chiara would be perfect in a light, striped silk organza, that we had woven with our choices of colors in Italy and lined in Habotai silk to perfect your outfits for special occasions. I’m telling you, we’ve really focused on the details! Anyways, the Chiara will be available on Friday, with our ‘Mon petit chat’ (that’s already online, for those who just can’t wait) and even our little PEPITA shoes... Hugs and kisses, I’m crossing my fingers to the point of breaking, hoping you’ll like it!

I’d like to thank our readers/models that signed up to be the new faces of Wear Lemonade. It was a difficult choice and we were lucky to get together with Mélanie, Sarah, Juliette, Liate, Aude and Grace, our six lovely, bubbly ladies that wore wonderfully the pieces of the collection! Thank you! Thanks to Laurence Maestrello for the perfect makeup, to Lydiane at Poppy Pantone for the really natural hair do’s, thanks to Cils de Marie for Mélanie’s doll eyes. Thanks to Asos for loaning us the shoes. And of course thank you to Marins d’eau douce for coming along for the crazy ride! Photos by Laurence Revol and Vidéo by Olitax, music by Musicalist.fr Translated by Whitney Bolin

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope that you’ve had a nice sunny weekend wherever you are, since at Paris it’s winter again... that’s a lie, we had two rays of sunshine, just enough time to take a couple pictures for this insanely crazy week! After the Sushi invasion of the 2000s, Thaï cuisine, and bentos by the thousands, now it’s time for Korean Street Food! I’m all for it, I’m literally stuffing my face with this trend, I love the restaurant ‘Hero’ where thepork rib buns are mouth watering, and I recently discovered SAam not far from my place. A couple of years ago in New York I had Kimchi balls without knowing their name and was weirded out by the texture, the spicy taste, and also the melting cheese in the middle, and the layer of surprise breading­ basically everything I like. So the other day at SAam I saw these little rice balls in a neighbor’s plate and my memories came flooding back, I had to have it! It was like deja vu, I spent two hours eating my Kimchi balls trying to analyse their texture and ingredients with one thing in mind: to eat Kimchi balls for the rest of my life. So I experimented with different recipes, and for the moment, this is the one that’s been the most consistent! You can also mix shredded meat in your rice or even little pieces of ham, anyways, have fun and enjoy!

For about 10 Kimchi balls, you’ll need:

• 500 g round sushi rice, not risotto rice
• a small onion
• a large handful of Shiitake mushrooms, commonly found in Asian grocery stores ­
• 2 small carrots
• 2 branches of celery
• 100g of frozen peas
• 2 glass jars of Kimchi, commonly found in Asian grocery stores

To make it, you’ll need:

• emmental­like cheese
• a small bowl of flour
• a small bowl of egg yolk
• and a small bowl of breading or ‘Panko’, a Japanese breading that is a lot less fatty when fried and is really really crunchy, also common in Asian grocery stores
• a good liter of oil to fry your Kimchi balls

EDIT: Dear readers, I’m sorry an old and shorter version of my article was published, my apologies. Here’s the complete version of my trip! Hugs and kisses! Hello my darlings! Thank you very much for your feedback on this special India week! My return to Planet Lemonade has been rather hectic, it’s not easy to leave everything for three weeks! I’m juggling editing my pictures from New Zealand and the new Wear Lemonade collection (hehehe) and I’m happily diving back into into my archives to finish up these posts on India. It’s great to look back at pictures I took six years ago, it’s kinda of funny to see the evolution of my photos! I hope that you’ll like them and they’ll make you too want to go backpacking in such an incredible country! I think that I really want to go back to see the south region of India... my backpack has got quite an itch lately.

Go ahead and click on the arrows to see all the pictures! I went to India with my best friend, for a good month with our backpacks and guidebooks. Justine had already gone a few years before but I couldn’t believe my eyes when we arrived in Delhi at night... the streets had no façades, as if a catastrophe had happened a few days ago. The Commonwealth Games were going to happen a few months later, sprucing up the city, the buildings had been gutted in order to renovate the facades... It definitely is a country of extremes, as I was telling you, the poverty was shocking.After a few hours of sleep, we went into the streets of Delhi to go to the train station, headed to Agra and the Taj Mahal. Delhi didn’t make a good impression on me from the start... Oh and the Taj Mahal in all this? Even though we all know what it looks like, I guarantee that I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life, it’s breathtaking!

