Do you love this gorgeous necklace from Vintage In Color’s etsy shop? I do, too. Want to win won for free? I do, too! Head on over to the lovely Ashley Glasco’s photography blog, and she’ll give you all the details on how to play to win. Do it! Go now!
Oh, geez. I had to go and talk a big game about a practice to embrace each month in 2012. I haven’t finished hauling away or listing January’s 31 bags. Frankly, I could have set a goal of 366 bags in 2012 and just kept that practice alone. I have also found that listing out goals for the year makes me want to jump ahead and knock out other goals, too. Appropriately, February’s practice is to be still for a while each day. I admit, I’m 0 for 2. But there’s always tomorrow, right?
My darling friend Jenny is sitting each day this year, and she is blogging the process. Lucky for me and lucky for you! She is lovely and honest and inspiring. Her writing stills me. There is still time for quiet in this day after putting kids to bed, so I may squeeze in a sneaky sit, as Jenny says. What is your growing edge this month? How did those New Year’s goals weather the first month of the year?
I’m going to keep a running log here of progress on this packing up project. I sense a more organized house and basement by January 31. Good deal!
What I’m ditching in January 2012: Read the rest of this entry →
Since my husband brought it home as a surprise find at the dollar store, I have been reading A.J. Jacobs’ The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment. He’s the guy who wrote The Year of Living Biblically, and this 2009 collection of essays follows nine different month-long experiments from practicing Radical Honesty to following his wife’s every instruction to living by the rules that George Washington followed. As I have read through each month’s practice, I began to see this experiment idea as a fresh way to look at New Year’s resolutions.
Last year I declared that I would finally embrace my body and reconcile the things I know to do with the things I actually do. I am really proud of sticking with the Master Plan and keeping off the 25 pounds I set to lose last year. I certainly have more fitness and wellness goals for 2012, but those aren’t new or particularly inspired. But when I think of applying the Jacobs’ month-long experiment model to my 2012 goals, I get excited.
First, I am not choosing all hard projects or significant life goals. Some may become practices that I carry into the next months while others may be a one-time experiment that ends with the month. The goal is to stick with it for the month and reflect, as Jacobs does in each chapter, on what I’ve learned through the practice. I plan to write about the experience at the end of every month to hold myself accountable.
As promised, here are my 12 goals for 2012:
I’m thinking a lot about a return to regular blogging, and a post on my plan for embracing 12 new practices for 2012 will be the start. Until then, I’m pinning inspiration on this Pinterest board and finding loads of inspiration for this goal-setting time of year. What are you dreaming up for the year to come?
As the slow process of home transformation continues, there have been little changes along the way that I forget to share. The ultimate purpose of the updates and fresh coats of paint is really about living well in this home and being content right here. We want to love living in these 1600 square feet and hope that our satisfaction here fosters real hospitality. If we love it, if the space settles our spirits, then the result should be that others feel that stillness when they are here. We hope.
So after ditching sharing our ten-year-old Pier One sofa with neighbors, I started watching Craigslist for a chair or chairs that might last us another few years. With two young ones, we want furniture that takes daily abuse, looks nice enough in the room, and can be passed along through Craigslist when we’re done. After the Nester snagged these chairs, I stopped looking for French armchairs and opened my mind to whatever came along.
Enter, the $30 chairs from 30 minutes away that someone’s wife was not excited to receive as a surprise gift:
I’ll spare you the details of the painting process, but know that I went pretty fast with the first one and s-l-o-w with the second. In between chairs, the husband figured out how to take the seat before painting, and that saved me some painstaking taping. We still haven’t screwed it back down, but it looks just fine. I’m sure I should put a poly coat on them to preserve the paint, but that’s a step I haven’t tried.
Nevertheless, we are pleased with our $30 chairs (we already had the primer & paint) to replace the old sofa:
Much better!
It’s been a while since I’ve updated on here, and more updates will soon roll out on our slow life here in Richmond. We spent a lovely week with family in July and are savoring (mostly) these last Summer days before school begins in a mere 11 days. ELEVEN!
