This & That: No. 22

Fall shopping, an insightful book and a way to bring a bit more French language into your daily routine . . .

~Shopping

~Heirloom Tote – Rib & Hull - $285

Many of you have been asking about an ideal travel tote, and while I promise to discuss what to look for in more detail tomorrow (in part two of Why Not . . . Travel Internationally?), I came across this lovely leather tote last week from Rib & Hull that I couldn’t wait to share. The only drawback for travelers who like compartments and strict organization is that the Heirloom Tote has none, but it certainly is a fantastic bag for large items, papers and travel. Without question an investment that will last, and complement any stylish ensemble.

~Surprise Sale at DVF!

I was thrilled to discover this surprise sale on many of Diane von Furstenberg’s Fall collection pieces as I was adding a few finishing touches to my NYFW wardrobe. Simply enter SURPRISE as the promo code on labeled items and receive 30% the regular price! (sale ends September 3rd)

~The OutNet

If you haven’t shopped at The OutNet (which was created by Natalie Massanet and her team that created Net-a-Porter), you will find impressively reduced designer clothing and accessories.

So now that I am in love with scarves, I am on the hunt, and while perusing the internet doing some fall shopping, I found at The OutNet these fantastic Valentino scarves at a great price reduction.

~Blog to Follow

~Suburbly Chic tumblr

If you enjoy looking for endless style inspiration online, you will thoroughly enjoy Suburbly Chic’s tumblr blog. Defined as the upscale casual look, Suburbly Chic regularly shares ideas for creating outfits that have a touch of femininity with a stylishly chic edge. Have a look.

~Website

~News in Slow French

As second language learners know, the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in the culture, and while living in France would be a dream, it isn’t plausible for many of us unless we spend our vacations there. So . . . why not choose to tweak one of your daily routine activities so that you are listening and absorbing it in the language you are trying to learn? News in Slow French (other languages are available as well) not only reads the news aloud slowly, but you can read along on the page. For a small price, you can regularly receive news updates and other language lessons.

~Book

~Committed: A Love Story by Elizabeth Gilbert

Finally, after receiving positive reviews from many fellow bloggers and readers, I have read the follow-up book to Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir Eat, Pray, Love. Committed is Gilbert’s quest to understand and find peace with the institution of marriage as she and her loyal boyfriend Felipe are essentially forced to marry in order to live in the states together. Her research reveals intriguing histories of marriage and how it was dealt with, accepted and has evolved over time. While her clear intent is to find a way to accept it, what she also shares with the reader are many ways to strengthen the intimate bond with our significant others to help create a stronger relationship made when two loving, yet whole people come together. It was a lovely and thought-provoking read that I highly recommend.

Make Your Life a Formal Affair

“Tailor what living life as a formal affair means to you . . . analyze the aspects of [y]our life that could use a little more flair . . . by introducing aspects that are often thought of as ‘formal’ into [y]our life you can live a richer existence . . .”  

-Jennifer L. Scott author of Lessons from Madame Chic: The Top 20 Things I Learned While Living in Paris

A few weeks ago in the inaugural This & That post, I introduced a book I was eager to read, and boy, I wasn’t disappointed. Jennifer L. Scott’s recently released book Lessons from Madame Chic is full of 20 lessons she learned while living in Paris during college and how nearly ten years later she has incorporated these lessons into her life in California.

(the new cover, to be re-released on November 6, 2012)

(the first cover)

Filled with specific advice, anecdotes and descriptions of Madame Chic and Madame Chic’s entire Parisian family, Scott shares ways to live a fulfilling life that are not only simple, but help to create a luxurious life that is rich and focused on what most all of us seem to want to put at the top of our priority list – healthy relationships, good health and the ability to be our best selves. 

As I was reading I found myself underlining a sentence or two on nearly every page that I didn’t want to forget, and after going back over these annotations I realized that the lesson of living formally doesn’t have to take the beauty or the spontaneity out of living, but in fact it can enhance it. By showing respect to the life we’ve been given and then continue to create for ourselves we consciously make it all the more enjoyable. 

Below are a few ideas for welcoming in a bit more formality and at the same time simplicity that I especially took favor too. Have a look: 

1. Play classical music throughout your home

If you don’t have any Bach cds laying around the house, simply go to Pandora on your computer, iPad or iPhone and search classical symphonic music, and it will create a radio station for you for free. 

2. Eliminate snacking

Each meal that you sit down for is an opportunity to eat well. Scott explains how dinner in Paris with Madame Chic’s family always included at least three, sometimes four, courses and one was always a cheese platter, yet still her host family was slender because when they ate it was mindful. 

3. Create rituals to look forward to

Maybe every Saturday morning you wake up and stroll down to your favorite coffee shop for a tasty treat and chat with a good friend, or you play checkers with your son every Sunday evening in front of the fire or perhaps you take a bubble bath and savor a glass of wine after Monday has wrapped up. Take time to discover the activities that you enjoy doing either alone or with those you love and make them regular occurrences that are something to look forward to. 

4. Wear luxurious lingerie

The mistake that seems to be perpetuated regarding lingerie is that it is worn for someone else.  This is not entirely correct.  In fact, a woman should wear beautiful, high-quality lingerie for herself. Simply knowing you are keeping something to yourself and at the same time have treated yourself to something luxuriously wonderful is certain to raise your confidence at least a smidge. While it will take time to build your lingerie wardrobe, know that you are worth investing in. 