Next, we went to Varanasi at the junctions of the sacred Ganges River.Iremember it very vividly, it was kind of emotional being a mecca of Indian pilgrimage.The Hindu believe that bathing in the Ganges washes humans of their sins and to incinerate oneself on the steps (Ghats) along the banks of the river and to spread their ashes on the Ganges frees the soul and allows it to evolve in the next life, according to the reincarnation cycle. You might think that’s really morbid but I promise it isn’t at all. Death is an important partof the Indians’ life, it’s even something that they celebrate, so don’t get the wrong idea, it really is a great destination, the river at sunrise is one of my best memories. Then, a few kilometers from Benares(another name for Varanasi) we went to Sarnath, a Buddhist city.

In this little city, we stayed in a Buddhist monastery run by monks that had taken an oath of silence, in a tiny room full of Geckos on the walls, sometimes it felt a little like Fear Factor.In this little town we were fortunate enough to spend time at a school for children from all Indian casts that get the same education, same for girls and boys: the Buddha’s Smile School. I suggest you visit, the couple that takes care of the school also has a little restaurant next door and you may be lucky enough to eat lunch with the children since the school is just behind it. In this city, we also saw a makeshift fair, I remember being amazed by all the smiles on the rickety merry­go­rounds... Then we had to leave this little slice of heaven for Bombay, we practically traveled across the width of the country in 24 hours in asleeper train! It was truly an epic journey! Oh and Bombay: a magical, decadent, colorful city, full of contradictions...

My memories of Bombay are a little bit cloudy, I remember that it rained cats and dogs for days and we went to the movies to see a Bollywood in Hindi of course, but it wasn’t a big deal, acting is universal and plus the theater plays a part in the show, it’s an experience to be had! We slept in the Salvation Army dorms so it was no Taj Mahal hôtel, at the time we were in mode backpacker, with our flip flops and silk sarouels.Then in Bombay, we took a plane headed to Diu, a little island north of Bombay, on the border of Rajasthan.Diu is one of the last examples of Portuguese Indian colonization. To give you an idea, we slept on the roof of a Catholic church transformed into a bed and breakfast. It was so cool because the island was still far from crowds of tourists and the long beaches were practically empty. I remember that we celebrated Justine’s birthday on the roof of this church and I made multicolored streamers from balloons and dental floss, plus there was a colorful cake brought on the back of our host’s scooter... Diu was good.

We took a night bus to leave the little island, which is the easiest and cheapest way to travel in the country, headed to Jaipur in Rajasthan. Once again, my memory is playing tricks on me. I don’t know how many towns we visited. I remember Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Udaipur, Pushkar, but I think I’ve forgotten one or two... I loved Rajasthan, with its’ palace in the desert, the horseback rides in the mountains, the starry nightsin the sand watching storms on the horizon... And then I f e l l i n l o v e w i t h U d a i p u r , t h e n a m e m i g h t r i n g a b e l l s i n c e t h e c i t y w a s f i l m e d i n F r i t z L a n g ’ s Th e Tiger of Eschnapur and in Octopussy,a James Bond movie. Every evening, in most of the restaurants in town, you can watch the famous James Bond movie, so if you stay for a few days, you’ll know it by heart! This city was also where we had our three­finger rings made! Udaipur, Pushkar (our last stop before going home) and Benaresare my favorite places in India, I don’t know if it’s because the cities are surrounded by water but there’s something very relaxing about them, a sort of serenity that so sometimes miss dearly! I hope that you like my memories and my pictures. See you very soon for some new DIY projects! Translated by Whitney Bolin

