“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” ~ Socrates Amazing to think the warning of an ancient Greek Philosopher, born in 470BC rings so true today. Earlier this year I contributed to a blog posting for my colleague, Linda Samuels. The topic was what I wanted more and less of in the new year. My response: “I’m at a point in my life where I’m actively embracing the idea of less and am pursuing a ‘smaller’, … Read More
A few years ago, my father gave me a gift that continues to keep giving. It is a one page document containing information I would need to know to settle his and my mother’s affairs should something happen to them. Information so important that we keep this document in our safety deposit box. Since that time I have created a similar document for my family. Is this document all inclusive? No. Have my father and I thought … Read More
I have always loved this picture, extracted from a Woman’s Day magazine long ago, and taped to a page in my recipe notebook for as long as I can recall. I made the bunny shaped cake for my kids once when they were small and it made us all smile. I thought of this photo today when I started this post and it made me smile, again. Smile about a simpler time when folks got creative about … Read More
My reading list had taken on a life, or should I say lives of its own. The list that at one time was neatly maintained in Notes on my iPhone had spilled over into Toodledo, a couple of visual reminder piles beside my bed and reading chair, and a number of newly downloaded books sitting in my iBooks and Kindle apps. There were plenty of reminders to read, but no great way of selecting what to read. … Read More
I noticed recently at my book club that I was the only one in the group who chooses to read the monthly selections on a screen (iPad). When I brought this up, most of my friends commented they feel reading just isn’t the same without real pages to turn. Other reasons for choosing paper and binding included a need to physically experience progress through the book, as documented by the movement of the bookmark, and feeling the … Read More
I used to measure the success of my holidays by how full my calendar was. The above image is from a holiday journal from about 10 years when my kids were younger. Cookie exchanges, white elephant gift exchanges and neighborhood gatherings filled the blocks on my calendar, but did little to fill my heart with holiday cheer. Instead they brought on the stress of having one more thing to do, at a time of year that … Read More
Today we will focus on Editing your gift giving. One facet of my life that has changed significantly since becoming a professional organizer is how many gifts I give. I spend many hours each week working with people who have accumulated way too many things. Two categories if things that pop up at house after house are: unused gifts received and ungiven gifts. I’m guessing the number of ungiven gifts I’ve encountered in my six years of … Read More
Here we are back for day three of my edit your holidays series, where we’ll discuss editing your holiday meals. In our home the holidays have always been about food. Up until a few years ago, it was typical for our small gathering of 8-10 people to sit down to a meal that would have easily fed 20. Our collective girths were proof that food was an important component of the holidays. A couple of years ago though … Read More
When I was first married I loved decorating for the holidays, probably because I didn’t have that many decorations. As timed marched on though and our family and house grew, the number of decorations grew too. This has resulted in my getting much more selective about what I want to put out for the holidays, as I don’t want to spend more than a day decorating the house, or more than a day packing things up in … Read More
Editing Traditions: Just because your family has myriad holiday traditions, doesn’t mean all of them need to be rolled out every year. Growing up, my family had lots of traditions, like opening an advent calendar and making cookies. I especially recall Christmas Eve traditions – going to church, opening one present each and completing a 500 piece holiday themed puzzle. My husband’s family had their own traditions that were very different from those of my family. While … Read More