This is not a commercial for the products pictured above. I was just excited about a bathroom storage solution that I will actually maintain on a daily basis. I really like the idea of a cabinet I can close and hide things away in, but in practice, I know that’s just code for “place I can stuff random crap and pretend I’ve tidied.”
When I read The Organized Home, I was finally able to wrap my mind around an open shelf that 1) holds everything I use on at least a weekly basis and 2) still looks presentable. The best part is that I was able to repurpose the bookshelf by my reading chair that was overflowing and replace it with a bigger shelf that was taking up space in my dining area but mostly going unused. Twin wins for two rooms!
I mean, the book had already won me over when it became clear in the first 20 pages that it’s really just a manifesto on how to shove more bookshelves into your home (my design philosophy in a nutshell). But all it took was one gorgeous picture of a bookshelf in the bathroom to spark the idea, and now the space that has been the bane of my existence since I moved in has stayed organized for over two weeks with absolutely no extra effort on my part. Incredible.
I loooove design and organization books. Because their goal is to make spaces more aesthetically pleasing, their covers are almost always gorgeous. I’m a sucker for a beautiful cover, so it’s inevitable that I will pick them up. And then I start thumbing through, and I get excited about some of the ideas, and ooh – there’s another book, and isn’t the color scheme on the front lovely? Before you know it, design books make up half my library stack that day.
I always think, “Oh, this book is mostly pictures – it will be a quick read.” Ha. No. The actual reading part? Sure. But I am constantly making notes as I go through, jotting down ways to improve some spaces in my home that aren’t quite working for me. And once an idea takes hold that I can apply to my apartment with little to no expense? Forget sitting still enough to read. I’m up and rearranging or revamping, and the rest of the book will have to wait until I’m satisfied with the progress.
I tend to go ahead and buy the ones that match my personal style, because even if some of the ideas in them aren’t useful the first time I read them, I know I will circle back to them later. In the meantime, they look so pretty on the shelf or coffee table.
Do you love design books? What are some of your favorites?
New year, new reading goals! I’m excited about becoming more familiar with the books on my shelves as well as (slowly) whittling down my massive TBR. Here’s the plan for January.
So, my library book club happens to be discussing one of my favorite genres (foodie fiction) this month, and I want to read all four of the books suggested. I probably won’t read all four, but here they are – The Baker’s Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan, With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, The Sunday Lunch Club by Juliet Ashton, and The Opposite of You by Rachel Higginson. I may just end up re-reading Chocolat. Or Like Water for Chocolate. Definitely going to talk about those two at book club, because they’re my favorite foodie fictions.
While Literati is no longer a subscription service for adults (but if you have kids check it out) Roxane Gay is continuing her book club through The Audacity, and you can still get the discussions if you subscribe. January’s selection is Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor.
Home
First, I’m finishing up Welcome Home by Najwa Zebian. It’s a great reminder to be true to myself (and also to figure out what that means in the areas where I’m still a little fuzzy on the subject).
For many people, home means family. I still refer to the farm where I grew up as home, because even though I haven’t lived there for almost thirty years, the people who brought me into this world, whose influence shaped a lot of who I am, are there. And I feel at home at my sister’s house. I know where things are and how it runs and what’s expected of me there.
I also have a circle of chosen family – people I know I can call on and count on at any time. Maggie, Michelle, Sarah, Steph. Then there are others in the circle from Spiderweb and church and work who would definitely have my back in a fight (not that I am in such situations very often…at least physically). As someone who lives alone, I have to make more of an effort to see my family – both biological and chosen – than those whose family is in their house, and the older I get, the more I value relationships with people who seem to put as much effort into them as I do. Text Me When You Get Home by Kayleen Schaefer focuses on female friendships, but I expect that the concepts expand across gender, and I am excited to tuck into it!
TBR
I know I said 3-4 selections, but my TBR is soooo large. I’ll calm down in a few months. Probably.
Series – Having never read anything she’s written, I already like two things about Diana Xarissa. First, her last name will let me check off the letter X on my alphabet reading challenge. Second, all the series she’s written are titled in alphabetical order. For example, the Markham Sisters series starts with The Appleton Case, then The Bennett Case, etc. I will probably read those at some point, but this month, I am intrigued by the first book of her new series, the Midlife Crisis Mysteries, which was released in November, called Anxious in Nevada. I am also happy to report that it’s my turn with the library’s copy of the latest Inspector Gamache mystery – A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny – so I’ll be reading that one, too.
