Posts Tagged ‘lifestyle’
When it comes to how we live with our furniture Chris and I are definitely at different ends of the lifestyle spectrum
He comes from the ancestry where the front room is for guests only and the good china is saved for special occasions; while my descendants were more the “Oh, dear the new puppy just chewed one the legs of the 18th century Hepplewhite mahogany dining table.”
As I am responsible for the care and feeding of the furniture we live in the relax and appreciate it environment. If you are a guest I’ll round up the dust bunnies but all in all you take the house as you find it. And don’t get me started on the concept of preserving something so that we can pass it on after we have died. I enjoy living with and using nice things; so after I have gone whomever can decide to keep it or put it in a garage sale but rest assured every scratch, dent and scuff will have a story or memory behind it.
Unfortunately though a mahogany dining table doesn’t fit in with our habits; as we eat, talk, laugh, plan and sometimes argue around this focal feature in the house. Instead we have a big Pier One table with a glass top. A squirt of Windex and it is ready to go for the next round of bill paying, newspaper reading, me on my laptop, deep discussion, wine drinking while dinner cooks and yes, actually eating a meal.
Our home is also a reflection of eclectic tastes; old with new, expensive with not so much. I love to mix things up; to position an ultra modern chocolate coloured couch in between two turn of the century tables. According to many interior designers an eclectic look is rarely done well and should not be attempted. I don’t listen to them either.
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In an O magazine article Looking for Stillness author (Riding In Cars With Boys), Beverly Donofrio goes monastery-hopping (her words) and she discovers ‘peace, clarity, connection, grace and a kind of hush’. At the end of the article she returns to the Nada Hermitage in Colorado “Where you can hear your own bare feet on the floor”.
When was the last time you heard your own bare feet on the floor?
If you are anything like me noise is embedded into your life. I get up, turn on the news so that I can hear what has transpired in the world while I slept. Feed excited and hungry dogs/cats, water runs, the coffee pot beeps to let me know when the coffee is ready, the toaster dings, my computer says “Good morning, Jill”, a phone rings and the day is underway.
As the hours progress my heels will click on busy pavement or loafers connect with my office’s hardwood but somehow I missed that moment when my bare feet quietly set my life in motion.
- Turn off the TV and computer
- Take every opportunity to travel
- Don’t allow yourself to be controlled
- Laugh a lot & be spontaneous
- Volunteer or work for less money if you are passionate about something
- Be open to new people, food and experiences
- Be creative, use your imagination
- Record your life – Keep a journal or take photographs
- Enjoy being independent
- Be wary of credit cards
- Love with honesty and respect
Have no fear, make mistakes & live in the center of your life
There are positive things about midlife. Goals and life priorities are clearer. Never a people pleasing, cannot say no kind of woman, I now care even less what some people think about me. I no longer worry about dust bunnies, the dogs muddy paws and how the towels are folded. I concentrate on the people and things in my life that are important to me and let all the rest go with a shrug of my shoulders.
Time has also made me a more relaxed cook and that has actually improved the meals coming out of the kitchen. I do pre-plan and shop a week ahead of time. A habit that is economically sound and allows me to make sure that I am preparing well balanced meals, especially with a diabetic beloved.
Some nights though a meal is two parts non-fuzzy things from the frig, one part what is left in the vegetable basket, combined with 1 1/2 cups of a non-descriptive rice or pasta from the cupboard. These meals are usually really tasty and it amuses me when Chris says “We should have that again”.
When I have finished writing this post I am off to the Saturday Farmers Market, where I will pick up some fresh baking. Because while I may love home baked cookies, I also know that I don’t need to be the person measuring out the flour & chocolate chips in order to have some.
It all started when I decided that each month this year, I would put up a photograph of a different city on the home page of TimeFinders Online Magazine. January’s edition featured New York. Then HARO (Help A Reporter Out) wrote about Nightshift NYC (book~blog~events). A fascinating look at a city that never sleeps and the people who work from sunset to sunrise.
Unlimited Magazine has an excerpt from the book and what seems for many of us a down the rabbit hole lifestyle. Until I read that I had never really thought about how hard it must be to function in a world that predominately revolves around a 9-5 way of life.
What is happening to the self-indulgent, leisurely, yes I deserve to spoil myself pastime of thank god that day is over, finally it’s the weekend, let’s have some with dinner, glass of wine? Wine consumption has become positively clinical with each improvement having a perfectly logical 21st century explanation.
We are told that screw caps & synthetic corks seem to be ‘ok’ for near term drinking but the verdict is still out on what happens with those wines that should be aged before they are ready to be enjoyed. Wine tumblers are convenient as they have no cumbersome stems and they fit in your dishwasher.
The whole plastic wine bottles/tetra-pak wine containers brings out my two conflicting personalities. Jekyll, my environmentally conscious, forward thinking side vs Hyde, traditionalist wine snob. Then, don’t even get me started on those pump action wine preservers, they sound like something that belong by the swimming pool.
It’s not really a wine snobbery thing (well, maybe a soupçon) so much as a we all thought bottled water was revolutionary and now look where that has taken us. All I know is that my wine rack has glass bottles gently reclining, one of which I will uncork and then pour it into my favorite wine glass that I will later have to wash by hand. I can feel myself relaxing already.