by Alaina | Mar 28, 2021 | Sunday Scripture
The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Matthew 21:9
I grew up in a little house on the banks of the Allgheny River, in rural Western Pennsylvania. It had a been our family camp until my parents decided to escape city life and we moved up there full time. I loved it. Still do. I spent long summer days growing up reading in the warm sun on our deck that faces the river. In the middle of summer the water level would go down and a small sand bar would appear partway out into the water, would drag my beach chair and book down to the river and sit on that sandbar and read for hours. Then I would paddle around in the water, floating on my back and think that I had to be one of the luckiest girls in the world.
Now instead of living in a valley by a river, I live on the top of a hill, in a house that faces east and west, surrounded by a few neighbors, woods and horse pastures. I look out my sliding glass door early in the morning and watch as the sun crests the far off hills and paints the sky with all the glory of the morning colors, I look at the horses slowly eating grass as the morning fog burns off and I think, surely I must be one of the luckiest girls in the world. Then in the evening I get to watch as the sun again colors the sky to the west as the sun set and I ask; how do I get to enjoy such splendor every day?
I love to travel and to see different places, to learn about the history of different cultures, but I’m always glad to walk through the doors of my home. I love being in the place that is my home. But this world isn’t my real home, not my forever home— it’s easy for me to forget this.
Today is Palm Sunday, the day we commorate Jesus’s coming through Jerusalem on a young donkey and the people crying out “Hosanna, Hosanna!” how it must have broken Jesus’s heart. Today the people loved Him and praised Him, but He knew this wouldn’t last. I can’t imagine knowing that the very people who were welcoming you would also be the ones to call for your tortuous death in just a few days. How did He manage to show grace to them? `
Perhaps it helped Jesus knew the end was in sight, He knew that in a week He would be returning to His real home— Heaven. For Him this earth was never His home, and perhaps that helped Him endure the horrible events that were to come.
This is just one small lesson of many for us to remember on days when life is so very hard— it gives us hope. But this is also a lesson for us to remember on days when life is good too. If this world can feel like, home, if the days here can be good, yes many of them even great; filled with joy, and laughter, and fun; how much better will our real home be?
by Alaina | Mar 23, 2021 | Book Nook
I always hear about “life changing books” and maybe I’m just a skeptic but, while I find many of these “life changing books” to be thought provoking and inspiring, I very rarely find it to be life changing. However, I think I might have just found such a book titled, Rest, of all things.
I came across the book, Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, and my interest was quickly piqued by the title and am I glad that I did! The book starts by discussing the great thinkers and change makers from the late 19th century and early 20th century and their work habits. The author discusses how these people approached work and the lines they drew between work and their personal life. The author challenges that rather than working all the time in order to win a badge of honor, as it were, these people separated work and their personal life in order that they feel truly rested when they returned to work, thereby increasing their longevity and effectiveness in their field.
The chapter I found most interesting was about the people who were most prolific and well-known in their respective fields, people like Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens, were not people who worked 60-80 hours a week, but rather ones who focused on dedicated work for 20-30 hours a week. (Read more about Charles Darwin and his devoutly Christian wife in my post “Charles and Emma” here). The most influential people of the 20th century rarely broke a 40 hour work week. They didn’t work long, but they did work hard. The author stresses the importance of workflow habits to produce really focused work and, therefore, effective and prolific work. Truly focused work can be draining and because of this many of these people worked in 90 minute bursts with a short break in between, followed by another 90 minute session. Usually after a large break in the day, one last work session in the afternoon would follow. This was very interesting to me! Think about all the side hustles out there today. There is no limit to what one can do in this day and age. But when to do it? If the greatest minds of the last century (and the author did give examples of non-geniuses who followed this work model), could do all that, what could we do with a small amount of truly focused work each day, day after day?
