The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style

"May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears." —Nelson Mandela Amelia Earhart , at the age of 23, had a dream awoken within her that she could not explain. Filled with both fear and pleasure, she "knew she had to fly". Julia Child was determined to change the dining, cooking and eating experience of Americans, also known as the "servantless cook". At the time, no one had written, nor demon...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #153 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio ". . . for those of you who are tired of trying to squeeze into constrained categories, who long for integration and wholeness in everything you do, without limits on who you are or who you will become . . . it's time to move beyond labels." —Maureen Chiquet, author of Beyond the La...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #152 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." —Henry David Thoreau To dream big. To dream beyond others' imagination is a risk. However, to dream so vastly is to reveal one's capacity for hope of...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #151 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio "There is something about the French woman, a sense of freedom that must read and show in the way we dress." —Marion Cotillard No one has yet pinpointed when the allure of French style came to epitomize the pinnacle of effortless, chic style, but nonetheless, the flattering stereoty...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #150 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio "Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience." —Ralph Waldo Emerson The blossoms of spring have begun to bloom; the scents, vibrant green grass and and brilliant pastel hues offer their natural talents of awing us mere humans. And after a winter that didn't seem it would in, th...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #149 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio "What's true style? Knowing how to mix the right combinations of ingredients." —Ines de la Fressange, author of Parisian Chic Look Book: What Should I Wear Today? Most of us have heard of and are incorporating into our lives a capsule wardrobe , but as much as we'd love to hire a st...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #148 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio "Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is nev...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #147 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio "And you, you scare people because you are whole all by yourself." —Lauren Alex Hooper The twenty-first century woman, she has been called on this blog the modern woman, is an independent woman. And while there are many different shades, rhythms and ways of living independently, the...

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." ― Confucius Having never experienced a particular event, feeling or sensation, it can be hard to trust that attaining what we have marked as our goal as something other than difficult to achieve. After all, if it were easy, we would have experienced it by now. But what has lacked in the past is the proper recipe. What I mean by the p...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #145 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio "The act of responding requires one to look at the circumstance, identify the problem or situation, hear what is happening and reflect . . . What matters is that you stopped and put an effort to think and suspended judgment. It is a conscious act and shows that you are willing to li...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #144 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio Recently a good friend of mine who is learning French as well, and inspires me with her advanced abilities, asked how my learning was progressing. Disappointed even to say it out loud, I stated I haven't been studying regularly. And while that is entirely true, I find myself playing...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #143 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio   "People need to know that they have all the tools within themselves. Self-awareness, which means awareness of their body, awareness of their mental space, awareness of their relationships - not only with each other, but with life and the ecosystem." —Deepak Chopra Feeling happy is...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #142 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio "Individuals can take hold of [style] and make it their own. Style is about an individual and fashion is about an industry and [fashion] runs on insecurity." —Stacy London  New York Fashion Week motors on as I tape this week's podcast, and for me, it is holiday and a celebration of...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #141 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio Montreal author Isabelle LaFlèche has been an inspiration to me for many reasons. One of which is her tenacity to let go of what she knew and leap into what she loved. All it took was a nudge from an unexpected stranger to remind her of the creative talent patiently waiting to be re...

"Life circumstances have little to do with happiness because much happiness is under your control — the product of your habits and your outlook on life. Happiness is synthetic — you either create it, or you don't." — Life Altering Awareness The uncertainties in life are vast. But to errantly ignore the ability to master the certainties is a mistake. Each of us is capable of cultivating a life that...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #139 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio "When we take the right to rest, when we make rest fulfilling, and when we practice rest through our days and years, we also make our lives richer and more fulfilling." —Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of Rest: Why You Get More Done when You Work Less Charles Darwin partook in regular...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #138 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio "Enough is the quality of having everything you need and want but nothing in excess, nothing that burdens you." —Vicki Robin, author of Your Money or Your Life While numerically, there isn't a magic number equated to having enough money due to a myriad of variables, it may seem at f...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #137 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio A work of art gazed upon and appreciated by millions, created by the hands of a talented often ahead-of-their-time individual dedicated hours, perhaps months to their creation. A full and luscious garden, cultivated over years of planning, tending and careful editing and replenishin...

We are not born knowing how to love well. We learn by observing those who raise us, observing the world we are born into and by what we read, view and absorb. The catch is not all of us are watching how to love well. Some of us will have a distorted view, some of us will be limited by what we see while others will observe healthy, kind, thoughtful ways of loving. While there are many wonderful way...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #136 ~Subscribe to  The Simple Sophisticate :  iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  iHeartRadio "It's never too late to learn anything for which you have a potential . . . and the limitless potential of love within each person [is] eager to be recognized, waiting to be developed, yearning to grow . . . If you want to learn to love, then you must start the process of finding ou...

"It is within the boundaries of reflection we are able to become aware of insights that can lead us to understanding."  ― Kat Lahr ~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #135 On the first of January with each new year, twelve months stretch before us full of potential to progress and evolve and to observe the magic that we could never predict. The year 2016 has offered life lessons in abundance. Having...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #134 "A startling paradox that bespeaks how we, as a culture, cripple ourselves in the journey to love — if one wanted to learn about cars, one would 'without question study about automobiles'; if one wanted to become a gourmet cook, one would 'certainly study the art of cooking, perhaps even attend a cooking class.' But when it comes to love, Buscaglia points out...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #133 Maybe you've had a few or many past failed relationships. Perhaps you are currently single or married or in a relationship at the moment, but maybe it just doesn't feel as though you know how to make it stronger, healthier, but there is some part of you that knows it is possible. Even if you aren't in a relationship, you understand that it is a healthy relati...

~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #132   "There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other." —Douglas H. Everett The arrival of a new year always fills me with giddy exuberance. No matter what occurred during the current year, I am very much like a child eagerly determined to will even more amazing, fulfillin...

"As long as one keeps searching, the answers come." —Joan Baez Life in many ways feels as though it is a treasure hunt. However, I have good news. If my experience is any evidence, Joan Baez's quote above certainly rings true. Case in point, stumbling across British philosopher Bertrand Russell's book The Conquest of Happiness.  I happened to have been perusing in my local bookstore, stopping in t...