Simple Pleasures, Everyday Joie de Vivre.

Photo by Annie Spratt on unsplash Christmas is a joyous holiday celebrated all over the western world. A time for friends and family to come together in a spirit of community and giving. You hear things, like not to bother with Christmas, that Christmas decorations are culturally offensive, or that it's a waste of time and money, a mere retail hack that turns over billions of dollars. Which can make those who are less fortunate feel really bad, especially if they have kids. Or Christmas can turn into a crazy holiday frenzy, with family feuds, overspending and over-consumption of food and alcohol. For ease over the holidays it is  best to have a plan. In early december you need to plan for the following. Send or respond to your invitations. Gift shopping Deep Cleaning of the house. Shopping for cooking and dining goods, wine glasses, etc. (if necessary) Christmas day outfits, (laundered, ironed, hung up) Christmas tree and decor. Decorating the...

Adornment, what a science! Beauty, what a weapon! Modesty, what elegance!  Coco Chanel.  In fashion, simplicity is elegance. In life, it is focus. So have a short to-do list. There is no point cramming more and more things into your day. Have a few goals and do them one step at a time. Don't add new ones until the current ones are complete. This is especially true of study, which takes loads of energy as it is. See if you can learn a new language in only ten minutes a day. Or a musical instrument in say an hour per day. You might surprise yourself how far you can go by going little by little. Wear less make-up, jewellery and bling. Declutter your house and garage. Get rid of as much junk as you can. Throw away old clothes that don't fit, no longer suit or are worn out. Donate stuff to charity. Use a wardrobe checklist so that you have everything you need. Here is a  Women's wardrobe checklist . And here is a  Man's wardrobe checklist . If ...

Photo by  rawpixel  on  Unsplash Half-way through my weekend detox I started wondering what the use of it was and, came up with some quite controversial information. One couple spent a small fortune on juices and claimed they ended up in ER. One thing might be true, detoxing may cause headaches, even if you are not a caffeine drinker. At this point I could go either way, use it as an excuse, afterall a cafe latte does sound nice, or keep going. This is the article  Here Giving up tea and coffee didn't sound like a great idea to me, which is why I chose to use a green tea detox blend for my detox. I also had another packet of tea also a detox blend but not caffeinated. So going by the advice in this article  Here . I did the shopping and commenced my detox. Which is what my detox is based on. Ideally, you will need a juicer for this program  but a lot of fruits can be mixed in a blender with ice water instead. There is no need to go to a sp...

Photo by  rawpixel  on  Unsplash To measure your productivity, use accounting software. It's not enough to  make it or trade it, or learn the service, you also have to sell it. (And pay taxes). Accounting is not that hard,  you put the sale price minus the cost price and tax. Then try to pay yourself for your time. It's up to you what percentage you sell at. As a business person, you should be able to buy your stock material from wholesalers, to make it cheaper. Make sure you keep all of your receipts in one folder for the financial year you are in. There are marketing strategies you can use yourself such as adwords and facebook advertising, but you might want to get that side of things managed by a marketing expert. In essense productivity means, doing more in less time, usually.  There is more to it though. If you can add value to your product, that it fills a need, or it's a brand new solution to a known problem, and give people mor...

Photo courtesy of unsplash.com This hearty chicken soup recipe is made to warm the heart and soul, and is great for shared dinners at the table. It should make a healthy meal for anyone convalescing, or just trying to keep warm. It is also very tasty. It will take about 4 hours to prepare and tastes even better if cooked the day before the meal. Just try not to overcook the second lot of the veggies if you do it that way. Chicken Soup Ingredients One chicken Soup pack: (chopped) One Potato One Turnip One Parsnip One Onion Garlic five cloves One bunch of Celery. One bouquet garni Two bay leaves Chicken stock powder. Pepper Method In a large soup-pot add the whole (thawed) chicken and half of the soup pack ingredients. Bring to the boil and reduce to simmer. Making sure that the water level stays above the chicken, simmer for an hour to one and a half hours until the chicken is tender. Skim off the scum with a spoon w...

Photo by  Sedki Alimam  on  Unsplash This article is about the power of intention. Intentions are like a seed, that we sow and, later reap. Say that we set our intention, to enjoy our day. So you say to yourself, I intend to enjoy my day. I might later on do this, or that because it will help me to enjoy my day. Or, I might work in the cafe today, because it is nice weather and the time will pass by pleasantly. Or something more specific, I would really enjoy to have lunch with friends, so I arrange that. I intend for the conversation to go well, and all of us have a great time, and we do. Then, maybe a week later, I do like to dance for my exercise but I also like the luxury of the gym, it's just something that I like, so I think I will spend one evening at the gym this week. So Yay! Then suddenly I am quantum leaping, from one enjoyment to another, reaping what I sowed. And this is such a learning experience, because I am experiencing my own power, a...

Photo by  Will Fuller  on  Unsplash Changing your life from blind consumerism to environmentally friendly can be daunting. Whilst separating garbage from recycling is quite simple, there is a lot more to it. With literally millions of tons of plastic, now clogging our oceans, people are becoming aware of the environment, and a lot of people want to do things that help to protect it. Everything we buy, make and do has an impact on the environment. It is complicated and there seems to be plenty of room for sharks to charge extra for products that may or may not be cleaner and healthier. So where do we start? Possibly with less use of your car! Even your clothes play an important role in the environment. Synthetic fibres do not break down in landfill and they enter our waters with dangerous components that end up in fish, seafood and in salt, which we then consume as food. Cotton, although an all natural fibre takes a huge amount of energy and water to grow and...