the happy living Blog

pure jane cumberbatch

I think Jane Cumberbatch's Pure Style Living was the first shelter-home-decorating-style-living book that I ever purchased.  Prior to that is was ALL architecture for me.  I love her philosophy of living, stylish yet simple.  Her "DNA of Pure Style" is "Romantic, inexpensive, natural, simple spaces, fuctional, easy feasts, homemade, thrifty, timeless, cool, country, family, going green, modern..."  All words and feelings I want reflected in my home.  Here are some of my favorite images from the book.  BTW, all the images are by Pia Tryde.

Enjoy!

Design on a Dime presented by Real Simple

Today and tomorrow, Real Simple– along with co-chairs Maggie Gyllenhaal, designer James Huniford and Real Simple’s managing editor Kristin van Ogtrop -- are hosting the fourth-annual Design on a Dime charity event to benefit Housing Works, the nation's largest community-based AIDS-service organization.

The kick-off party was yesterday (sorry I didn't get this up sooner) and today and tomorrow's events are free and open to the public.  It is being held at the Metropolitan Pavilion at 125 West 18th Street, NYC.

During the event, thirty top-tier designers—including Sills Huniford, Thom Filicia, Charlotte Moss and Jamie Drake—will create breathtaking, one-of-a-kind room vignettes. People will be able to purchase the items in the vignettes at 60-80% off the retail price and all proceeds from the sale will benefit Housing Works.

Founded in 1990, Housing Works provides housing, medical care, job training and other lifesaving services to homeless and low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS.

Shopping for a cause.  I like that.

productivity principle & being pulled away

Productivity Principle no. 81

A single focus is infinitely more productive than a split one.

Commentary

Much like decreasing the diameter of a pipe will increase the strength of the water flowing out of it, the ability to think and do is optimized when focus is concentrated. Trying to focus on two things at once will diminish the results by much more than half. "Multitasking" only works when all but one of the "tasks" is on automatic, such as driving home and wondering when you got there who actually drove! Rapid refocusing (which is what really happens in knowledge-work environments – from email to phone to interruptions, etc.) does not hinder productivity, as long as there is a clean break from one task to the next, and you are not retracing steps. Work is diminished when the focus is split, or when refocusing requires having to repeat the reframing of context and content for the next task (as in rereading sentences you've already read to find your place again).

Copyright 2008, David Allen & Company. All rights reserved. www.davidco.com

and trying to focus on two or more projects around the house diminishes results too, I think. :)

I wanted to check in with you all.  Work is busy.  Home life is busy and it was the boy's birthday today.  I just keep getting pulled away from the blog.  I have all these drafts saved up in my posts folder but no mental capacity to finish them.  Since daylight savings started I have been really scatterbrained.  I'm not sure if it's really DST, spring fever or just having too many things on my plate that are causing it.  My mantra is "people first" these days.  When things get crazy and I am not sure what to let go of, I always remember that family and friends come first.  That is why it is hard to be away from you all, so I am keeping up with everyone elses adventures.

I had a lovely friend recommend The Power of Now and The New Earth to me and I bought both on half.com.  Has anyone else read them?

I was reading about the huge 'self-help' industry in our country that is constantly offering us new ways to make ourselves better.  It can be a little overwhelming, can't it?  I was wondering if the home improvement industry is starting to do the same thing.  We used to live in a time where your average homeowner did not change their home or decor for 25 years and now we are constantly changing, updating, redecorating and moving.  Are we on the hunt for the perfect home?  Are we just lucky to live in a time in which we are more aware of how our environments affect us emotionally and have access to the resources to fashion a happy place?  Are we trying to keep up with the design-joneses?  Maybe a combination of everything. 

That lovely friend and I talked about the impact that our environment has on our well-being or lack there of and the need for a lot more awareness about it.  Just some random (or maybe not-so-random) things I have been thinking about.  We've started demanding quality goods and Target has brought us "Design for All".  We (all of us) need to start demanding quality spaces, at home, at work, in our communities and in our cities and big companies like Toll Brothers will start to listen.  I am sure of it.

We had an early spring bbq here for the boy's birthday today.  I tried two recipes from Cottage Living, Lemon Dill Potato Salad and Leek and Onion Tart with Herb Chevre which were very good and delicious respectively.

I wish you lots of sunshine.  It's good for you.

sun oh sun

It's about this time of year, even though the days are now finally getting longer, that I start to daydream about sunlight.  I may suffer from very mild cases of S.A.D. but luckily it has never prevented me from going about my days.  But I do not yet get to leave work while the sun is still high in the sky.  Maybe I should look into a Vitamin D supplement.  In the meantime I cherish times like this.

This was taken last week at a house that we have just finished renovating (at my day job).  Unfortunately because of disclosure agreements I cannot tell you anything else about it or they will take my first born child.

