Meals and Planning..

I've given one planner over completely to meal-planning. Maybe it would would better within my 'bullet journal', but I feel like it would take up too much space, unnecessarily. I already have another planner with areas for each meal and a grocery list, a water counter, and the daily readings from Mass. It all fits together so well. 

We read the Mass readings aloud at breakfast, as the start to our school-day, our day is bookended in Scripture, my husband reads aloud at bed time as well. Right now, Isaiah precedes The Wizard of Oz.

Meal planning comes naturally to me, I love doing writing it all down and seeing the week

progress on paper. Living out my plans, is a constant struggle. I'm lazy or distracted, or else I forget entirely to go shopping and my plans are abandoned. But as we transition to a more intentional life, meal planning is essential. I want our meals to mean something, to be times of communion as a family. Acts of hospitality and love. I also need them to be healthy, sustaining, and frugal. All my intentions, existing together demand a primarily plant-based diet. A monastic table, rich in the living things we can grow, harvest, and grow again. 

I'm writing out the coming weeks meal-plans, and to keep track of how we're progressing towards our monastic table..I mark each meal with a notation to indicate vegan, vegetarian, or meaty. Only the meals on Sundays or feast days are meaty, and my goal is that out of the 21 meals in a week, 10 will be without animal products (excluding honey, which seems both penitential and hospitable). It's easier than expected, but writing out goals always is..living them is another thing entirely.

I would love to hear your mealtime goals, and what inspired them! Blessings.

Capsule Wardrobes..

There are so many definitions of the capsule wardrobe online. I don't feel bad altering to fit my own needs as well. In my mind, a capsule wardrobe is a small, cohesive collection of clothes that fit together to form a unified whole. They exist in relation to each other, and can generally be worn together interchangeable, but not in a dull way. My intentions for my capsule wardrobe are to have something funky, interesting, and attractive that fits my way of life, and my limited storage space. 

I originally planned on having about 36 pieces of clothing, excepting shoes and scarves.. but when I went through my clothes and made up a list of the items I need to replace or repair, I came up with a number closer to 25 or 30 pieces of clothing. The wardrobe I'm planning for now is made up of 5 skirts, 5 dresses, 10 tops, and 5 variable pieces..leggings or jeans or something. I might end up with fewer of those. I didn't include shoes, but I'd like to end up with 4 pairs of shoes: flats, boots, heels, and muck boots. I also plan on having 4 or 5 scarves. I already have lovely cowboy boots, some fun red flats, and pretty brown heels..since 90% of my wardrobe is black though, I wonder if I should replace the brown heels with something more relate-able. 


But since we're in the middle of 'No-Spend January', adding to my wardrobe will have to wait a while. Right now I'm firmly in the reducing stage of the process. And reducing is so much fun! While I go about getting rid of the clothes that don't spark joy, I'm redoing my drawers, pasting pages from a crumbling book of Parisian photography over the old drawer-paper. 

I'm also creating a capsule board on Pinterest, so I can pick through clothing in my mind before buying anything. 

Has anyone else done a capsule wardrobe? I'd love any advice on making a smooth transition into clothing simplicity.

New Year

I try to bind each year to a word and let that word guide my goals and actions as I move through the months. This year, my focus is on Beauty. 

I'm always at least half focused on Beauty, so this year is more of refocusing, a deepening relationship with the word, and all it represents.

In part, I am talking about physical beauty, I want to take more time to nourish my body and adorn it. I'll be paying more attention to the health of my skin. I've made a rich, moisturizing cream with coffee-butter, shea butter, olive oil, rose-hip seed oil, and essential oils indulge my face each night. I'm wearing honey-clay masks regularly; and I hope to pick up body brushing again. 

I'm also taking more time with my hair and makeup most days and working on building a capsule wardrobe. My current wardrobe is small enough, but it lack cohesion and consistent beauty. Too often I go out looking sloppier than I want to. I'd like to reduce my wardrobe just a bit more, add some 'muck-about-the-yard' boots to save my shoes, and give my wardrobe a sense of wholeness.

But beauty is petty when it doesn't go beyond the body. In this new year, I hope to extend it through the things in my life and into the spirit of it. As I craft beauty in my self and my home, through building a culture of simplicity and hospitality, I hope it will make soul-beauty more and more a natural part of life. 

I'm reducing my belongings, and my family is reducing with me. We're clearing out the cluttering, half-wanted things and letting our little house breathe a bit more. Fewer toys, fewer clothes, fewer distractions. The kids are even getting excited about packing away the toys and clothes they don't love and sending them off to other kids. My daughter could wear three outfits over and over each week and be happy in them, she adores the soft, cozy clogs her grandparents sent her for Christmas and her glittery boots, but is only half-heartedly attached to 2 other pairs of winter shoes in the basket. The warm, red union suit her other grandparents gave her for Christmas is deeply loved, but two other pajamas can be packed off easily.

