What are You Reading?

Happy Monday!

Okay - first things first - Do NOT tell me what happened on Downton Abbey last night!  I am going downstairs in about 5 minutes to see for myself!  It feels like Christmas - I am SO excited!

 If you recall, my santa list had a lot of books on it.  I am slowly getting through them all.  Thus far, one book I would highly recommend is Nate Berkus' Things That Matter.

A confession - I did not care much for Nate's first book, Home Rules, though I love Nate to pieces.  I found it too "before and after" if you know what I mean, and though he talked about rules, they were somtimes not clear or at least not relatable to me and my life.  For me, the best decor book about rules, bar none is The Perfectly Imperfect Home by Deborah Needleman. 

Nate's new book is different.  He uses examples from his own life, and tragedies, and spends a lot of time explaining why we need things that matter around us and how to take those things and use them to their best advantage.  And it is wonderfully written, especially when he describes his Tsunami experience and losing his partner Fernando.  The rest of the book is filled with chapters about other people and their "things that matter" and it is a beautiful, thoughtful book.  Well done Nate!  I think I may do my own Things That Matter Post in the next couple of days, he has so inpsired me!

But before I go on to read my other books, I was stopped short, having found out that the incomparable Tana French had a new novel out and that I had somehow missed that!  Well I have missed a lot recently, should I be surprised?

Who is Tana French?  Her website says: 

Tana French grew up in Ireland, Italy, the US and Malawi, and has lived in Dublin since 1990. She trained as a professional actress at Trinity College, Dublin, and has worked in theatre, film and voiceover.

I say: she is one of the most amazing storytellers I have come across in years!

These are murder mysteries and the protaganists in each story are various members of the Dublin Murder Squad.  The dialogue is so good you feel like you have just stepped into the world of an Irish cop.  And then the story sucks you in.  The neat thing is that various characters appear to varying degrees in the books - one character may have a very minor role in one book, only to be the lead in another.

I recommend that you read them in the order they have been written:

 

And finally, the one I am halfway through and cannot put down (except to go see the Crawleys!):




They are all available at Amazon and are so worth a read!  Have you read any of these?  I was especially thinking of you FFM, as I know you love your mysteries!

Today, after I am up to date with Downton Abbey, I will clean and take down the Christmas Tree.  Our whole house needs a good going over and I think that some good strenous housework is just what the doctor ordered! 

What are your plans today?

J Crew Reviews - The UPS Man Cometh and the last day of Christmas!

Okay - before we begin:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LR, she of the wonderful blogspot manificentoregregious!!!  Hope it is a good one!

Which also means:  Happy Half-Birthday Ema!

Blow out the candles and go get yourselves something special on me.... :-) 




Now that we have eaten some cake, we can down to the serious stuff!

Well jeepers creepers!  I got 4 J Crew boxes on Friday.  I think everything was from the 30% off sale which was over before Christmas and in some cases, well before Christmas.  And the Purolator Man has been replaced by the UPS man.  I am worried about my Purolator Man - carrying too many boxes to my house?  Has he fallen on the battle field, only to be replaced by a brown van?

But never mind.  For once, I think I am keeping it all, and that is not a bad thing since all of it was 30% off already very low prices to begin with!

As per my friend Dani, I am going to do this post in colour stories.  OH they won't be as nice as hers, but is an homage, not perfection!

The first will be called PERFECTLY PINK. 

I want you to know that I realize how goofy that is.  I really do.  I am doing it anyway!

So the thing is, I looked at the pink wool herringbone pants for many months.  I had admired them originally in the Fall 2012 lookbook:

This is one of those looks that you see in Septemmber and you think - how cute!  Pink in the winter!  The colour is described as "Romance Pink".  But I just kept thinking "I bet they are an ugly pink in person".  And you know why I thought that?  Because of all my colours misses this past year, that's why.  J Crew should have a sign that says "colours on your screen will look NOTHING like real life"!

So I resisted the romance and I ordered the black/ivory version, which fit well and I was happy with.  But they were always there in the background, waiting for me... Finally they went on sale for 30% off of the sale price of $70 CDN and I thought "Come one old girl, if they are that bad you can wear them when you are all alone.."  So I hit the "submit order" button and wondered.