Hello my darlings! I hope you’re well, as for me I feel as if I’ve never been farther from home, we’re as far from Paris as possible, at the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand. It’s beautiful, I think that I’ve never seen such pretty scenery in my entire life, but I’ll tell you about that later... Being so far away and looking back at the pictures, I realize that my Indian inspiration is distant too, a few things are inspired by the 70s, with a little bit of sportswear added in and lots of mixed color codes. It’s a sort of Indian series under the influence of LSD that stayed in a sporting goods store for too long... Yeah, that’s a good way to describe it. I had a lot of fun working on this series, trying on dozens and dozens of clothes, it looks like a textile tornado went through the office. Looking back, I think that what I liked the most about it was the mental light bulb it illuminated. Like a need to reconnect with my body and clothes, I wanted something bold too. I don’t know if it’s life that overwhelmsme sometimes, between the studio, Make My Lemonade and Wear Lemonade, but I feel like over these last months, I haven’t been making any real efforts for the Happy Fridays. I wear some basics from my closet over and over again like a broken record. My favorite roomy sweatshirt dresses hide my size, waist, my hips, my thighs... and along with the happiness from doing this shoot with the lovely Pauline Darley, I’ve had an amazing time concocting these crazy looks, making me want to take back over my closet. I don’t think I have a signature look, except maybe a hair bun (from time to time) and polka­dots (in an OCD kind of way)... But I love so many different eras and cultures that I think it’s a shame to limit yourself to a uniform. When I look at pictures of me from 10 years ago when I had just arrived in Paris and today (besides my hair trials and tribulations) I don’t think that I’ve shut myself up in a particular style at any given moment, I think I’ve toned down several of my inspirations, of course there are outfits that I go back to but it’s funny to see that as time goes by, I’m still looking! All this goes to say that I feel like I’ve shut down these past months, I want to continue my search for new outfits, to have fun again wearing my clothes, to wear what I create more often, to make myself smile when I look in the mirror. I feel like while writing you these words here, it’s like a promise I’m making to myself, with you as my witness... I hope that you’ll like this series of looks, as I was saying, I was fortunate to shoot these photos with Pauline, my lovely Fred took care of my wild mane, and I worked with the talented Laurence Maestrello, that you might have bumped into at the last open house! A big thanks goes out to them and to Olitax for his precious help! Translated by Whitney Bolin

I’m wearing a skirt from Carven, a lace Roseanna top, a Lacoste Live! top. A Karuna Ballo flower and Stan Smiths!Translated by Whitney Bolin

Hello my darlings, if you’ve been following us for a while, you already know about Lorenzo and his incredible paper creations. So for this special Indian week, we went crazy when he told us about his little marvelous elephants! I can’t wait to make a little colorful troop of my own to set on my desk, or spread out in several corners of my apartment, like good luck charms, guardians of my home (but I’m afraid that Frida likes them a little too much to leave them alone). I hope you’ll like them as much as we do, see you tomorrow for the rest of this incredible week!

Hello everyone! I’m thrilled to be back for a DIY that’s a lot easier than the last two. This time instead of an architectural form, we’ll make an animal: an elephant. If you’re patient, you can make an entire rainbow of them easily. Here’s how. Cost: between 5 € and 20 €, depending on the materials you already have. Level: easy Time to make: between 2 and 3 hours for each elephant.

For this paper DIY, you’ll need:

• ­ regular cutting materials (ruler, scissors, box cutter, or scalpel knife)
• glue
• pinking shears (scalloped and others if possible), ­
• shaped paper punches(heart and sun),
• A4 format sheets of colorful paper (120g/m2 minimum thickness): one A4 for each elephant,

Download the pattern of an elephant here and print it on a piece of colorful A4 paper. I suggest you make it with at least three A4s of different colors. We can mix the colors by mixing the blankets of the elephants. Mark the folds on the dotted line and cut them out following the lines.

Fold each side, and start to glue the first little pieces: feet, trunk, head, body. These are simple forms, you shouldn’t have any trouble understanding how to put them together following the patterns. For the trunk, bend the paper before gluing it. In this step by step, I’m putting together a red elephant, but I replaced its’ blanket by another elephant’s: a pink and blue. This elephant needs to have it’s head on its’ shoulders. Glue the head to the body.

Glue on the straight legs, then the bent ones. Make sure the bent leg glued to the front of the elephant is pointed forward, and that the one behind is going towards the back.

Here’s what it should look like at this point. Glue the trunk to the head.

The ears and the tusks. Don’t forget the tail, it's a nice little touch. Give it a slight bend, only glue on the top part.

Now’s the time to use the pinking shears to decorate the ends of the blanket. If you want to be even more detailed, you can poke holes in the scalloped edges using the pointy end of a compass, like I suggested in this article. I suggest using the pinking shears for blanket 1, and an Oriental or Indian shape for blanket 2. Glue the blanket on the back of the elephant without harming it.

Out of the blanket papers, cut out a heart using the punch (that’s my girly side talking) that you’ll glue on the front of the elephant and the sides of blanket 2. And two suns to make the eyes of your new pet. Nothing goes to waste: you can glue the leftovers from the scalloped edges on the feet to make little nails for it. And there you have it!

