Thank you for joining me for The Chic Assignment for April. I am so excited to share this month's assignments with you.
🎵 Listen to Schubert's Ave Maria I have two performances on YouTube that I would like you to watch and listen to this month. The first is Valentina Lisitsa's piano rendition, which is arranged by Liszt. The second is Hauser's masterful cello performance. They will both move your soul.
Here is a bit more on Franz Schubert. Portrait taken from ClassicFM who share an interesting article with 20 facts about the composer.
Schubert wrote his first masterpiece at the age of 17. In 1815 alone, Schubert wrote more than 20,000 bars of music, including nine church works, a symphony, and some 150 songs – including eight in one day in October 1815. He was certainly productive and efficient! My type of person :) We will discuss Schubert more in the check-in later in the month. If you're interested in my favorite Ave Maria album, this is it.
📖 Read poetry by Shelley OK, so he wasn't a model citizen. Percy Bysshe Shelley had a mess of a personal life. He did write beautiful poetry, however, and is one of the most well-known and renowned of the British Romanticists. I read his poem To Night in today's video. Proceed with caution if you read his biography. You might need the popcorn for this one! If you listened to the poem in today's video, you have completed this assignment. If you'd like to read further works of his, check out the book of poetry I share in today's video. This was given to me by my father when I was 15. I love poetry! This portrait of Shelley was taken from this site, which lists many of his works.
👗 Dress up for no reason If you are in the habit of wearing comfy sweats on the days when you don't have anything remarkable planned, step out of your comfort zone one time this month and get dressed up for no reason. I don't mean putting on a ball gown to go to the grocery store, but I do mean wearing that dress you love but never wear or that pretty blouse you adore but are always so worried that you'll stain it so you never wear it (Who has been there?) Report your findings to us.
🌿 Intentional rest As we move toward the end of the school year, many parents are stressed out by all of the hustle and bustle and activities for the children. Let's try and take at least five minutes of intentional rest each day. Ideas are: sitting down with a cup of tea, looking through a beautiful book, reading poetry, chatting with a family member, walking through the garden, soaking in the bath. Just as long as your rest time does not include screens. Let's make our rest intentional. It is the equivalent of dining with no distractions. When you do that you appreciate your food more. When we are intentional about rest, we appreciate our rest time more and get more out of it. We cannot do that if we are "zoned out" in front of the television.
I would love to hear your findings on The Chic Assignment for this month! Thank you for watching today's video.
News
📍 Thank you for all of your well-wishes. On Instagram I posted a picture from the Urgent Care. I have been having severe back problems this week. I am sad to report it is not yet better, but I do appreciate all of your prayers and kind comments. The good news is they were playing Chopin at the urgent care! There is hope!
📍 You must check out Nikki Moreno's beautiful film that is set to my poem, SURROUNDINGS. I wrote this poem to convey the complicated relationship we have with our surroundings. Her cinematography is beautiful and conveys my meaning for the poem perfectly. Please watch this beautiful short film. I hope it inspires you.
📍 A continued thank you to everyone who has taken my new eCourse, How to be Efficient at Home. The comment section of each lecture is teeming with amazing comments. I am not able to keep up with them all and respond to each one. I appreciate everyone who has taken this course as it supports my channel and the work that I do. Thank you!
Charlene R. writes, "Thank you Jennifer. I had a lovely time watching these videos and reflecting on the improvements id like to make towards better efficiency. Its so good to listen to someone speak who also values the day to day efficient running of a calm and peaceful homelife. Striving and working towards this is something that i was created to do and it brings me joy."
Thank you, Charlene! I am so happy you enjoyed the course. I loved reading your comments there.
On Instagram
Comment of the Week
On Nikki's video set to my poem, Maria from the UK wrote, "STUNNING
Even brought tears to my eyes.
Two of my favourite YouTubers. Well-done to you both.
Much love Maria 💕 uk xx"
Thank you, Maria. I cried when I watched Nikki's film for the first time too. It moved me so much. The poem I wrote is very special and she interpreted it perfectly. Thank you for watching!
Thank you for joining me for this month's Chic Assignment. I'm in a very busy season of life right now and regretfully am not able to reply to comments like I used to. I want you to know that even as the blog and channel grow I try to read every one and I appreciate them all. I might not reply, but know that your comment is valued and treasured. Thank you! Please report your findings in the comment section! I will do a check-in with you mid-month.
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