The other chapter that really stood out to me was about deep play. Deep play is something you do that you enjoy and that you lose yourself in entirely that you lose track of time. The benefit of deep play is that it gives your mind a chance to rest, to wander a bit as you tinker, to rest, and will perhaps offer the side benefit of helping you solve a problem on which you were previously stuck.
Other chapters in the book dwelt on the importance of sleep, what walking can do for our creative problem solving skills, and how exercise can help improve longevity in careers. While none of these topics are new, I did appreciate the nuanced approach offered in the book and found it to be very thought provoking.
While some of the advice and models set forth in the book will not work for everyone—hourly workers do not have the luxury of working a 30 hour week—there are nonetheless, little nuggets to be gleaned from this book that I think just about all of us could benefit from. If you are struggling to start a side hustle, know that you don’t have to pour endless hours into it in order to make it successful. You can effect a big difference by truly dedicating a few intense hours to it each day. If you know you need to exercise but are afraid of the time it will take away from your job, read this book and see the evidence of how it could help improve your performance and expand your career life. Lastly, if you are needing permission or a gentle nudge to pick up that hobby, go for it—there will be more benefits from it than you realize.
I’m sure there are people who will not be impressed with this book; but, if you are one of the many people who feel the constant need and pressure to operate at full capacity and never take time for the things that matter to you, I urge you to give this book a go, and see what you think!
by Alaina | Mar 21, 2021 | Sunday Scripture
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5 NIV
We have a Red Lab named Rosie- let me rephrase that: we have the most adorable dog on the planet, her name is Rosie, and we love her very much. My husband and I may or may not talk to her more than we talk to each other; but hey to each their own!
One of the cutest things about her is that she has a toy rope that she is obsessed with- if she isn’t laying at our feet then she can usually be found chewing on her rope.
If we see her walking around without her rope and we ask her,”Rosie, where is your rope?!” She stops, looks at us, looks around and then goes running off to find her rope. Sometimes it takes her a couple minutes to find but typically she comes running back with a “smile” on her sweet face, rope in mouth ready to play! Occasionally though, we see her laying down trying to grab it from under the couch- her precious rope just out of reach, then we have to get down on hands and knees and help slide it out for her. If we don’t do this she will be there for a very long time, perhaps taking a break to come up to us and try to lead us over to where the rope is stuck. She does this, continually, trying to get our attention until we realize that she needs our help! She will try to grab it but once she sees she can’t she comes to us for help liberating her rope!
I think our journey of faith can be much the same. God will plant a passion in our hearts, leading us on a path, but that doesn’t mean the path will always be smooth. We will run into roadblocks and try as we might we may not be able to get around it and solve the problem on our own. I notice though, at least for me, even though I know that I can do nothing without Him I end up trying and trying to do the thing He has set before me, banging my head off the wall, trying to do it on my own. Ultimately I have to remember who placed these desires in My heart to begin with. He never intended for me to do it by myself! Just as my dog needs our help to retrieve her toy, so we also need God’s help to overcome any obstacle in our lives. We try so often to solve things on our own and in our own way, when if we would only surrender sooner and ask God for help He would come to our rescue and deliver us.
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by Alaina | Mar 19, 2021 | Decorating, Homemaking
We recently redid our floors in our home. Then I decided to paint another room. Then I decided to get serious about furnishing another room . . . which led to wanting to “tweak” (redo) the decor in my guest room/office. And then our bedroom needed some attention. Over the course of all this I realized that—alas!—I still have a lot to learn about furnishing my home! But, I also realized that I have learned a lot already about how to start decorating a room.
The first thing I learned was that I have done it all wrong.
Oh yes, I have read the books, listened to the podcasts and know all about the “right way” of tackling something of this nature but then . . . I got a little ahead of myself and ended up with four rooms 90% of the way finished and wondered what in the world was I thinking when I bought those curtains—do I even have a room they would work in???
