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Notes from Chic Blogging Challenge over Paris’s CoVid-19 Lockdown (2)
June 5, 2020 For the Paris Spring 2020 CoVid-19 Lockdown, I followed Fiona Ferris’s 2 books (30 Chic Days and 30 More Chic Days) day-by-day and tried to implement each day’s recommendation. For the next several posts, I will write about what I learned through my 60-day assignment: Day 20 in 30 More Chic Days is titled “Have a daily success plan.” Fiona writes about how she created a structure for her days that was both flexible enough to allow her to make use of creative time and supportive enough to help her accomplish important tasks in a timely manner. She didn’t find traditional to-do lists to be that effective…
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Notes from Chic Blogging Challenge over Paris’s CoVid-19 Lockdown (1)
May 31, 2020 For the Paris Spring 2020 CoVid-19 Lockdown, I followed Fiona Ferris’s 2 books (30 Chic Days and 30 More Chic Days) day-by-day and tried to implement each day’s recommendation. For the next several posts, I will write about what I learned through my 60-day assignment: 30 Chic Days, Day 4 is titled “Make-up Your Eyes.” This chapter has good insight into human nature. Fiona’s suggestion is that we make just a bit of extra effort with something that we do every day, first thing in the day. This small physical action is an outward expression (& helpful reminder to us) that we value ourselves. I’m completely on-board…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 30 – What Our Feelings May Be Telling Us
May 19, 2020 Day 30 is titled “Focus On Creating Your Own Beautiful Life” in 30 More Chic Days by Fiona Ferris. In this chapter, Fiona discusses that not-so-delightful feeling of envy that can occur when we start comparing our life, activities and/or possessions with someone else’s life, activities and stuff. Fiona mentions this dynamic in her first book, 30 Chic Days, (which I reviewed here.) In this chapter, Fiona approaches the topic of envy from a slightly different angle. She writes about how she started comparing her life with someone else and felt that her own life seemed a bit boring. She began to feel unmotivated and that everything…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 27 – Our Strengths Can Help
May 16, 2020 Day 27 is “Choose To Look and Feel Amazing” in 30 More Chic Days by Fiona Ferris. Fiona writes about her efforts to make the habit of healthy eating feel fun and exciting. She also wanted to find a way to make eating junky food much less attractive. She used several mental tools to accomplish her goal: reframing, creating a positive future vision for herself and leveraging an already developed mindset. “Choose to look and feel amazing” is a good title for today – I write this tongue-in-cheek – because I do NOT look nor feel amazing right at this moment. My hair is pulled back into…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 26 – Own Your Space
May 15, 2020 Fiona Ferris calls Day 26 “Create Your Own Designer Decor Look For Less” in her book, 30 More Chic Days. In this Day, Fiona talks to us about our home space. She discusses how she has developed her own look using inspiration from magazine articles, Pinterest and advertisements. She admires the sensibility of Ralph Lauren’s home product line – an English country house style and comfortable and layered. (The layered look, she describes, as something that combines high-quality pieces with rich colors and textures so that the room looks like it has had items added to it over years or even generations.) She does confess that she…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 24 – Bloom in Place
May 13, 2020 “How To Love Where You Live” is Day 24 in Fiona Ferris’s 30 More Chic Days. Fiona discusses how we can make the most of our present location even if it not our “forever” place. She advises us to take our “dream” location and really analyze what is it that resonates with us. If we can describe both the particular attributes and the emotions that the “dream” location evokes in us, it may be possible to incorporate some of the list items in our present experience. This chapter has some good ideas. Even if we are feeling “stuck” in a geographic location that feels as inhospitable and…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 23 – Those “Grey” Days
May 12, 2020 “Know How To Lift Your Mood” is Day 23 in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 More Chic Days. Fiona discusses how to approach those “grey” times in our lives when we don’t feel dreadful, don’t feel good, just feel sort-of “blah.” We’re not struggling to survive WW2 and we’re not feeling that “singing in the rain” buoyant joyfulness. We’re not battling clinical depression (that’s something much more serious) yet the day seems to be just dreary. Everything seems like a bit too much effort and who really cares, anyway? When our friends ask us where our positive spin on the world has gone, we are more likely to…
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A Chic French Lockdown – Day 22 – Schedule “Chic” Day
May 11, 2020 In 30 More Chic Days by Fiona Ferris, Day 22 is “French Friday.” The idea behind the term “French Friday,” according to Fiona, is that there was a set-aside day specifically to try a new idea to incorporate something small and “French” into her week. It was nice to have a day on the calendar when she would intentionally try a new chic idea or bring back an old idea that had inexplicably fallen by the wayside. Fiona writes that she might upgrade one aspect of self-care, put on her favorite “Paris Cafe” playlist while she was preparing dinner the kitchen or maybe she might plan to…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 21 – What is in a Name?
May 10, 2020 “Reframe Everything to be Beautiful, Magical and Luxurious” is the title to Day 21 in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 More Chic Days. Fiona writes that what she names something is a powerful method to either draw her closer to the thing or push her away from it. She gives the example of a supplement of organic flaxseed oil combined with safflower oil. The name was Beauty Oil – she asks “who wouldn’t be drawn to it?” If the name was Health Oil that would be pretty attractive. We all want to be healthy. But the name Beauty Oil, Fiona writes, was a more powerful draw. The concept…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 20 – Planning for Calm & Success
May 9, 2020 Day 20 is titled “Have A Daily Success Plan” in 30 More Chic Days by Fiona Ferris. When Fiona transitioned to a full-time-at-home-writer life, she found that her time management skills needed an update to suit her new environment. In her previous work environment, the structure of having a business location and regular business hours provided by default a structure to her overall life. Without the scaffolding of those out-of-home required hours, she found that she could all too easily drift from task to task and day to day without achieving what she wanted to achieve. The construct of a simple to-do list didn’t meet her needs.…