QUICK THINGS TO DO TODAY:
– Look over your calendar for the week, taking note of upcoming appointments, birthdays, activities, events, etc.
– Make menu plans for the week; create grocery list
– Take inventory of paper products, as we begin a new year, a new month, and a new week. Toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, Kleenex, and other items. Add anything missing to your grocery list.
– Am I the only person wanting to eat healthier after the holidays? Peer around your fruit bowls and refrigerator. How are your supplies of salad fixings, fresh fruit, veggies? Add to your grocery list.
TODAY’S PROJECT: Reflection on the Decade
As the New Year began, I looked over my difficult year of 2009, trying to focus on the positive. I thought about my fantastic 40th birthday spent in New Orleans with friends, I looked over pictures from my fun visit to the Queen Mary in summertime, and enjoyed photos of friends’ children at their birthday parties I attended. I thought about how I spent the year in regards to my family, my friends, my business, my personal growth, my hobbies, and my home.
Next I am going to spend some time today thinking back on the last decade. I might write a personal private summing up for myself in my own journal. I have a lot to think over. Since New Year’s Day 2000, I’ve lived in Washington DC for three months, started a new business, gotten married, bought a house, got divorced, become responsible for two teenage cousins who I call “my kids,” and traveled quite often. I am trying not to focus on the things I haven’t done (written a book, dealt with some personal issues I should deal with, started that second tempting new business, started a new relationship, etc). Instead I want to look forward and create new goals for the next year and the next decade.
Some of my friends have been posting fun Livejournal entries where they upload one picture of themselves doing something fun for each year of the last decade. It’s fun to see how their hair, fashions, bodies and lives have changed.
Spend some time today thinking about your next year and next ten years. Where do you want to be ten years from now? What things do you want to accomplish? Any goals you want to write down for yourself? Goals for your family? Goals for your home? Goals for your work?
Tonight I am not doing any housecleaning. Instead, I’m getting out journals, old letters, photos, a glass of wine (but just one, so my head is clear while I think) and settling in front of the fireplace with soft music and a long talk with myself.
LOVELY MOVIES:
I’m not sure if there were really any stories left untold at the end of the first Sex and the City movie. But I’m always up for a nice Girls Night Out – cocktails and then a fun movie where you can drool over clothes, jewelry and shoes. So I’ll eagerly anticipate seeing this in May!
Sex and the City 2 Trailer, at Apple
LOVELY QUOTE OF THE DAY:
There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves.
-Thomas Wolfe
LOVELY SHOPS: Huset
Today I’m enjoying browsing through this Scandinavian design online store. While modern Scandinavian is not the style I decorate in, I’m still finding pieces here and there I’d like to incorporate into my “cozy cottage” decor. I love their charming kitchen linens, and I wish I could come up with a good excuse to buy these Sagaform retro bowls. The products here are clean and colorful, a bit whimsical, and definitely cheerful. There’s furniture, lighting, dishes, decor, textiles, and clothing for women and children. Plus a bit of jewelry and handbags.
(Note to new Lovely Living readers: When I mention a shop I’ve come across, I’m passing it along because I think you might enjoy it too, not because I’ve been asked to or paid to. I occasionally do use Amazon or eBay affiliate links in my posts, but never in the LOVELY SHOPS section of the blog).
LOVELY LINKS FOR TODAY:
Bite-Sized Resolutions (Canoe Lifewise)
Create a Cozy Winter Living Room (Better Homes & Gardens)
Create an At-Home Spa (Every Day With Rachael Ray)
Crushed Broad Bean, Feta and Mint Dip (Donna Hay)
How to Make Lentil Soup (CHOW)
Live Your Best Year (Oprah Magazine)
Post-Holiday Recovery Menu (CHOW)
10 Ways to Eat Wisely in the New Year (Seattle Times)
10 Worst Dining Trends of the Last Decade (Seattle Times)