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Acquiring the skill of savoring everyday pleasures and moments is a crucial ingredient of living an extraordinary life. And while one person’s everyday pleasurable moment may be different than another’s, finding what soothes you, what brings you to the present moment, is knowledge about oneself worth discovering.
For me, one simple everyday pleasure is sipping a hot cup of tea – in the morning and especially in the evening as the day winds down. Paired with a dark chocolate truffle, enjoying hot tea to sip and chocolate to nibble on punctuates the day’s completion and communicates to my mind that all has concluded, relax, and to just be.
Throughout Living The Simply Luxurious Life: Make Your Everydays Extraordinary and Discovering Your Best Self, the first few chapters share ideas, inspiration and benefits for welcoming daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal rituals into our lives. When we choose to elevate the everyday, our entire experience changes in the best possible of ways.
So today I would like to give away one of France’s treasures – a piece of Gien pottery. Specifically, I will be giving away one of their 10 oz mugs; the design will be the winner’s choosing from the selection shown below. I have fallen in love with my own Gien mug which is made of Gien faience. What is especially unique about Gien mugs is the thumbrest which is ergonomically correct and just feels most comfortable to secure the holding of the mug. I drink from my mug regularly (seen in two of my IG pics in this post), and with its light-weight, it has quickly become one of my favorite.
Here is a bit of history about Gien:
“Two centuries of craftsmanship go into the making of a single piece of Gien faience. Handcrafted in a converted convent perched on the Loire River, every stage of creation takes place in Gien, France: from locally sourced raw materials to authentic handcrafted designs and final production. Gien faience is fired at traditionally lower temperatures, giving it a unique richness and depth of color. Stronger than pottery or ceramics, Gien products are designed for everyday tableware.”
—Gien

~UPDATE 8/17/2019, noon: The giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all who stopped by and entered. Be sure to visit tomorrow (Sunday August 18th) for the final post of TSLL’s French Week which will share a round-up and the list of winners.
To enter:
- Leave a comment with the style of mug you would choose if you are chosen as the winner – see the entire selection here
- Enter by Saturday August 17th at noon, Pacific time
- Stop by TSLL on Sunday August 18th to see if you are the winner and claim your mug from Gien.
Bonne chance!
TSLL’s 4th Annual French Week posts thus far . . .
SUNDAY August 11th
- Welcome to TSLL’s 4th Annual French Week!
- 7 French Candles I Love & A Giveaway! – giveaway
- Visiting Musée d’Orsay and Impressionist Berthe Morisot’s Exhibit
MONDAY August 12th
- NEW podcast episode – #257: An American Being Everyday French – My Interview with author & writer John von Sothen
- The World, Large & Small, Illustrated for Your Home, Kitchen and Life: A Modvin Paris Illustrated Giveaway – giveaway
- 5 New-in-2019 French Lifestyle Books I Have Enjoyed
TUESDAY August 13th