At the same time, I went back to the Chiffon Blouse well (you didn't know that there was a chiffon blouse well?  Well there is, heehee!  It is located right near the neon well, which J Crew keeps returning to and with very mixed results if you ask me!) as I really liked the chiffon blouse in pewter which I had recently purchased (see Boxing Day if you want another gander at that one!).  The only colour left in my size was soft fuchsia so I threw that in with the pink trousers.

Full disclosure here:  I expected to go nuts for the chiffon blouse and be so-so for the trousers.  But my reaction was just the opposite!  I am not 100% positive about the blouse, although I will likely keep it and I love the trousers!  They are a romance to me:

I did not style these much - just threw on a pair of nude heels.  And I have NO idea why my picture is so fuzzy - there is some ghost in the machine in blogger and I am having to do things through the backdoor...Yes - my hair is straight in this photo - I do like to do that now and then!  It is a lot of work and it doesn't last, kind of like my attempts at sit-ups.  The pink is a sweet pink on the trousers, not at all bubblegum pink, which had been my concern.  The chiffon blouse was a little brighter than I had hoped, but I think i will keep it as it is a nice underpinning. If you want a pair of the trousers, grab them here! 

Now my conundrum!  I want the darn jacket!  So I will watch for popbacks!  If anyone sees that pink schoolboy in their store in a size 8, by all means, let me know!

The pink blouse appears to be sold out but keep checking back here.

So that was pink.  Now, we go to the Land of VIOLENT VIOLET!

I really liked the shape and length of this skirt.  But it was the dreaded polyester.  So I left it alone.  And then a few weeks ago I had the chance to pick it up for $30, could think of a few ways to style it, still loved the colour and could not afford the fantastic suede one that the lovely blogger Will Work 4 Shoes has and which you can see here.

If you want the poor cheap cousin, it can still can be found here. :-)

When  I was placing the order I decided to throw in the bling bling cardigan in deep violet as well as the little matching bracelet.  They were all so inexpensive that I felt they were worth a try!  I see that the cardigan is currently sold out in violet, but this is JCrew, so keep checking back here and for the bracelet as well.

Again - sorry about picture quality - once blogger has cleaned itself up, I will clean this up.  I would wear this skirt with black tights and pumps or boots.  I really like the colour.  It is NOT byzantine blue, it is a true blue violet.  I am going to try to do some things on polyvore with this re: other colour combinations!

I realized once I was wearing it that in fact it is the perfect match for the mirror tshirt.

You can see the pieces together below:

 This is the frustrating thing about J Crew.  The colour of this tshirt is simply "Ivory".  But wouldn't you think they might have also said "Ivory, plus that cool deep violet we used elsewhere?"  Would that be so hard???

And below, with the bracelet:

This is a lovely bracelet.  It is called the wild side and has a leather-like texture.  You can see a similar bracelet in leopard print here.  Again - this will likely pop back!  Unless you are desperate for it - I never did get a popback on the giverny pencil skirt in 2008!

My last purchase was a lucky popback of the wool houndstooth scarf in currant and grey.  You can see it on the lovely Gigi of the fabulous blog Gigi's Gone Shopping, who blogged about this scarf here.

I wanted it for the new winter coat I received for Christmas.  Actually, I have now only worn that coat once as it has been -20 for a week and frankly, at -20, I only wear my Lands End Down Coat,  It is not elegant, but it is warm!

Here it is with the coat:

And a closeup of the pattern:

It is currently (no pun on currant unless you want it to be a pun on currant and then help yourself!) sold out but will likely pop back.  I think it is lovely and I will wear this other items in my wardrobe - will put together a few pairings and post them back later.

So all in all, I am quite pleased with these purchases.  I do not mind the polyester skirt as it is heavy and lined and if it only looke great for one winter or two I will be happy given how little I paid for it!

But now I want that darn blazer.  sigh....

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On the Twelfth Day of Christmas WMM gave to me:

The Gift of Joy!