Some of you already know that I finally got to a fun project I’d been kicking around in my head for a while. One of my favorite songs for forever and always is Emily Saliers’ Power of Two. And my favorite line from that favorite song goes, “And if we ever leave a legacy/It’s that we loved each other well.” I love it. It’s one of those phrases that I’ll find myself singing by itself while I’m making dinner or watering the flowers.
I kept coming back to that phrase rattling around in my brain when I would see painted signs on Pinterest like this one or this one. But I liked this reverse method of painting (from John & Sherry at YoungHouseLove) better than stenciling the words onto something. Oh, and I had a great board sitting in the back yard that was salvaged wood leftover from framing our garden.
With those ingredients: Pinterest inspiration, Emily’s song, John & Sherry’s tips, and a big old board, I started carving.
I really like the font here called Cry Kitty from Kevin and Amanda’s scrapbooking fonts.
I didn’t want to completely paint the board, so I diluted white paint to whitewash it and leave some grain showing through.
I did make sure to cover the letters so that the natural wood would be distinct against the whitewash.
I did this before my husband sawed the extra 2 feet of the board off for me. I couldn’t figure out how to install the battery pack, or I would have knocked it out myself. After whitewashing over the letters, I peeled off my painter’s tape. BUT. The paint seeped through and made streaks in the wood. Can you see it? I thought I might live with it and consider the streaks a quirky touch. After about 15 minutes, I was thoroughly annoyed and decided to sit down with my exacto knife and get rid of them.
Much better.
The original plan was to bring this hunk of wood inside and mount it over our stairs as, perhaps, a starting point for a gallery wall. But my darling dear left it on top of the front porch’s upcycled beverage cart, and I think it works. It’s a nice blessing for all who enter our home. May we love each other well. Amen.
This year’s garden is simultaneously disappointing and fantastic. Our peppers haven’t grown, some kind of critter is enjoying our tomatoes at night, and the aphids have taken over the peas. But the squash, zucchini, and cucumber are so plentiful that I’m too busy to notice. In all honesty, we’re washing off the peas before we bring them into the house, and we’re cutting the uneaten parts of the tomatoes off before we roast them. Gross? Meh. It’s not like we’re raw food purists or something, so the germs surely cook away.
I shared this Smitten Kitchen recipe today with a friend after snacking together on our second double-batch of zucchini bread with dark chocolate. I think I’m up to six loaves and two dozen muffins, though some were with walnuts and pecans.
We’ve also made zucchini chips two ways by adapting this recipe from Cinnamon Spice, and I plan to make this grilled treat from the Cookin’ Canuck (because I love Canadians as well as kalamata olives and goat cheese) in the next couple of weeks; both via Pinterest.
The Boy loves dill pickles, so we made those (completely undocumented) and shared quart jars with friends. I hear they were good, and I liked them just fine. The Boy prefers his Vlasic, so he turned up his nose after his first home taste. Since I ate a jar by myself, I decided the second batch would be my choice: Bread & Butter Pickles! I loved the Smitten Kitchen zucchini bread so much that I returned for the pickle tips. Again, I didn’t document the process, but Deb at SK does that beautifully for you. We’re heading off to visit family soon, and these lovelies will make a great gift to bring along.
While we can’t harvest such wonderful treats year-round, I am pleased to discover that the Winter 2011 arugula has propagated underneath the cucumber, around the tomatoes, and is thriving beneath the old arugula plants that were uprooted but not moved. We’ll be rich with greens into Winter 2012! What’s growing and cooking at your house?
Y’all, it’s Summer. We’re on-the-go or staying cool, and I forget to share thoughts and reflections and photos when we’re just too busy being busy. It’s a good busy of curious little ones with dashes of camp and splashes of environmental activism. We are ready for some quiet time together as a family of four, and that is coming soon.
Our most recent book week was a little more subtle and matching books in the house to the routine of our Summer weeks. We started with this great Kevin Henkes book:
We gathered a dozen books from our shelves about bugs, birds, seeds, plants, and kitchen gardens. We did not add any extra activities but talked about the things we do every day in our own garden. We currently have six garden areas around our house with thoughts of one more, and that is quite a lot to explore.
