In my first post, I mentioned that I felt that my/our material possessions were starting to take over. But then when looking over the things that bother me, they seemed very materialistic and superficial. So let me explain.
Below I have posted a list of goals/steps to helping me find a stylish way of living.
1. Create a welcoming entryway into our home. I want guests (and those of us who live there) to feel relaxed and calm and happy when visiting us from the moment they walk in the door.
2. Organize our downstairs closets. Shockingly, our clothes closets are pretty well organized. It's our other stuff that is taking over. In the morning, I can become very stressed when looking for the right jacket or an item to pack in our lunches. Creating a grocery list is often impossible because I can't always see what I have in the pantry. I need to eliminate clutter to reduce stress.
3. Plant some flowers and vegetables. Flowers and fresh tomatoes make me happy. That's pretty much the whole reason behind this project.
4. Clean out my closets and drawers and donate any clothes that I don't absolutely love. I have way too many clothes and even more disappointing is how many of them don't actually fit into the style I'd like to have. By limiting myself to only outfits that I love, I hope to help get rid of the frazzled look I currently sport. It's important to note that I look frazzled because I am. Less choices, but better ones should help.
5. Work on some creative home projects. If you can't tell, I'm going through a major nesting phase. As we are about to become a family, I want our home to have more of a family feel to it, instead of it looking like two people and a dog use it as a storage facility. With any luck, it will encourage us to slow down a little and spend more time at home.
6. Work with Bentley, our Scottie to become a better team and establish more rules to make everyone's lives more enjoyable. (Ok, so really, I'm hoping that the obedience class we are currently enrolled in will strengthen the bond for all three of us so that Josh gives in and allows Bentley on the couch and upstairs because he's such a good boy.)
7. Establish new relationships and nurture old ones. I am friendless. All of my best friends live several hours away, and I'm lucky if our busy schedules work out to see each other once a year. Or every two. While those relationships are immensely important to me, I feel the need to reach out and build some new friendships as well. Mostly with people who will like my dog.
8. Try something new. I'm not a risk taker. I used to be, but somewhere along the lines, I started making safe choices in my life. I hope to start small, with a new hobby or making a new meal, but with any luck, I'll be racing Josh on the jet skis before next summer.
9. Get creative. That's where this blog comes in. I don't write nearly as much as I used to, mostly because my other blog turned into a wedding blog and then I got burnt out on wedding planning and was having a hard time transitioning that blog to a life blog... anyway, my writing at work has started to suffer. This blog will also be a place to document my successes and errors as I re-learn how to sew and re-finish at least one piece of furniture. Let's start small.
10. Establish the kind of marriage that other people envy. Not so that others can be envious of me, but so that I know the choices we have made over the past seven years have been the best ones that we could. We've had a lot of ups and downs, but there is no one else I could have made it through those with. So often I become so wrapped up in work or other projects and Josh does the same and then our relationship suffers. A happy home is happy because of the people and the love inside of it.
