When our lockdown in France happened back in March of 2020, I started wearing wedge heeled sandals and dresses. Every. Single. Day. I was fresh off several months of my “turn things I don’t love into things I love” Suitcase Method cure. The problem, of course, was seasons were changing: from September 2019, when IContinue reading “Pandemic Dressing”
Tag Archives: Contentment
The Continuing Saga of the Elf Boots
In this photo, I was eight and a half months pregnant and could no longer tie my own shoes. I could, however, slip my feet into my Elf Boots. Man. I love those boots. The story of Rumpelstiltskin originated in the region of France where I currently live. I mention this because the shoe repairContinue reading “The Continuing Saga of the Elf Boots”
A Happiness Project: Not for glassy-eyed newlyweds
Voted #1 least sexy topic in the universe
Stripping Down
The word minimalism is treacherous. For me, before I started hungering for minimalism, it evoked monastic interiors of all white with an uncomfortable chair and an ugly flower arrangement. Today, minimalism has taken on a very different meaning. Let me show you what it means: This little experiment happened back in June 2020. I guessContinue reading “Stripping Down”
Pandora’s Box
The opposite of contentment is not misery, it is dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction can make us miserable. It is not however, the misery of poverty, hunger or isolation. We can be hungry and still be content. We can be isolated and still be content. It is dissatisfaction that gets me started on the vicious cycle of wantingContinue reading “Pandora’s Box”
Challenge Check-in Week One
I did not buy anything this week, which was easy because I barely left the house but to take the scalawags to school. I did covet. A lot. It takes so very very little for my mind to think that because I find something attractive that it should consequently belong to me. As I examinedContinue reading “Challenge Check-in Week One”
Challenge Rule 1: Purchase no clothes or accessories
I need to paint myself into a corner on this one. (I might need more paint!) Stop pursuing I intentionally replaced the word buy with the word purchase. This may sound like a simple little replacement, but the nuance comes to life when you know that the French word pourchasser is an etymological ancestor ofContinue reading “Challenge Rule 1: Purchase no clothes or accessories”
The Stuff of Life
There is one thing I can unequivocally state: No thing will make life perfect. Perfect moments are born of something intangible, something that goes beyond the sum of the objects. Things can participate in the making of a perfect moment, but they are not the assurance of perfect moments. Case in point: my boys wereContinue reading “The Stuff of Life”
The Contentment Conundrum
I feel like I have spent my entire life searching after some thing that will bring me satisfaction. I can, and probably will, continue to dissect this urge for the remainder of my earthly life. I have a vivid memory of Christmas morning as a child, seeing what today I would consider the embarrassment ofContinue reading “The Contentment Conundrum”
Sing With Your Feet 