My husband is filling the house with artwork this winter. Some of it will sell on his Etsy site, Paperwine Industries, but some of it will replace less loved pieces on our own walls.

And as we clear out and simplify, we're building in time for prayer, reading, quiet, and especially play. We're adding in a daily noon Angelus, a personal rosary and divine mercy for me, and a family quiet time at 3pm..which I intend to be a tech-free time. I want to make sure I have order in my day, structure for my children, and time to play with them as well. I think I tend to neglect play.

I have a bullet journal and a dreambook to keep me focused on my goals for the year, hopefully they will help me make 2017 a year of living beauty.

Blessings this new year! What are your goals and how are you pursuing them? Tell me all about it!

Advent

Dying leaves and new beginnings. 

I love Advent. I love new years, new months, new weeks, and new mornings all fresh and bright. But in Advent our mornings are dark - the sun rises late and sets early. Already the sky is streaked with purple.

This autumn has been a time of deep reflection for me, despite my lazy attempts to distract myself with social media and creamy lattes. The trends toward discordance in the world around me are draining and overwhelming..I can feel it influencing my mind and my heart. I see it creeping into my relationships with my children even - I'm less patient with them, my thoughts are elsewhere. 

The day after voting for an acceptable candidate in a sea of hate-filled voices, I began again to reshape my life according to love. As Advent begins I am working to make this life more fully a thing of beauty. I've written our a rule of life for myself, one that pulls to prominence the people I love, the relationships I cherish, the order and ritual I need to thrive. A part of that rule is a sub-rule, a readjustment of my online presence: limiting social media time (my goal is to order my instagram and blogging time to be a peaceful and beautiful contribution to my way of life, while reducing my time on platforms like facebook to brief evening or weekend visits. I have friends there that I do want to keep up with, but the site itself tends to drain my time and interrupt the tangible interactions in life). 


What do I want my time to be filled with? 

I keep breaking this question down into tiny bites of thought. Partially because my children are always biting up my thoughts into tiny pieces with their contributions. Just now, Ilya brought me a painted parasol and my image of time being filled was altered to include the parasol, my sweet boy, and a coffee shop where neither he nor his sister could distract from my writing..possibly with a hazelnut latte beside me. 

Generally though, my responses come in collected impressions: beauty, quiet times, order, simplicity - possibly touched with minimalism, play, conversations late into the night or on lazy mornings with coffee and grapefruits or danish, teaching gently, praying often, sewing, sweeping, reading..slow and simple and gentle.

What do you want your life to look like? To feel like?

How can we make these visions real?

Feeling Pretty

At Everything to Someone, earlier this month, my friend Christie wrote a bit about liking the way you look. 

I think she looks adorable..all vintage and hipster-y. It's not my look, but some days I wish it was.

Most days though, I love my look. I'm not sure what it is anymore, but I like it. 

I like my skirts heavy, long, and textured..I like black eye-liner and big earrings, I like my body well enough to pick clothes that flatter rather than conceal. And I like to play with my 'look'. 

I want my children to feel confident playing with fashion: I want them to step outside the narrow confines of societies ideals and delight in clothing that fits them. Boys are especially limited in our culture - why is the only acceptable formal-wear for boys and men in our society a suit. Boring! 

I'd like my son to be able to feel confident and masculine in a skirt (some men look awesome in a skirt, really, I've met them! Generally they have a lot of tattoos.); I'd like my daughter to feel confident and feminine in coveralls (she wants to be a mechanic), I'd like them bother to feel confident and beautiful in Indian silks..because really, who doesn't? And I'd like them both to feel confident and beautiful naked. Because they are. 

* * * *    * * * * 

I love make-up. I love dressing up my eyes. Yarrow loves make-up as well..she piles it on. She's good at doing her lips, I'm not. But make-up looks best when it's used to flatter, not conceal or alter. I'm uncomfortable with the excessive contouring that some people do.

Maybe that's just because I like my face. I like it in the early morning, without make-up.

And I like it in the later morning, with make-up.

..and now I want bangs again. I might even want to be a blond again...

Someday.

I dress and do my make-up for myself, my husband, and my children. I want to feel pretty. I want my husband to smile when he sees me, and I want my children to think their mother is beautiful. I want my children to know that motherhood doesn't mean bad hair and lazy dressing; that it can inspire women to love their bodies more than ever, not because they've 'sacrificed their bodies having children' but because they've met their bodies in a deep, rich way, and become someone new. 

