Housekeeping Ain't No Joke

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but sometimes things happen in threes and you just need to follow the thread... My cleaning lady came today. Every other week she comes and does all the chores I hate--well, really I only hate cleaning the bathroom, the rest can be extremely satisfying--but I work hard at the office all day and I allow myself this indulgence. Of course, I always spend the night before R. comes cleaning so that she can clean, straightening up the mess. I run around collecting newspapers and magazines and catalogs to throw into the recycling bin, I put clothes away or in the laundry basket, and I clean up the kitchen. I am not naturally neat and I have a lot of stuff. I have fantasies of being orderly and organized, but I'm too lazy to keep it going. Coming home from work after R. has been here is one of the highlights of my week. How fast will I mess it up again, though?

Looking for a inspiration to write, I scanned my collection of Domino magazine issues, neatly stacked (and recently dusted!) in my bedroom bookshelves. Domino always had a quote printed on the spine, and tonight one jumped out at me--the title above, from Louisa May Alcott. The issue's themes were de-cluttering and organizing to "express your personal style." I so miss Domino. It was such a smart, fresh stylish magazine. I think if it had been able to hang on another 6 months or a year more it might have been able to morph into one of the new online magazines that keep popping up. I'm going to try to mention these new publications in future postings, and just today I got an email alerting me to a new issue of one of my favorites, Covet Garden. I love how each issue focuses on only one home and its inhabitants, and all their collections and quirks and, well, stuff. Talk about personal style!

Which brings me to number three. I have a box of magazine tearsheets, and still without a theme for tonight, I started sifting through them and found an editor's letter from the also sadly defunct House and Garden. Dominique Browning often wrote heartfelt, smart essays for H&G--the one I'd saved had a particular resonance with me. It was titled "Loving the Mess." I hope you can read the attached scan of her letter, but I particularly loved the closing lines:

We all worry about what our houses say about us. I can tell you one thing. If you are too organized, your house will say nothing about you. And that's the worst possible message.

Learning Happy

Recently I read that a person can choose to be happy, that happiness can be simply a matter of waking up and deciding your mood the way you might choose what clothes to wear. I am envious of those who can control their psyches in such a way. I wonder if being happy is a habit that one can form by practicing it often, but I fear that I do not have the discipline. Does choosing to be happy mean to ignore, or perhaps to banish, the self-criticisms you (I) pepper yourself with all day long? Is happiness an appreciation of gifts both large and small? I think that it is all these things, and I hope that it is something I can learn.

Today I was reminded of how irritating it is to our friends when we forget to appreciate all those gifts. So in the spirit of acknowledging those gifts--and learning happy--I'm going to list a few here.

• I have a close-knit family that (usually) gets along and enjoys each others company. My parents and my siblings are my friends.

• I have a good job. With nearly 10% of Americans out of work, and the economy still struggling, I am fortunate to work for a good firm, I enjoy my colleagues, and the work I do contributes to the betterment of local communities.

• I have wonderful friends--more friends than I could ever imagine one could need. But need them I do.

• I have a nice home, in a nice building, with nice neighbors. Although it has taken a few years to put together, the design of the interior is finally coming together cohesively, and I'm beginning to feel that I come home to Home.

• I have a sweet, big brown dog to keep me company when I am happy, sad, tired, lonely, or ready for an adventure.

I'm going to work on learning happy--after all, I think you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Someday Home, Requirement #1: Screened Porch

I have the good fortune to have friends who rent a home every summer in Millbrook, NY, about 80 miles north of the city. One weekend a summer I join them there, along with another good friend and her family. The house is perfect for summer entertaining--a large eat-in kitchen, several bedrooms, a pool--but my favorite element is the screened porch. I wish I had thought to take a picture of it to share, but this porch is octagonal, with mexican tile floors that help keep the room cool, a large table and chairs, and upholstered wicker chairs, sofa, and chaise. Situated off the kitchen, and shaded by large evergreens, the room always gets cross breezes, and we find ourselves there for meals, lazy newspaper reading, post-dinner lounging and conversation--really almost any time that we are not sleeping or swimming.

I have long been a fan of the screened porch, and someday, when I build my own home, I'm adding one to my program requirements. I quickly rummaged through my stash of magazine tear sheets to find a few examples, but none had the comfort of the Millbrook porch. One, though, had a fireplace, which is a lovely idea and would make the room cozy on those cool late-summer rainy afternoons, and perhaps allow for the room to be used in three seasons. Here are a few images of screened porches, and I'll add more as I find them.

Fabric

Tonight I made plans to go to the D&D building with a friend who is a decorator. I have a few projects I'd like to do in the apartment--roman shades, valances, pillows--and I need to check on pricing and availability of some fabrics I saw in London in the spring. Basically, as far as I'm concerned, shopping for fabric is about a much fun as you can have with your clothes on, so I'm pretty excited about this trip!

One collection I want to see is Allegra Hicks at Lee Jofa. I've been a fan of Allegra's for several years, and I always visit her boutique when I'm in London. Here are three fabrics I am in love with and hope to find at the D&D:





There's no way Boo will be allowed on the couch when I get new pillows!

Sunrise

Two Year Rules and Resolutions

I have a rule about clothes: with a few exceptions, if I haven't worn it in two years, I get rid of it. When I logged on tonight, I noticed that my last post was from late-January 2009--looks like I'm pushing the two-year rule on this blog. Which brings me to the motivation for logging on tonight--a resolution to write, hopefully every day.

New Years resolutions are fraught with conflicting emotions. Some people hate them and don't make them. Many of us make them, but never keep them. I imagine that only the most disciplined among us truly keep to their goals. Sometimes I feel that September, with it's end-of-summer, back-to-school, pencils-sharpened, shiny-new-school-shoes feeling, is a more true "new year" than just the flip of the calendar. But nonetheless, we mark our lives in terms of calendar years, not school years, and so here I am, thinking about the past year and the coming year and what I can do to live a better life. Or at least, a life that is more true to who I think I am and who I think I want to be.

2010 was a tougher year than most for me, and brought changes that I didn't want and changes that forced me to throw away some ways of living and ideas about my future I thought were sure. But lately I've also wondered if over the last several years I'd also, inadvertently, thrown away some of the things I had that made me ME. So my resolution for 2011 is to be ME again. To visit friends near and far, cook a real dinner, go to yoga and Mass, to read the book, see the play, go to the opera, to have the Ladies over to play mahjong, go to the lecture, listen to music, to finish that DIY project for my home, watch the baseball game, find a way to volunteer. And to write about it all and hope that maybe some of you read this and follow along this year with me.

Cheers!