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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 30 – A Feast of the Senses
“Immerse Yourself In Sensuous Beauty” is Day 30 in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days. In this final day of the book, Fiona asks us to mentally step out of our preoccupations and step into the physical world. By paying attention to our senses, we become more appreciative of the world around us and feel happier and more connected to our lives. We accomplish this by focusing on our individual senses. Fiona gives examples of different ways we can enjoy our different senses in our everyday life. She lists beautiful ways we can provoke a sensory moment through sight, sound, feel, smell, and taste. She introduces two more senses: intuition…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 29 – A Step A Day…
Fiona Ferris calls Day 29 in her book 30 Chic Days, “Walk Your Errands.” She encourages us to put as much gentle activity in our day as possible. There are all sorts of wonderful benefits that come to us when we incorporate walking into our daily schedule. We all know the benefits such as growing stronger, staying limber and youthful, and using calories in an effortless way. Mireille Guilliano, author of French Women Don’t Get Fat and French Women Don’t Get Facelifts, agreed with Fiona. Mireille, like Fiona, both enjoyed and advocated a mindset that embraced walking as a way to connect with the world and a primary way to…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 28 – More Chocolate, Please.
In Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days, Fiona calls Day 28, “Think of Your Home As If It Were A Boutique Hotel.” She gives a collection of really good ideas to get us up and moving to keep our space in a lovely condition. Fiona’s idea is that when our personal space is tidy and clean, we feel happier, more relaxed and can engage with life in a more positive way. I do agree with her. A lot, in fact. You wouldn’t be able to deduce that, however, from the state of my apartment today. Yes, my lovely, chic Paris apartment (that I share with my husband and our two…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 27 – Create!
Fiona Ferris, in her book, 30 Chic Days, labels Day 27 “Embrace Creativity and Enjoy the Benefits.” In this chapter, Fiona writes about the fun and freedom that she experiences when she loses herself in her creative crafting hobbies. She finds that she feels better – both calmer and more resilient – when she keeps her creative time a high priority in her schedule. Fiona asks us to think back to when we were about 10 or 12 years old – what did we love to do? Whatever it was, the key parts of it are probably the things that we still enjoy doing today. When I was around 10-11…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 26 – Making Magic in Ordinary
“Make Every Day Magical” is the title for Day 26 in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days. Fiona encourages us to notice this day and this moment. There is some part of today that is special right now. She writes that sometimes we can become so “big occasion” focused that we miss out on the many magical moments that are happening all around us. Fiona writes that paying attention to the little good things in her day as well as having small and medium-sized occasions to look forward to increases her overall enjoyment of life. Fiona’s experience is echoed by Gretchen Rubin in her book, The Happiness Project. Gretchen writes…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 25 – Dancing to Our Own Music
Day 25 is “Collect Contentment in Petite Measures” in Fiona Ferris’s book 30 Chic Days. Fiona writes about that slippery-sly thief of joy – jealous comparison. It rears it’s ugly head whenever we compare something in our lives to someone else’s and feel a sense of bitter dissatisfaction. For example, comparing our car with our neighbors brand-new, shiny, luxury car. Suddenly our wonderful, reliable, completely paid for (!) darling car seems, well, somewhat less than wonderful and darling. Or what about when we run into an acquaintance and admire her latest designer gazillion-dollar handbag? Or the pristine, sparkling new renovated kitchen across the way? And all those spiffy, high-end appliances?…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 24 – Feeling Luxurious in Everyday Life
“Live a Life of Luxury” is the title for Day 24 in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days. Fiona writes about how she brainstormed a list of what she considered her dreamiest “luxurious life” features. As she looked at her list, she realized that many of them she could implement right then – she didn’t have to wait for that someday, one day winning lottery ticket! In Fiona’s experiment, she saw that time to devote to her favorite pursuits was one of her most luxurious-feeling treats. Well, we all get 24 hours (1440 minutes) in a day. Nothing more, nothing less. Fiona saw where she could modify a few of…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 23 – Money Sense
Day 23 is “Be Financially Chic ” in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days. In this chapter, Fiona explores how money, life and freedom intersect. She has a very thoughtful discussion on how she is working to achieve a life full of daily beauty and ease, with a future of prosperity and freedom. The underpinning of it all, of course, is our perspective of ourselves. At first, I was about to write “..the underpinning of our present and future life is our perspective on money…” But before we get to money, we need to know ourselves and what we want in our life. Fiona goes on to discuss the things…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 22 – Beauty Sleep
“Build Rest and Repose Into Your Daily Routine” is the title for Day 22 in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days. Fiona writes about how she has recognized the importance of rest as a healthy cornerstone in a beautiful life. She takes that recognition a step further and creates wonderful rituals to help her enjoy the whole process of rest. I love her discussion of a lovely “wind down” time after dinner and before lights-out. She retreats to the bedroom and has a beautiful routine of self-care that both nurtures the soul and ensures a relaxed, healthful sleep. Since I, too, get up early so that I can have my…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 21 – Inspiration
“Inspire Yourself” is the title for Day 21 in Fiona Ferris’s book 30 Chic Days. It’s a tough topic to evaluate today because I was feeling the very opposite of “inspired.” The words “stir-crazy” and “cranky” were more accurate adverbs. Fiona approaches the subject with a lighter heart. She keeps a notebook with ideas and words and questions that point her mind to chic and upbeat ideas. By directing her thoughts to positive-focused questions like “how can I keep a lovely and tidy desk?” (as opposed to negatively based questions like “why am I such a slob?”), she can inspire herself to actions that are more closely aligned with her…