The savviness of wise money management encompasses many factors, but one is an approach often overlooked or dismissed: Understanding the difference between a Good Value versus a Good Deal. Here in the states tax season is upon us, and so many of us may have money on the mind even more than we usually do; however, I often find myself at the beginning of the new year assessing my monthly budget, determining where I am gaining value or unnecessarily causing more tasks and draining money. Ultimately...
Mar 06, 2024•54 min•Season 10Ep. 376
The concluding note to readers that author, yoga and meditation instructor Deborah Adele shares in her book Yamas & Niyamas : Exploring Yoga's Ethical Practice includes the wish that they become more skilled participants in the living of their lives. And with the wisdom she shares in her book, she provides them with the tools to do just that. Having shared various insights here on the blog gained from her book, specifically in this post about the simple conscious everyday choice that leads t...
Feb 21, 2024•40 min•Season 10Ep. 375
Bonjour à tous ! Just last week, I concluded FR 105 with Washington DC's Alliance de Français, a Zoom/online course that met twice a week, two hours each time since just after Thanksgiving. You may remember that Part Six of this series was shared during TSLL's Annual French Week which shared what I had learned through FR 104 and 103, and now it is time to share some progress! Thankfully, there has been progress and while I chose to take Everyday Situational French this fall due to my travel sche...
Feb 07, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 10Ep. 374
"Part of art making is living your life in such a way that your work gets done, over and over—and that means, among other things, finding a host of practices that are just plain useful . . . a life lived within productive patterns. The life of a productive artist becomes filled with useful conventions and practical methods. And in truly happy moments those artistic gestures move beyond simple procedure, and acquire an inherent aesthetic all their own. They are your artistic hearth and home." —Da...
Jan 17, 2024•57 min•Season 10Ep. 373
We explore the topic of rituals frequently here on TSLL ( explore all of the posts and episodes shared thus far here ), and initially it may seem redundant to do so again in today's episode/post, but as I have experienced in my own life, my appreciation for the benefits and happiness deepens and therefore I understand even more fully the power of carefully choosing rituals to tailor to the lifestyle we love living. It is in the tailoring that our daily lives and future outcomes we hope will mate...
Jan 03, 2024•58 min•Season 10Ep. 372
Whether or not snow has fallen come December, the warmth and cheer of good tidings appearing about town, the neighbors, in the shops and arriving in the mail by way of the annual Christmas cards sent from friends and family living near and far always wraps me in a figurative hug. This year, similar to last year, I will be spending Christmas at home in Bend, Oregon, and it is exactly where I want to be. And leading up to the festive day has been and will continue to be sprinkled with intentional ...
Dec 20, 2023•47 min•Season 10Ep. 371
"My mission in putting the single at heart on the map is to rewrite what it means to be single. Single life, to those of us who are single at heart, is a joyful place, a place to learn and grow. It is a big-hearted, expansive, meaningful life full of possibilities . . . intimacy, to us, is personal; in that domain as in all others, we follow our hearts rather than the cultural rulebooks. We chart our own life courses, with meaningfulness, psychological richness, and authenticity as our guide." —...
Dec 06, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Season 10Ep. 370
Satiation. To completely satisfy your appetite, whether it be literally, therefore with food and drink or figuratively as we seek to fulfill our needs in all immeasurable areas of life. To equate contentment with satiation is somewhat accurate except that satiation requires us to engage with something outside of ourselves, to choose well, to know much about what and why we are pursuing it, and thus to know ourselves and physiology well. Granted, the 'knowing ourselves' is a shared cross-over bet...
Nov 15, 2023•50 min•Season 10Ep. 369
A quiet confidence, an ease of being. A deep joy of living each day. To consciously find ourselves in any of the three states of being above, it will have taken much intentionality, effort, patience and compassion. As well as strength, courage, kindness and trust. And these are all actions given to ourselves, let alone to the people and environments we engage with along the way to reach each or all of the aforementioned states. However, as Steve Jobs succinctly shares above, once you arrive at t...
Nov 01, 2023•50 min•Season 10Ep. 368
"The fastest way to a good life, is to slow down." —World Institute of Slowness in Norway Walking into a beautifully decorated home, an abode that welcomes you, gives you a hug and invites you to stay without saying a word takes time to curate. And even those homes that someone else has curated and we feel this way when we walk across the threshold into their home, it is their home, and not our own, filled with choices, items and details that they will appreciate more deeply than we ever could, ...
