Day Twenty One: Live Slowly

When I feel like things are too hectic and fast- moving around me, I try to remember to go slowly.

Where possible I walk rather than drive, cook real food rather than pick up a takeaway, go to bed early and rise early.  I read the pages of a book rather than the computer screen, walk around the garden just because (even though my garden is not much to look at) and take some deep breaths at the same time.

I lie on the carpet to hugs the cats and sometimes lie on the carpet even when the cats aren’t around (it feels really grounding and wonderfully relaxing to just lie there on your back for a while).

There are so many ways we can slow down the pace of life.  Just thinking to yourself ‘how can I live a slower and more relaxed life’ will bring up your own ideas.

You will notice your muscles are relaxed rather than tense and that you sleep like a log, right through the night.   Your face will look younger because you are feeling calmer all the time.  Just thinking about being relaxed relaxes you!

Think about what is really important in your life and streamline out those things that don’t support your vision of a life well-lived.  Put time and energy into living your best life and also into causes that are dear to your heart.

Day Twenty: Be Your Own Maid

Image from Flickr

I love having a clean home but don’t love housework.  I wish I was one of those people who clean for fun, but I’m not.  And since I don’t have a housekeeper or a maid, I’m constantly dreaming up ways to motivate myself so I don’t live in a dusty pit.

One way to encourage myself is to change my way of thinking – from housework as a necessary evil to thinking of it as taking care of my home and my family.  It is a very nurturing thing to do for yourself and those you love to ensure there is a clean and comfortable home to come back to at the end of the day.

Here are some of the ways I have come up with to make myself love cleaning.

I like to buy nice supplies.  Baking soda and vinegar are my number one duo and I use these for loads of cleaning jobs, but I also love pretty cleaning products.  Over the past year I’ve been using Mrs Meyers countertop sprays in geranium and honeysuckle, and bathroom cleaning spray in lavender.  For not much cost these are a real treat and I look forward to using them.

Having a love for sparsely decorated and shiny clean hotel bathrooms makes me happy to use my Mrs Meyers sprays often (and 50/50 white vinegar/water for the mirrors) to achieve this look.  And the more often you do things the less dirt builds up.  For two of us I find once a week for everything is fine.

If there is something quick – a five minute job (and many are) – I do it right there and then.  As quick as you can think of an excuse for leaving something undone, you could have done it.  By the same token, sometimes I try to do jobs as quickly as possible, as usually I am quite slow-moving and meticulous which adds up to my cleaning jobs taking all day with no time left for fun.

Keeping cleaning supplies where I use them is very helpful too.  If something is to hand I am more likely to use it which makes perfect sense when you think about it.  We have two bathrooms and two toilets, so now I have duplicates so that all the products I need are in each room and I don’t have to take them back and forth.  I also have paper towels and clean rags (large squares from worn out t-shirts are fantastic) in both bathrooms and keep them stocked.

Plain-scented wet wipes are kept in three different places which means there is always one available for a quick clean-up job or window-sill dust.  They are also great for wiping along skirting boards.

I do my worst job first, which is vacuuming.  I find it quite physically demanding and vacuuming also twists my lower back, so I do it in the morning when I feel most energized and also to get it out of the way first.  Then mopping the hard floor areas, then it’s onto easier tasks.

I often think how it would be more enjoyable to clean someone else’s house than my own.  Do you ever feel like that?  Because of this, I can approach my housework as if it’s not my house that I’m cleaning and sometimes it even works.  I think I’d make a really good housekeeper (although I would be very expensive) so imagining I am cleaning someone else’s house works well for me.

Taking pleasure in cleaning and making it fun and enjoyable is how I get through my housework.  Do you have any tricks you employ to motivate yourself?

Day Nineteen: Mystique

Jackie Kennedy - Queen of Mystique

'For some reason she particularly wanted to impress that Tess O’Leary.  Cecilia had an illogical attraction to enigmatic, elegant people like Tess.  Most of Cecilia’s friends were talkers.  Their voices overlapped in their desperation to tell their stories.  You had to jump right in without waiting for a pause in the conversation because otherwise you’d never get your turn.  But women like Tess didn’t seem to have the same need to share the ordinary facts of their lives and that made Cecilia desperate to know them.’

-          Liane Moriarty, The Husband’s Secret

I love this quote from ‘The Husband’s Secret’ which I read a while back (such a good read it was too).  It reminded me to covet mystique.  I forget sometimes you see and need reminding.

Author Anne Barone (‘Chic and Slim’) speaks of it, as does the Jennifer L. Scott in ‘Lessons from Madame Chic’.  In fact I’m sure I’ve seen in all the French Chic books I’ve read that mystique is one of the French woman’s greatest weapons.

But why is mystique such a drawcard?  Why is not doing something more powerful than doing it?

I’m sure you can think of times when you’ve magically possessed mystique and how good it felt.  Not blabbing out everything that came into your mind, asking questions and answering them, ducking uncomfortable ones expertly and leaving somewhere knowing you left a good impression.

