Marcia Francois's Blog, page 48

2016 Word of the Year recap (joy) and my word for 2017!

Before I dive into this year’s word and the whys and wherefores thereof, I want to do a recap of my 2016 word, joy.

I’ll admit that it wasn’t one of my favourite words ever but it did what it was meant to do, which was to encourage me to live a little and also to choose joy when circumstances were not very joyful.

1. I know this will come as a surprise but I actually find it hard to relax. I’m much more comfortable on the work side of the scale

And… everybody gets planning and calendaring freebies!

Hi friends

Are you still eating Christmas leftovers? Or are you done now? We have one more meal tonight and then we’re done

Merry Christmas from our family to yours

Friends and readers, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Thanks for reading, commenting, “liking” on Facebook and Instagram and messaging or emailing me. I appreciate all the connection.

Let’s do more of it next year.

And after Christmas, it’s my favourite week of the whole year! Join me on Instagram as I post daily on my review/ recap of 2016.

Are you on Instagram?

Organising Queen’s best books of 2016

2016’s not over yet but unless something radically changes, these were my top books:

5*

Stories I only tell my friends – Rob Lowe

I listened to the audible version of this book and I recommend you get that version because he narrates his own book and does all the different impersonations too. Even just for that alone, it’s a great listen. But he’s actually a really good writer too, and I thoroughly enjoyed all the listening time.

Smart Money Smart Kids: Raising the Next Generation to Win wit...

Some clever gift ideas in case you’re stuck…

There’s one week left til Christmas!

If you’re still shopping or thinking about gifts, here are some ideas for you:

Give according to their love language

If you have someone with a quality time love language, for example, give them the gift of time with you – tea/ coffee/ cake/ lunch/ supper at a restaurant, or a game of adventure golf, a manicure, etc.

If your special someone has gifts or acts of service as their love language, take the time to think about presentation. A gift bag (can be r...

Your end-of-year reality check

About a week before the end of November, I put an item on my to-do list: schedule all socials til the end of the year.

And then I made a list.

Well, the list had about 10 friends or sets of friends on it, and when I looked at the available dates, it was going to be impossible.

However, I never let a small thing like a full schedule get me down and I started working my list until I realised…

it’s my own self-imposed idea that I have to see people this year and not next year

Granted, it would...

How to choose your 2017 diary/ planner

I’m using a hybrid system next year and I can’t wait to show you how I’ll be using it. I’m currently waiting for my big box of goodness to arrive here in Johannesburg before I post some pretty pics… although I did print out some pages from my digital downloads so I wouldn’t feel like I was missing out

A few of my ideas for super easy Christmas decor

You guys know I like things really simple.

So I’ve basically got one or two tricks up my sleeve that I pull out every Christmas and that seems to work for me! Because I do the same things over and over, I actually store them in ziplocs that say “vases in lounge and diningroom” or “decorations for fruit bowl”. It’s easy for me and easy to delegate to the kids who always want to help.

I will say that I was a bit dismayed when I thought of decorating this house because there aren’t many walls (...

What I learned during November

Oh November!

It’s the month when people all over South Africa feel that fatigue from work and start counting down the days to mid-December when things should officially quiet down.

This month I learned that:

I really, really, really didn’t enjoy the lead-up to my Spanish dance exams

I passed but I didn’t have much joy in the process. It was trying on my emotions and on my physical body with my right ankle playing up a lot of the time.

Interestingly, people kept asking me, “why are you doing...

Create the perfect Christmas… for you

Pssst – if you’re not on the newsletter list yet, do jump on. I’m sending out my 2017 Let’s Do This guide on Wednesday and another special offer.

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A friend asked me if I had a Christmas planner she could use (I sent her the one I sent to my list last year) and then it occurred to me that I needed to get my head in gear for Christmas.

I find that as the years pass I get more and more low-key