General fiction – I have this one marked with the notation “read without knowing the premise.” Intrigue! So while I’ve linked you to it, I have obeyed Past Me and not read the blurb. This should be fun. As an added bonus, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler also contains one of GirlXOXO’s January keyword prompts (all), so it’s my selection for this challenge.
Memoir – Dear Bob and Sue by Matt and Karen Smith, has been on my list ever since I heard my friend Lois talking about it. It’s a series of letters the authors wrote to their friends while they were traveling to all 59 national parks.
Food memoir – I’ve thumbed through the library’s copy of Sobremesa by Josephine Caminos Oria, and I may just end up buying it before the month is over. It looks like everything I love in a food memoir.
Essays – I have been a fan of Laurie Notaro since The Idiot Girls’ Action-Adventure Club, although it hurts my feelings a little to notice that it came out 20 years ago. I feel like she and I have grown up together, so I’m excited to hear her take on middle age in Excuse Me While I Disappear.
Collection
For the past year (or three?), any time I’ve put a book on a monthly TBR or was given it as a gift, I moved it to one of the shelves in the living room so that I had easy access to it. Then I put it back where it belonged when I finished it. As a result, I have quite a few books lined up on my living room shelves that I meant to read but didn’t (and thus haven’t made it back to their usual home). So I’m going to read a few this month that I’m still just as excited about as when I first planned to read them.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi – This book was planned to fulfill one of the prompts for last year’s POPSUGAR challenge (set in Tokyo, a sister city to New York), and it’s one of the first books I ever bought at Patchouli Joe’s.
Writers & Lovers by Lily King – I can’t exactly remember how this one ended up on this shelf other than I really like the title and the cover. My best guess is that I ran across it when looking for books with the word “winter” in the title (Lily King also has a book called Five Tuesdays in Winter) for last year’s GirlXOXO challenge.
A Place at the Table by Susan Rebecca White – Knowing my love of foodie fiction, Michelle gifted this to me a while ago. It’s one of the ones I pick up and read through when I just have a few minutes, so I’m going to actually finish it this month. Hey – another book to discuss at Rise and Shine! I really am going to try not to dominate the conversation. I promise.
What book are you most excited about reading next?
I finished my reading goal for 2022 in the nick of time. Even with a slow October and November, I stayed enough ahead most of the year to finish strong with a few days to spare. Of course, I didn’t read everything I wanted to read, but that’s to be expected. One day, I’ll learn to bend the space/time continuum to my will. Until then, I guess I’m stuck with a few limitations.
This year, my monthly TBR will look a little different. I still want to focus on book clubs and my theme word for the year, but I also want to make a dent in my constantly expanding, grand list of books I’d like to read as well as the collection of books that I own.
Book Clubs
I have seven book clubs in total. I meet with three of them in person, three online, and one hybrid. I am consistent with attendance to the in-person and hybrid meetings, but not so much with the fully online ones. While I don’t promise I’ll want to add any more Zoom calls to my schedule, I would like to engage more in the online message-board-ish discussion of the subscription books each month.
Just keeping up with the reading for all my book clubs will result in finishing at least six or seven books a month (one of the in-person meetings is centered around genre, not a specific book, so I often have already read several in the month’s category that I can discuss).
Theme Word
As I revealed yesterday, my theme word for the year is home. I find that I am better able to focus if I choose a book to read that delves into some aspect of the word. I am still working through Welcome Home by Najwa Zebian I began in December, and that is the perfect start. Each month, I will choose one book to help me discover something new the theme has to teach me.
TBR
My TBR list is massive and out of control. I keep track of it on a spreadsheet that is divided into 21 different categories. The smallest number of books listed in any category is 7. I’m not even going to tell you what the largest number is (but the category is general fiction, so suffice it to say it’s a large, three-digit number).
