Pink of Perfection

Since I came back home from vacation, I’ve been a bit obsessed with transforming our living room into more of a paradise (going away tends to seed grand ideas like this, have you noticed?). I’ve picked out a couch (just can’t decide if we need a chaise on one end), and am planning to recover two chairs with very simple white slipcovers. They are improvements that will likely total in the hundreds of dollars, but when it comes to making a house a comfy home, they seem well worth it.

As I was sharing all this yesterday with a friend, getting her thoughtful nods of approval, I asked if she had other ideas. You know, fresh solutions for my same old spatial problems. Her eyes traveled around the room.

“Is the printer usually on the floor?”

“Oh, um, no.”

“Maybe you could move it.” She looked around more. “And what are all those cords under your desk?”

“Well, I don’t know really.”

“Maybe you could corral them? I bet you could do it in an hour. Use some twisty-ties.”

At first I thought she wasn’t quite playing along with my game. After all, I meant big, sweeping, grand changes, like totally rearranging the furniture, not piddly, organizational tasks like moving the waffle iron and abandoned picture frames from the tops of the bookshelves. But then I realized, of course, that my eyes had grown accustomed to certain unpolished, cluttered bits in my apartment; getting those in ship-shape might have as much as an effect as a big white couch, and for a lot less dough.

In fact, I’ve hated the jumble of cords under the desk that snake out into the floor space beyond since we moved into this apartment twelve million years ago. Why had I just come to accept this eyesore?

It took only thirty minutes to corral those cords. Nevermind that I broke the internet in the process and am typing this on stolen wifi. It’s well worth it. Thirty minutes for one small corner of peace of mind. And eventually I’ll figure out how to get our internet back up and running. Here’s hoping. (I believe this is what Gretchen Rubin calls in The Happiness Project a “boomerang errand”––one completed task that supplies you with a new, fresh to-do. Lovely.)

So why is it so hard to get going on these little tasks? They drive us absolutely nuts and yet finding thirty minutes to empty out a drawer or deal with a mountainous pile of mail seems as difficult as finding the time and money for a two week vacation in Fiji. But the results, oh, the sweet results. The pay-off is so much greater than what you have to put in to get ‘er done. So why does it feel so insurmountable sometimes? What are the little annoyances around the house causing you to lose your mind? And what would it really take––in terms of money and time––to make them pleasing again?

print for sale on etsy

print by William Dohman on Etsy

I am learning how to decorate, and it’s not skill that comes naturally. For someone so drawn to beautiful things, with strong opinions about lighting and furniture shapes, you’d think this would be a snap. But there’s some aesthetic intelligence that’s not native to me. It’s related to the way my dad could pack the trunk on a camping trip so compactly, but with a dash of the artistic eye thrown in. It’s about putting disparate pieces together in space and making them cohere. And then somehow, also managing to make it beautiful. People who have this intelligence astonish and inspire (and, okay, intimidate) me.

When I was in IKEA recenlty, getting pulled in 1,000 different pretty directions, my mom offered up some helpful advice. “What’s the mood you’re trying to create?” Spatial relationships might not be my forte, but moods I get. Knowing that I wanted my bedroom to be airy and relaxing helped me nix items that, though beautiful, didn’t jive with the feeling I was after.

This is not unlike my friend’s Alison’s advice to shop for clothes with code words in mind. Instead of feeling utterly overwhelmed at Anthropologie, I now go through a somewhat ridiculous-feeling yet effective mental exercise as I hold up an item. Is this chic? Does it seem like something Anna Karina would wear? Is it a little tough? Does it have a vintage vibe?

And this leads me to the real topic at hand: envisioning one’s ideal life. This is a daydream game I have long loved to play, but I consider it to be more vital than idle imaginings. Because if you don’t know what your ideal life looks like, how will you begin to create it? And how will you recognize your own triumphs when you get important pieces to fall into place?

Here are some pieces of mine: I imagine sunlight and white bedding, mornings spent writing, colorful latte bowls, and dinners with friends. By many accounts, I have a lot of what I have always been after. But something is also amiss.

Continue reading “Imagining Expansiveness” »

“Live What You Love” letterpress print on etsy by hijirik

There are so many blogs I wish I could live inside, but I think Abby Try Again takes top billing. Her blog is the visual interpretation of what I love about Paris: gray, and a little bit melancholy, but like a gossamer-draped dream. Its talented creator, Abby Powell-Thompson, calls it an experiment in film photography and general happiness; I call it my favorite love letter to life’s most unassuming beauties — a tissue paper beach ball with the light catching it just so, colorful pennants stretched across the street, a donut with sprinkles. And it probably goes without saying that I’m an absolute goner for her Five Senses Friday series. We may not be able to step inside her blog for the weekend, but we can get into that brain for a few questions (and snag her prints on Etsy):

Tell us about Abby Try Again. What made you decide to do the blog? What are the biggest challenges? What inspires your posts? What’s been the biggest surprise?

I started the blog almost five years ago, right after my husband and I relocated to Portland, OR, from a tiny little farm town in California. It was a “crafty” blog and a way of keeping touch with family and friends who were back at home. Over the years the blog grew and changed just like me. I noticed I liked the “journaling” aspect of the blog and the photos just came as a natural progression. I try to be very honest and open in the blog without revealing too many boring details. The biggest surprise was finding so many like-minded people from around the world. I was (am) a really big nerd and it was nice to make connections through the blog. Another surprise is that the blog is very therapeutic for me. It calms me down, gives me perspective and it’s become a nice daily ritual for me.

Your photographs evoke the most serene, quiet, beautiful life. What’s your personal philosophy for achieving beauty and pleasure in daily life?

Like many others out there, I’ve always struggled with my self-image. Blogging has helped me realize how good my life is and how good the people are around me.  I think the majority of us are so very lucky and when you take the time to stop and notice the little beautiful things you begin to realize that. At least, it works for me. Every day I try to schedule at least one “nice” thing — whether it’s a walk to someplace quiet, a new flower from the market, a phone call to a loved one or reading a chapter in a book. I think it is important to have scheduled “good” times.

Who or what most inspires you?

Oh, that is a tough one. I glean inspiration from everywhere. I guess if I had to answer, it would be objects. When I see an old object I imagine its story; where it came from, who it belonged to, where it is going…

What’s your ideal day look like?

I love to travel! So my ideal day who would be spent in some town I’ve never been to, eating new things, exploring, digging around in old shops and shooting photos. Of course, James would be there, too.