You can make more with other colors, mix up the blankets, and like me, fall in love with your rainbow family! See you soon for new adventures! Lorenzo P. Translated by Whitney Bolin

Hello my darlings! We’re continuing this week’s theme with a recipe... So to recap, when we were in northern India, we didn’t find a lot of restaurants that had naan bread, but they had Chapati instead, a different sort of small Indian bread, like a pita without yeast that’s prepared on the spot on a hot plate, unlike naan that has other qualities particular to itself. I remember that while we were there, we were true taste­bud adventurers. In some restaurants, there weren’t English translations so we had to blindly order, and there was not a single unpleasant surprise, that’s how I tasted the palak paneer, an amazing dish with spinach that I seriously want to make! By the way, paneer is the Indian cheese that makes up many dishes, and in India you won’t find paneer naan made with Laughing Cow or Kiri cheese. These cheese naans, that we know and love, are an invention made to satisfy Western palates, and as you may imagine, paneer is a hassle to make... At the Lemonade Studio we’re big fans of cheese naans, so here’s a recipe that will help you make your very own Indian bread, perfect as an appetizer or to quench your appetite with a colorful salad. Oh and another thing, in order to make it following the rules of naan making, you need a special oven, a ‘tandoor’, a sort of cave­oven but ya know what, it also works in a very hot wok...

To start, in a large bowl, thin out the baker’s yeast and sugar in 16 cl lukewarm water, then add half of the flour. I suggest you put everything in a mixer, working the dough for 5 minutes until it’s completely mixed. Cover the dough with a clean towel and let it rise for 30 minutes. Then add the yogurt, baking powder,the rest of the flour, and 4 to 5 tablespoons of melted butter and mix again for 5 minutes. Cover and let it set for another half hour. Heat a wok pan on high heat and lightly coat it with the rest of the butter. Take a ball of the dough and spread it out on a floured workspace, flattening it out into a long, oval shape. Put your naan in the pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Serve warm and enjoy!

It’s do it yourself Wednesday! I’ve always been fascinated by the Indian Sikh men that wear turbans, I admire the way they knot them, it seems like there are meters and meters of fabric, always ending up with the same result... Multiple times, we saw vendors in markets selling premade turbans, but I felt like these were more like a costume and I wanted to take back the real deal... I wanted to learn how to knot it myself... Since then, each time I see a colored turban, my heart skips a beat... So I don’t know exactly where this feeling comes from, if it’s a reminder of my trip, from the Wes Anderson’s movie ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ or even the movie Moulin Rouge (?!), or probably the pictures I’ve seen or from a Bollywood film we saw... But when I found this pattern for a vintage turban, I wanted to make it inbubble gum pink! Laure, our sweet darling in charge of making patterns reworked it to make it easier, but it’s still an accessory you should take your time on. I was surprised to see that she baptized it ‘Shiva’, I think that it’s a referenceto everyone in the office capable of doing 10 things at the same time... I’ll let you go get to it! Lisa

Hello to all sewing ladies (and guys)! To start off this week on the theme of India (it’s a feast for the eyes), here’s a little sewing DIY that’ll teach you how to make our Shiva turban. It’s a real turban, not a simple scarf knotted a couple times, with nice smooth pleats, and a hat­like base, that way it can’t undo itself. Lisa and I have had this DIY in mind for... a long time, a very long time. But it’s never been the right moment to share it with you. We were inspired by a 40s vintage pattern that we’ve changed up and it’s availablein three different sizes to that it can be worn by all heads! Here’s a little tip: if you realize it’s too big, go ahead and tighten it in the back during the last step. To make this Shiva turban, you’ll need: ­

• 1 m of fabric 140cm wide,
• 1 m mesh interfacing, if your fabric is a little flimsy ­
• the pattern can be downloaded here (and printed on A4 and US letter format paper)
• a sewing machine,
• needle, and thread
• scissors
• a ruler and dressmaker’s chalk,
• a bucket or empty flowerpot (or a head) you’ll understand why soon

To start, cut all the pieces out following the instructions, using interfacing if necessary, and overcast the edges if the fabric frays too much. Start with the base. Pin the middle in front, sides together and stitch at 1 cm.

Take the curve at the base . Pin it at the base, sides together. Go ahead and pull on the fabric a little bit so it all lines up.

Stitch at 1 cm (take your time). Set it aside. Take the biasand pin the free sides down, sides together, and stitch at 1 cm.