It may be overly optimistic to believe that I can make a noticeable dent in this gargantuan list, but I’m going to give it a whirl. First, I’m going to slow down when it comes to adding new things, and I’ve already started the process of reviewing the existing list and deleting books that I’m really not interested in after all. I’m going to be more selective and more realistic about whether I will actually ever choose to read a book before I will put it on the list. Second, I will commit to reading a few from the list each month this year. I may end up reading more (especially if I get hooked on one of the series I have listed or if one of my book club selections is also on the list), but planning for at least one choice from three or four different categories is a solid effort.
Collection
My personal collection? Also massive (but not out of control. Every book has a home.). I don’t have it divided into as many categories as the TBR, but I want to read a little out of all of them this year. So I’ll also be choosing three or four from my personal collection to read each month.
For those keeping track, that’s 6-7 selections for book clubs, one for my theme word, 3-4 off my TBR list, and 3-4 from my personal collection. This totals 13-16 per month, which is how I got to the goal of 180 total for the year. Challenging but not impossible. Wish me luck!
Reading Challenges
If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you may notice that something is missing. As I’ve discussed before, I love reading challenges. They introduce me to books I may have never chosen on my own and have me reading out of my comfort zone on a pretty regular basis.
I don’t typically finish them, though, because I take on too many. I want to do them ALL. And also read all my book club selections. And the next installment of one of the many series I enjoy. And also random books I find at the library that sound interesting or that are recommended by friends. I find that sometimes (i.e., most of the time) I really resonate with Modern Mrs. Darcy’s you-don’t-need-another-challenge proclamation from a few years back, and I just want to read what I like without worrying about if it’s smart or challenging or important enough to merit my favor.
Frankly, I just need to get paid to read. I could read so much more if it were my full-time job. Or if I could figure out that bending space and time thing. Or just become immortal. But I digress.
I think I’ll still get the diverse reads that I’m committed to through my book clubs and my TBR, so I’ll still be challenging myself in that way. But this year, I am limiting myself to two outside challenges and one of my own. I know, that doesn’t sound like “limiting,” but hear me out. The first two are simple ones I’m familiar with.
I do love MMD’s summer reading challenge, so I’ll do that one when/if it comes out in May. This challenge has many books on it that have some popular buzz, so I’ve usually already read a few of them before the list is even posted. They’re usually pretty quick reads (i.e., summer/beach reads, dynamic memoirs, and feel-good fiction, as well as some gems that I can usually get at least one of my book clubs to read), so I’ll have that going for me, too.
I am also going to complete the GirlXOXO Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge. It’s only a book a month, and I have free reign to pick something I’m excited about as long as the title includes one of the month’s keywords. Limiting the number of challenges I am trying to complete will let me give this one a fighting chance.
The third challenge is alphabetical. I want to read 26 books with authors whose names start with each letter of the alphabet and 26 books with titles that start with each letter, too. I realize that’s 52 total books, but with an overall goal of 180, this shouldn’t be a problem. Also, there are relatively few names and book titles that don’t start with a letter, so almost everything I read will fit this challenge, especially the first few months.
The catch is this – any book I read for a challenge also has to fit one of the other categories I’m focusing on this year (i.e., book club, home, TBR, or collection). The alphabet challenge in particular is broad enough to add extra motivation that will help me cull my home collection without getting stuck on Allende (although if you really must be stuck somewhere, that’s a good place to be).
As for updates, I am going to try something new. I will have an anchor page (posting two tomorrow and the MMD one when it comes out later) for each challenge and update it as I finish books. If the book happens to get its own review post or I actually write a review of it on Goodreads, I’ll also post those links on the anchor page.
So that’s the plan for the year. Do you have specific reading goals you want to meet? I’d love to hear them!
I typically spend December reflecting on the year that’s ending, and part of that process is reading through my journals and blog posts. Several times throughout the year, I have mentioned home and pondered what it meant. One particular quote stood out – “Perhaps home care is self-care?” Home isn’t just the place I live physically, although one’s environment is important. It also involves a sense of belonging – of being secure and loved and accepted – particularly within myself, so that no matter who I am with, I can still be at home. So even before I started reading Najwa Zebian’s Welcome Home, I was already preparing my mind to explore it in this context, but of course, there’s always more to learn.
