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{The deluxe closet} What do you think of when you read ‘deluxe closet’? Can you picture furs, diamonds and designer bags and shoes? If so, I guess we’re all different. For me, a deluxe closet would be perfect pieces that are in my size and make me look amazing, no matter my weight. There would be a moderate number of items, which all mix and match to make getting dressed a breeze. Everything suits my lifestyle and what I get dressed for each day, and it’s easy-care too. Denim forms the basis of my wardrobe, because I love it. I have denim jeans as well as light-weight denim dresses for when it’s hot. Who said you can’t wear denim year-round? Having periodic clean-outs keeps my wardrobe feeling deluxe too. I don’t throw that much away; gone are the days of my closet being like a merry-go-round where I bought a lot and donated a lot. Now I take pleasure if buying only just enough and really appreciating what I have. When something is worn out or tired looking, it goes to the rag bin. If something becomes a bit snug on me I don’t get rid of it, instead looking up on it as a fun challenge to get back into. Challenge probably isn’t the right word as that sounds a bit hard. When I’m having a tidy up of my closet and come across something I haven’t worn in a while because it’s too small, I find myself motivated to fit it again. I take outfit photos for the next season with pieces on the carpet, complete with shoes and accessories to encourage me because I know I will be wearing them then. What also belongs in my deluxe closet is self-love. I don’t beat myself up if something doesn’t look great on me. I either declutter it if it’s the correct size but perhaps isn’t a flattering shape or colour, or put it away for next year if it’s a little snug. Life really is too short and precious to stress, and did you know that stressing makes you put on weight? It doesn’t seem fair does it! CONTINUED IN COMMENTS BELOW:

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Chloe has THE cutest smile, complete with little zig-zagging teeth. We take walks in our paddock, and she and Daphne love jumping over the long grass and rolling in a dried out cow pat 💩😆 They are still on extendable leashes but I dream of the day when they can run around off leash. Daphne is still a flight risk 🙀 Not from wanting to get away, more that she is spooked easily. Hope you’re smiling today too! #rescuedogsofinstagram #petitbrabancon #griffonbruxellois #smileydogs #lovemyrescuedogs

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{The makeup capsule collection} We’ve all heard about the capsule collection as it relates to your wardrobe (and if you’re like me, it becomes a mini-obsession) but I had the exciting – to me – thought to curate a makeup capsule as well. I don’t have a huge amount of makeup, but I do have multiples of most items, especially colour products such as lipstick and gloss, blush and eyeshadows and eyeliners. For my everyday neutral makeup look, I’d invariably gravitate towards the same pinky blush, MAC eyeshadow (still the warm neutral Kid, and I’ve added Quarry for a darker more taupey option), and a few favourite natural pinky-red lip-colours. I use bronzing powder instead of blush and eyeshadow sometimes too (just a light touch!) When I would have a makeup cleaning session (which I love), I couldn’t remember which brushes I’d used, so I would wash them all. I would also polish all my makeup containers inside and out, with a less favourite perfume and a clean t-shirt rag. When I was doing this the most recent time, I decided to store all my makeup in our bathroom drawer (so it was still accessible), and put my everyday makeup in a small basket that I could store away or get out to sit on the bed and do my makeup where the light is good. Not only does it save me lots of time each day, but it is also very satisfying when I have one blush that I’m using and it is almost finished up. When I used a different shade each day that didn’t happen. I only have one of everything in my capsule makeup collection, except for lipsticks, which I have made a little artists palette with. There were favourite lipsticks which were worn down flat, and others that I only used occasionally. With the almost used lipsticks I dug them out and squashed them into a small makeup sample container (which is a round flat shape with a screw-on lid) and also chopped the tops off other lipsticks. CONTINUED IN COMMENTS BELOW:

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We had such a lovely time at my brother’s 40th birthday on the weekend! Duart House in Havelock North is a beautiful venue 😍

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Not what I intended our pillows for 😑 #comfortcats

[fionaferris]

{Create your dream life as a successful author} 🌤🌤 I wanted you to be the one of the first to know that I’ve just reopened my e-Course ‘Create your dream life as a successful author’ as a home-study program. Enrollment is open now and you can get started straight away! 🌤🌤 I don't know when I'll be doing another live round, because it takes quite a lot of energy and time. Time which I want to devote to writing, but I’ve received many emails from ladies who still want to join. It seems that there are a lot of you who are dreaming (in the back of your mind behind all the day-to-day to-dos) of being a published author; of seeing your book made real. 🌤🌤 Imagine taking something from your mind and then seeing it there in front of you, a printed, actual book. It's as good a feeling as it sounds. 🌤🌤 I've kept the price the same, it's not gone up. It’s still an excellent price for what you get, and to be fair, the home-study version isn’t all that much different from the live rounds. You will receive the same course materials and I am currently still available to answer all your questions in the private Facebook group. 🌤🌤 Here's what Amy in Georgia, USA said: 🌤🌤 “You offer a lot of value for the cost of the course. I can tell you put a great deal of time and effort into this. I've been through other 'paid' courses, and I can honestly say that you provide far more resources/content/exercises/value than any of the other courses out there.” 🌤🌤 You receive a new training module (both written PDF and MP3 audios) each week for six weeks, four bonuses each week for six weeks and two Q&A audio recordings each week for six weeks, plus lifetime access to the private Facebook group where you can interact and be inspired by other authors-to-be (and I'll be in there too). 🌤🌤 If you would like to find out more about this new home-study program you can take a look here: http://bit.ly/writersuccess 🌤🌤 CONTINUED IN COMMENTS:

