My normal and imperfect ‘chic’ life

 ‘Perfection is not the goal’

Denise Duffield-Thomas

I’ve often wanted to write a post about my whole life, not just the chic part.  I’ve never felt brave enough to share though, because I thought it might break your spell of me (haha). 

But the favourite posts I’ve read of other bloggers is when they show me ‘behind the scenes’ and I can see that we are all the same underneath.  I thought that you might not think I was chic if you saw some of the things I’m writing about today.  But I want you to know, you can be exactly as you are and a chic person if you want to be.

Saying you can never do ‘whatever’ to be chic means there is that insidious goal of perfection hanging over you.  And that’s what we rebel against in my opinion.  So I want to show you that I am imperfect and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Even though I write about and adore all things chic, I am not chic 100% of the time.  And nor do I want to be.  I believe we can embrace all facets of our beautiful selves without trying to fit into a labelled box.

Many a time I might be doing/saying/eating something and my husband laughs ‘if only your readers could see you now’ or ‘put that on your chic blog’.  Him saying that doesn’t bother me at all because I know he is a person who only wants the best for me and I like that we can josh each other without either of us being overly sensitive.

I also like that I am not a one-dimensional chic doll who has one facial expression and one set of French-style clothes to wear.  Even though I am ‘mostly’ Francais and chic, there are other parts of me too…

I am secretly a cowgirl who enjoys country music and would happily live in a tiny country town where the entertainment was playing pool in a bar on a Saturday night.

Laughing is one of life’s great joys and I love toilet humour and terrible television shows like Benidorm.  I also adore Californication and more recently Ray Donovan.  I have many Kardashian series on dvd (the earlier ones are more fun).  I also have Newlyweds:  Nick and Jessica among my bad taste dvd collection.

I love to feel comforted by old television programmes so you will find box sets of Cheers, The Love Boat, Kate and Allie, Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place at our place.

None of these things you will find in a how to be chic manual and I wouldn’t expect them to be.  But neither do I believe you should give up your quirks and guilty pleasures (and why should they be called guilty anyway?) to fit an ideal.

I want us to have permission to love what we love and be happy with that.  No, I might not shout it from the rooftops but I’m not ashamed either.  We all have our own unique view on the world and I think that’s a good thing.  All my so-called guilty pleasures are what shape me, along with the circumstances in my life and my thoughts on those circumstances.

So, now I’ve shown you my cards, won’t you share with me your craziest ‘nuance’?   I dare you, and please don’t leave me sitting out on this branch alone!