I always enjoyed having people over and feeding them in The Before Times. But then COVID protocols shut that down, and the adjustment was hard and, at times, heartbreaking. In many ways, though, it was also nice. I really do like having the space all to myself. It can be a mess, and I don’t feel the need to explain or apologize for it. It’s also less of a mess because there’s no panic cleaning (which results in some actual tidying/cleaning but mostly consists of “oh, shit, I don’t have time to actually go through all this paper on my table because people will be here tonight so I’m going to shove it into a bag and put it in the office closet where it now lives forever and ever amen.”). Additionally, being home alone sets a clear boundary for when I need solitude.
Every once in a while, though, I get a little pang of nostalgia (usually when I’m looking at entertaining arrangements on Pinterest). I’d like to find more of a balance this year that honors my home as my sanctuary but also is welcoming to those I want to invite into it.
“…house”
*sighs; wants*
I would love a house. With a backyard for some (very) minor gardening but mostly for looking at the sunrise and birds and the moon while I drink my coffee/tea/wine, undisturbed by passing cars or neighbors. With a garage so that the neighborhood squirrels will stop chewing on the wires in my car, the neighborhood cats will stop peeing on it, and the multiple hailstorms each spring will stop adding dimples to its hood. With a decent kitchen and laundry room. With walls and a ceiling I don’t have to share with strangers. With more room for books.
This is unlikely to come to pass this year, unless I suddenly get a huge promotion/raise. So instead I’m focusing on how to make my apartment, which has its odd quirks but overall is a decent place to live, more homey.
“…the social unit formed by a family living together”
This one is a little tricky, as I do not “live together” with anyone. I’m expanding it to include those who are family (both biological and chosen). I’m pretty good about spending time/keeping up/supporting some of them; I could do better with others.
“…a familiar or usual setting; congenial environment; the focus of one’s domestic attention”
Last year – my lush year – I paid special attention to the places where I feel like I fit the best and that brought me the most joy/peace/calm/etc., so I feel pretty well set up for this one. It’s been interesting to see how quickly I notice not only when a setting feels off for me but also when it’s just right. It’s made decisions about which social situations, responsibilities, and tangible objects to take on and which ones to give up a lot easier.
“…habitat”
This makes me think about nesting, which can go a number of ways for me (not all of them good). I do tend to make cozy nests, which I really love while I’m using them, but then I leave them where they are, and as it turns out, an unoccupied former nest is just a lot of stuff out of place and probably some tea/coffee cups that need washing. I may need to find a way to create more permanent, aesthetically pleasing nests that I (and the occasional guest, I guess) can enjoy without having to put them together and take them down every time. I have some ideas.
“…a place of origin”
As my parents age, I’ve been spending more time at the farm. I used to make it home three or four times a year, but I’ve been going at least every other month for a while. I like to check in on them because they (and by they I do mean we as a family) tend to downplay struggles, so it’s good to see with my own two eyes what’s happening. I also just like the drive. It’s one of my favorites.
“…at home”
Relaxed; comfortable; at ease – This is not my standard MO. I tend more toward the tense/anxious/fidgety end of the spectrum. But I look forward to finding ways to mosey toward the other side (or at least in the direction of middle ground) this year.
In harmony with the surroundings – I’ve been trying a few new habits at home already that seem to make it cozier and more harmonious. Work may be a challenge. I have a few steps in mind, including taking more frequent breaks any time I start to feel overwhelmed, using broader scheduling blocks for tasks (to adjust for inevitable interruptions to them), taking mental health days when I first need them rather than waiting until they’re almost an emergency, and, just in general, advocating for myself as fervently as I advocate for others.
On familiar ground; knowledgeable – I love learning, so this part is exciting. There are specific topics/skills I want to improve this year, including music theory and experimentation, reading/speaking Spanish, editing fiction, writing poetry, etc. I’m sure I’ll come up with more as the year progresses.
“…to be at one’s place of residence”
So much of my stress and mental health struggles could be more easily handled if I would just say no and stay home more often. I never, ever regret staying home. I really like it there. I don’t know why I find it so difficult to make it happen more often. I want get better at it this year.