The experts say when redoing a room or tackling a house to try to work on finishing one room first, then you know you have one room that looks the way you want it before moving on to tackling another project. If you are moving into a home that you plan on doing some major remodeling (in our home we redid the kitchen cabinets and flooring), you may have to get a little out of order before you can then start with the fun decorating—rugs, lamps, wall decor, etc. If you are needing a couch, a table, end tables, and everything in between, I would suggest you furnish the necessities first and then start with the smaller, more fun decorating pieces room by room. BUT, before you buy the first cute couch you see: stop, make a plan, and then proceed.
What if you aren’t starting from scratch?
In our bedroom, for example, I recycled the curtains from our former house. They are working. And I moved a rug from a different room into our bedroom, and while I did purchase a duvet for our bed, I’m thinking it will be moving into another bedroom which means I will have to buy a new one for our room. So, I am now at a crossroads in our bedroom decorating and there are some questions I need to ask myself:
· What do I want the feel of our bedroom to be?
· Do I love the pieces we currently have enough to decorate around them?
You may already have pieces that you can use in a room but if you aren’t loving them already, you won’t love them after you have decorated the whole room around them. You will just be out more time and money and will only have a room that you still aren’t thrilled with. Don’t fall into the trap of saying to yourself that you have already spent so much time and/or money that you might as well invest more! If you don’t like something you already own—get rid of it. Try to sell it if you can and cut your losses!
Pick an Inspiration Image
Regardless of whether you are starting from scratch or already have a few items that you know you want to use, pick a piece to draw your inspiration from. Look on Pinterest and formulate an idea of what you want your room to feel like. Then look for one piece that embodies the look you are going for and start building your room from there. This may be a large piece like a rug or it may even be as small as a pillow!
My guest room/office was a good example of this. I hadn’t loved the paint color since we painted it when we moved in, but I also didn’t hate it. In the back of my mind I was thinking that I would like to paint it and had a general idea of what color I would go for; but, I felt no pressing need to immediately act. Until I found The Rug. I was innocently scrolling around on Pinterest and up pops this gorgeous rug! I clicked and to my delight I found that it came in the size I needed and it was on sale!
When I found the rug the rest of the room came into focus and I could picture the look and feel of the room. It established my guidelines for my room.
Our bedroom is working out much the same way. As I said already, I have a rug and curtains. The curtains were inexpensive and had been purchased several years ago so if I decide that they won’t work, I am totally fine with getting new ones as they have already had a good life. I also have the rug. It is fairly new and I do like it so I am going to use it for inspiration for the rest of the room.
I am not saying that every room you do you should pick a rug to build your decor around, but pick something!
In our other guest room I have curtains. Again, they are recycled from our former home, but I love them! When we moved into this house, I didn’t have anywhere to use them and was considering making accent pillows out of them. It didn’t happen and in the meantime I painted the guest room. It needed curtains. I came across the old ones and decided to see how they would look. They are perfect!! They are my inspiration for that room and I will build the rest of my prints and colors off of them.
Side note: I do have a color palette for my home (read my post “How to Create a Cohesive Color Palette” here) so, for the most part, I try to decorate within that color palette. However in my case, my two guest rooms are considerably smaller than every other room and because we live in a rural area with no close neighbors, I don’t use curtains in the main living area of my house. This means that things like curtains and rugs in the guest rooms will only be able to be interchanged with each other. I advise sticking with one color palette for your home but you can stray when it comes to guest rooms and certain pieces (like the examples I gave above) that may not work anywhere else in your house. Therefore you don’t need to tightly coordinate them if you don’t wish too. Just remember you’ll be more limited with what you can interchangeably move about your house.
Plan It Out
In the past I have bought things willy-nilly and been less than pleased when it all came together. I have now started in my mind roughly mapping out how I want it to look. If I see an item that I am needing, like a rug for example, yet don’t have a mental picture for the room, I hold off on buying anything until I decide what I want it to look like. Your inspiration piece can be the jumping off point, like my rug was, but I still didn’t buy it until I had thought through how everything else in the room would coordinate with it.
