Bonjour! Welcome to our little corner of the blogosphere! Royally Living. Here we explore the art of living well and finding beauty in the everyday. 🌹
I take a peek at what retired life is like. What we’re doing and what we’re learning. “Mature” skincare. Did you know we need to do our make-up differently now? Plus pre/peri/menopausal self-care. Yep, I can’t eat the same stuff anymore. Plus all the big and little moments that make life life! I like to think of it as conscious memory making: travels, entertainment, cooking, socializing, shopping, relaxing, and of course our television pursuits.
But to start, I thought you’d like to hear a little about us…
Jiles is a nickname we got when we were dating. It stuck. Jennifer-Marie + Miles = Jiles. People will yell Jiles when we walk in a room (think Cheers!) and it affectionately became our pen name.
We’re the typical love story. Met at the neighborhood bar (again, think Cheers!) halfway between our houses in Old Town Alx.
(For those of you from afar, think a Washington DC neighborhood, but a charming small town in it’s own right.)
We dated. Traveled. Partied at the Boat Club. Ate fabulous meals. Got married. Shopped. Bought our starter yacht, Nautical Jiles.
Miles retired. And we decided to really jet set!
We were free. Playin’ on a pension. Jet Set Jiles!
(In fact, Jet Set Jiles was originally going to be the name of this blog. But the more I thought about the blog I realized I wanted to showcase more then travel! I really wanted to explore living your best life in your hometown and on your travels. Making the most of retirement. Really truly, Royally Living. Anyhow…)
And we love Downton Abbey — first show we binged when Miles retired! So we went to Highclere Castle where they filmed it!
We like doing stuff like that. Watch something on the television. Then go visit a place related to it! It’s my natural balance between nesting and sightseeing.
We were having some amazing trips. But something was off. Something was missing.
Enter our little’ Chou Chou (pronounced: Shoe Shoe, a French term of affection I learned in my middle school French class that always stuck with me). Her old mum went to heaven, so she came to complete our little family.
Santa dropped off our furry princess Christmas Eve 2020. She’s 4 fierce furry pounds and spends most of her time protecting Mommy, playing with Daddy, chasing bunnies, and wagging her tail for yum yums! She’s just the sweetest little sugar plum and a very good traveler!
And while we’ve always traveled, entertained, explored, shopped and dined well, since Miles’ retirement, we’ve incorporated “snowbirding” into our repertoire. I just love really spending some quality time in one new location and living like a local. ❤️
We consciously create a life filled with beauty at home and on our travels. (And on our boat!)
As you’ve already figured out by now, we’re bloggers! My husband is fabulously and firmly retired, but I still have a craving to create so I started Royally Living. I’m the writer. But we’re definitely a team! Planning trips, dinners, and television viewing together.
And we love sharing all of our discoveries with you! Television recommendations. Travels. Slow living tips and tricks. Restaurants to frequent. Recipes to cook. Finding beauty in the everyday. Truly living purposely, authentically, joyfully, serenely, royally…
Here’s to consciously creating magnificent memories and royally living.
Pip. Pip.
😘 Jennifer-Marie
with Miles, & HRH the Furry Princess 👑
p.s. Did ya know “pip pip” mimics the double honk you’d here on a motorcar in the early 20th century? It’s an upperclass British colloquialism for farewell. I learned that because we’re Downton Abbey superfans! lol. 🎩
