©istockphoto/Digital Image by Sean Locke

I’ve got a jingle running around in my head: “You deserve a break today……”

It’s Wednesday, which either triggers jubilation or consternation, depending on how your week is going. Half empty or half full it is, regardless, cause for celebration. The goal is to make your day as easy and elegant as possible.

Wednesday is laundry day around here. Midweek is just the time to reward yourself with crisply laundered sheets and ironed pillowcases. It gives you something to look forward to at the end of the day.

But we have to get you there first.

My guess is that you are well past your (hopefully) nutritious and sustaining breakfast. You may have already had your morning coffee and are well into the inbox. Wednesdays are days to get things done that have been left undone since the beginning of the week. Which means that you are going to need a break by this afternoon.

I’ve got another little ditty running through my brain. We used it to warm up before performances: A proper cup of coffee in a proper copper coffee cup.

I hope you have access to a proper coffee shop. If not the ubiquitous Starbucks will have to do. This afternoon, why don’t you take a real coffee break? Take along a novel or a bit of the morning paper (I suggest the arts and entertainment section, the book review, or the editorials) and order a demi-tasse of espresso. Sit at a table. Take as long as you can get away with to drink your small cup and read your paper. While in Europe, I would have a panatella (sometimes a pastis or cognac!) along with my coffee. I doubt that you can do that here. Instead have one small, dark, bittersweet piece of chocolate and walk back to the office, refreshed.

On the way home, stop off and pick up some fresh flowers in a cheering colour. You might pick up some very fresh food for tonight (a globe artichoke or some string beans, perhaps), fresh crusty bread and a nice bottle of wine. I recommend a white Burgundy, a dry rosé, or a Sauvignon Blanc (stay away from anything oaked.) A simple meal is in order tonight. An omelette aux fines herbes with your specially purchased fresh side dish and a green salad dressed with a vinaigrette.

(An aside: If you are single, or have no children to worry about, and are feeling particularly awake, it might be a fine night to attend a concert or performance. Something special may have caught your eye when you read that bit of the paper this afternoon. Seek something soothing, bossa nova, jazz or light classical. I live in a college town and there is always a live performance somewhere and there are always good seats available. Oftentimes the performances are free. But avoid the bar scene as it is counterproductive to the goal of the evening.)

At last to bed on your new sheets. I suggest showering and shaving first. It will refresh you and cut down a little on your morning rush.

Le Café Marly by Beau Wade

It’s Tuesday. Why don’t you have lunch at the museum?

Many museums offer an elegantly appointed spot for dining. Here in Richmond, the VMFA had a wonderful dining room in which to have a drink and dinner before a show. When the theatre closed, you could still get a simply delicious light luncheon with a glass of wine for a reasonable price and then head downstairs to tour an exhibit. Now with the extensive renovations and improvements, I’m not sure if the restaurant is open, but the atrium coffee and dessert spot in all its marble and soaring ceiling glory is…

When we are in Washington, D.C., Mrs. E. and I enjoy visiting the National Gallery of Art for an exhibit and luncheon in the Garden Café on the ground floor of the West building. The menu is always tied to the featured exhibit. During concert season, they serve coffee and desserts instead of the full menu. This month, brings us delicacies like Tataki Mashawa (seared tuna and bean salad) and Kebab Degi (lamb chops with onion, and mint in celebration of the Afghan Gold exhibit. It may be a bit pricey, but the atmosphere can’t be beat with the ficus trees, marble and art so nearby.

What’s that you say? You can’t possibly get to a museum, eat and get back to your desk in the time you have alloted for lunch? Close your door, or get away somewhere quiet and take a virtual exhibit tour or download their video podcasts via iTunes to watch later, while you brown bag it.

In your quest to have a more elegant existence, you will frequently be befuddled, or at the least frustrated, by the myriad of little things that stand in your way.

It becomes frustrating and stressful to be constantly questioned about your lifestyle choices. And there are plenty of people who will want to try and derail you on your course.

“C’mon, it’s summer,” they’ll say.

Or, “lighten up. What’s the big deal?”

“Hey, where’s the interview?”

“It’s really casual. I’m wearing shorts.”

And the retort of last resort: “What are you so dressed up for?”

Now I’m not suggesting that you divide your day into units as Hugh Grant’s character does in “About a Boy”, but I am suggesting that you wear blinders of a sort. That is to say, surround yourself with beauty and elegance and let osmosis do its bit for the cause.

Once you fall into the rhythm of doing things more elegantly, be it dressing better, speaking more confidently and easily, reading elegant prose or poetry, entertaining at home more — in short, living and thinking more elegantly — you will be surprised how easy it becomes.

A good friend once told me that he set the record for sit-ups at his middle school. He managed over 600 in a row. “The thing is,” he said, “after the first 300, I didn’t have to try anymore. My body took over and just kept contracting. I quit because I had to go home for dinner.”

The experts will tell you that if you do something for two weeks in a row, it becomes second nature. Make elegance a habit. Or as Mr. Grant’s character would have it, add at least one unit of elegance to your day, each day.

The teacher reflex has come out in Mrs. E. . She has asked me to include a suggestion or concrete example which might serve as a model.

Very well. Casual Friday meet, Elegant Weekday.

Today is Monday, the day that people get things done, and a perfect day to start your more elegant life. Plan to get away from your desk at lunch; for an hour, if possible. Walk somewhere, have a bite, people watch. If you can, leave work at the office at the day’s end. When you get home, change into a smart but casual outfit, perhaps involving linen and loafers. Have a glass of cold champagne. Have a light summer supper (salade niçoise or roast chicken and a salad) with the rest of the champagne. Take a stroll before retiring for the evening. If you are a movie person, watch a Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly or Myrna Loy picture. If you prefer to read, read something like the first chapter of “Tender is the Night,” “Everybody Was So Young,” or a short story by Louis Auchincloss. Lay out your clothes for tomorrow. Set the clock alarm for a classical music station or CD. And sleep like a baby. Tomorrow is another elegant day waiting to happen.