Iron your fold, just this once you may iron the pins. Be careful not to rub the bottom of the iron and wait until the fabric is completely cooled before taking them out. Do the same for the second fold. Take your base and set it on a head, a bucket (or a flowerpot like we did at the office).

Double check to make sure each pleat is nicely placed. Ta­Da!

It’s now your turn! Use a simple fabric, or a crazy print (as long as it’s something that shows the pleats enough), and you’ll be as chic as Simone de Beauvoir in the blink of an eye or the diva of a costume party! Don’t forget to share your creations on our community wall! Thanks to Lisa C. for the lovely drawings on Olitax’s photos.

Happy Tuesday everyone! This week’s theme starts here. And yes, this is a special week that starts on a Tuesday! Hey, why not? Even if the photos and graphic content are ready, the writing is always more or less written ‘live’ and still being thousands of miles away, the working conditions are a little bit hectic, but I’m happy to announce that the lemonade and chai will be plentiful this week! We’ve prepared lots of inspirational content that’ll whisk you away to this travel destination I’ve always adored: India. There’s so much to say about the country... I think that it’s a place that leaves nobody indifferent; you either love it or hate it. I went with my best friend six years ago for five weeks, talk about culture shock! I think that we brought as many books with us as we could, about the culture, religion... I was spellbound by the different facets of this country but also appalled by the human condition, the pervasive poverty and above all the treatment of women that I saw during our trip. It truly is a country of extremes! But I remember coming home changed, without really knowing what to think about what we experienced. I’m convinced it opened my eyes to how fortunate we are to live in a country like ours, even if I did come home refreshed by the multitude of colors, fragrances, and sounds. As soon as we passed by the slightest colorful wall, I went crazy. The paintings, statues, scents, elephants, cows, spices, jewels, and fabrics bring back a whirlwind of memories. When I met Fanny B., who lived in Jaipur for 7 years, and heard her talk about the craziness, the slowness, the colors of the country, it really made an impact on me: I want to go back... so I don’t know when that’ll be but the idea’s growing on me. I want to dive back into the memories, so let me show you a few pics of everything the culture means to me... Here’s a little moodboard full of pictures I picked on Pinterest! See you tomorrow for the first DIY of the week! Translated by Whitney Bolin

Happy Friday my darlings! Today it’s time for the Lila sewing pattern! You’ve already heard about the Lila skirt,Ibelieve that I told you everything yesterday. Even on the other side of the world it’s so lovely, it’s actually on my derrière! It’s not difficult to make, I’d even say it’s a piece of cake. However, the difficulty lies in the quantity of parts to give it its’ special fit! But nothing’s impossible, I promise, if you arm yourself with a bunch of post­its and a pen everything will go smoothly... I suggest you cut out of the fabric the pieces of the pattern, otherwise you might get lost, and as you move along and use the pieces, pin your post­its on them with their name!

Here’s some important things about the Lila:

• You can buy the sewing pattern in it’s lovely packaging with the explanations booklet and it’s little tag here, for 14,90 euros.
• You can download the PDF version of the pattern for 2,99 euros, now with the sewing booklet included! Don’t hesitate to click on the little number “2” on the product list for the sheet placement, but otherwise it’s included in the pattern. It can be printed on A4 and US letter formats.
• The difficulty level is: “easy­peasy”, if you don’t do the lining, but you can take it to the next level with a sheath lining
• For this skirt, for the biggest size plan on: using 1,40m of fabric from a bolt of fabric measuring 1m40 in width (classic width) or 1,80 for 1m10 of fabric. The same quantity of interfacing (if necessary) and 6 snaps or other buttons. We suggest you make this with a fabric that maintains its’ shape or even in denim without a lining for those in a hurry!
• A little reminder, since it’s always good to mention it here: in all the Wear Lemonade patterns, the sewing value is included in the pattern and it’s one centimeter (except when the reare french seams, but don’t panic, in written in black and white on the pattern)!
• If you’re stuck, please leave a comment on the community page!

