It is almost here and it is time to take charge of you!

 

We are just a few days from the turning of a calendar page that will mark the beginning of another New Year. I thought when the calendar turned last year that maybe, just maybe we could breathe a sigh of relief.  I was wrong. I didn't think 2021 could outdo 2020 in shear stress, loss, fear, and plain out jumbling of life - but I was wrong.  I could write a post singularly on the things that went south in my life personally, not to mention so many people I care about, but I am not going to do that.

2022 is my year of hope, celebration, surpassing goals, and seeing personal success.  I am going to focus on what wonderful things I have.  This doesn't mean my life is perfect but it means I am going to find the perfection between the thorns. God has been so very good to me and I often forget that fact,  I am excited about what is to come.

I am going back to why I started blogging. I am going to celebrate life.  That includes my amazing, too good for me, husband. Why he loves me, I don't know but am so blessed he does.  Love after 50 is different and we are still technically newlyweds so I am sure I will share the struggles and triumphs of this season which includes blending families and lifestyles. My husband truly took a withered vine and nursed it back to health and continues to love me daily and helps me grow stronger.  He makes me feel like anything is possible. With him, by the way, his name is David, I have learned to dream and my creative spirit is being watered to life. Things I long had felt I lost the ability to do or the passion to pursue have bloomed and I am not afraid to share without shame. In a past life I was made to feel as if sharing the things that brought me joy was wrong and annoying, but the great thing I have learned is that it doesn't matter because it brings me pleasure.  I will be sharing the creation and evolving of our home and gardens, time with old and new friends, exploring food, entertaining and adventures...not to mention products I have tried, books I have read, life with children who are now young adults, and of course life with 3 big dogs.  Oh...and a liberal dose of fashion, shoes, and skincare/makeup just to round out life.

Transparency is a word I have often used in the blogging world but I am committed to it...the good, the bad, and the ugly - which, when you think about it is truly all part of the beautiful thing we call life.

Ultimately I have realized my greatest gift is that I am a Lifestyle Curator.  My greatest talent is helping to create lives that are not just beautiful on the outside but also the inside in the deepest part of one's heart.  We can have both and they can both be real and transparent.  You can be perfectly put together and have a day that is just off and that is okay. Tears are okay. A messy house is okay.  A beautiful life is one where you can be all those things and continue to strive for peace which is the basis of the ultimate beautiful life.

I love you for taking a few moments to read my words. Your comments mean more than you will ever know. I would very much like for you to leave a comment with your greatest hope for 2022. Let the best be yet to come!

Who Knew?

 

Another shortage, the foam shortage, that is what!  Did you know there was a foam shortage?  Apparently, I missed this little nugget of 20/21 items to be scarce.  I suppose I was too busy hoarding ketchup packets.

Last weekend my sweet husband and I went on an exploratory (as in, we don’t know exactly what we want) furniture shopping trip.  Everywhere we went when we asked about sofas and upholstered pieces we were told that we had the choice to buy off the floor or if we ordered, it would be at least 30 weeks before delivery.  30 WEEKS, at LEAST? 

Well, that kind of put a kink in our plans.  Who knew… a foam shortage?  What is next in all this world gone mad? I wish it were paper straws.

Be My Valentine Marriage Challenge Week 1 ~ Take the Initiative

As I mentioned in my post last week I am taking the Be My Valentine Marriage Challenge with Courtney at Women Living Well and this is officially Week 1.  Courtney outlines the Challenge for Week 1 as:

"Week 1 Challenge - Take the Initiative!  Look for ways to praise your husband verbally.

Praise him in front of the kids, friends, family, co-workers, on Facebook, tweet it – get praise out anyway you can! Try to mention something noteworthy he has done – in his role as provider, father, husband, lover, or friend. If the thought of trying to come up with one terrifies you, then pray right now that God will give you new eyes to see your husband as God does. Then open your mouth and say something kind and uplifting to your husband today and tomorrow and the next day until Valentine’s Day arrives!"

For me this is an easy challenge as my husband is a wonderful man!  He works harder than just about anyone I have ever known to provide for our family.  He often sacrifices what he would "like to be doing"  to do things for me and our children.  He has done more "honey do" projects that I can count and I am sure he thought were senseless just to please me (our current laundry room redo topping that list!)  He is gentle but strong and seeks God in his daily life.  I count him among my greatest blessings! I feel honored to be his wife and though we have gone through dark days during our marriage, I am so thankful that he is still my husband and I can't imagine walking this journey without him.

“The wise woman builds her house,

but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.”
~Proverbs 14:1

Be My Valentine Marriage Challenge ~ Week 1

"Be My Valentine" ~ Marriage Challenge via Women Living Well

Be My Valentine Marriage Challenge

One of the best things about blogging  is other bloggers.  I often find inspiration from other bloggers in creative pursuits, cooking, decorating and even spiritually.  Today is no exception as Courtney, over at Women Living Well, has come up with a great idea on how to celebrate Valentine's Day for a whole month and in a more meaningful way than with just a box of chocolates and a few flowers.  She is issuing a challenge to all of us wives out there to take the focus of the big "romance" holiday off ourselves and use it to honor and build up our husbands.

Courtney writes: "Each week the challenge will be the same – to praise, encourage, inspire, admire, build up, thank and appreciate your husband. But each week I will give you different ways to express your praise. Feel free to tweak it for what you think is best for your husband.

JR Miller writes “So it is in the dark hours of a man’s life, when burdens press, when sorrows weigh like mountains upon his soul, when adversities have left him crushed and broken, or when he is in the midst of fierce struggles which try the strength of every fibre of his manhood, that all the radiance and glory of a true wife’s strengthful love shine out before his eyes. Only then does he recognize in her God’s angel of mercy.”

 Let’s be angels of mercy to our husbands. We may think they are filled with confidence and strength but they are only human. They have insecurities, fears, failures, burdens and cares that we do not always slow down to recognize. We lose our tenderness in the hustle and bustle of life and this month let’s slow down and really see our husband’s with fresh eyes."

I encourage you to use this as a building block to shore up, encourage and love on your man.  Let him know exactly what he means to you.  Show him that you do appreciate and understand all the ways he sacrifices for your family out of love. Use these exercises to strengthen  your love skills (we all need refresher courses on that from time to time!)  I feel sure that your marriage will be blessed and I can't wait to get started!  Won't you join me?

Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13