Ding ding ding, hello!
What The Bell is all about
I’ve been training for this my whole life
Sitting on the plane from Paris to Boston on New Year’s Eve, I made a list of goals for 2023. On the next page, I made a list of to-dos for the month of January. I woke up the next morning with great motivation to tackle the to-dos, having already mentally pushed the goals to the back burner. Classic!
But, alas. I had barely checked off the first task (wash my makeup brushes) when I woke up on 1/3 with a raging sore throat and not enough energy to get out of bed, and thus I was forced to turn my attention to my goals instead.
One of them is to have some sort of creative output again.
I have a lot of creative input. I read tons of books, blogs, and magazines, subscribe to Instagrams in my areas of interest, live in beautiful places, look at art in my coffee table books and on my walls and occasionally in a museum, watch vlogs and tv and movies, listen to music and podcasts, eat great meals at cool restaurants, notice people on the street in nice outfits, and screenshot screenshot screenshot.
I’ve collected tons of scraps — mental, digital, physical — and now it’s time to do something with all that. And what I’m doing is this newsletter!
I’ll share recommendations of things I’ve tried and liked, worn, read, listened to, made, visited, and watched, and stories/musings. I’ll track down and link some things you’re shopping for, since that was so popular on Instagram. I’ll share party menus and tablescapes. I’ll glorify little things that make life more civilized. And more!
If you’re interested, I’d love to have you as a subscriber.
Why is it called The Bell?
Our house in France is called Les Clérins. While the word is old-timey and out of use in modern French, the consensus seems to be that a clérin was a kind of bell. And Les Clérins actually had/has a dinner bell.
There’s a little bell gable on the roof and the original bell is in the attic. One of my projects is to put the bell back up there so we can ring it when it’s time for our houseguests — pink-cheeked from the fresh air and bearing wildflower bouquets, warm bread, and good wine — to come in from the garden and gather around the table — set with antique linens, mismatched family china, and tall, drippy candles — for a long evening of laughter and connection.
Bringing that mental image to life is a dream of mine. And it’s basically the vision board for this newsletter.
Elegance, timelessness, fun, whimsy, old-world beauty, and in-person relationship building in an increasingly digital world.
Anyway, join me in this newsletter as we…
Search for the perfect pair of jeans
Repeat recipes until we perfect them
Write on personalized stationery
Unwrap and use those fancy scented soaps
Go on a sock journey
Enter our tea era
Pack for trips in a carryon
Make sticky toffee pudding
Dog ear magazine pages like our moms do
Revel in the beauty of the seasons
Find our signature accessories
Practice our practical and impractical skills
Romanticize our own lives
I’ll send this newsletter every other week, on Wednesdays. For now, all subscriptions are free, though I might add some paid content in the future.
P.S. Nice to meet you, I’m Jane
Some facts and qualifications are probably in order, since my online profile is pretty low.
I’m in my 30s, I live part-time in Boston, part-time in the countryside of France’s Loire Valley, and I’m married to a Frenchman named François. We’re renovating an 18th century manor house and garden that my husband inherited. Originally, I’m from Omaha, Nebraska.
I actually am paid to write! I’m self-employed as a B2B content writer, serving consulting firms in pharma, tech, HR, and a few other industries. I have a degree in English from Davidson College. I love an exclamation point. Subduing your enthusiasm? In this economy? No, thanks!
I aim to be stylish over fashionable and I like to really wear my clothes, use my fine, hand-wash-only china dishes several times a week, and not be too precious about anything.
Let’s be friends!
This News Letter is so much fun🥂🍾🌟💛