Ilya's Quilt

My parents have a lovely neighbor.

When Yarrow was born, she made a beautiful quilt - all blues and greens and summer-time woods. Yarrow adores her quilt-with-the-stars. She loves seeing the stars in the sky and knowing they come down to nestle with her in bed.

I grew up right next door to this woman, never knowing she quilted until she gave us Yarrow's quilt. Now she's sent along another for baby Ilya...and I'm thrilled and so grateful to her.

Ilya's quilt is huge! Not quite a 'baby' quilt at all, it would fit on a toddler bed easily. And like Yarrow's, it feels as though she's touched his soul in the making of it. It seems to belong with him - my late-winter baby. 

But right now, he's sharing with his sister..it fits her little bed so well after all! And she's so excited to share her quilt with him as well. They're an adorable pair - Yarrow and Ilya and right now, sharing is what they do best!

Make-up Philosophy

and yup..those are my roots showing through.

During Lent, my dear friend Christie shared her Philosophy of Make-up on Everything to Someone..and it got me wondering: do I have a philosophy of make-up? She writes that make-up ideally

"improved my appearance, and it didn't look like I wasn't wearing any makeup, but it didn't look like my makeup was hiding me either."

 Which is a lovely description..I like to look like I'm wearing make-up. I like dramatic eyes and the chance to play with my 'look'. I like to 'decorate' as much as 'beautify' myself with make-up and emphasize my eyes as much as possible.

"Makeup serves two main purposes: (1) to decorate and (2) to beautify.  These purposes don't have to be mutually exclusive, but I think when the decorating takes away from, distracts, or frustrates one's God-given beauty, it's a shame."

 Again, I think Christie makes a great distinction..and it's one I try to make each day as I apply it to my eyes and face..I want to decorate while beautifying, nurture the good, subdue the weathered aspects of my skin, and play.

If I didn't have to take Seth's opinion into account, 90% of my wardrobe and make-up would be black...A few colorful silk skirts, neglected lips, and black blackness everywhere else! 

As it is, even with my dear, neglected husband pulling for variety, I'm hovering somewhere around 75% black in my overall 'look'. And when I start searching for something new, I find myself inevitably in the black racks. 

With make-up I am, despite a philosophy that leans toward playing, equally monotonous. The lazy me has long ago discovered that I like my eyes wide and dark, emphasized with black and grey; my skin blush-less (I blush too easily on my own!); and my lips..well, I like my lips done in dark purples or brownish reds, but I long for the style to pull off a really red red, and I generally neglect my lips entirely - knowing the color will end up long gone before noon anyway.

I'm working on that,  because it violates my philosophy of make-up..the philosophy that says: Be pretty today, for tomorrow we're all wrinkly and old..and be pretty then too, because only Buffy gets to be dead, but still pretty, so live it up!


Do you use make-up? What's your philosophy of looking good? 

Beauty Basics

Someday, I want a vanity table..the kind dominated by a huge mirror and open enough to tuck a little stool beneath..with lots of levels and tiny drawers. But for now, I generally sit at the table or on the bed - if I sit at all - while getting ready.

Some days I don’t wear make-up, or do pretty things with my hair; other days, I eat grapefruit in my painted silk robe, looking and feeling fantastic. For me, it’s generally about attitude. The best days start early - 4:30 or 5, with a sleeping Petka and fresh coffee. On those days, I greet the world well. Late mornings leave me rushed, cutting corners where-ever possible - trying my hair back and wearing yesterdays skirt under an apron..But on good days - here are some of my favorite routines:

A Yogurt Mask: Plain, full-fat yogurt on my face for about 15 minutes does amazing things for my skin. It makes my whole face soften, brighter, fresher, and happier. Any make-up that goes on after this looks better, and whatever I don’t put on my face can be eaten with walnuts and honey. I especially like Greek yogurt, but sometimes it’s hard to find the real (full fat) type in the store.

Eyeliner: I’m addicted. And honestly, if I’m going to put anything on my face, it’ll be eyeliner. Nothing makes me feel prettier than well-done eyes. I like mine dark and big and dramatic, but not crazy or clubby. Recently I’ve been playing around a lot with the Bollywood-style - lining all around my eye and adding lots of mascara and very little shadow.

Earrings: I love huge earrings! They’re such a fun, comfortable, and out of the way (at least for me) way to look and be beautiful..I have two holes in each ear (down from five in high school) and it’s a manageable number, but full of options. And best of all, earrings won’t get covered in dirt if you’re gardening, the way rings do.