Have fun!
Try not to let yourself get stressed out. Stress is a creativity killer! If you are feeling too stressed to make a decision, then don’t. Wait until you are feeling calmer to resume looking at pictures and furnishings. I’m willing to gamble that it won’t be long before creativity strikes!
We want our homes to be reflections of us. We want them to be cohesive. We try to follow the rules. But, the only unbreakable rule in decorating is that you do what you love! Don’t confine yourself to the “decorating rules” if it is not you. Do what you love and love what you do! Happy decorating!!
by Alaina | Mar 16, 2021 | Book Nook
If there is one area of my life where I could possibly be a minimalist, it is in my clothing. I love the thought of looking at my closet and seeing only the things I absolutely love! I crave guidelines for curating my wardrobe to be full of pieces that I am excited to wear and am always on the lookout for new outfit “formulas” to fall back on for days when I am rushed or feeling uninspired. Culling through my wardrobe and fleshing out much needed pieces to make my wardrobe better suited to my life is what, The Curated Closet, by Anuschka Rees helped me to do!
The Curated Closet isn’t just another style book, or a book alerting you to the newest trends, instead this is a book about identifying your personal style and building a wardrobe that is timeless to you, built around your style, and usable for your everyday life.
Identifying Your Style
In the first part of the book, Ms Rees takes you through an in-depth study of your own style. She gives you assignments to complete that delve deep into finding and honing in on your specific style. She doesn’t just suggest looking on Pinterest for 20 minutes, rather gives you a step by step guide of where to look for style inspiration and gives you a guide for what to look for in order to identify your personal style. Then Ms Rees then walks you through step by step, how to do a complete overhaul of your closet.
Curate
Ms Rees helps you clarify what you need in your closet; if you work from home everyday you don’t need as many formal pieces, if you hardly ever get dressed up you don’t need a million different pairs of heels. This helps you look at your closet with a critical eye and see the holes in your wardrobe. Ms Rees stresses the importance of taking time to build the core of your closet around quality pieces- and not just rushing out to buy the item to fill the hole. You want the core pieces to be ones that last you because you have spent the time to make sure they are really pieces that you love, then you can spend less on pieces that aren’t essentially to your wardrobe.
Simplify
I started implementing the advice in The Curated Closet early last year, and looking back now I am pleased with how my wardrobe has evolved. I now have several good quality core pieces that I know I can fall back on to build an outfit. I have invested in a few better quality pieces that I know I will have for a long time, and while there are still a few more core items that are on my list that I would still like to get soon, I also know that taking my time to find them will pay off because taking extra time now will give me more time to mull over the decision and help eliminate buyers regret- I haven’t had any buyers regret over the core pieces I have purchased to date!
Ms. Rees also sets forth several different methods to simply your wardrobe and make getting dresses easier. For example: how to build a color palette for your wardrobe, how to implement and use outfit formulas, and how to identify the quality of an item, (Hint: Quality has little correlation with price) and she provides a troubleshooting guide for common clothing issues and how to fix them- I loved this one!!
My Takeaways
These were my big takeaways from The Curated Closet, but another area that Ms Rees spent a lot of time covering is how to stop overspending on clothes- especially clothes you seldom wear! This section got a little bit lengthy for me and since I really don’t shop for clothes that often and therefore do not tend to overspend. I ended up skimming through that section of the book for the most part. I really appreciate the valuable information in this book and I think there is most likely at least a few nuggets of information that would be valuable for anyone- I even suggested to my husband that he might benefit from reading the section on building and identifying holes in your wardrobe!
If you are someone who struggles to find clothes that feel like you, or if you are someone who wants to simplify your wardrobe then I think there is a lot of valuable information tucked within the pages of this book, The Curated Closet, that you will benefit from reading, and if you do decide to read it let me know what you end up thinking of it!
