How to be Chic

Monday, March 23, 2020

30 Chic Days at Home - Day 4 - Scent the Air with Music

Image: Kamala Saraswathi, Unsplash

Welcome to Day 4 of the Thirty Chic Days at Home series. Today we are going to fill the air with the fragrance of music. I am a big fan of playing soothing, relaxing music when I'm at home. The kind of music you would hear in a spa or yoga retreat. By having this type of music on softly in the background I find it easier to be calm, stay soothed and have a peaceful state of mind for the most part. There are different kinds of relaxing music so don't worry if you don't like whale sounds (hi mum!) or the flutey type, you can choose classical adagios, piano music or elegant strings.

Let me introduce you to some of the favourite artists of this genre I've found.

My number one favourite is Hilary Stagg. He plays an electric harp and I find his music calms me instantly. My number two is Kevin Kern, who plays beautiful piano music. And my third favourite is Peder Helland, who has quite ethereal music.

You can listen to their music (and others, by searching for relaxing music or study music) on YouTube, or Spotify, my new favourite service. I have just finished my three month's free introductory offer on Spotify and now happily pay $15 per month for it. You can play pretty much anything! I decided that it was worth the monthly cost when I saw that it was less than the price of one album on iTunes.

Plus, you can always access the free version of Spotify if you want to use it without paying, but you do get advertisements sometimes.

I first came across my main favourite Hilary Stagg from a CD I was given almost twenty years ago when I worked for Parfums Christian Dior. We were sent a stack of CDs from Christian Dior in Paris to play during customers facials. It was the most beautiful music and I was instantly hooked. You couldn't buy this CD anywhere and the tracks weren't listed so I never knew who the artists were. It was an 'in-house' thing.

Only recently I thought to use the Shazam app on my phone, which is fantastic for seeing what a song is that you love the sound of. I am always using it in shops and cafes and have found loads of new music this way. So I Shazam-ed all the songs on the Dior CD and have recreated it as a playlist on Spotify. Yay! If you would like to listen to my Dior CD too you can find it by searching 'Dior relaxing music' or going here on Spotify. Using Shazam is how I found out that the beautiful electric harp tracks are by Hilary Stagg.

I hope you love the Dior playlist as much as I do. I have played it so often now that I know the tracks off by heart and only a few seconds into it I feel my shoulders relax and my blood pressure drop. Please let me know what you think of it!

See you tomorrow for day five.

xx Fiona

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Sunday, March 22, 2020

30 Chic Days at Home - Day 3 - Inspire Yourself and Dream of Better Days

Image: Charles Loyer, Unsplash

One of my lovely writing students, Julien, emailed me yesterday. She gave me permission to reprint her words, so I'll let her speak:

'Subject: Paris lockdown blues & 30 Chic Days to the rescue!

I am living my “dream life” here in Paris with hubby and 2 teen-agers and… CoVid-19! (Talk about a party-crasher!) Paris is on day 3 of lockdown - and the novelty has definitely worn off.

Scary, crazy, bizarre - its hard to pick just one word to describe this turbulent, frightening time. And from the confines of my lovely and comfortable apartment - safe and sound at a time when so many people are at risk - it is also lonely and boring.

I’m not a rescue or health worker so I can’t directly help anyone who is infected. I can keep myself and my family in social isolation so as to limit the spread of the disease. The biggest task for me is to keep a positive and upbeat attitude for my loved ones. My children and my husband don’t need to be hit over the head with the fact that I’m frightened and worried (which usually comes out as “cranky”!)

Here is where you, Fiona, ride in to the rescue! Happily, I remembered your book, 30 Chic Days. And guess what? For each day of this crazy lockdown, I have just decided to take the same “Day” from your book and try the idea. (I combined Day 1 through 3 for today.) I will start with Day 4 tomorrow on Lockdown Day 4.

So, thank you, Fiona, for your humorous, upbeat writing style and for self-publishing that book! Who knew that it would be a self-help tool for managing stress during a pandemic?'

I am so thrilled to hear that one of my books is proving helpful in these stressful times. Julien has a fabulous blog of her own - 'Chic Mind, Chic Life' where you can hear about her and her family's experience of living in Paris and her 'Lockdown Chic' diary. So cool!

Isn't it fascinating and fabulous that we can all talk directly to each other around the world and get an idea of how it is in different places? Just the other night I was emailing with my Russian publisher and she was telling me how it is in Moscow at the moment. I really love this aspect of the Internet.