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{How to create a good habit easily – yay!} 🖊🖊 https://ift.tt/2qv7Ncn 🖊🖊 If you’ve ever had a blog, you will know that writing a blog post can be the easiest and most fun thing in the world, or the hardest, most time-consuming and procrastination-causing task you’ve ever done. 🖊🖊 Everyone starts off with good intentions and a fair bit of excitement, but when you decide that yes, you do want to be a writer and commit to a weekly blog post (or fortnightly, or twice-weekly, whatever it is for you), sometimes it’s a hard task to even think up a topic let alone write 300-1,200 words (depending on how long you want your post to be). 🖊🖊 Enter this fun new challenge I am doing, which can be for blogging or virtually any other habit you want to get better at. Bad habits seem to form easily and without you even noticing, but good habits? They are way harder to set in place – why is that? Maybe for the same unknown reason that chocolate lures us more than broccoli (although I love broccoli a lot, but still). 🖊🖊 The fun habit-forming challenge I am talking about is this: 🖊🖊 The Daily Habit Tracker 🖊🖊 I printed off a single calender page from Microsoft Excel. This one little piece of paper is going to transform my month! Basically you cross off the square for each day that you do the habit you want to cement into your life, and the goal is to have a string of unbroken Xs for the entire month. 🖊🖊 I decided that to help with my blog post issues of late (whereby I leave it until the last minute and then stress myself out coming up with a post; I do believe this doesn’t compromise my quality, but I would like to approach my blogging in an easier fashion!), I would focus on writing blog posts every day for a month. 🖊🖊 CONTINUED IN COMMENTS BELOW:

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Amusing myself while my husband tries on suits. It’s so easy for guys to dress well, don’t you think? Females have way more options to agonise over 🤣 Mind you, a dress is probably the equivalent for us. I love dresses, it’s just finding the right shape. Mostly you’ll just find me in jeans and a shirt 😍 #wiwt #ootd #dressingroomselfie #doubledenim #canadiantuxedo #casualgirl

[fionaferris]

{Reader question: Secret unchic eating!} 🌸🌸 Lovely reader Amy wrote to me: 🌸🌸 Hi Fiona, 🌸🌸 I love your "30 Slim Days" book - so much of it resonated with me - but I've run across a hurdle and it occurred to me that you might provide a different way of looking at this since you've deeply thought about the psychology behind weight loss. 🌸🌸 I can be going along, eating right and exercising, but when my husband goes on a business trip (usually it's 1 week away perhaps 3 times per year) I tend to view it as a "vacation for myself" in which I throw all common sense out the window and seem to view it as a time to relax my standards and eat whatever "bad" binge food I want to - fast food, Chinese food, bakery items - it's fascinating how we sometimes view food as a way of treating ourselves even if it's unhealthy choices. 🌸🌸 Anyway, he has a business trip coming up next month and I know it's going to be a stumbling block for me (I'm already gleefully contemplating the Kung Pao Shrimp and strawberry glazed donuts) so I thought I'd be prepared this time and write to you to see if you had any thoughts on this matter :) 🌸🌸 ~~ 🌸🌸 Oh my goodness, such a great question. It’s something I’ve done many times myself. Many, many times and still can do sometimes! Less than before thankfully. I wrote about one of the times I was successful here (and I love the comments on this post as well): 🌸🌸 https://ift.tt/2qbjXap 🌸🌸 My first thought was to reframe what a 'vacation for yourself' would look like. Imagine if you went to a health spa for a week and had pampering treatments, time to relax, restorative walks around the grounds and delicious, nutritious meals served up to you. 🌸🌸 I know for me that the unhealthy foods beckon when I'm thinking how to treat myself, but when I have something crazy healthy like a smoothie packed with fresh ingredients I am almost zinging out of my skin afterwards because I feel so good! Remember how you feel after the donuts and perhaps that will help you redesign your week by yourself. 🌸🌸 CONTINUED IN COMMENTS BELOW:

[fionaferris]

Paul and Mickydog cruising down... Dominion Road 🎶🎶🎶

[fionaferris]

Paul and Mickydog cruising down Dominion Road 🎶 🎶 🎶

[fionaferris]

Look, just look what arrived at my gate in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand all the way from Vilnius, Lithuania! I can’t read a word of these books even though I wrote them 😊 I feel so honoured to have Thirty Chic Days translated into Lithuanian (and soon Russian as well). Do we have any Lithuanian ladies reading? 🎀 Welcome!