“…to a vital, sensitive core”
This phrase jumped out at me, but so did the use-it-in-a-sentence example they gave. “The truth struck home.” I spent a whole year examining my core values, but that process has continued in the years that followed, because as we change, so do the things we value most sometimes. Currently, I would still list hope, generosity, and joy as some of the main things that drive my decisions, but the older I get (and thus, the more I discover there is to learn), the more important it seems to keep curiosity in the forefront of my mind, too. I’m sure these values will play a role in my exploration of home this year.
Two of the ways I want to do that is through two things I love – eating and reading.
I’m going to make recipes that remind me of home. I haven’t decided if I’m going to post recipes and stories throughout the year or if I want to compile them for discussion as a 31 Days series in October (leaning heavily toward the latter, but we’ll see).
Welcome Home was a solid start for books with home as part of the title and/or theme. I probably won’t get to all the ones I’m considering this year, but here’s the list so far:
I am winding up the pause that typically is the week between Christmas Day and New Years. This is the actual most wonderful time of the year for me. I’m glad that I made my list of resolutions a few weeks ago, because that was Ambitious Me. Today, the person editing the list is Relaxed (and Slightly Feral) Me. With their powers combined, I’m more likely to end up with goals that are challenging but also attainable.
I have certain things I want to accomplish at home, but they fall more into the category of ways of being rather than specific goals, so I’ll save them for my theme word post tomorrow. I’ve divided my six goals into three of the sections I use to track my progress and have stated at least one tangible, measurable long-term goal with each in bold.
Art/Words/Creativity
Read 180 books. This is quite a leap from last year (20% increase, to be exact). To the untrained eye, it may seem that I’m pushing myself too hard. But for me, picking up or tuning into a book is one of the best ways to relax. So in addition to giving me more time to embrace the simple joy of reading books, what this goal does is quietly beckon me to put aside space where I can be calmer and more at peace.
Set (and meet) weekly creative goals. I got away from this practice for a while, and I think that’s one of the reasons why my fiction writing and other creative pursuits have taken such a hit in the last few years. It may take a few (or six…or nine) months to build the habit back up, but by the end of the year, I want to see not only a weekly plan but consistent follow-through (i.e., checking off finished tasks) in my goals planner (see the cute one I’m using in the picture above, gifted by my office Secret Santa).
Health/Wellness/Energy
Strength train three times a week. For a while in my middle adulthood, all exercise was a chore. But now? Cardio is no problem. I can cardio every single day. Dancing and brisk walks are my most common go-tos. But I dread strength training. I don’t actually mind it while I’m doing it, but getting motivated to start? UGH. The worst. It’s so, so good for you, though. And strong muscles (particularly core muscles) make it less likely that I will hurt myself during all that cardio. So three times a week – I can work up to that by the end of the year. And maybe as I get stronger I’ll learn not to dread it so much? I hope.
Take at least one weekly extended time out. This involves several steps to get started (some of which are mentioned as other goals in this list), but I think once I put all of them in place, I’ll love it so much that sticking to it will be easy. I need more downtime to rest and rejuvenate. The additional stressors at my full-time job are the most noticeable, but they’re really only part of the problem. My tendency to push toward what I think I should be able to do rather than what is actually healthy is also an issue. By the end of the year, I want to have established at least one major time out a week (that I actually plan and put on the calendar). This can look like a lot of things – a day off work with a fun or nonexistent schedule, a day in which I don’t leave the house at all, a completely work- and meeting-free evening, etc.
Finances
Build a $1,000 cushion account. I am pretty frugal in general by necessity of my limited income, but I could sharpen some of my already decent habits to lessen some of my financial stress. Specifically, my goal for the year is to set aside a cushion for unexpected expenses. I can think of a lot of things I may suddenly need to upgrade or replace at some point within the next few years, but “unexpected expenses” covers all of them.
Identify one new way to save or make money a month. One reason I don’t already have a solid savings built up is that I have been content to meet my monthly budget and call it good enough (until something comes up, of course, and suddenly it isn’t anywhere close to good enough). I’m super anxious about money in general, but I think I have the bandwidth for one small change a month.
So that’s the list. Do you make resolutions? If so, I’d love to hear what they are!
Hello to the end of the year. Or the beginning of the year, if you prefer to go by the liturgical calendar.