I was thinking long and hard about what picture I was going to put up for my final gift to you all today.  Over the last six months that I have been blogging, we have discussed clothes, houses, families, current events, whatever.  Over the last twelve days, I have really been focusing inwards as I make some decisions about what I want from the next 50 years of my life.

I came across this photograph and I knew it was the one to end with.  This was taken the first night I was in Paris.  We are sitting in the outdoor cafe immediately to the right of the Shakespeare and Co. bookshop.  I am drinking a glass of good wine.  In the back you can see an artist painting.  If we could pan out wider, you would see Notre Dame behind him.  I am feeling, and looking, completely joyful.  Every moment in life cannot be pure bliss.   You don't recognize the highs if you haven't seen the lows.  But still... If you are mostly seeing lows, it is time for a change.

In 2013, I am going to be seeing that face more often.  I hope you will all stick with me as I continue to stumble along.  And I hope to hear of, and see, your joys as well! 

As a good disciple of L.M. Montgomery, she of my beloved Anne of Green Gables series, when I think of the word joy I am always reminded of the verse from the 30th psalm:

weeping may endure for a night,

but joy cometh in the morning. I wish you the most joyful of years and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for stopping by!  I said recently that you had made me brave.  You coming to visit me has reminded me of how much I love to write and has reminded me that I need to pursue my creativity.  I might never have come to that realization as quickly without you all.  I have decided to take a short sabbatical from work and finally rest and get rejuvenated.  I have worked so long and hard, even through my dad's death, that I am more than tired and haven't been feeling well at all.  This break will give me lots of time for reflection and i am grateful for that time.  I will still be here though - hope you will be too!  Much love, Wendy

Saturday in which WMM makes some confessions and visits Notre Dame Cathedral

Happy Saturday All!

Guess what?  It is snowing again, that's what!  Thank Goodness, because we really needed the snow!!

I think you are all pretty well aware of my, um, technical/computer challenges.  I plead guilty and blame it on my job, which has required me to work 60-80 hours per week.  One of my resolutions has been to A) actually understand Blogger B) become more familiar with and actually use polyvore and C) become more familiar with and actually use pinterest.

Do not disabuse me of this pursuit.  2013 is about fun.  I promise to balance all internet pursuits with reading and exercise.  For some odd reason, I have also decided to read all of Dickens this year.  I know, I know, the Centenary celebration of his life is now over, but can I be blamed if I am fashionably late.  As you know, I am about to turn 50 - who knows what other wacky ideas I will come up with before this year is done?

So I have started taking tentative steps in pinterest and it is quite addictive!  It appears that the world is full of beautiful images and recipes and ideas?  Well not me, I was writing briefs and reading documents!

And then Patricia got me on to Apartment Therapy's January Cure.  Which I have done none of yet, but the way, but my intentions are good!

However, while at the Apartment Therapy site, noodling around, I cam across the picture below:



source

I must make another startling confession: Oh sure, I love my kitchen, with its own cheap reno that we did a decade ago, Remember here? I even showed a couple of dream photos there, but then I saw the picture above and it got me to dreaming...

I dream of a kitchen reno!  And there would be copper! And 6 burners!  and a double oven!  and butcher's block!  and marble!  and a walk-in pantry:

Isn't that an amazing pantry???

I am going to need a big bank of windows to look out through:



source

Isn't it fun to dream of what you would do if you had scads of money?  Since I do not currently have this money, I am going to enjoy building my dream kitchen in my castle in the sky, and yes, making a kitchen category in pinterest!!!

How about you?  Any dream rooms in your head?

All of my J Crew boxes, orders which were placed 3 1/2 weeks ago, showed up in one fell swoop yesterday.  Surprisingly, I think there will be no returns!  I will take some pictures today and post them over the next couple of days!  Think pink and violet, and not necessarily together!

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On the 11th day of Christmas, WMM gave to me

A Reminder of the Beauty of Fine Workmanship and Taking the time to SEE

The picture above is just a small snippet of some of the amazing carvings on Notre Dame in Paris.