 

Since it’s our last pattern in the “can’t take my eyes off of you” collection, we’ve slipped in one of our famous golden tickets! This time, if you find it in one of your Lila patterns (just one) you could win a Wanda trench coat, a Lena dress, as well as a Sonia t­shirt and a little Belinda panty (in the color of your choice): a plethora of Wear Lemonade just for you, valued at 380 euros. So my darlings, are you ready? Sending you hugs and kisses from the other side of the planet! Translated by Whitney Bolin

Happy Wednesday, everyone! So, what is this? It’s a Korean dish, a sort of ‘picnic plate’, a little like a bento but not as strictly boxe­up! It’s often a mix of rice, sauteed or raw vegetables, vegetarian, or with beef or shrimp, with or without eggs, all of it washed down with hot sauce! Anyways, I found this little gem of healthy eating at Jules & Shim two years ago. I wanted to make it my own, with all the things I like. I think it's a great option when you’re in front of the fridge but have no idea what to make... I don’t know about you but when my food looks good, I always feel like I’m eating well! So it’s up to you to mix up the colors but to be more eye­pleasing, pick at least 4 colors, and don’t forget to have fun with it and trade the rice for some lentils or quinoa! I want to see your dishes look like!

For 2 people, you’ll need this for your bibimbap :  

So let's start with the raw food. Preparing the soybeans and radishes is easy, just wash them and slice the radishes. You can also use a mandolin slicer to make small, fuchsia circles. In a pan, boil water for your green beans and while that’s heating, wash your herbs and finely chop them, to make a small, delicious salad (it’ll last 2 days in a Tupperware bowl with a slightly damp paper towel). In a small skillet, sauté a little sesame oil and in a bowl, dissolve the cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of water and add the eggs, beating them to make an omelet, adding a little salt. Using a ladle, drop a little dough in the bottom of the frying pan to make a thin pancake/crepe. Cook until it’s almost done and fold it three times over like a crepe, bringing the corners towards the center. Add another ladle, taking care to lift the first pancake/crepe so the batter goes underneath. As soon as the second pancake/crepe is almost done, fold it onto the first one, and so on until you’re out of batter. Once you have your roll, cut it into fours and set aside. Then, in the same pan, add a little sesame oil and fry your carrot sticks with shrimp. While that’s cooking, cut your avocado in half and then into thin slices. Put the rice in a small bowl, and flip it over in the middle of your plate. Then, arrange the colorful food around the rice, season to taste and enjoy!

Happy Sunday, everyone! Today I’d like to talk to you about entrepreneurship, and more precisely well­being as an entrepreneur. I know it’s a subject that speaks to you and it allows me to take a step back and take a look at my life. You know Make My Lemonade, Wear Lemonade, the Lemonade Studio... All this things that happen are not the result of thought­out, planned decisions, but rather from a chain of events whether or not I brought it on. In 2012, when I opened the first version of Make My Lemonade, I hadn’t at all expected that it was going to become a business, that would give people jobs, that would inspire others, that would raise funds to achieve even greater dreams. I don’t know if I had any idea back in 2012... Let’s just say that I was trying something else, I was testing a door to see if I could find the room to achieve my dreams behind it. I say it often, when I started to work in a ready­to­wear boutique, the morning when I got up to sell clothes, I wanted to run far, far away, to a place where I could sell the clothes that I would have created. But I was 19 and I quickly stifled the voice in my head saying “you’re going to get burnt out really quickly if you have to get up your entire life just to work for someone else”. Where was this voice coming from? I think that I had heard family friends, or even my friends go on about how my generation was going to have a hard time, that companies we’re going to be able to give us what they had gotten. I heard people complaining about bad things at work without any hope of improvement. Aside from days off work, they couldn’t wait for retirement! As a teen and young adult, I had a hard time telling myself I was going to spend my life wasting away in a company didn’t get me just to one day retire and then start enjoying life.

It wasn’t nice, the idea of preciously keeping track of administrative papers of each student and summer job just for “retirement”... I’m a very messy person, I’m supposed to keep these for like 45 years? That means that no matter what, I’m supposed to get up every morning to work for someone else, hoping to get enough paperwork to retire. Oh yeah? Oh no. I quickly understood how urgent it was for me to find a creative job, one that I found luckily found quickly. I worked at three completely different companies, of different sizes and in different fashion sectors. I met lots of great people and others not so great. During these three experiences, besides earning a living and collecting precious papers for retirement pensions, I learned a lot of things about human relations at work.