It was the coldest day of the week, but the sunniest.

Hope you all have a bit of sun in your day tomorrow.

on my way home...

...last week.

Those are the days that I am thankful that 1. I now get to walk home, 2. I own a tiny little camera that I can carry everywhere with me and 3. I am alive.

I snapped the photos, but I take no credit for them.

food for thought :: decluttering

I am a huge fan of everything Sarah Susanka does from her architecture to her books to her blog and newsletters.  I hope that as I think about developing my own architecture practice someday that my work can reflect a lot of the ideas about home and living more simply that she has brought to us.  I clicked through to her blog after receving her latest newsletter and was so moved by her blog post about her process of decluttering her office.

She says, "I see now that the real lesson of my decluttering task was not that I needed to throw everything out, but that through the process of sorting, reviewing, and culling I was able to render down the important ingredients of my life into its particular and unique flavor, just as one would do in the kitchen with a fine sauce. It’s all there already. We just have to take the time to let it simmer, and then after decades have past, to taste the results. I highly recommend it. I’ve learned a lot."

There are a lot of ways to look at what she said.  What I took from it is that in the process of decluttering whether it be our spaces, minds or lives in general we can let go of old ways, old habits, old things, and make way for new ideas and refreshed thinking.

I have not read her latest book The Not So Big Life yet, but if her previous books are any indication, I am sure that it is excellent.  I am putting it on my library list!

house guests

We are getting ready for weekend house guests. We live in a 3 bedroom house but right now the boy and I have the two extra bedrooms taken over by office functions so we do not have a formal guest room.  This works fine for us since, with the exception of my SIL, our family lives within driving distance as do most of our friends and the ones who live more than a hour away come to visit maybe twice a year if even that.  We decided that we'll surrender our beloved sleep number bed for one night and camp out on the futon in the family room.  My friend is prego and there is no way I would subject her to a night on that wafer.  As you may recall I have been shopping for a futon replacement.  We have gone back and forth about whether or not to get a sleeper sofa, but for our limited guest accomodation needs I can't see spending all the extra money for one and haven't been happy with the choices.  I am picky enough.  Jeez.  Once the futon is gone (and I can't wait for the day) we will use an aero bed.  I've slept on them enough times to know they are great for a weekend stay and very easy to set up, break down and store.  I just picked one up a a great discount at smart bargains. 

There are lots of web resources suggesting ways to prepare ones home for guests and ways to make guests feel more comfortable.  My main concerns are always that house is clean, especially the bathrooms and the bed has clean sheets on it.  I also like to make sure I have food staples on hand and some healthy snacks too.  Luckily my friends and I are pretty down to earth so you won't find me making up spa baskets or tieing my guest towels with linen ribbon.  I did like the idea pictured (idea and picture from Martha Stewart) above of a way to put out some drinking water if you don't have a carafe.  Use two different sized drinking glasses like a DOF and a highball.  Simple and thoughtful.  When friends and family come to stay, it should be about the time spent together catching up and less about whether your guest accomodations rival the Four Seasons'.  I think.

home sweet home

We're back from Utah and back to work.  Sigh.  Oh to be a ski bum.  I had hoped to keep up better with email and blogging while we were there but the wireless connection at the resort was annoyingly slow.  I am looking forward to catching up on comments, emails and all of your blogs.  Hope you are all well.

Jupiter Access, Park City Mountain Resort

hello 08

We spent the last hours of 07 and the wee hours of the first day of 08 at my B/SIL's house with my niece and nephew.  They are such good kids and so fun to spend time with.  Maybe 2008 will bring us one of our own.

h a p p y  n e w  y e a r  !

rediscovering carrots

I have always been pretty much indifferent when it comes to carrots.  I think I just never liked how they were prepared.  But we had a bunch of them leftover from Thanksgiving and wanted to use them up the other night.  I used a frying pan that the boy had just cooked some bacon in, added some olive oil and sauteed a few cloves of fresh garlic (a staple in our house).  I cooked the carrots with some broccoli and added salt, pepper and fresh rosemary (ok maybe not so fresh, a couple of weeks old).  I think it was the rosemary that won me over.  Or it could have been the sweet carrots contrasted with the spicy chunks of garlic.  I think I love carrots now. 

I am not a gourmet chef.  I'm just a girl in a kitchen with a crooked stove but it felt great to be in the kitchen discovering something for myself.  I think I am just now (as a quasi-adult) starting to develop and embrace my own cooking style.  I also think it is very closely related to developing a decorating style.  It is something that you discover at some age (that age is different for all of us) and hopefully develop over a long period of time.  Some things are left by the wayside but some things are tried and true and stick with you.

photo by flickr member EnchantedDandelions

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