When I visit cathedrals such as this one, I am continually amazed by the workmanship, the design, the sheer time it took to actualize the dream of this Cathedral.  While I like to imagine that the people working on this church were doing so for the glory of God, I know that is not the case. These were hardworking men who needed whatever the Chuch would give them so they could feed their families.  I wonder if such exquisite craftsmanship exists today? (surely it does, but on such a scale?)

I imagine that certain fellows were good at certain things and I particularly wonder who they modelled the faces of the saints and the apostles after? Each other? I enjoyed Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth", but I think I need to get a nonfiction book to help me out here.  Anyone have a good recommendation?

What this reminds me of is that it is good to take your time and do your best.  One of my greatest flaws is a lack of patience (see: another confession!).  I rush through things at times, I make little errors, I miss the details.  I have never needed or wanted perfection, but I would like to learn to be less careless and learn to take my time.  When I visited Notre Dame it was almost overwhelming - there was so much to see, so many little details that it almost became a blur.  You can't take it all in.  So I focused on several sections of the church and just stared at them and did not worry about the rest; there would be other trips and other opportunities.  The panel above is one of the sections that I stared long and hard at.  It felt like it became My panel.  I just need to remember that sometimes!

Have a very happy Saturday and stay safe out there!

Miller Time Friday Brought to you by Vanilla and Navy

It is still cold here!  Someone has got to turn up the heat!

Okay, my disorganization is still here with me!  I haven't even begun to dismantle Christmas, as we have workmen coming today to lay the laundry room floor and all of my appliances are in my family room and I can't even get to my Christmas boxes.  That's okay.  Tomorrow is another day, as Scarlett would say!  Until I can get back to Tara I will continue to read and relax.  Tabs - I had a Vanilla Bean Latte yesterday at Starbucks - thought of you, though I don't think  you drink the vanilla.

But don't you think that Vanilla is the official "flavour" of January?

I guess it is that velvety off-white colour that seems so appropros when you look out at the winter weather..

You can wear it, decorate with it:

 Make a lovely cake with it:

1. 

I make one by Nigella Lawson and here is the recipe here:

Ingredients

• 2.25 teaspoon(s) baking powder
• 188 ml Vegetable oil
• 250 ml milk
• 625 ml Flour
• 4 egg(s)
• 500 ml caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon(s) vanilla

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line two 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pans or one 9x13-inch (23 x 33 cm) rectangular baking pan with parchment paper. Grease the paper and the sides of the pan well.
2. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs together until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Add flour, milk, oil, baking powder, and vanilla and beat for another minute, just until the batter is smooth and creamy. Don't overbeat. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan(s).
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick poked into the center of the layer comes out clean. (A single rectangular pan will take longer to bake than two round ones.) Loosen the sides of the cake from the pan with a thin knife, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper. Let cool completely before covering with frosting, if desired.

Today I am all in black yesterday, I was completely in navy!





All J Crew (Merino turtleneck, tippi cardigan and wool cafe capris)

Since it is Miller Time, I reminded myself of the following:

Yohoho and all that!!!  Dani - best set out the coke - we may need to go immediately to the hardstuff tonight!

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On the 10th Day of Christmas WMM gave to me:

A reminder that there are many paths to take




Sometimes in life, we go round and round.  Sometimes we go down paths only to find that we are somewhere other than our intended destination.  That's okay.  What I love best when I travel is taking, to quote Mr. Frost, "The Road Less Travelled". 

You just never know what is around the corner.  At least I don't.  This picture reminds me of a very hot day at a medieveal village in southern France.  People have walked through this little alley for centuries.  I am just another set of feet poking along and I take a lot of comfort in that.  Fabulous Florida Mommy always has such great advice and wise words in her blog.  I particularly liked her most recent wise words here.  Time does indeed have a way of showing us what is important.  Take those little sidepaths.  And look for me around the corner, as I will be there (only today, I will be holding a rum and coke!)

Have a safe day out there!

Breaking Up with the Internet Can be Hard to do!

Well I did start to declutter yesterday!  It was a small, and only partial, victory.