You probably can also recall occasions where you have been the complete opposite.  I know I can, and I still can remember the awful feeling afterwards of knowing that I talked too much, gave away information that was not necessary or too personal.

Granted, they’re probably not thinking too much (I hope), as most people are more worried about what others are thinking of them instead.  Still, I’d rather be the type that people think of as friendly yet reserved, self-assured but caring, and someone they can rely upon to keep their confidence.

In one of Anne Barone’s books she wrote of a woman who was on the same airplane as her, and during the flight Anne heard every one of the woman’s words about her health complaints and many other unsavoury and boring topics.  I’m pretty sure I remember correctly that the woman might not have even have been talking directly to Anne, but someone else.  Her voice was so loud Anne couldn’t help overhearing.

Firstly, how annoying would that be for other passengers, and secondly, I never want to be that person!  In public places, the first thing I do when I am talking with another person is to not talk too loudly.  Part of it is politeness, and part of it is my wish to be private.  Let’s add mystique to our list of motivations shall we?

I’ve written about mystique before in a couple of other posts here and here.  Obviously I am still coveting that mysterious enigma mystique, and one day I might even achieve it!

Day Eighteen: Change Your Environment

If I’m feeling a bit stale and unmotivated, something that always makes me feel better is to freshen up my surroundings.  I’m not talking about general tidying and cleaning, but what comes during/after that - actually moving things around.

I do things like take all the pictures/artwork off the walls, dust the frames and glass and then hang them up in different spots.  Some only have one place where they can go if it’s a cluster or a larger item, but moving around what I can makes things seem new again.

Same with any decorative items on flat surfaces.  I take everything into the kitchen and clean and dust them.  These items include over-sized candle sticks, a small vintage globe, vase-type ornaments etc.  I can then dust the areas they’ve been and look at what I want to put back where.

I have a small number of decorative objects that are frequently decluttered.  Some favourites have lasted years and I doubt I’ll ever part with them.  I have about half out at a time and the other half in my sewing room wardrobe on a shelf.

I go ‘shopping’ and make new tablescapes (I believe David Hicks invented the term).  Sometimes they are quite ornate if I’m in a creative mood and I add things such as a couple of books from my bookshelf in colours that go with my display.  And sometimes they are very simple -  a hall table (in the photo above) with only three items on it pleases my eye.

Cushions too are good things to change around for a different look.  Having alternate covers clean and folded up makes it quick to change the room décor.

My small magazine piles are moved to a different area and some are weeded out.  Like my ornaments, I have my favourite issues that I like to keep and re-read so it makes me want to read them again if they are moved to somewhere new.

I also move around smaller pieces of furniture where possible which makes the room look different.  This gives me excitement because the space looks new to me and it makes me want to do new things.

Home is the obvious place to start but it depends on where I’m feeling stuck – freshening up my work space always makes me feel good too, and I feel more on top of things.

Whilst checking I had my facts right, I found this great interview with David Hicks’ daughter India Hicks talking about her father’s design influence.  It’s so inspiring!  It makes me want to work on my tablescapes.

Day Seventeen: Fragrant

I was lucky enough to purchase this last year with a gift voucher.  It's not as evening-y as it looks, actually very pretty and soft.  Image from Fragrantica.com.

Something I am excited about every single day of the year is smelling good.  I like to smell fresh and clean and floral and maybe a little fruity and sweet.  Mostly I do it for myself and even if I’m at home for the day and won’t be seeing anyone, I always wear perfume.

Sometimes I change it during the day and try out new layering combinations.  I knew Jo Malone layered her perfumes and we are lucky enough to have a Jo Malone store where I live to try out her combinations, but I didn’t think to layer my own, non-Jo Malone fragrances.

Since finding a wonderful perfume website called Fragrantica I’ve discovered a whole group of people who like to smell good as much as I do.  I love looking up my favourite perfumes and finding new ones to try.  I especially love it that this website offers favourites of others based on what you’re looking at, a bit like Amazon does with books and dvds.  My favourite finds are the inexpensive but fabulous (thank you Jessica Simpson), and the low-cost classics from way back (Jovan Musk, I love you).

Of course a day of smelling good doesn’t just start with perfume, it starts in the shower.  A prettily scented soap is my favourite, although I don’t mind shower gel on some scratchy gloves for a bit of exfoliation, and I have a selection of beautiful soaps that I am still working my way through.

It’s a never-ending collection, as people who know I love quality soap give me bars for gifts.  It’s a good problem to have and I never stop to think that soap could be an insulting present, I just say ‘ooh, goodie!’ and of course ‘thank you’.

After my shower I always put on body lotion.  Even though I was at least twice the age of the average customer there, I had such fun at the Bath & Body Works store in Hawaii at Christmas.  Everything smelt so wonderful and I ended up with two big bags of body creams and body butters to bring home.  And three bottles of fragrance.

Even though I dream of being the perfume minimalist with a single bottle of Chanel on my dresser, I am not.  I love to change my aroma day to day and love trying out new ones.

What’s your story?  Are you a perfume minimalist or a perfume maximalist like me?