the magical "Familiar Objects" by Claire NereimAs promised, today I'll share the first three of my six new year's resolutions for 2011. (I have to say, it feels awfully strange not to have weekend scenes this week.)
Pulling these together really is one of my favorite rituals of the year...and you know January (oddly) might actually be my favorite month. I love the quiet, the organizing and cleaning and sort of readying, the promise of a new year stretched out all shiny and hopeful ahead of us...
I can't help but feel a little buzz in January.
Ok, here goes with part I of the resolutions. I'd love to hear what's on your list this year!
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#1 -- Be Lazy.
This one isn't as bad as it sounds...I promise. I'm not planning to shirk responsibilities or lounge about watching trash television. Rather, the idea/hope is to do less, in fact to sometimes do, well, nothing, to avoid the temptation to fill all the empty spaces in our calendar with plans and projects, to sit around and daydream more.
I'm a pretty social person. I could have friends over or go do something almost every day of the week. I'm also a planner. I like a plan, I can't help it. My hubby on the other hand... is not. He likes huge stretches of alone time. Don't get me wrong, he likes people, he just doesn't feel the need to be around them non-stop... And the girlies are pretty social little creatures, but they're kids, so they need a hefty dose of downtime (certainly more than I've been giving them).
We reached a "need for downtime" tipping point late last month when all four of us seemed to be walking around with a sort of permanent glazed look in our eyes. We were all irritable and snappish. I had become an over-scheduler extraordinaire, and there was something on the calendar for us pretty much every day in December. It was a majorly bad scene friends. But truthfully, (and sadly) it probably had to reach that point for me to change my over scheduling ways; I needed the wake-up call.
So 2011 will be the year of doing less, chilling out, and daydreaming...because really, it's when you're busy doing nothing that all the magic happens.
#2 -- Embrace Effortlessness.
It started with the bangs...the bangs that will give me an additional three days this year to do nothing.
The bangs have made me (wait for it) low-maintenance. I'm not even sure that the bangs are my best look, but no matter, I'm keeping them. Forever. My hair has never, ever been easier to do. I can wake up, brush it, and go.
A little background: I spent the better part of 2010 wielding a curling iron in an attempt to replicate my "dream hair"...it took a lot of time, and made my hair a bit of a fried mess, so the bangs are a total game-changer. I feel so footloose and fancy free.
So my second resolution is to find other ways this year to embrace effortlessness, to streamline, to be (as Michelle geniusly coined it) "low-fi".
I think the coolest girls have this down pat.
The bangs have made me (wait for it) low-maintenance. I'm not even sure that the bangs are my best look, but no matter, I'm keeping them. Forever. My hair has never, ever been easier to do. I can wake up, brush it, and go.
A little background: I spent the better part of 2010 wielding a curling iron in an attempt to replicate my "dream hair"...it took a lot of time, and made my hair a bit of a fried mess, so the bangs are a total game-changer. I feel so footloose and fancy free.
So my second resolution is to find other ways this year to embrace effortlessness, to streamline, to be (as Michelle geniusly coined it) "low-fi".
I think the coolest girls have this down pat.
the lovely francoise hardy...effortlessly rockin' the bangs.
#3 -- Purchase (extremely) Mindfully.
This one makes the list every year, but I can't help it, I want to master it. I want to be ruthlessly discerning and smart and yes, mindful in every. single. thing. I purchase this year. All of it...clothes, things for the house, stuff for the girls, even with what I buy at the grocery store.
I have this quote (copied off a postcard from the Portland shop, Canoe) pinned above my desk. I think it's a good litmus test for deciding if I should make a purchase...
"How many things have you purchased this year that will become valued possessions? How many things will you soon discard?"
I also love this article found on Zen Habits...I'm going to really try to use the list of parameters in the piece as my guiding principal for how I make all my purchasing decisions.
I want to only buy things this year that I could see myself (truly) owning forever...
image via a lovely being...