Are you like me - do you find your inboxes, both at home and at work, filled not only with too many "real" tasks, but equally filled with emails from any company you have ever had online dealings with?

I spent an hour last night unsubscribing to a myriad of things.  It was tedious.  And sometimes, it was downright evil how complicated some of these companies make it to unsubscribe from their daily missives!

They were all "sorry" to see me go!  The only one who will not be sorry, I think, is my wallet!  How many times have I been working away or surfing the web and suddenly some little "Hey there WMM we are starting a sale just for you!" message pops up on the screen and like pavlov's ever-loving dog, I dilligently click and head over. 

No more!  From now on, I will discover about the sales in the old-fashioned way:

1) I will either be visiting the site and stumble upon them because I am at the site for a specific reason or more likely,
2) I will hear about them by word of mouth and decide whether or not I want to visit them!  Case in point was this a.m.  I am getting no emails from J Crew now.  Either JCA or Gigi noted there were new additions, I decided I would check for one specific item to see if it had gone on sale (much coveted turquoise fancy pants, which with 30% off, a gift card and some money I had in paypal for some items I had sold, was basically a freebie.)  I have decided NOT to visit these sites daily now looking for elusive popbacks.  All of which should help me very much in my attempt to both save money and stick to my budget AND be happier with what I have!  But believe me, it is hard to extricate yourself from all of these sites!

Are any of you continuously harassed/taunted/wooed by all of these websites?

Sadly, the picture taken by my son of me finally drinking my View Cliquot Champagne on New Years Day has completely disappeared from my blackberry and the camera!  it is as if it was never taken!  Take my word for it - I looked really pretty!!!  WIll have to be re-do on that one!

SO...

Yesterday I went to the doctor.  I have not been to the doctor for quite some time, being a fairly healthy kind of gal.  Since my Dr. is very good-looking, I like to dress a little bit nicely, even if I am on holidays and basically want to wear my PJs all day.

Very simple outfit, grey tweed capris (it was cold outside!), navy Michaell Kors top over the JC Crew navy polka dot tie blouse!  Warm and comfortable!

In keeping with my story of yesterday, Mr. WMM, he of the "Tim the Tool-Man Taylor" Camp, posed in the laundry room in all of his reno glory:

Yes, you will have to look sideways.  I do not know why!  Ghost in the machine, likely punishing me for all of the places that i have unsubscribed from in the last 24 hours!!

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On the 10th Day of Christmas, WMM gave to me...

A Lovely Stroll Down the Garden Path!

For me, winter is to reading as summer is to gardening!  I love getting outside with my hands in all the deep rich earth and having lovely chats with some of the laggards.  It is important to do that you know - some plants are just naturally show-offs, others need some cajoling and petting!

It is still -28 here with the windchill.  In that spirit, I suggest we take a quick walk down to the Potager:

You will see I have a table all set for two, although the more, the merrier.  There is plenty of mint for the mint juleps and the mojitos, lemonade or ice tea for those who prefer to drive home rather than be carried off by the fairies.  Later on, when the fireflies come out, we will wait for my little groundhog to come snuffling out - he is always good for a show.  We will leave the front yard to Mr. Skunk.  And the peepers will be singing away and at some point, we will have to switch to Sangrias and maybe Barry will bring out the guitar for a sing-a-long.  Now that is a nice way to deal with a cold winter's day!

Have a wonderful day out there!  and stay safe!

January AKA The Morning After

If December is the month of excess, pretty decorations and soft glowing candlelight, January is the calendar equivalent of "The Morning After". 

Once we clear away the Christmas paraphernalia (which by the way I have not done yet), we stop and look around at our newly bare spaces in the cold light of January and say:

1) I am sick of this room!  We need to move some furniture around!
2) I didn't realize how awful that paint colour looks!
3) How can we get through another year with that couch/chair/carpet/fill in your own blank. 
4) who needs all these clothes and where am I going to wear them anyway?  How come nothing fits?  The latter is a rhetorical question, since we all know what happened to make something not fit..

You, my friend, are suffering from the post-Christmas/early January blahs!

