It takes a village

The party last night was great - mostly because everyone felt comfortable enough to have a good time.  I couldn't have pulled it off by myself, though.  Thank you to my mom who spent hours last Friday cleaning my house and loaned me plates, silverware, and chairs.  Thank you to Amy M. and Lisa D. who loaned me glasses, napkins, and tables.  And thank you to everyone who gave me ideas on how to rearrange my furniture so that everyone would have a place to sit. 

I was forced into using my favorite combination of gray and gold, because my decor is gray and my mom's plates are gold.  It was definitely a challenge trying to match so many different items from different places, but it worked!  Now it's time for a nap.

The tyranny of rising expectations

I started this blog under the influence of Dr. Richard Swenson's book In Search of Balance.  After a year of  "finding soul balance", I actually feel fairly balanced.  However, now I feel like there is too much of everything.  I often move at such a rapid pace that I have no time to take a breath.  So, I've started reading another one of his books called Margin.   

In planning my husband's company Christmas party for tomorrow night, I have been occasionally overwhelmed by the never-ending details.  I have to stop and remember that it won't be perfect.  With all of the entertaining magazines and blogs out there, I should be able to come up with the perfect decor, the appropriate music, and the best food.  The reality is that I can hardly finish cleaning one area before my children have created a whole city made out of tiny little pieces of paper in another area. 

And of course, the biggest question is - What should I wear?

With all of these clothes, why do I feel like I have nothing to wear?  I believe it is due to the tyranny of rising expectations created by our super-information culture.  What happened to the age in which people had one nice dress that they wore to church and all special events?  We have so many options, that we expect things to be more than perfect.

So thanks to analysis provided by reading Dr. Swenson's book, I am going to re-frame our party tomorrow night from the idea of "entertaining" to the idea of "hospitality".  We didn't invite everyone to our house to show off our "fancy" things.  We invited them so they will feel comfortable and enjoy each other.  As I have said before, it's people that make a party.

Now it's starting to smell like Christmas

I just received the most addicting Christmas gift in the mail -

My husband's boss sent us this candle, and I can't stop smelling it.  It doesn't even have to be lit to fill the whole room with the best holiday smell of deep, sweet, yummy fruit. 

I'm not a frequent purchaser of fancy candles, but I may need more of these.  You can buy them at http://www.nestfragrances.com/.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I really need some cheering up today.  While the fireplace guy was here last week giving us a quote on repairs to our fireplace, he noticed that our furnace is vented improperly.  And by "improperly", I mean that the pipe has a huge hole running down the side of it causing it to possibly release carbon monoxide into our house.  The furnace guy just gave me an estimate on the repairs - "expensive". 

So, I'm going to focus on the happier side of my life - we just got our Christmas tree.  Christmas trees make me smile...after we have finished decorating it and have cleaned up all of the mess.  My girls like the down home crafty look with paper chains, handmade ornaments and edible candy canes.  (And I think I see a shiny furnace pipe with an exhaust fan under the tree.)

Energy



Photo by Dan Irwin



Some people are born with a lot of energy.  The guy jumping his bike is our friend Doug, who has the most energy of anyone I've ever met.  I, on the other hand, am naturally a low energy person.  This is more my speed -

Especially during the holiday season, I try to grab energy from wherever I can find it.  Here are the 3 things that have helped me the most -

1. Zumba - This is basically trying to follow a very dancy,bouncy instructor while jumping up and down for an hour.  It seems counter-intuitive that exercise would give you energy, but it does.  Evidently, jumping and running around like children with high intensity causes your body to release "young" hormones.  Read more about it at http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2010/12/24/a-fountain-of-youth-in-your-muscles.aspx.
2. Wellness Formula - I take a lot of vitamins, but this is the only one that I can actually feel working.  If I feel like I'm coming down with a cold, I start taking this.  I can literally feel the cold go away.  You can buy this at Whole Foods.  (I am not a doctor, and this is not doctor's advice.  Do not take if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.) 

 3. Sleep - This is an obvious one, but I often have to force myself to go to bed even when I'm not done with everything I want to do in a day.

It's definitely harder for me to exercise and sleep when I'm busy (like now), because those are the two easiest activites to cut out of my schedule.  But I have to do what is important and not just what seems urgent.  So, let's all grab some energy this weekend!

Color blocking

Here is some fun color blocking that I saw in New York -

And here are some cute options that are available now -

More Asos...

More Johann Earl...

More Max & Cleo...

More J. Jill...

Have a colorful Friday!

Warm wishes

It's finally cold enough here for me to talk about the best thing I found in the Roswell antique store a few weeks ago.  While I was wandering around looking for cute odds and ends, I noticed this -

I didn't even try it on, because I was pretty sure I didn't want to dive into the whole "fur" controversy.  I left the store but couldn't stop thinking about it.  It was so beautiful...and such a good deal.  I texted my New Yorker friend Elizabeth.  She told me to buy it.  I went back.  It fit me perfectly. 

I need a warm coat to wear when I go back to New York in February, and this is the warmest thing I've ever put on my body.  And it's second hand.  So, that's my justification, and I'm sticking to it.