5 Fun things for Friday

Happy Friday, tout le monde! I can’t believe it’s already mid-August. Where the heck did 2020 go? I want a do-over. It’s been quiet over here… Tom and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary earlier this week, we managed to make it through the heat wave, and are looking forward to a family trip here in France with my in-laws (sadly without my parents due to travel restrictions) in September. I’m popping in today with a light post sharing a few things I’ve picked up lately that I love.

5 Fun things for Friday

 

Dessert in a glass container

There’s something endearing about little French desserts (and yogurts!) in glass containers. More environmentally friendly than plastic, desserts like the Petit Pot de Crème above from Beillevaire are such a treat and I indulge in them often. They’re small, tasty but not too rich, and are the perfect end to a nice meal. The crème brûlée or pistachio is my favorite. Beillevaire is a Vendée-based fromagerie/cremerie and their products can be found at Beillevaire stores and other points of sale (markets and specialty shops) across France. Each dessert or yogurt is about 2.50 €.

 

External hard drive

I can’t use Macs to save my life despite the fact that as a kid, that’s what our family had. But from high school on, I’ve always used a PC at work and for personal use. That is, up until a couple of years ago when I got a Mac for work. Long story short, iCloud syncs files across devices which is convenient but takes up a ton of disk space.

Instead of upgrading my cloud plan once again, I figured it would be smart to back up all of my files to an actual hard drive. It was a long time coming but I finally got the orange beauty above and couldn’t be happier with it. My PC was about to die — no disk space — so I think I revived it at least for now by unloading about 100 gigs of photos and videos and dumping them onto the La Cie Rugged 2 TB drive. The best part is that it’s formatted for Macs and PCs right out of the box so if you work on different operating systems like I do, it’s a godsend. Just plug it into either device and bam, transfer away!

 

Mosquito bite remedy

If I had to choose only one product to buy in the French pharmacy over the summer, it would be Synthol, hands down. This yellow liquid soothes mosquito bites (and other stings) and stops the itching. Just apply it liberally to a cotton pad, place it on the bite for a minute, and then sigh in relief. I have a bottle of it in my medicine cabinet at all times.

Homes in France don’t typically have window screens and if you’re sensitive to mosquito bites like I am, you need to know about Synthol. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s sold in the USA but if you’re in France, it’s at every pharmacy. I wrote an entire post telling you more about why Synthol is a miracle product for bug bites here.

 

Natural deodorant

This deodorant from German brand Ben & Anna in my local pharmacy caught my eye because the scent was called Provence. It is said to smell like a summer vacation in the South of France, so I had to give it a try. I’ve only been using it for a day, so I’ll have to report back, but so far so good.  The product is vegan, aluminum and phthalate free, natural, and not tested on animals. They also come in eco-friendly paper tube packaging instead of the plastic container shown above, but since I’m allergic to citrus and the paper tube formulation of Provence had citrus oils, I couldn’t go that route.

I’ve been a loyal fan of Secret deodorant/antiperspirant since high school, but I know there are more environmentally friendly and safer options out there. I’ve tried Native before but didn’t love it. I hope this Ben & Anna product lives up to my expectations. The scent is clean but not overpowering.

 

Organic lollipops

Lollipops aren’t just for kids! I bought these Yum Earth Organic Lollipops on a whim the last time I ordered from iHerb (P.S. Great experience if you live abroad and reasonable shipping. Got some Kashi cereal, protein pancakes, etc.) and LOVE them. They’re vegan, non-GMO, and gluten free, so as far as candy goes, they’re in the “better” category. I tend to go through phases with foods where I’ll be obsessed with something for a couple of weeks and then I’ll need a break for about a year before I start eating that particular food item again. Last month it was peach gummy rings and at the moment these Yum Earth organic lollipops are where it’s at. Even Tom grabs one before he walks Dagny at night.

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If you haven’t visited my YouTube channel recently, check out my video about what to know before driving in France and this video where I buy some popular viennoiseries.

Bon week-end!

 

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links which means I may receive a small commission if you purchase through my link, at no additional cost to you. This post is not sponsored/gifted and I bought everything pictured with my own funds. Thanks for supporting Oui In France.