At my first job, I had a great time as a part of a large and happy team where everybody was friends, or at least worked together nicely, that really wanted to make everyday a good one since the hours were crazy and having a social life was complicated. At my second job, it was awful. I had left a happy group for a dictatorship. I was emotionally bullied which made me physically sick. But a learned an important lesson: Never again will someone treat me that way and never will I treat someone like that. I left the second company for the third, which was smaller and more like a family, which is where I found the time to make Make My Lemonade possible. Looking back today, there still were things that weren’t fair but I realize being now a boss myself that it wasn’t personal, it was just that the company couldn’t do otherwise. I won’t go into the details but you get the idea. Then one day Make My Lemonade started to take more and more time, and I made the jump and just started doing that. It was the best choice and even if this path is often long and winding, I don’t regret to have taken it. I don’t think about retirement papers to hold onto anymore, I think mostly about achieving my dreams. I left the world of office jobs to jump right into entrepreneurship, and to create from a collage of my past experiences, the business that I would want to wake up in the morning to go work for.

With all the work experience I’ve had, I’ve tried to learn some things. I didn’t see it coming, but we’re a team, and in this team there are people who have different pasts and personalities, that must be taken into account, listened to, reflected on, observed in order to work together at the office in peace. I’m happy to see that friendships are forming, that we all care for each other. I’m myself at work, but I try to keep my worries and stresses from getting others down because in the end we spend most of our time together and therefore should live as a community, in “lemonade land”. And from what I’ve gathered from my past experiences, it’s that balance is a fragile thing but primordial for the well­being and success of a work place... I’d like us to do more things together that aren’t only at the office, to celebrate our little victories. Listening to those with whom you work and trying not to complain but rather finding a solution to your problem makes your days much better. And if the changes needed to make you happier at work are too structural, get out! Don’t wait for the next day off like everyone else; I’m not telling you to give everything up to become your own boss but if you’re not happy to get up in the morning to go to work, are you willing to go on like that until retirement while waiting to start fulfilling your life? Translated by Whitney Bolin

Hello my little darlings! I’m starting this week off with a DIY since it’s been a while! Today, get out your sewing machines, I’m about unveil the secret of the diamond shaped tote bag! I could make this bag blindfolded, I’ve made so many in all sorts of colors and for all sorts of the women in my life. I don’t know if you remember it, it’s also from a “bags of love” pattern, the project we did with Mai a few years ago! You can put your gym stuff in this bag or your entire life but think out of the box, imagine this bag in denim, leather, with a printed motif as a lining! The tutorial bag was made with a neat Ikea furniture fabric! Speaking of Ikea, next Tuesday, for all Parisians, Ikea is having a pajama party in one of their stores. On the agenda are three DIY workshops on the bedroom and bathroom, so if you’d like to enter to win a spot for evening of give­aways, do­it­yourself, and Daim®, please leave us a comment on this article below telling me what’s always in your bag!

For this DIY you’ll need:

• 4 squares of 50x50cm fabric, 2 rectangles of 15 x 40cm fabric,
• scissors,
• pins,
• a ruler,
• a sewing machine, thread, and a bobbin that matches your fabric,
• an iron and obviously a sewing machine.

Next, stitch your two huge rectangles using the machine, remember to open your seams with the help of an iron for a cleaner finished product.

Then, pin your two huge rectangles length wise and stitch on the machine.

As always, open the seams wide, now take your ruler and make a mark at 15 cm in each corner of your big square.

This will make the opening of your bag.

Fold your big square in half, and line up the ends of your bag in order to make a large rectangle (stop at the 15cm marks), then for the two other seams, assemble the raw edges that are on the same line, starting in the middle and stopping at the 15cm mark.

Run it all through the machine and once again open wide your seams with the help of an iron. Here you should have a square that looks a little like a casserole dish.

Make a small notch at the end of your seam at the opening of your bag, then fold with the help of your iron, the first fold should be about 1cm to designate the opening of the bag.

Fold a second time, iron, and pin to finish off the hems. Do the same to every corner with a raw edge! Run it through the machine.

Let’s now move onto the previously sewn corners of your big square, and with the help of a ruler, measure 15cm starting at the point. Draw a perpendicular line here.

Pin this right angle well so that your two layers of fabric are overlapped, run it through the machine, make a straight stitch, as well as a zig­zag stitch, and finally cut it 1cm from your seams.

Your bag is now ready to be turned right side out, remember to iron everything out.

Now take the two bands that will be your handles, fold them 1cm around your band, and fold it in half.

Fold the pleat with your iron and then make an edge stitch to hold everything together! (Of course, you can pin it if you have not yet completely mastered the sewing machine).

Pin your bands on the hemmed corners, be careful to place the extremities on the two corners, side­to­side and not in a diagonal, otherwise you won’t be able to put things in your bag! And ta­da!