Life

Having a sense of purpose, and aiming to be happier each day are core principles for me. Here are my attempts at getting there...

7 Exercises to Craft a Purposeful Life

7 Exercises to Craft a Purposeful Life

I'm in this phase where I could do what I want with my life, but feel paralyzed by the possibilities. I dove back into my trusted reading list to figure out in which direction I could go, but also browsed the archives of the blog to find a

5 Great Books To Kick Off Your New Year’s Resolutions

5 Great Books To Kick Off Your New Year’s Resolutions

I've been texting and chatting with friends about what direction we want to take this new year and thought I'd share my recommendations here too. As you know, I love new beginnings, a good reason to start a new habit, and starting a new project in

My 2024 Ins-and-Outs List

New Year Featured

My 2024 Ins-and-Outs List

For some reason, a word of the year hasn't come to me yet, but I did keep a list in my notes and took a few screenshots that took a More/Less form, a trend attributed to illustrator and NYT columnist Julia Rothman that has been taking an

5 Interior Design and Home Decor Books That Have Inspired Me Lately

5 Interior Design and Home Decor Books That Have Inspired Me Lately

I haven't kept up with updating my monthly reading blog post, so considering how the books have piled up on my "read" list, I figured I'd categorize them. I'm a sucker for interior design books, and yes, they do count as books

3 Newsletters I'm Subscribed To

3 Newsletters I'm Subscribed To

I've been super into newsletters lately, I myself would love to write a meaningful one someday and actually got very inspired thanks to Marlee Grace's Common Shapes podcast episode "The Art of Newsletters". More on that in a future article... Even though a bunch

Summer Activities

Seasonal Activities

Summer Activities

Happy summer! I love crafting, cooking and creating but sometimes find myself realizing that certain activities require planning (I have missed nettle foraging season 2 years in a row!). So, at the beginning of this year, I decided to fill my planner with lots of fun seasonal activities such as

Creating Harmony in Your Relationship: 4 Essential Tips for Living Together

Creating Harmony in Your Relationship: 4 Essential Tips for Living Together

As we're approaching the mid-year mark, a time when Octave and I meet for what I call our "Life Meeting", I thought I'd share an update of an article I published 6 years ago about the systems I implemented to do life with my

How to Start a Natural Dye Garden

How to Start a Natural Dye Garden

For the past couple of years, I've had gardens of various shapes and forms, whether it was raised beds in my backyard, a plot at the community garden, or metal barrels on the sidewalk. Gardening is a thrilling activity, but it can be consuming. I've had

Spring Activities

Seasonal Activities

Spring Activities

Happy spring! I love crafting, cooking and creating but sometimes find myself realizing that certain activities require planning (I have missed nettle foraging season 2 years in a row!). So, at the beginning of last year, I decided to fill my planner with lots of fun seasonal activities such as

Using the Four Exhilarations to Implement Healthy Habits

Using the Four Exhilarations to Implement Healthy Habits

February 15 is known by some as "Discouragement Day" as people tend to have abandoned their New Year’s resolutions by this point. Others try to reframe it as "Determination Day" to confirm that they're on the right track. I decided to use this

My One-Word Theme for 2023

My One-Word Theme for 2023

This is my 7th year choosing a theme for the new year, inspired by happiness guru Gretchen Rubin. In the past, my words have included Routine, Learn, Grounded, Prepare, and Balance. This time I've been having trouble finding a word that resonates with me and I honestly considered

Winter Activities

Seasonal Activities

Winter Activities

Happy Winter! I love crafting, cooking and creating but sometimes find myself realizing that certain activities require planning (I have missed nettle foraging season 2 years in a row!). So, at the beginning of this year, I decided to fill my planner with lots of fun seasonal activities such as

6 Books on my December Reading List to Start 2023 on the Right Foot

6 Books on my December Reading List to Start 2023 on the Right Foot

I've been thinking about the upcoming year way earlier than usual. I'm already brainstorming my word of the year, I started writing down ideas for my 23 for 2013 list, and I started writing a list of things I look forward to. In order to start

Fall and Winter Energy (and Money) Saving Tips

Fall and Winter Energy (and Money) Saving Tips

The temperatures have dropped enough at night that we need to turn on the heat in the morning and this year, more than ever, I'm wondering how to be mindful of our energy consumption. I did a little research online and came up with the following tips. Please

Fall Activities

Seasonal Activities

Fall Activities

Happy fall! I love crafting, cooking and creating but sometimes find myself realizing that certain activities require planning (I have missed nettle foraging season 2 years in a row!). So, at the beginning of this year, I decided to fill my planner with lots of fun seasonal activities such as