Living Like a Princess

So, I’m not a real Princess and I’m probably more the age of a Queen than a Princess, but I still like to dream of my Princess life.  I like to think beautiful and elegant thoughts, and move like a Princess, the old-fashioned ones I used to read about when I was young girl.  The kind that had long, bouncy hair and wore gowns with a bodice and full skirt.

I love the movie Enchanted even though it is sort of a children’s movie.  Amy Adams as the main character Giselle is rather enchanting as the movie title says and she gave me a renewed appreciation for the fairytale Princess stories of my childhood.  Giselle dances around with a broom sweeping Patrick Dempsey’s apartment, she has birds and mice singing and helping her and also whips up a dress for the ball, oops, from the living room curtains.

I don’t do any of those things but I have found that dreaming of being Princess-like inspires me to remember my femininity and lightness, treat my darling like the handsome Prince that he is and flit around my home as if it is my castle.  It really makes housework go much quicker and it becomes more pleasant.  And the end result is a sparking clean and fresh home fit for a Princess.

There used to be a website called the Princess Portal which I loved.  I always felt uplifted and inspired to live a more beautiful life after reading one of this lovely lady’s articles, however sadly it is no more.  I saved a couple of things the author Skye wrote, including this:

The Princess Code

written by Princess Skye

A Princess inspires others to follow their hopes and dreams through pursuing her own.

A Princess greets everyone with a welcoming smile, melting the hearts of friends and disarming her enemies.

A Princess has dignity, which protects her from the opinions and spite of ignorant people.

A Princess always looks beautiful, even when she is asleep.

A Princess aims for perfection in every step.

A Princess should be given fresh flowers everyday, even if she has to give them to herself.

A Princess grows in recognition and stature in proportion to how much she treats others as royalty.

A Princess reflects her inner beauty in her aesthetic choices.

A Princess goes to war against the violence of incivility with the weapons of etiquette and prodigal generosity.

A Princess lives each day from the heart, expressing herself freely and treasuring every moment.

A Princess has the right to spend her funds on beautiful things she does not need because beauty in itself is priceless.

A Princess should follow her heart and believe in her dreams, even if the whole world seems to be against her.

A Princess respects her environment and nurtures the beauty of nature.

A Princess is never too busy to give a kind word or smile where it is needed.

A Princess’s most precious jewel is Hope, which lights her darkest days and shows her the beauty in every soul she meets.

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When I am in a Princess mode I wear my most feminine and flattering clothing.  Well, most of my clothing is flattering and those items that are not I am eliminating from my wardrobe, but not all are out-and-out feminine.  Some can be stark or very simple, but I like to wear my few very feminine pieces when I am feeling in a Princessy way.  It’s nice to celebrate being born a girl!

One way to determine if clothing is feminine enough for your Princess days is to ask ‘would a man wear this’.  If the answer is yes and you still love the item, can you wear it in a feminine way?  One example is jeans.  Wear them with a pretty top and heels or ballet flats.  Or if it’s a t-shirt, choose a cut and/or colour that a man wouldn’t be caught dead in.

Of course women can wear man-tailoring well but I still think you can be feminine.  The cut of a woman’s tweed jacket will be different to a man’s.  And you can zazz it up with feminine details such as makeup and jewellery.

Some take Princess style literally, but there are many ways you can add magical touches to your everyday life without looking like you’re wearing a costume or acting in a play.

- Be light and feminine in your movements

- Speak in a pleasant, musical voice

- Laugh a lot (in a pretty rather than a guffawing way)

- Be easy to get along with.  I love The Rules credo of ‘being hard to get, but easy to live with’.

- Practice your mystique on every occasion, and have a small mysterious half-smile, in a friendly way of course

- Smile with your eyes as well as your mouth.  In fact you can play up your eyes and play down your mouth when smiling, it’s more effective.

All of this will filter through to the way you do other things in your life, because, as the saying goes ‘the way you do one thing is the way you do everything’.

I know I will have to put a disclaimer on this post because some of you won’t like it.  But that’s ok.  I know myself and that I am not a pushover.  I know what I like and what I don’t like and I create my life to my own recipe.  Just because I have a fairytale Princess as one of my chic mentors doesn’t mean I am not also a strong, independent and confident woman.  Vive la différence!

100 Things Update

Two weeks ago I started my 100 Things challenge.   Please feel free to join me if you'd like to spruce up your home before Christmas!  This week's list:

14. A doggie jersey that I found while out walking.  I didn’t pick it up the first day I saw it because I thought the owner might walk past and retrieve it.  By the third day I felt sad for it so took it home to wash and will donate.  It’s from the doggie brand ‘Yours Drooly’.  How cute is that?

15. and 16.  A magazine, and a movie on dvd.

17. – 46. I had a big linen cupboard sort out.  Even though there’s only two of us and we have guests to stay once or twice a year at most, we had so much more than we’ll ever use, and it was all stuffed into our narrow cupboard and coming out like an overstuffed cushion (not chic).  So I took everything out, put only the nicest and newest back and donated the rest.  It's so wonderful to open the door to now.  I donated:

- A flannelette sheet set (I just kept the one newest set)

- Two bright sky blue towels (I’m not a bright sky blue kind of a gal)

- Towels, flannels, bath mats, duvet covers and pillow cases.  I had many duplicates and because I did, I never used our nicest ones.  Now I’m using our nicest ones every day.

I forgot to count numbers before I donated them, but it was a big cardboard box.  I’m going to estimate 30 items.  I know, I feel like I’m cheating on the count but promise you I’m probably underestimating!