Aprons: Pretty aprons always seem to say “I’m owning this whole house-wife gig!” don’t they! I want a million. I have a couple for the house and a couple that are really tough, for gardening and throwing..sometimes I forget to wear one, but when I remember, I’m always thrilled. And my clothes stay cleaner too.. ‘Cause that’s important.

Cafe au lait: For late, desperate days, black coffee contributes to the lovely “I’m too busy for life!” feeling. But on early days I pull out my little battery powered milk frother and make something decadent either alone with grapefruit and a good magazine, with Seth on slow Saturday mornings, or with Yarrow, who prefers a steamer.

Simplicity: Food, Meals, and Beauty II

 

I’m too often guided by whim. In an effort to simplify, I’ve been working on building a pantry full of food to add to our garden produce (mainly eggplant and tomatoes) to make a variety of foods that are simple, beautiful, healthy, and interesting. I want beautiful meals - meals that are more than just one dish, meals that are bright and sensual and satisfying in a holistic way, we will be less inclined to go out, or to run to the store “for just a few things” every other day. The biggest trouble is refrigeration, we can’t keep perishables for more than a day or two without ice. We’re still in the market for a used propane fridge, a small one, with just enough room for a couple leftovers, a few quarts of milk, and yogurt. The trouble with me is, I let this little limitation affect my attitude toward meal prep. I allow my mealtime aesthetic to be damaged by a simple limitation, one that a majority of cooks in the world, and throughout history have shared.

        Another limitation is financial, we aren’t wealthy, and I often want food that really isn’t within our budget. But planning meals well, and using the space I have to store ingredients that do keep is the best way to deal with that frustration. In the summer, with access to my own garden, I try to craft meals around what I have access to: eggs, tomatoes, summer squashes, eggplant, herbs, and others.

The point really isn’t to have an overwhelming variety of meals, but to have beautiful, filling, healthy meals. Meals that bring us together around the table with flickering lamps, good conversation, and love.

        My attitude toward our meals has been evolving, in a subtle way. The ideas are the same but the feeling behind them is growing stronger. I’m planning a winter of hearty soups, crusty bread, preserves, good cheeses, and an abundance of pork.

The Simplicity Project: Living Well

This is how I’ve been feeling recently

 

 

Fortunately for my self-image, the simplicity plan has a catagory for me. A few actually: learn to say no, eat healthy, exercise.

And all of those are actually a huge part of living simply, because gluttony clutters life. A late night coffee with Irish cream is lovely, but a whole pot is completely unnecessary. Now obviously, a whole pot of coffee isn’t exactly fattening, at least, without the added Irish Cream it isn’t, but it’s still ends up falling into a failure in simplicity, because when the pot is done, I’m in full insomnia-mode, stay up late cleaning under the counter, or writing jittery verse and by the time I’m asleep I’ve lost any motivation I might have had for getting up early and forming my day well.

The irish cream just adds to the trouble - who loses excess weight drinking irish cream? Nobody, that’s who. A definite failure in the ‘eat healthy’ catagory. A step in the right direction is my recently renewed attempt to take meals - actual, sit-down moments in time, in which food is arranged attractively on a plate, with a begining and an end. A tiny pitcher of irish cream runs out a whole lot sooner than a whole bottle, and it looks fantastic. Meals are more satisfying when they’re made into events (even if the event is rather small and simple: eggs on a blue plate and black coffee in blue and white cups).

Exercise has been my success of the week. I’ve been inspired by some friends to get back into running, and it has been amazing! With or without Yarrow, the solitude of the run is refreshing - in her stroller, Yarrow is content to sit and see. I’ve managed to start a running habit -whether I can keep it or not remains to be seen - and it’s a joy to me. With it, the rest of the day feels more my own.

July

My "New" Machine

Guess who doesn’t have to do all her sewing by hand anymore!!

Me. That’s right.

 This beautiful sewing machine belonged to my grandmother, and it’s actually still in perfect working condition. I’ve never sewn on a treadle before, and when we first set it up, I was a bit overwhelmed by the difference. It takes more focus, and more hand-eye coordination than I usually have, but after a hot Sunday afternoon of practice, I’m doing well! Now I have to find all my fabric and get started on all the little projects I’ve been putting off for months.

Bohemian Mama: Picture Book

Like most babies, Yarrow seems to prefer to play with toys that aren’t really toys. She’ll spend half her day pulling jewelry out of my green bowl, or examining make-up jars one by one; she loves pieces of paper and the camera case. Some of her favorite things to examine are her parent’s tattoos. Last week I added a new one to Yarrow’s collection of black and white images. She spent the time in the tattoo parlor laughing at her reflection and reaching out to trace the bright pages on the wall. At home, she traces the lines on my hand and grins, turning it over to look for more, like a book, her favorite book - full of the images of love.

