Final Day in a Chic September

Well, my chic friends, may I share with you what I learned during the 30 days of a chic September? At the beginning of the month I planned to:

‘Document daily steps I have taken towards a chic, elegant and healthy life. My goal is to keep uppermost in my mind the kind of life I want to live. I will be focusing on all the small things I do each day that lead me towards my goal, rather than away from it.’

The first thing I learnt is that I take my beret off to those of you who blog daily. Keeping it up for a week or a month is one thing, but all the time is quite another. Thanks to those of you who asked, but I just couldn’t carry on through October, or until the end of the year. I'm almost wrecked now!

I learned that there are opportunities to live a chic life at every turn, even in the mundane. I found that by planning ahead, I was more successful and improved my odds in being chic. Getting up earlier, doing my jobs quickly, organising meals ahead of time, these all gave me time to do something extra with my appearance or tidy up around the house, or do a few more chores at work.

And I learnt many, many new ways to incorporate little things into my life to make it more chic, from you. Thank you for ideas you left in the comments section, I’ve really enjoyed and been inspired by them.

Kate at Une Vie Chic posted on her blog ‘a chic life is not a lazy life’. I couldn’t agree more. On days when I thought ‘I’m tired, I’m going to have a rest, I’m not doing anything’, well, those were the days when I felt the least positive and consequently less chic. I’ve always believed ‘x begets x’ as in being busier makes you more productive, over-eating more makes you want to eat more, consuming less makes you want to consume less, action begets action and laziness begets laziness.

I went for a walk today and had lunch out, just me. It seems to be my thing lately, I go for an exercise walk to a nearby area, have lunch by myself and a browse and walk back to work. I was in a bookstore and it was so relaxing. Do you find bookstores calm you? If there’s classical music playing in the background so much the better.

Flicking through a magazine I came across an article on turning off technology. It noted we are more tied to our gadgets than ever, at the same time as ‘retro’ domestic arts are enjoying a resurgence – knitting, baking, sewing, etc. Like they ever went away! The article had examples of people who shut their technology off for a period of time and saw how they coped.

I don’t twitter or facebook, but I blog, email and browse. Many’s the time when I’ve felt so drained from incessant browsing, yet I can’t seem to tear myself away. That’s where the oven timer comes in handy, but I only have one at home. I have to be a bit disciplined at work.

In October I will be packing and organising for our move, and then moving, and then unpacking and organising. So there won’t be much time at all for internetting. So in a way I will be having my own technology detox and perhaps it is quite timely.

There are things I have to do, such as internet banking – I check and balance our accounts both work and home every day, and email but I will limit myself to certain, reasonable times. Then there are blogs and newspapers. My inspiration and entertainment. I’m thinking I might not click on, for the whole month, just to see if I can.

I’m actually quite excited about the prospect. More time for things such as cooking, reading, putting my feet up, making our new house a stylish nest, planning, planting herbs, finding a summer knitting project – the scarf on the cover of Debbie Bliss’s book The Knitter’s Year looks pretty and I already have some knitting cotton, watching movies, pottering and writing.

So, I will see you in November. I look forward to catching up with your blogs then.

Image from http://makingmagique.com