SLOW THE F*%& DOWN!

My mom says a lot of very true, on-point things. One of the things she is always telling me (has always told me) is to SLOW DOWN! I rush through everything. Even getting out of the car. She laughed the other day and said I'm just like the dogs (or are they just like me?) Always ready to jump out of the car before the brake is even on.

In my efforts to go slow I made a few changes.

I love the smell and warm glow of candles.

One has been reading at night rather than being on my phone. I'm not 100% perfect, but it has been really wonderful. I'm enjoying large print saucy reads and sleeping much better because of it. 

Total smut. But oh so fun!

Another change I made is switching from my Nespresso pods every morning to slow drip coffee. I read online someone doing this in an effort to have a slower morning. I thought it made good financial sense as well.

I bought this little 5 cup machine on eBay.

The other thing I've been doing for a while now is turning on the live feed from one of my favorite places in the world... Monterey Bay. I bet you thought I was going to say Hawaii? Well, that's number 2. But to see the otters and seals in real time. That stormy sea so alive. The people-less beaches. Well, it's a magical way to start the day. I pretend it's my window as I watch.

After my slow coffee by the bay I walk the dogs (if I have the energy.) And that's my easy morning. I know what a luxury it is to be able to indulge like this. I remember hitting the ground running when I worked full time. Then "luxury" time was my commute when I sang out loud in my car or listened to the news. Yeah... this is better.

Max, Margo and Mom. Living our best lives.

Who Do You Want to Be?

I freshened up my hair color the other day and went a tad darker. Darkest brown. This used to be "my" hair color about 10 or so years ago. When I got out of the shower and looked in the mirror I exclaimed "There you are!" I was so surprised to see the "me" of so many photographs staring back like no time at all had gone by. But if I couldn't be "me," who would I want to be?

My favorite band Oingo Boingo has a song "Who do you want to be today." It goes "Who do you want to be today, who do you want to be? Do you wanna be just like someone on TV?" Actually yes! I do. The person I would love to be is Angel Strawbridge.

I'm addicted to the show Escape to the Chateau. It's about a handy, wealthy English couple who bought a delipidated French chateau. They live there with their two kids while they renovate and rejuvenate the entire place, eventually starting their own wedding and hospitality business in the same said chateau. 

Why Angel? First of all she's built a lot like me, but glows in vintage fabness. It doesn't matter if she's mucking around in the garden or sewing personalized napkins for a wedding, she reeks vintage flair. But it's not just how she looks. She's so incredibly crafty. And fearless in her crafting, like I am. She has an idea and she just runs with it. I'm convinced we'd be fast friends.

She and I have a lot in common. We love coffee, tea and booze (though I rarely indulge). Adore vintage things (though she a bit more than I). We can both do anything we put our minds to, creatively speaking. We love our families. We're good mothers. We love our children. We like to make other people happy. We are creative Goddesses! So if I couldn't be me, I'd like to be her. Crafting away in my attic in France.

I also envy her able-bodiedness. She has the same creativity as I do, but she also has the energy, time, money and muscle to see it through. -sigh- How lovely that would be.

STILL Adapting Our Home

I've learned to be much more patient about makovers and changes in our home. When I talked about "Adapting Our Home" back in February, I knew it would be a slow process. One we actually started in November. 

This was our first project. Converting the dining room into my husband's new office. All we need now is some different lighting. We have a temporary café table set up that can stay until I need to use my chair in the house. It is a space that works well for us. We both enjoy the coffee bar and the mini fridge is much easier for me to get things out of then our hard to reach big fridge in the tiny kitchen.

We just need to replace this chandelier with more appropriate lighting.

We keep trying to have a yard sale, but the weather has been against us. Our new projected date is April 1st. We have a garage full of items that will help us buy what we need for our new livingroom.

We need to do this in stages due to finances. It also reduces the stress of change for my man. He makes me go slow and consider things more and I goose him into action. It works out well.

Right now we have a dominating entertainment center. 
We will trade it in for a large flat screen TV on this wall.

What I'm most looking forward to is getting our couch out of the path of my wheelchair and away from our front door. But with the entertainment center gone, we could have room for a glorious "L" shaped couch... like this one I saw at Costco. Drool! Drool!

Max will never leave this couch again once he has a spot in front of the window.

I promised my husband he could have a lovely lit, corner bar in a recessed spot by the couch.

We used to have hundreds of DVD's in here. But who needs DVD's anymore?

I want a similar lit cabinet and some stands for my precious house plants.

It will look lovely and echo the bar.

The purging will continue right up to the yard sale. It will be a challenge to get rid of our couch, entertainment center and other huge items when the time comes. I'm thinking of using Facebook for that part. I really wish I could just wave a wand and have it all perfect.