My husband and I designed this tattoo with Yarrow in mind. It makes use of an older one, one that claims Beauty will save the world, the new work wraps ‘round in, climbing up on my hand in joyful curls. Fluttering on the edges are three black crows, tradition birds of luck and happiness. The three that foretold the birth of a daughter. I saw so many crows before Yarrow’s birth, grouped in threes and sevens, or paired off. If the tales are true my daughter has a happy life ahead of her - wrapped up in blessings before I saw her, now with world of new life to enjoy.

Photos from Life

I love our little wood wine-box shelves. They make happy

little shrines for daily things.

Dried tea and seeds waiting for spring.

We have so much less snow this year! I'm grateful for what we have,

and even more grateful we don't have any more!

Tassels in the light. This shawl hangs over one of the windows. I love it.

Bohemian Mama: Baby bling

For Christmas my husband made Yarrow a long beaded necklace and matching bracelet. They're strung on strong, waxed cord with beads of wood, nut, and coral - baby safe, bright, and fun. Yarrow loves them. She loves wearing them, chewing them, seeing them and playing with them. They look fantastic, and Yarrow loves looking fantastic.  I love them because they're long enough for me to borrow and wear as well, and because they keep her attention - for the most part - away from my beads, which are not as 'baby-proof' as her's.

We obviously don't leave her alone in her beads, because we don't want any accidents, but wearing her around, they're fantastic. And they go with everything!

Life in Pictures

December's hard frost finally came, freezing deep ruts in the road from November's storms, killing ferns and icing fallen leaves.

My husband's tools.

Sugar on the table for tea, or coffee. We've been enjoying variety in our coffee recently: black, with cream,

with sugar, with milk. Winter is the time to try new warming drinks.

Life in Pictures

Before the snow came, and before the rafters were set. Now the kitchen looks a good deal more like a kitchen, or at least, like a building on it's way to completeness.

right off the boat

Wet autumn again this year, and moss growing everywhere, like a little fairy forest on the decaying logs.

Snow and rafters

Thanksgiving pomegranates

Bohemian Mama: Dress you family in silk and cashmere

I have a fondness for natural fibers. Most of my clothes are cotton, wool, silk, or linen. I hunt them down in thrift stores, tiny, artsy clothing stores, or make them from the clearance aisle fabric finds. Natural fibers feel nicer against my skin, they breathe better, hold in heat better, and look better. Baby clothing, I’ve discovered, is almost entirely polyester and acrylic. It confuses me to see the rows and rows of rough-fibered, pastel baby clothes, because babies love texture, and they love bright colors. Petka spends huge chunks of time examining the red and blue on my silk kimono - staring, touching, tasting - immersing herself in the experience. We try as much as possible to indulge this fascination by clothing her in fabrics that are rich in experiences; fabrics she can enjoy touching and seeing. Thanks to her Babkas on both sides, Petka has an abundance of knitted things, and the Babkas are graciously aware of our preferences. Yarrow has knitted skirts, sweaters, booties, and hats; she gets no end of compliments on her knits, and can be happily bundled up for our cold December mornings without wearing anything that wasn’t handmade for her by loving grandmothers. She does, of course, often wear things that were not made by the babkas, we have an abundance of funky cotton onesies, pretty dresses, skirts, tights, and toddler blouses tied down to size - making adorable little dresses.

One of my favorite ways to make funky dresses for Yarrow, is by cutting down old shirts, sweaters, or leftover fabrics I have laying around. Right now, I’ve been cutting up an old cashmere sweater for a dress, and a green, lamb’s wool sweater as a winter coat. In a week or so, and an evening or two of intense embroidery, they’ll be wearable, with enough left over for little leg-warmers, mittens, or a pocket.

As she grow, obviously, cutdown sweaters won’t provide enough fabric, but I’m pretty confident that I have a few years left of cut downs from old sweaters, silk skirts, or thrift store sweater-dresses. After that, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!
 

Prettiness

I like small espresso cups for late-night coffee. On these recent chilly nights, I like a small, late night cup with my books, my typewriter, or my nursing Petka. An espresso cup is the exact size for a night-time cup. Coffee with no cream, and maybe a small cup of vodka besides.

This week I managed to add in afternoon tea. The backberries are coming in, which makes a great addition to tea, bread, and cheese. The storm coming in this weekend might make it hard to accomplish things, but if Saturday is nice we have high hopes of making progress on the kitchen and planting the last of the autumn garden - though weather-wise, it feels like mid-September already. I don't like where this is going, another winter like last year would be a bit much for me.