[fionaferris]

I hope you had a lovely Easter 🐣Back to work on my next book - I am banking chapters like nobody’s business! 💪📚 It’s a short week here, same for you? Easter Monday off work? Hope you enjoyed some chocolate 🍫 I had a few eggs myself 😊

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{The Chic Rebel} 🖤 https://ift.tt/2IXWcen 🖤 One of my lovely writing students emailed me this week and asked if I had ever taken Gretchen Rubin's Four Tendencies quiz, because she had a feeling I was a 'Rebel'. I took the quiz and... ta da, I am a Rebel. I bought Gretchen's Four Tendencies Kindle book and have been reading the Rebel chapter. 🖤 It's as if she was reading my mind!! Not only do I involuntarily rebel when someone tells me I should do something, but I do the same when I make changes that are good for me such as cutting back sugar or exercising more. Wowza, what an eye-opener! 🖤 I've worked out a lot of how I tick for myself, but it's great to find out more. I already know that I have to make something fun to want to do it. Say it's tidying up my wardrobe or getting out my next season's clothes. If I think I 'should' do it, I'll resist and ride right into winter with my summer clothes still hanging up and digging out the odd winter thing from my off-season containers. 🖤 However, if I imagine my chicest self and go at that same job with the eye of a Vogue editor putting new outfits together and having French music playing in the background, I happily dive in. 🖤 When I think 'I've not had many salads lately, I'd better get back into that, it's enough to make me have a baked potato with sour cream and butter instead. What is better for me is to indulge in my love for stacked GladWare and Tupperware containers in the fridge filled with pre-chopped salad ingredients and washed, crisped, torn lettuce. 🖤 It makes my heart so happy to see those containers and I even love browsing storage catalogues for that same reason. At lunchtime all I have to do it sprinkle a bit of everything into a bowl, top with nuts/grated cheese/protein/avocado etc and I have a healthy lunch. 🖤 I honestly have to treat myself as a truculent child who will say No! to whatever you say even though they would probably be quite happy doing something if it was their own idea. 🖤 CONTINUED IN COMMENTS BELOW:

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Chloe, the smaller of our two rescue-Griffons, feels the cold in the mornings now that it is Autumn here. I’m going to knit her a jersey for winter but that takes time... in the meantime she is enjoying her ‘new’ pale pink puffa jacket from the SPCA op shop in Napier. It’s nice to be able to ‘legitimately’ dress a dog 💓 #griffonchic #dressfortheweather #doginapuffa #autumninnewzealand #hawkesbay #rescuegriffon #isthismycolour

[fionaferris]

Autumn in Hawke’s Bay is out-of-this-world stunning 🍃 I’m up on top of Te Mata Peak with the love of my life - it was our tenth wedding anniversary this month 🥂 #lookingforwardtomanymore #tematapeak #beautifulnewzealand #autumn #hawkesbay #hawkesbaynz #havelocknorth

[fionaferris]

{Creating peace and beauty at home} 💐💐 http://ift.tt/2DvMhJ8 💐💐 Lately I’ve actually felt like I have been getting into the groove of my new work-from-home lifestyle. A daily routine that suits me has fallen into place nicely and I feel like I have a good balance of my writing and being a housewife. 💐💐 I have always loved the ‘old-fashioned’ notion of being a homemaker, and am happiest when pottering at home. Home is the place where I can create a sanctuary and be surrounded by my favourite colours, scents, sounds and corners of beauty. 💐💐 Jane Austen said ‘there's nothing like staying at home for real comfort’ and I agree. There is just something about feeling snug in your own space, and it doesn’t matter how grand that space is. I was just as happy when my bedroom was my sanctuary back when I was flatting with my sister and two other girls after my first divorce. 💐💐 We rented, so I had no control over how the house looked but I could keep my room clean and tidy, with a cosseting bed and all my books and perfumes on the shelves. It was here that I dreamed of my next phase of life and wrote out the list which I asked the Universe to deliver to me. 💐💐 Nowadays I have more than I ever could have imagined, and I know there is still goodness to come. That’s the thing about life, it keeps on getting better – but only if you expect it to. Louise Hay said that each decade of her life got better and better, and it did. That’s the way to think! 💐💐 A day is a good day for me if I get a chance to tend and enjoy my home. Slowly we are creating our ‘Ralph Lauren on a budget’ décor look and as we do that I am finding places to beautify in our new abode. 💐💐 We’ve been here eight months now and I still have areas which are yet to be organised. We will be here for a long time and I want to take my time to create order in a way that is enjoyable not only afterwards, but during as well. 💐💐 CONTINUED IN COMMENTS BELOW: