Forever Is Now!!

Images from Pixabay

Emily Dickinson stated that Forever is composed of nows. This is what is happening right now and right this minute. You may think the things that are going on in your life day to day, hour to hour or even minute to minute are too mundane to even think about. But you will think about them in a few minutes, a few hours, a few days and even in a few years. You will go back to some of the things that have happened this past week and remember remnants of them forever. Some things will stand out and some things you won’t even remember. Do you ever wonder what will stick in your memory forever? You never know when something happens if it will last forever in your memory. Or maybe you have something so good happen that you store it away to remember forever.

The last couple of weeks have been very full. I guess that all weeks are, in their own way. I worked two full weeks which I haven’t done since way before Christmas, Mark smashed his head into the concrete outside the basement and had a very bad bloody head, It was raining and he was emptying the dehumidifier and misjudged the wall. Don’t ask. We took an all day trip to the doctor at Vanderbilt in Nashville for a four month check up, not for the bloody head. All was good. I went to book club, I had a long meeting with a colleague and ad vendor, I bought Valentine decorations, I cooked several dinners, knitted, grocery shopped, walked the dogs and took a million pictures. Mark bought a new truck, I spent a long fun day with my niece Hailey, I attended the funeral of a dear woman, who I knew through work, who had lived to the ripe young age of 96. My nephew’s wife had open heart surgery at the young age of 40!!! WHAT!!! We had a tornado warning. One of my favorite aunts passed away. Wow!!! I would say a lot has happened already for 2020. But that’s life isn’t it?

I think we sometimes wait for a big moment or day to happen but when you think about it, it is happening right now. This is life!!! Forever is now!!! LIVE IT!!!!!

Always remember,

Love your Day Your Way!!!

Five Tips for Shopping Your Closet

Happy Thursday friends. Do you ever find yourself picking the same clothes to wear day after day after day? This means that lots of nice clothes are left in your closet or pushed behind things you never wear. Often I am in a hurry and I just go into my closet and pick whatever is hanging right in front of me. It’s easy. You may be one of those people who actually plan their clothes for the entire week. I have heard of you but I always thought you were an urban myth. I will let you in on a little secret and you may or may not be this way. But when I am not as happy with my body as I would like to be I tend to choose whatever I have handy. I don’t bother to go into my closet and try to put things together. This is really not a good way to be if you are wanting to create confidence in how you look. And you know that pulling something out that you haven’t worn in awhile can be so refreshing and make you feel so…… pretty. Come on you know it does and it always gives me a little pick me up.

I have actually found clothes in my closet with the tags still on them because I purchased them and stuck them in my closet only to be lost among some of the other clothes I have. A case in point, I needed a new pair of black pants. If you know me you are probably thinking there is no way she could need another pair of black pants. Black pants are mostly what I wear in the winter ha ha. But they are so versatile and you can pair them with anything!!! So before I shopped for the aforementioned black pants I dove into my closet and started pulling things out. I decided this would be a great time to cull out some of the things I never wear. Turns out I gathered up two bags of skirts and pants to take to be donated. In the process I also found not one not two but three pairs of black pants I had forgotten I had. Yes one still had the tags on them. I know I know, I have a problem and it’s not necessarily shopping but organizing and using what I do have. I try to do this at least once or twice a year but that may not have happened last year.

So I decided a while back that I was going to clean out my closet and my way of thinking and planning things to wear. This way when I need something to wear I will be able to go to my closet first and shop it before heading to the stores or online shopping. It takes some time to do this so don’t think it will happen overnight. I am committed to do this at least once a year. Even if your closet is well maintained it doesn’t hurt to sort through and do an inventory every now and then to keep it that way. Here are five tips I have found to be very helpful.

You must clean out your closet. This means taking everything out of your closet and put it on your bed or wherever you have to, so that you can get a good look at everything. You need to be able to touch every piece, try it on and make a decision about it. You can’t do this unless you are able to see it. If something doesn’t fit, look right on you or is damaged get rid of it!!!!
Divide and conquer. Just for the getting started process make three piles of clothing. Things you know you are going to keep, things you know you are going to get rid of and things you are undecided about. For example, why do I have that size six skirt from ten years ago still hanging in my closet? Well because I will be that size again someday of course. But let’s be realistic if it happens you will probably not want it anyway. I’ve noticed as I have gotten older even when I lose weight my body doesn’t always shift back like it was. So that skirt from ten years ago may not look like I want it to anyway.
Get rid of the give away pile. Once I have the three piles situated I bag the items that I know that I won’t wear again and put them outside the door or take them to my car. These will be donated. If you are the type of person who likes to sell your clothing then go for it but just for now get them out of sight and out of your way. I put the pile of clothing that I am undecided about to the side and concentrate on what is left.
Group your clothing. Whether it be by items or by color. I like to separate pants, skirts, shirts, dresses and sweaters. I have another area for jackets because a jacket or coat is not something that you always need, not where I live anyway. If you are like me you may even keep them in a different coat or hallway closet. I don’t want them taking up room in my day to day clothing.
Shop your clothes. Once you have your clothes in your closet the way that you want them and grouped together by items or colors then you are ready to shop. If you see someone wearing something you like go to your closet and look it over, chances are you have something very similar. If you see something in a magazine or on TV and think wow that looks great together then go to your closet and shop. The most important thing is you know exactly what you have, where it is and whether you need to shop for it outside your closet.

A little something extra. There are several great closet apps you can put on your phone that make organizing and keeping your closet organized so much easier. Go to the App Store, they’re free!!!

Smart Closet

Outfit Planner

Style Book

Closet Love.

Happy Shopping, and always remember:

Love your day your way!!!

Weekends And A Discovery

Good Monday morning friends. I am writing this from my car dealership in Knoxville where I am getting my oil changed and my tires rotated. Who gets their oil changed at 7:00 AM on a Monday morning? Me that’s who. It’s quiet and I’m usually the first one here. I love it!!!

My maintenance required light and tire rotation has been coming on for a little bit. I knew I was due an oil change and tire rotation but just kept putting it off until after Christmas.

So here I am at the Nissan dealership at 7:15 AM to get this taken care of. Mark and I have a trip to Nashville this week for a routine checkup for Mark at Vanderbilt. That is about a four hour drive each way for us. I wanted to get the maintenance taken care of before we went. You know I am a procrastinator, nuff said. I had to leave my house at 6:15 to get here when they opened. I scheduled online before I left the house.

So I am sitting in the dealership waiting for my car. It’s not so bad I have coffee, snacks a huge TV, and about an hour of uninterrupted knitting. Heck I may just move in!!!!

Back to the weekend. You know from my previous blog post that I always pick a word for the year. I am not a big one for making New Year’s resolutions but I always pick a word for the year. My word for this year was discovery. I discovered something really important this weekend. It’s something I already knew but it really hit home over the weekend. It is SLEEP. My weekend was very strange because my sleeping was all jacked up.

It started Friday night when I couldn’t sleep. This threw me into feeling tired all day on Saturday. Mark and I went to the Assisted Living Village, where his mom is, for a visit and to take some supplies. I also took down all of her Christmas decorations and put up a Valentine wreath on her door. We got back home around 5:00. I had been reading a great book so I decided to lie down on the bed to read for a little bit. So delicious. You see where this is going right? I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until 9:00 PM!!!! I couldn’t believe it. My Saturday night was gone! I know I am not a social Diva with lots to do on Saturday night but I do love my Saturday nights doing whatever I want. I felt like it was wasted. Now if I had been really smart I would have just gone back to bed for the night. But no. I got up and started watching a couple of movies. I had some snacks. I finally went back to bed at 2:30 AM. I then overslept and didn’t get up until 7:30 AM on Sunday morning. People that is really late for me. I felt terrible. My body felt out of sync all day. I drank coffee and it didn’t help. The only thing that remotely brought me back to life was walking the babies outside in the crisp winter air. There is something to be said about getting outside and enjoying nature. Especially when you are in a FUNK!!!

Look at my Molly girl she is getting old you can see the white on her muzzle.

Scruffy always up for a walk and an adventure.

This is Molly and Scruffy together. It is really hard to get a pic of them together.

So I guess my first word and discovery for the year is to remind myself just how much sleep I need. Thank you very much. After the walk with the fur babies I started feeling a little more like myself. I made sure I went to bed early and drank plenty of fluids, that really seems to help no matter what, and I am sort of kind of feeling back to the old me. Good or bad or whatever.

How has your New Year been going? No matter what always remember.

Love your day your way!!!!

The Pina Colada Song

Do you ever feel like a worn out recording of your favorite song? I am really telling my age now. But do you remember this song? It was actually called The Escape. It was about a man that was tired of his “lady” because they had fallen into the same old dull routine. While they were lying in bed one night, I guess it was night, he was reading the personal ads and he came across one that suggested if he liked Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain and wasn’t into yoga and had half a brain and loved making love at midnight in the dunes on the cape then he should write to her and they could plan their escape.

He replied back that yes he loved all of those things and he would meet her at a bar and they would plan their escape.

When “she” showed up it was his own lovely lady who had been asleep in bed beside him while he was trolling the personal ads. She said “Ah it’s you”. and then they said they never knew that the other liked all of those things including the Pina Coladas. The song indicates it opened a whole new world for them yet no one questions what might have happened if it hadn’t been him who showed up at the bar and just why his lovely lady put the ad in the paper to start with. O.K. I’m getting side tracked sorry, that often happens to me. Anyway you get the jest of the song. I think it was always called The Pina Colada song.

So I ask again? do you ever feel like a worn out recording of “your” favorite song? I am not referring to a spouse, partner lover or even a friend but YOU!!!! Do you ever feel like you just go through the motions day after day and you do the same things over and over. Do you eat the same things for breakfast, wear the same clothes, take the same route to work? same routine day after day? Why not change it up a little? do something totally different and unexpected!!! I challenge you. Let me know how it goes. We know that there are often big things in our lives that we can’t change for one reason or another so we will deal with that. But lots of little things in our lives can be changed and maybe make life a little more interesting and make the big things easier to deal with. So here we go:

For myself, and yes people it may be baby steps, this is what I am going to do every week or every day.

*Call or talk to a loved one that I don’t see often.
*Eat different foods, try a new food every week or try a new recipe.
*Watch something I am usually not interested in.
* Wear something different
*Read a book that I normally would not read or be interested in, (I have Harry Potter on my night stand). I know I know I Can’t believe I have never read this book.
* Volunteer for an organization.

I think you see where I am going with this. Just do something different. There are so many things about ourselves and in this world we can’t change. But as for the things we can do a little different, why not? This is our one life, enjoy, live, love

So yesterday I decided to wear these kind of blingy earrings I hadn’t worn in about six months and I did my hair different. You know what? I felt a little different, in a good way.
I mean you just can’t wear Blingy earrings without feeling a little sassy.

So what will you try different? So let me know how it goes. What might you discover?

Always remember

Love your day your way