Oct 18, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 10Ep. 367
Britain is calling, and if it is calling you as well to hop on an international flight and cross the Atlantic or the English Channel, or whichever body of water you will have to cross to arrive on British soil, this is an episode I think you will find helpful to ensuring you have a wonderful trip to your destination. So that I don’t repeat myself, I wrote and shared a detailed 17-point list on how to prepare for international travel in episode #183. This list is for traveling anywhere internatio...
Oct 04, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 10Ep. 366
"Our world is dominated by algorithms — by data collection that steers us toward a limited set of products and designers who have paid for the privilege of coming up first in our search. The result is that our taste has gotten . . . only more homogeneous, more limited." —Rachel Tashjian, style contributor to The Washington Post, in her article Whatever Happened to Having Taste? The primary reason I wanted to begin with this quote is because the reality is all too real: good taste is often hard t...
Sep 20, 2023•59 min•Season 10Ep. 365
Prevention versus correction. For a few decades now, or perhaps more than a few, stress management has been the term of phrase often used as we find a culture, and more specifically, ourselves nearing or reaching burn-out whether in our jobs or life in general, and while bringing healing and remedy to something in our lives that needs our attention for improvement is certainly valuable and a necessary skill to learn should we find ourselves in this state of fatigue and chronic stress, preventing...
Sep 06, 2023•40 min•Season 10Ep. 364
When I knew I would be sitting down to chat and catch up with the lead vocalist of the jazz band The Hot Sardines , Elizabeth Bougerol, I knew our conversation would be enjoyable, inspiring and much like taking a drink of refreshing water that leaves you energized, hopeful and inspired. And indeed that was the case. 😌 To talk with Elizabeth, now our second time (listen to episode #157 for our first conversation), is to talk with someone who knows and is passionate about her craft and the genre ...
Aug 16, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 9Ep. 363
"I still have yet to discover a secret ingredient that has been proven to ensure a long and healthy life—well, not one you can put into a blender, anyway. But I can help you discover the secrets of true health and happiness . . . they're based on a simple shift in perspective." —Gladys McGarey, MD, author of The Well-Lived Life: A 102-year-old doctor's six secrets to health and happiness at every age Born in 1921, Dr. Gladys McGarey's life journey began living and experiencing the life truths sh...
Aug 02, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 9Ep. 362
The journey of customizing Le Papillon, my house and home in Bend, Oregon, since September 2019 has provided much opportunity for learning both about the actual and practical purpose of home remodeling and decorating but also for self-growth. Over the past nearly four years, an abundance of experiences, discoveries, lessons and ‘wow’ moments have been collected which is why I wanted to share today's detailed and lengthy (90 minutes) episode with listeners of The Simple Sophisticate podcast . As ...
Jul 19, 2023•1 hr 40 min•Season 1Ep. 361
"We think love has to be obtained, earned, achieved, and received. We look for it in the form of attention and compliments, and people acknowledging us. But actually the greatest way to experience love is to give it." —Jay Shetty, author of 8 Rules of Love: How to Find it, Keep it, and Let it Go A simple formula to love is to be it and it appears. However, this seems either too simple for some of us or to not produce the 'type of love' we had in mind. Such thinking, to have a narrow definition o...
Jun 21, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 9Ep. 360
Author and philosopher of contemporary living, Alexandra Stoddard has published 28 books since she began in 1974. Continuing to be a source of wisdom, inspiration and sharing through how she lives that curiosity and forever being a student of life elevates our lives regardless of age, she joins me in a special episode to talk about her life's work. Our conversation of more than 75 minutes covers a wide breadth of content that she has written about over the years, and it's all grounded in how to ...
Jun 07, 2023•1 hr 30 min•Season 1Ep. 358
The book I wanted and needed to read. Repeatedly, indirectly and directly women and the entire society at large are told that aging is bad, and it is especially an unwelcoming reality for women, but is this true? Fashion Director for The Times London since 2015 Anna Murphy recently turned 50, and in her new book (being released on May 30th in the states; in the UK it was released in March) Destination Fabulous: Finding your way to the best you yet , disagrees wholeheartedly with this false truth...
May 24, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 9Ep. 360
Being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) is a fairly new identifier to describe anyone who is highly responsive to their environment. This high responsiveness can appear in a variety of ways and different arenas of our lives - physically, emotionally, in relationships, simply going about our days and interacting with the world around us. In 1996, American clinical research psychologist Dr. Elaine Aron wrote her seminal book The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive in a World That Overwhelms You ,...