Let's get onto our Day 3 post now:

Day 3: Inspire Yourself and Dream of Better Days

Something fun I've been doing since I bought an iPad several months ago, is to upload my saved screenshots to Pinterest. There are so many reasons why I love doing this so I'll share them with you:

You get to declutter your camera roll, restoring extra space to your phone.
Your images are saved and organized for future reference (I lost a whole lot of inspiration photos off my last laptop when it unexpectedly died).
You get to revisit inspiration that moved you at an earlier time (and if it doesn't move you now, you can just delete it instead of saving it).
You can view your images on Pinterest from any device. I might save to Pinterest on my desktop computer or iPad, but then can view something I am trying to remember on my phone when out.
Over time you see a beautiful pattern of what inspires you most, when all your images are saved in one place.

When I feel like some relaxing time with my iPad and a cup of tea I go somewhere positive - viewing and thinking about what inspires me! - rather than a gossipy newspaper site. It becomes a good default.

I still have quite a few screenshots on my phone, and the plan which has been working well is to declutter and save little chunks here and there. You don't need to have all your Pinterest boards available to the public either. When you save some boards as Private you don't need to worry that people will judge your taste and you can save away with gay abandon! Honour your true self!

Are you a Pinterest girl too? Keen to start?

Happy day three and I'll see you tomorrow :)

xx Fiona

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Saturday, March 21, 2020

30 Chic Days at Home - Day 2 - Create a Cozy Nook

Image: Ella Jardim, Unsplash

Hello chic friends!

Over the past few days I've been thinking of doing a '30 Chic Days at Home' series, since that where most of us will be for the forseeable future. And we're the lucky ones! I know there are many who have to go to work, and I agree, it's scary times.

I don't want to give in to the fear though, and for that reason I have decided to focus on the positive things, being lighthearted, doing things around the house that I've not gotten around to and generally making this a time of productivity and forward movement as much as possible.

Yes, I definitely spent an evening with the English Sky news playing live on YouTube and while it was quite fascinating to watch, it didn't feel good afterwards. I'm watching the news more because it's an unprecedented time we are in and we have to keep informed, but I'm also going to focus on the lovely.

I've decided to use pretty images from Unsplash, because I'm better with words than I am with photos. Often finding a picture to use is my biggest barrier to publishing a blog post! I'm taking the pressure off and have saved a ton of inspiring photos from Unsplash to use throughout this series.

Starting from today, I will be posting for thirty days. My plan is to have short daily posts - little bursts of inspiration and happiness to make the most of our confinement and take our mind off things. It's all too easy to invite anxiety in the door when I think too much about the possibilities; I know that from personal experience and you may do too.

I thought my previous post could be day one, because taking the time to tidy up loose ends and bothersome things is an excellent focus which will make you feel a bit better about things. The more we are in control of things, the stronger we feel. There is so much outside of our control right now, but if we can keep order and a feeling of wellbeing near us, that's got to help.

I hope you enjoy my posts, and if you have a suggestion for one, please let me know. Also, if you have a series on your blog - maybe a lockdown diary or you simply want to elevate the mood like I do, please feel free to share your link in the comments. We're all in this together.

Let's go!

Day 2: Creating a Cozy Nook

I'm often inspired by decor images where a corner has been repurposed from an empty space into a lovely little sitting area with one or two chairs and a tiny table. Add a few flowers in a small vase, a cup of tea and a glossy picture book. I have just such a nook in my living area and it's so nice to sit there, even by myself, with a hot drink.

Another nook idea I love is wrapping up in bed (a mental nook rather than a physical one, perhaps). Each morning I have a big cup of tea delivered to me - I know, so lucky, but I'd happily get it myself if I had to :) - and I take this time to read something inspiring before I have my shower. I would get up earlier just to fit this time into my day if necessary.

Another part of my cozy nook idea is reading the books you already have, making the most of them. With libraries being closed around the place, it's a nice opportunity to browse your own bookshelves. I have a small number of big glossy picture books I've bought or been gifted over the years, and it's not often that I take them down and read them. If not now, then when?

This morning, I inspired myself with my beloved copy of Vicki Archer's 'My French Life'. I read the chapter on French women and how they approach beauty and style ('Le Femmes', starting on page 61) and it was a beautiful way to start my day.

Please share what book you might browse for a small pocket of beauty in these troubled times.

And I'll see you tomorrow!
xx Fiona

The cover of Vicki's book. Isn't it gorgeous?

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