But there is a cure!  It is called organizing and decorating!

There is a reason that every issue of every January magazine extolls the vision of exercisem dieting and organizing: they are trying to keep us busy!

They take us from this

and lead us to this:

But it is a truth universally acknowledged, at least in this house, that cleaning and organizing seem to lead to spending money.  We purge, we clean and then we think we need something to replace it.  Or that special bins would make all the difference. Or that we have given away or sold so much clothing, surely it must be replaced....

This year, I will do my best to resist an outlay of cash in my pursuit of organization!  I will resist repainting and will instead tack up a picture or two over chipped spots.  Besides, we are 1/2 way through a renovation of our laundry room and I am sure I cannot talk Mr. WMM into anything else right now!  I will "shop" my own house if I feel the need to redecorate.  But I cannot resist moving the furniture and I know that Mr. WMM will be very sad to hear that.  Ah well, a small price to pay for a fresh outlook on life and avoid the January blahs!

My friend Cate is about to renovate her bathroom.  While I hate the whole renovation process, I am always thrilled by the results.  Since we have been in our house we have reno'd both bathrooms.  I have already shown one of our bathrooms, the more elegant one, in my post here.

My other bathroom is meant to feel like a cottage bathroom.  You have seen parts of it before, as I often take pictures in there.  We did all of the work ourselves. You can decide if that was wise or not!   I don't know what kind of bathroom you have, Cate, but I do have some suggestions that might help.

Looking into the bathroom.  You can see it is very small.  When we bought this house it had terrible tile that was so ugly.  We also did not have a lot of money.  But Mr. WMM was smart, and since I wanted a cape cod/maine kind of look, he simply put beaded board right over the old tile, except around the bathtub, where he took the walls down to the studs.  This saved a LOT of money and work and we even took the beaded board right up over the ugly popcorn ceiling. You loose an inch or two of space, but save a lot!

 This gives a bit better short of the beaded board. 

We have a huge shower in our other bathroom, so we decided to only put in a tub in this bathroom.  We actually bought our bathroom months in advance of starting the work, as it was such a good price.  It sat in our backroom.  It became quite the conversation piece.  We found some lovely glass tiles that look like beach glass to put around the tub and the lower part of the wall.  We didn't have the space to put in a huge whirlpool tub, but we found a very deep regular-sized one that is divine to sit in and have relaxing baths. 

Over the tub is a chandelier.  Do not worried - it is grounded and were it to ever fall, would cut off from the electricity immediately.  It is also on a dimmer, which is a nice for a relaxing bath.  Above it is a large photo of 1990 NYC, an antique door header, some lovely glass, a little painting done by a friend and my turquoise foo dogs, who move around the house.

At one end of the tub is an assemblage of an original painting, flea market finds a photograph of my children at the beach.

At the other end, is a painting I got for $100 at local art show by a young woman starting out. 

And across the way is a glass etagere, which is particularly messy as I took these photos at the end height of Christmas.

The cost of this bathroom reno, tub and flooring and paint in, was about $3000.  Of course, you do need a man that is handy!  Not sure if this is helpful Cate!

And now I know which room needs some cleaning!!!!!

How about you?  Any reno/redecorating/organizing plans now that you are cleaning out the Christmas "row"?(there's a good Maritimes word for you - pronounced like wow!)

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On the 9th Day of Christmas WMM gave to me:

A taste of the beach!

This picture was taken around 1998 at New River Beach.  New River Beach is practically unswimmable - at the height of summer it only hits a balmy 60 degrees typically.  But we loved to go there as a family and take walks and have picnics and let the kids play on the beach. 

Some of you are lucky enough to live near the beach or somewhere warm year round.  When I look out my window today, I am seeing 4 feet of snow and it is -28 with the windchill.  But like the hummingbirds, this picture makes me smile remembering a very hot day spent on a very lovely beach near a very cold body of water and happy times.  Those days will come again; they always do!  But it is nice to remember that the days are getting longer and summer is coming!

Have a lovely day out there!  I am off to clean and start to slowly pack up Christmas!