May 17, 2023•53 min•Season 9Ep. 357
"N'ayez pas peur." And the formal lessons continue into the wilderness and beauty of the French language. Or should I say langue française . And yep, we have just dove into to learning the imperatif form, and as the command directs above in French - Have no fear! Which is a great place to start because when we choose to learn a new language, especially as an adult, and anyone proficient in any field other than the French language, humility must be brought with us on the journey. To trip over any...
May 03, 2023•55 min•Season 4Ep. 356
It all began with 18 months in Paris as a young woman more than 30 years ago. Inspired by her time volunteering during the day at a Parisian floral boutique while she figure skated in the evenings, Sandra Sigman's life journey and approach to floral arrangements was forever changed, and thus began the unfolding of a dream. In today's episode, author of the best-selling book in Floral Arrangements, Sandra Sigman joins me to talk about French Blooms: Floral arrangements inspired by Paris and beyon...
Apr 19, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 9Ep. 355
"To have a good relationship with money, you must know who you are and what your purpose is in this world." —Kate Northrup, Money: A Love Story Find your purpose, exercise your courage and you are on your way to financial freedom. Simple AND true. Not easy, but definitely doable. For many of us, we were taught (or it was modeled) that money and how to approach money successfully is to solely look at it logically, requiring tangible proofs in order to know we are successful - the amount of money ...
Apr 05, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 9Ep. 354
A tidy sanctuary creates mental space to find calm more readily. Upon walking into my home, Le Papillon, knowing and then witnessing that it has been cleaned, tidied and unnecessary items have been removed, whether that be emptying the recycling basket in the boot & basket room (aka mudroom), countertops are cleared of extraneous items, and the flowers are fresh, I breathe some of the deepest breaths I ever take during my days. Distractions to the mind come into our lives in a variety of way...
Mar 15, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 9Ep. 353
"It's not a matter of luck or magic. This is simply how your brain works. So take a break every now and then, and let your brain do what it does best." —Michael Hyatt & Megan Hyatt Miller, authors of Mind Your Mindset: The science that shows success starts with your thinking One of the Beatles most (of many) famous songs came to Paul McCartney simply upon waking up in the morning. As he did, at the age of 21, he was humming a tune that initially he titled "Scrambled Eggs", is better known as...
Mar 01, 2023•34 min•Season 9Ep. 354
Gabriel. No last name needed, but he doesn't have one if he did, interestingly enough. I'm talking about Gabriel of Emily in Paris fame. Played by Lucas Bravo, Gabriel is the inspiration for today's post/episode because his clothes don't do the talking unlike the rest of the fashion-clad cast, but they definitely don't hinder his appeal. In a recent article in The Wall Street Journal , Ashley Ogawa Clarke spotlights the character's no-excess capsule wardrobe that works to a "T" while he works as...
Feb 15, 2023•42 min•Season 9Ep. 351
"Presence is power." What if I told you that the solution to your quandaries about life, love, work, finding calm, anything of value and importance already resided within you? While initially this may seem impossible, in actuality, when we dig down deep to the core of our motivations, our hopes and even our fears, the answers rest in being able to hold ourselves in the Present moment consciously on a regular and consistent basis. Now this may seem elementary, even a simpleton answer, but today, ...
Feb 01, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 9Ep. 350
"On ne comprend jamais tout à fait une langue avant d’en comprendre au moins deux." It took 43 years for me to finally learn the French alphabet, and when I say learn I mean how to properly pronounce each letter, even after taking French classes in college and then again taking French 102 and 103 back in 2016 at our local community college. After sharing this with someone recently, they looked at me perplexed, but you see I never enrolled in French 101 as it was a fall course, and during the 201...
Jan 18, 2023•51 min•Season 9Ep. 349
"The greatest gift that manifesting can offer us is not to help us attract things for us to possess but to help us unleash the most empowered, authentic, self-loving, and truly magnificent version of ourselves that there is." —Roxie Nafousi How we live, how we think, what we think determines the destiny of our lives, and all three are thankfully within our control. All three actions - living, thinking, selecting [which thoughts to think] - involve just that, being active rather than being passiv...
Jan 04, 2023•35 min•Season 9Ep. 348
The holiday of Christmas is a festive time that arrives a mere one week before the new year begins. The arrival of Christmas stirs up nostalgia for some, angst for others, seasonal stress for most of us and a stream of quiet hope for perhaps nearly all of us that a Christmas miracle will occur. And regardless of what we imagine it to be as November arrives and we look ahead to the final two months of the year, it is a holiday capable of being exactly as we most wish it to be when we approach it ...
Dec 21, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 347
