the happy living Blog

what i am not buying

 

from Happiknits via Dooce

This post was inspired by Joslyn and Sarah.

decluttering magazines

For a long time I have been a magazine junkie.  It all started with Seventeen and it was down hill from there.  Until recently I had baskets of partially or unread mags strewn about the house.  Over the holidays I went through most of them and they went out with the recycling last week.  I have also started canceling a few of them as they come up for renewal.

I consider this a decluttering of the mind as much as it is of the house.  I truly believe there is only so much information and inspiration that one person can absorb in any given amount of time.  I spend so much of my time on the internet these days where I feel as though I get most of what I need there.  As I write this, the rumors of Domino's closing have come true today.  I wonder if it is just a sign of the times.  Something is happening with print media.  But I digress.

Having a few subscriptions to the magazines that I really delve into when they arrive means less baskets around the house to trip over.  They can be displayed in fun ways too, really showing off the gorgeous covers each month.

I like this display and photo taken by Mika.

 

Mika has a lovely blog!

chalkboard door of my very own

I forgot to show you this!  After my mini-obsession with chalkboard paint, I finally used it at our house on the closet door in my studio.

 

I doubt I will ever actually draw or write on the door with chalk.  I just love the matte blackness of it! I am planning on painting the front of our pantry door in our kitchen too.

A couple of notes:  The doors throughout our house are cheap hollow-core, natural (ugly) finish doors.  These are the first two that I have painted.  I used (2) coats of Benjamin Moore primer and so far have applied (1) one finish coat of chalkboard paint (the brush-on kind) and Benjamin Moore Super White (my favorite white paint) semi-gloss on each door respectively.  They both need (1) one additional finish coat.  Really easy and fun.

the spending hiatus : 2 week update

I'm a little tardy due to being a little under the weather but here goes.

Things I (we) bought: contact lenses, groceries, chinese takeout on Friday (limited to eating dinner out once per week), I had lunch with a friend on Sunday so that was a non-essential, although spending quality time with friends is essential, and we (the boy and I) ate lunch together yesterday here and the new rule for that is once per week for eating lunch out.  Today I brought my lunch.  Cosi has been calling my name.

It has been neither easy nor difficult.  Somewhere in between I guess.  On one hand, it is freeing as Joslyn said, but on the other I do notice my small internal battles that go on when I am feeling the 'need' to shop either brick and mortar or online.  I found myself thinking about going into stores as I was passing by them on the street but then reminding myself that not only am I on a hiatus but I also DO NOT NEED ANYTHING.

I would say, online shopping is probably where I have the potential to struggle more.  It is soo easy.  I have an email account where I get all the shop emails, coupons, flyers, etc.  Anthropologie has some nice stuff on sale, did ya know?  And I got a coupon from Hable Construction.  I have actually started unsubscribing to most of the emails I get just so I don't have to look at them (which is a lot harder than one would imagine!).

I have been surprised at the snippets of time that I have seemed to gain by not shopping, even online.  But my mind is also clearer and that might be why I feel like I have more time.  The other benefit of doing this is my rate of bringing new stuff into the house is going down so that when I start bringing things to Goodwill (you should see the pile of crap in my basement) I will be able to see the difference at home.  Before I think my rate on 'in' and 'out' were pretty close.  I am looking forward to some winter/spring decluttering!

Big Picture:  For the last couple of years I have been longing more and more to live a simpler life, not because it is enviromentally friendly or politically correct or trendy to talk about right now, but because I believe it will be beneficial in countless ways for my little family.  I haven't defined for myself exactly what 'simple' means yet, but I think this exercise will help me in many aspects, mainly in identifying what is really important to me and that being happy comes from inside.

I'll leave it at that for now. ;)

the spending hiatus

I am on a 3-month non-essentials spending hiatus until April 15th.  There is a "support group" initiated by Joslyn of Simple Lovely (a lovely blog BTW).  I am trying to save money but also make better use of what I already have.  Join in or just follow along if you feel so inclined.  I will post each Monday as an update and also for some accountability.  There is a list of people on Joslyn's site who are participating.

I bought this tray on 1/14, just under the wire. ;)

jennifer squires' valentines collection

always.  lovely.

 

 

fine art prints available in her etsy shop

eazy bean

Love this.  It brings me back.

 

eazy bean modern bean bag chair

All There Is to Be (is Green)

All There Is to Be

The convenient truth: taking better charge of what we already have

By Dwight Young | From Preservation | January/February 2008 

These days, with everybody talking about "greening,"
It's obvious that what used to be just the name of a pretty color has
taken on a whole new meaning.
No matter how you feel about it—profoundly skeptical, utterly terrified, or only mildly annoyed—
Global warming (or if you prefer something a bit less apocalyptic and slightly more benign, climate change) is a topic you just can't avoid.
If you believe the pundits and prognosticators, it becomes more frighteningly apparent every day that it will take all the powers of Merlin and Gandalf and Spider-Man and Harry Potter
To keep mankind from burning up as the temperatures
keep getting hotter.
And while folks are sweltering
The polar icecaps are meltering.
And if this alarming trend keeps up, it won't be long before a worldwide sea level rise gives New York's penthouse dwellers an unsettling view
Of surfers hanging ten in the middle of Fifth Avenue.

Of course, every Tom, Dick, and Millie
Has a solution to the problem, some of which strike me as impractical, if not downright silly.
I saw a guy on TV, for instance, who earnestly insisted we all take up residence in houses made of bales of hay.
Let me say this about that: Nay.
Didn't one of the Three Little Pigs build his house of straw,
And didn't it make the Big Bad Wolf chortle and guffaw?
And here's another question that probably isn't very bright, but I'm going to go ahead and repeat it:
If your whole house is made of hay, what happens when a cow decides to eat it?

When you get right down to it, the crisis that we face today
Is simply the result of our longstanding love affair with wasting and polluting and throwing stuff away.
I certainly don't mean to downplay the seriousness of the crisis, but let's face it, it ain't exactly rocket science
To recognize that one fairly simple first step is for preservationists and environmentalists to form a strong, long-overdue alliance.
And proclaim this message: OK, people, over the course of these past few centuries we've all taken this poor old planet on a hair-raising, hell-for-leather ride,
But now it's time to stop this foolishness and let good
sense be our guide.
We're all in the same boat here (actually, it might be more accurate to say we're all in the same cooking pot)
And we need to spend less time running after whatever's newer and bigger, and more time making ourselves better stewards of what we've got.
I hope you won't think me mean

When I tell you that I'm getting pretty tired of hearing people quote Kermit the Frog saying it's not easy being green.
I'm not arguing with the simple, inescapable truth of that statement—but if you ask me, another line from that same song shows us what we really need to see:
Green is all there is to be.

via Preservation Magazine

something a little different for Valentine's Day?

a gift that keeps on giving, at least until you want to take it down.

 

Wonderful Graffiti: Everything is 25% off before 1/31 and they are offering free shipping for Valentine's Day.

photo wall inspiration

I am continually inspired by how others display their photos and art.

from my clip file... (via Elle Decor)