Hi, I’m Amanda, the creator of Vintage Savoir Faire. I don’t write about myself very often, but I think it’s time you met the person behind the projects.
On request from a longtime reader, I’m going to tell you about my journey to Vintage Savoir Faire … and what’s next. 2012 is going to be the biggest year of my life yet, and I am just bursting with ideas and plans to share with you – so I hope you’ll be as excited as I am about these coming months!
First, a few fun facts about my life:
- I’m an expert tap dancer.
- My favorite movie ever is Clue (has anyone else seen this 80s classic?)
- I’m from New Hampshire (or as I say here in Europe, “it’s near Boston.”)
- I studied Computer Science in university. I guess it was my inner geek.
- When I’m in a new country, I always visit the local grocery store to check out the food!
Where it began…
After a lot of navel-gazing, I realized that I’d lost sight of one of my life dreams – to live in France. I wasn’t sure how it could happen, but I had faith that it would work out … and eventually, it did. I moved to Paris in 2007. That move is still one of the biggest accomplishments of my life.
Paris je t’aime!
I love Paris for reasons too numerous to list here. But the second glimmer of Vintage Savoir Faire happened in Paris. French culture is really open to alternative medicine, and in the Parisian pharmacies, herbal medicine is on the shelves right beside the mainstream medications.
While in Paris I was struck by the worst UTI ever, which turned into a kidney infection and had me off work for 2 weeks. It’s a scary experience being severely sick in another country, with no family around and having to speak to your doctor in a second language! After that episode, I was inspired to learn about herbs that could help my body heal from that experience! It also made me start taking my health seriously, and realize how fundamental health is to our overall quality of life.
The other thing about Paris was my immersion in the food culture, and the “French paradox” of eating well and staying thin.
I learned to stop snacking, walked everywhere, cooked constantly, shopped in markets, and found myself losing weight. Brilliant!
London calling!
I eventually met Zak on a trip to London, and moved to the UK in 2009. At this point I was actively learning about using herbs and food as medicine and was convinced that cooking was a key element to good health. I took my first herbal medicine class at Neal’s Yard Remedies, and from there was referred to an experience herbalist who I continue to study with today. It was around this time I also started Vintage Savoir Faire so I could share all of my discoveries and projects with other people!
You can change your health.
Our modern lifestyles are a bit crazy. I know, because I’ve lived it, and still sometimes struggle to find that right balance.
We’re lacking community, are constantly “on call” and connected, overloaded by information, exposed to chemicals and fueling ourselves on packaged, processed “food”. No wonder we’re stressed out, sick, overweight and cranky!
But there is a different way, and I’ve found it myself through cooking more, being conscious of what I put on and in my body, and remembering to get out of my head and live in the moment. And through Vintage Savoir Faire, I want to show you how to make easy changes to improve your life and health too.
That brings me to today – and the exciting plans for 2012.
I’m currently enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to become a certified health coach. It’s fascinating learning all of the major dietary theories and to clarify my beliefs on how to find true health. And much like I’ve always believed – it’s not about counting calories!
I have lots of plans for adding my new skills and knowledge into Vintage Savoir Faire. Of course we’ll still have the projects.
But starting soon, I’m going to offer an individual and group programs to help you reach your health goals.
I’m also going to run online courses, webinars and workshops around specific topics in health and wellness.
And finally, I’m going to create different kinds of content – like this video tutorial – to make it easier for you to learn these new skills!
I’m really looking forward to this year and getting to know a lot of you personally through our work together. I know that we can all make huge improvements in our lives and our health through simple, step-by-step changes.
I’d love to hear from you about what you want to learn, and your personal goals for 2012.
xx
Amanda
Wow! Thanks for sharing! It’s great to hear about how you got to where you are now. And what an interesting journey that’s been! It’s definitely one that I think many women can relate to. Thanks for taking the time to share all of your discoveries with us. I love the projects, recipes, and other bits of inspiration. I look forward to what’s to come in 2012! Thanks again!!
What an adventure! Thanks for sharing it. There are definitely parts of the story that I can relate to. I’m looking forward to seeing how your big ideas play out. My own goal for this year is to find some balance.
Hi Brittany, I’m sure I’ll be writing a lot about balance this year too, so it’s good timing!
I should probably be saying how happy I am to have stumbled across your website several months ago and how much I like reading what you’ve got to say, but I have to take this moment to pay some homage to the movie Clue and the illustrious Tim Curry. Definitely one of the Best Movies, Guaranteed ;DD it’s hard to find others my age who still remember/like to watch that movie haha.
Amazing, another Clue fan!!! Thanks for stopping by
it’s great to learn more about you, Amanda!
Nice presentation of goals and inspiration! I sincerely wish u huge vintage savoir luck 2012!!
P.S. Amanda, and another task you must include into your plans 2012!;) Should you are going to visit Lithuania this year again ,
.it‘s located near Vilnius( about 25 km) , in a lovely place with different
i kindly invite you to visit my small house there .Really-really
organic stuff around . Im sure you coud get some inspiraiton there and probably find new ideas for your blog activity!
It‘s just my warm welcome to you , because i totaly share your vintage atitudes and find all your projects very intersting in inspiring.
So.. ?: )
Thanks Maya!! I really appreciate the invite. I’m sure we’ll be back to Lithuania sometime in the future because Zak’s grandparents were Lithuanian, and we loved our trip to Vilnius. Will let you know when we do!!
DEAL
I love your blog. I, like you, think that one of the best ways to improve our health is to cook more, and cook from scratch as much as possible, and use more natural products, whether for ourselves or in our homes.
Good luck with everything in 2012, can’t wait to see what you have in store
Thanks so much for your kind words, Gwen!!