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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Part 2: Day 1 – Get Your Hyggie On
November 3, 2020 It’s “Confinement 2” here in Paris since last Friday (Oct 30.) Same rules apply – you can only go 1 km distance from your residence and you can only go out of your apartment (max of 1 hour) for certain reasons (such as getting the essentials of life like food, medicine, fresh bread and chocolate.) One big difference is that the schools remain open so children do not have to do on-line school. In some ways, things are a bit better than last March when France first “locked down” – at least, we know what to expect. In other ways, it’s just as unsettling as it…
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Notes from Chic Blogging Challenge over Paris’s CoVid-19 Lockdown (3)
June 12, 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: In her book, 30 Chic Days, author Fiona Ferris writes about rest on (chapter) Day 22. I wrote a short post of how I interpret and apply Fiona’s idea of “beauty sleep” here. Sleep, and all the good things that it does for us, is back on my mind this week. I thought that the CoVid-19 lockdown in Paris (and elsewhere around…
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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 29 – Chic or Foe?
May 18, 2020 “Incorporate Chic Anchors Throughout Your Home and Life” is the title of Day 29 of Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 More Chic Days. Fiona encourages us to quietly add small habits of beauty into our daily experience. Not only are these small rituals beautiful in and of themselves but they serve to support the chic elements of our lives. It’s all too easy in the rush of a busy life to lose focus of our sincere desire to live an elegant life and drift into … less beautiful and fulfilling ways of living. Our chic anchors serve as the guardians of our heart’s desire. Having only smaller, luncheon-sized…
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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 25 – Own Your Star
May 14, 2020 Fiona Ferris calls Day 25 “Cultivate Your Own Star Quality” in her book, 30 More Chic Days. Fiona encourages us to recognize and enjoy the fact that we are the stars of our own lives. We are the only ones living inside our heads. Fiona is writing about how we see ourselves in our minds. Whatever our personal style, when we accept and honor our qualities that make us unique, we radiate the confidence of a “star.” We are able to see ourselves as distinct and interesting people. With this vision, we feel free to look at our own specific strengths and see what we can do…
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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…