HAPPY 2013!

Happy NewYear!  It is 8 a.m. on New Year's Day where I am.  My basement is full of sleeping teenagers.  Everyone (sadly including me!) went to bed sober.  I didn't even open the champers!  You know what that means: Happy New Year Day to Me!  I have a recipe for champagne risotto that will be paired with a roast duck and some broccoli later today and of course, my chilled champagne! 

What we did do last night:

Fireworks!  We live outside our city and so are allowed to do fireworks.  Husband and son have it down to a science!  All went well and lots of oohs and aahs!  We only had a couple that look like the one below.  It is a truth known to all that to get a really good fireworks show, you need to spend a lot of money.  But we have fun anyway!

Trivial Pursuit!  I have not played this for MANY years, but all of the houseguests loved it!  It is clear to me however that 2013 will be about learning my geography better!

New Years with Anderson and Kathy Griffin.  Oh I know - she is completely inappropriate.  Darn right rude.  But my goodness she can make me laugh and Anderson Cooper is her perfect foil.  I had more belly laughs between 11 pm and 1 am (which is when the balls drops in Times Square.  The joy of living in the Atlantic Time Zone is we are happy to do New Year's twice.  Twice as many toasts!) than I have had in months. 

But today is New Year's Day.  If yesterday was about looking back, today is about looking forward.

My friend Julie, over at the wonderful blog JulieStyles, has written a wonderful post about her 2013 style resolutions.  It is well worth a read!  And it appears that Shopping with M will be sharing more housewares than fashion wares with us in 2013, which I think will be so much fun!  And WellFedFred has some great words of inspiration and reminders of what is important in her blog today as well.

Do I have any resolutions?  Oh sure the usual - eat less, exercise more, save the world.

But realistically, I have boiled it down to one over-arching resolution for 2013:

Grip the Club Less Tightly and Choose Happiness.

I guess this falls into the "don't sweat the small stuff category", but it is slightly more than that for me.  Earlier this fall, I came across a book that is actually almost 4 years old, 10-10-10: A Life Transforming Idea, by Suzy Welch.  It was in the $3 bin at my local bookstore.  It was well worth the $3!

The premise of the book is simple.  The author argues that using the 10-10-10 principle when making decisions (what will be the impact of any important decision in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years?) provides clarity and perspective and thus leads to better, more aligned, decision-making and in turn, ehanced contentment.

I don't know about you, but I find that the older I have gotten, I have forgotten at times how to have fun.  I niggle at stupid things.  I agree to things because others, or my conservative self, tells me I should do them.  I have a lot of guilt if I am not doing it all perfectly.  Maybe that isn't you.  But boy, it is me sometimes!  My husband tells me all the time that I am gripping the club too tightly. 

source

So this year, I am loosening my grip.  And I am going to actively use the 10-10-10 principle, which, to the extent I have used it to date, has forced me to think about how happy and how content or at peace any particular decision will make me in the future.  It is my experience that when I consciously choose happiness or peace, the results are always better because I bring my whole heart and talents into the process.  And choosing happiness doesn't simply mean choosing happiness for me - it will also be about how I can choose to make others happy by giving back. 

I even think the 10-10-10 principle will help in choosing what clothing to purchase! Hello J Crew sale!

How about you?  Any resolutions for 2013?

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On the 8th Day of Christmas WMM gave to me:

A Vineyard in the South of France!


My Summer Vacation - No grapes of wrath here!



"We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry."-E. B. White

E.B. White is one of my philosopher kings.  If you ever get a chance to read not only his works, but his wonderful letters, by all means, do so!

This quote, coupled with this photograph I took in late August in France at a wonderful vineyard, remind me that we must all try and live joyful lives.  Each one of those lives will look different and that is okay.  As I march towards my 50th birthday, I think I am a lot like the grapevine above - full of lots of ripe grapes, but with some browning and fading around the edges.  I choose to see the grapes and the greenery.  Now it is time to start making wine!

I hope you have a wonderful day!  I will definitely take a picture of me (finally!) drinking my champers!

Stay Safe Out There!

xoxo