Of course it's perfect that everyone is being so incredibly nice, saying that they liked the show, that we seemed normal and that we didn't make complete fools of ourselves on national television.
It's kind of bizarre because we hadn't seen any episodes of the show before we did it, besides two that I found on youtube while trying to decide, and we have not seen ours at all. Let me repeat. You've seen it. Your mother has probably seen it. All of my family and friends in America have seen it. But we haven't.
This is the post for questions. If you have any--about the show or the house or n'importe quoi--just send me a comment and I'll answer them. As best as I can.
After this, I promise to go back to writing about
our lives in France (I just came
home from the Littlest's class meeting and was scrawling Franglish
notes in the margins so I would remember the things I have to tell you)
sharing recipes and doing my regular thing. And I'll shut up about this
blip, these 21 minutes condensed from the years of planning and waiting,
loneliness and tears, mistakes and adjustments.
You have the floor....ask away!
 |
| {Crew} |
 |
| {our house as you know it with the terrace and petite piscine} |
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| {the PA and kids} |
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| {Clementine helping our director Kim with her notes} |
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| {cameras!} |
Again, I thought it was very well done and I will watch it again. I am curious if you really only looked at 3 houses before you chose your home because over the course of several visits to France we toured 50 or more and spent hours on the internet looking at French home listings. Was that your actual agent immobilier or did you end up going to see homes with several. Being there is no multi-listing service in France no agency has every home and you find the same home listed with several agents but at different prices. Were the two other homes ones you actually visited on your search? If so how hard was it to get the current owners to let the show empty parts of the house so they could film? That's probably enough questions but I have more. Have a good day.
ReplyDeleteI must hang my head in shame. I have to admit I didn't watch it. I was watching a football game. But in my defense it was a divisional game :)
ReplyDeleteI keep looking on the schedule for when they will show it again.. Then I can have real questions.
When you were looking at the city house, and you walked into the "kitchen", was that the first time you saw it? Because your face was priceless. :)
ReplyDeleteDisclaimer here, I'm Irish living in America and I'd love to know about your life in Ireland and why you chose to leave? I found the program quite misleading. You filmed it in may this year but you must have left Ireland at least two tears ago. I went back all the way to 2010 on your blog and you were living in France then.When did you leave?
ReplyDeleteEurogirl,
ReplyDeleteHi! And welcome to my blog. To answer your questions, we lived in Ireland for just shy of 5 years. We loved our time there, had our third child there, made friends and a life there that we will never forget and are so thankful for. All that you saw of us on the show was emotional and true and how we really feel about our time in Bray. We were thrilled to be able to return there to film a tribute to our lives there and to see all of our friends again. We left Ireland because we have always wanted to live in the south of France...ever since our honeymoon here nearly 15 years ago, we've dreamed of it. And so when the opportunity came, we took it! This blog began when we arrived but I had already started documenting our Irish life on another blog, Our Years in Green. You can have a look at it still if you like.
The show skips time, yes. There are things that are altered and changed for the sake of making a reality television show in a limited amount of time. BUT, I have to say that the experience brought back all of the truly real emotions from when we did it in real life. Nothing was changed in our feelings about it other than the comfort of knowing it would all turn out better than alright. Does that answer your questions? I hope so! I hope you stick around. Where in Ireland are you from and where in the States are you living?
All the best,
Aidan
Susan*,
ReplyDeleteYes! It was shocking, truly shocking! An insult to kitchens everywhere, and the smell of grease and ages of unventilated cooking was cloying. Just horrible.
A xo
Oh Wonky,
ReplyDeleteI forgive you. Of course I do! How can a home search show compete with a divisional, no less, football game?! Was it the Bears v Packers, by any chance? P-Daddy was concerned about our ratings because of that match up!!
My step-dad is from outside Chicago and he had to step out at half time to watch us. Or my mother would have killed him! You get off easy here. But let me know when you do see it!
Aidan
Bonjour Aidan. I managed to actually program the show on the DVR and watch it. So proud of myself! :-) It was thoroughly enjoyable, all the more so since half my family comes from Montpellier and I got to live there for six years when I was a teenager. I was totally charmed by all three of the properties they showed on the show. That apartment downtown! Wow! I was also shocked at rental prices for these places (even though I realize Montpellier and the rest of the Languedoc have become pretty desirable to a lot of people...) It seemed to me you picked the right property for you and your ever-growing family :-) La "Terrace House" is perfect! I, too, loved your face when you saw first spotted "la kitchen!" in the place. Ha! ha! Funny how they stuck in a "placard..." (closet.) Finally your comment about how you would have stayed in Ireland had you had Montpellier weather to enjoy there. Join my world. Pretty much how I feel about Seattle! Great job and congrats to you all. Veronique (French Girl in Seattle)
ReplyDeleteAidan, It was the Bears/Packers game. Sadly I am a Bears fan and we got crushed. I should have just watched you guys :)
ReplyDeleteOh I really really hope they put your episode on the HGTV website so I can watch it online!
ReplyDeleteI wish we could just select which channels we want with cable instead of having to pay for all these channels we would never watch (which is why we ended up canceling our cable plan and thus no more HGTV).
Great show. It was fun to hear how your voices matched up with what I had in my head. My questions are: (1) Where did you put the furniture? Was it moved out of the room for the shot or did they move everything out during the shoot? (2) Is that your real kitchen? It looks so different than what I remember in the pictures and video you have posted throughout the blog (and since I can't remember exactly when you had things with pics of the kitchen I couldn't easily go back and look).
ReplyDeleteLong time reader - not often commenting but enjoy the journey you and your family are on.
Tipler Boys,
ReplyDeleteOh, you're a 'no reply' commenter so I can't write you back directly. I wish I could.
To answer the questions I can answer here...
That is our real kitchen. My mother-n-law said she recognized it from the blog! And the problematic ceiling is ours. But, I am happy to report that a painter is here at this very moment scraping (well, i'm not that happy about that part) and fixing it for us. I think the shame of having it on tv made the landlords finally do something about it.
I can't really fully answer the other questions on here but suffice it to say, it was a lot of work for someone. And tv time is flexible.
Thank you for reading. Please comment more! I'd love to hear from you and really appreciate anyone who takes the time to read what I put out here. I'm glad you're along with me.
Best,
Aidan
Hello Aidan,
ReplyDeleteJe viens de tomber sur votre blog, je suis Lucie la PA sur le tournage :) J'espère que vous et votre famille allez bien.. Savez-vous où je peux trouver un lien pour visionner le reportage ?
A bientôt,
Lucie