prompt: what do you wish you had done more of in 2011?
laughing. i wish i had done more laughing. today i let myself laugh wholeheartedly at very silly things and it was wonderful.
letting it go. i hold on really tightly to things that would probably be insignificant to you but for whatever reason, are very very important to me. i wish i had relaxed a bit and let go of just a little of my crazy this way.
reading. i love reading. i love it so hard, and i forget to do it all the time. yesterday i let myself stay in bed with 1Q84 for about 4 hours and it was glorious. i did this a few weeks ago with the magicians and the magician king – with equally glorious results. i loved/am loving all of the books named, so take them as recommendations too.
decorating. i have a long and storied history of envying people’s decorations, their things, the things that speak to them and of them, and i have a very hard time choosing any for myself. for the first time in my life i have a large enough space that will be mine for a permanent enough time that i should put some effort into making it so, and i’m frozen. paint chip displays drive me away in minutes, and i have browsed the internet for hours for various forms of wall art. hours. and i can’t choose – i can’t choose accent furniture, i can’t choose a paint color, i can’t choose decoration. i wish i had been able to do this.
and there you go. what about you?
Laughing more. Very good plan.
I am proud to say I have done more reading this year then in the last few and I am all the better for it. I had forgotten how much I really loved it. I hope you make ’12 better in all the ways you wish this year had been.
Laughing, letting things go, reading — sounds like a very healthy basis for beginning a new year. Do what you LOVE and you can’t go wrong.
As for the decorating — good luck! May I share with you what I did when I was in your position? I resolved that the only things I would have in my home were those that met at least one of the following criteria: 1) beautiful 2) useful 3) meaningful. Paint is easy to change — nothing is forever. Surround yourself with beauty NOW, and it will evolve into more and more of what you want. Happy new year!
Loving your mores. I used to read so much, but now I never find the time. I have an iPad, I should just download some books and read! It’s like knitting for me. I wish I had done more of it this year. Maybe then I would have Christmas gifts for people.
Are you on Pinterest? If so, that could definitely fill your decorating wants/needs/desires. I envy pretty much anything and everything on there.
I’m with you on the decorating. I have a re-decorating problem– I tend to find one thing I love, even if it goes with nothing else I currently own, and then decided to change the whole room around it. And I’ve re-painted my living room 3 times in 3 years. There’s just so many things I like that I can’t make a commitment! I have found Pinterest to be insanely helpful at narrowing down my style to something manageable that I can stick to and identifying the major themes I’m drawn to (light colored walls, dark furniture, natural elements, world/travel accent items, etc).
My current house is the most undecorated place I have lived in since my first dorm room. Part of this is a function of who my husband is, and the rest is a hodgepodge of other things, like perennial inability to choose things and sometimes getting so close to choosing something and then thinking ugh that is too cheap and it will fall apart and then I’ll be in this boat again and other assorted insanities. All this to say that I FEEL YOU GURL.
I vote for Caiti’s idea of browsing Pinterest, which I know you do. I also browse Sweet Home Style from time to time when I’m in a decor-y mood. Finally I read old issues of Canadian House and Home (old media alert). I tend not to buy something unless I KNOW, this feeling comes over me and I am full of yes. The cool thing is to look at something months/years later and realize I was right when I did finally choose. That said, it takes me forever to get to that point, and during the process I am completely annoying.