5. Purchase a Clarisonic
Treat your skin as though it were porcelain. Be very particular and handle it with care. Scott highly recommends using the Clarisonic skincare tool that gently exfoliates while allowing your cleansing products to work even harder for your skin producing noticeable brighter and healthier skin. An investment, but one to save up for.

6. A 10 Item Wardrobe

Hear me out first. When I read this, I too shook my head as I thought it was absolutely implausible to only live with 10 items in my closet, but as Scott explains, the 10 items do not include outerwear (coats, blazers, etc), shoes or other accessories, and there is a spring/summer and fall/winter wardrobe that should rotate. With that said, the key is knowing your signature style, purchase quality items that are interchangeable and most importantly that flatter your unique beauty. By limiting yourself to 10 items you reduce decision making in the morning, save money in the long run and are confident that what you are wearing looks timelessly chic.



7. Only buy the best that you can

In an effort to de-clutter and welcome more quality into your living environment, choose wisely, purchase less and be particular about what comes into your home.

8. Maintain an air of mystery.



9. Less television, more theater, book readings, art exhibits, etc

Not only is this exercise for the mind, but it also is more interactive, helps you become more in tune with what is going on in the world and in your community and enables you to be an active participant in your life instead of idling watching others live their lives on television.

10. Always go shopping with a list to avoid unnecessary purchases

Whether it is the grocery store or shopping in your favorite clothing boutiques, always have a list with you to ensure you get what you need but aren’t tempted to buy something that simply grabs your attention or your stomach. Especially when it comes to clothes shopping, by adhering to the 10 item wardrobe you will know exactly what you need, what to splurge on and what to avoid.

These are just a few of the many gems of advice Scott shares in her book. Without hesitation I highly recommend her book Lessons from Madame Chic if you are seeking to live a life filled with quality, pleasure and contentment.

However, it was just announced last week that due to the success of the initially release of her book that the title has been picked up by Simon & Schuster and they are taking it off the shelves until this fall.  At that time they will be re-releasing it in a hardback copy (click here to read more). Until then, stop by Jennifer's blog The Daily Connoisseur which is where the book originated. 

Images: (1) pinterest (3) pinterest (4) this is glamorous (5) pinterest

Why Not . . . Learn a New Language?

Wanting to learn a new language and actually doing it can sometimes seem miles apart; however, I am confident that even if you want to learn that dream language you have thought about for years on end, and you have thirty minutes a day to spare, you are more than capable of making it into reality. Let me explain. 


Just as taking weight off permanently requires consistent effort made in short increments, so too does learning a new language. With an upcoming trip to Paris planned, I’ve been wanting to freshen up my French language skills, but with my busy schedule, I wasn’t sure this was a possibility.  I don’t have access to college French classes, I don’t have any friends who speak French and well, I don’t have much free time. Needless to say, the trip was the perfect motivator, and I now am working with Rosetta Stone thirty minutes a night. In the quiet of my own office, and short lessons to follow, I can quickly begin where I left off and not waste time setting up. It’s a wonderful program and one that can become a travel companion as well.

Maybe French isn’t the language you have had an inkling for. What about Chinese, German or Italian? As adults who are no longer in school or students who have already declared their major and learning a new language is not a requirement, it may seem unnecessary or frivolous to take the time to learn a new language.  However, consider the below benefits of choosing to add a new language to your talents:

1. Improve your primary language.
 
While you are learning how a new language functions, learning the grammatical do’s and don’t, and which pronouns and verb conjugations to use, you are comparing it to the language you already know in order to understand how to retain the new knowledge and better comprehend all of the new information that is being presented to you. It is almost impossible not to walk away with a better understanding of how to communicate properly in your primary language.

2. Heighten travel experiences. 
 
For my purposes, having had traveled to France many years ago with very little understanding of the language, I wanted to improve my experience on my second trip. I wanted to be more respectful to the culture I was visiting and not have to pull out a book of translations or bother people walking by. I want to be able to drink Paris in with myself as the tour guide.

3. Challenge and strengthen your mind.
 

"We have strong evidence today that studying a foreign language has a ripple effect, helping to improve student performance in other subjects." - Richard Riley, U.S. Secretary of Education under Bill Clinton

Think of learning a new language as the primer that warms your mind up so that it is more pliable in any other subject matter that interests you. By using different parts of your brain to process problems and switch from one language to the next you are exercising muscles that may not have been used as frequently before. So upon their increase of muscle power, other studies have the potential to improve as well.

4. Expand your perspective
 
By choosing to open our minds up, we also expose ourselves to other cultures and different ways of living and thinking. Having an open mind helps in getting along with others, understanding where the other person is coming from and working together with others who come from different cultures.  Now you may not change your beliefs, but when you are better able to understand why someone might believe what they do, you are better able to communicate with them and find common ground.

5. Increase employment opportunities
 
We are now all operating in a global economy. What occurred in Japan in 2011 not only adversely affected Japan, it also affected every other country it did business with. By improving your language skills you are opening doors, expanding options and getting a leg up on the competition. The better you are able to communicate with more people, the more likely you will be given an opportunity to work with a wider array of people.

6. Build confidence in yourself
 
Initially learning a new language can seem impossible. What do all those weird figures mean? Why do half  of the letters in French never get pronounced? This is a very typical and understandable fear; and yet it is due to how difficult it seems that upon finally acquiring the language you realize how capable you are whenever you set your mind to do something.

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