Anyway, a transitional time.
This month, I should easily meet my reading goal for the year, and I hope to finish at least one of the reading challenges I have been working on. I’m sure there will be a recap or five later in the month about what I’ve read, what I liked the most, what surprised me, what I learned, etc.
For my GirlXOXO selection this month, I chose the keyword “night,” so the Calvino classic listed above that Follow the Reader is reading will do nicely. I’m mainly going to focus on one of the challenges because I’m so close to finishing the 52 Book Club Challenge. I’ve started most of the ones that I have left, so the odds are in my favor.
A second person narrative – Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
A book that has an alternate title – The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
A book that intimidates you – Welcome Home by Najwa Zebian. Zebian’s Instagram is challenging, in the very best way. I expect that I will have a lot of intense feelings while reading this book.
Aw, Advent candles and pockets. Ignore the ash on the table.
Advent is soon! I’m considering Celtic Advent this year, because the four-ish weeks never seem long enough.
Cozy is the main reason I like Advent and Christmas. The lights, presence, pleasure (coffee, tea, wine, cake, etc.), communal/equality, gratitude, comfort, togetherness, shelter/home of it. I get why this season is hard for a lot of people, especially those who live here and don’t celebrate Christmas, especially if they work or have worked in retail where they play the most annoying Christmas songs ad nauseum for months on end. And in some ways, it’s hard for me, too. But a spot of melancholy hardly ever keeps me from enjoying something.
I do feel compelled to keep a lot of my joy about the season under the radar (except here and now on the internet, of course) so that I don’t become part of the intense way that others try to shove the holiday down everyone’s throat (looking at you, Starbucks cup zealots). Luckily, I’m usually so caught up in preparing for services at church and other fun things I enjoy this time of year that I miss a lot of that, especially during Advent. Because of the way it falls around work schedules and family gatherings, the twelve days of Christmas partly become a transitional time of letting go and tucking in to prepare for the new year. It’s the time of the year that I’m most likely to enjoy getting by on as little as possible and appreciating what I have.
I don’t know if it’s the start of the church year or (some of) the seasonal music or the (mythical) sweater weather, but the season is very cozy to me. Some of my traditions include going to the farm, reading night the night before I leave (I often buy new pajamas and book specifically for the evening), and coming home to rest. Then there’s the best week of the year (Christmas to New Year’s Day) with goal-setting and shopping and catching up with friends but not really planning anything. I used to plan a lot before the week but I’ve found that it’s even more relaxing if the weeks leading up to it are calm, too.
I tend to celebrate seasons more than holidays, so I don’t know that I have specific traditions for certain days. What are some of yours?
(Disclosure – some of the links in this post get me some sort of bonus if you sign up. No pressure – just seemed right to let you know.)
I’m not sure when I went from viewing shopping as a nice outing to absolutely despising it. But I’m fully entrenched in avoiding it at all costs these days. I have eaten some of the weirdest concoctions for dinner just to put off going to the grocery store another day. Shoe shopping, one of my former favorite pastimes, is nothing but a chore. And trying on clothes? Forget it. I’ve gotten pretty good at guessing if something will fit so I can just grab it and go.
The only type of shopping I still like is browsing a bookstore, and unless I have a few hours to look around, I usually need the motivation of picking up an online order or meeting a favorite author who’s signing their books to get me there.
But luckily, services such as automated shipments and subscriptions exist. They make my life so much better.
I am part of three book clubs – Literati, Fantastic Strangelings, and Happy Endings – that ship me each month’s selection. All the paper goods I used – toilet paper, facial tissues, the occasional roll of paper towels – are on timed shipments. So are most of my toiletries and cleaning supplies. I order coffee and tea online (or pick up supplements at church). I don’t remember the last time I went inside the liquor store, because as it turns out, they will all bring my order right to my car, as will the grocery store (when they manage to get the order right).
I’m looking for a reliable way to have all my pantry staples routinely sent to my doorstep. Do you have a service you like? Leave it in the comments. Pretty please.
Part of having a lush life is finding ways to make tedious chores easier (or outsource them altogether). Subscriptions take so many errands off my to-do list, and I love that.
M. Suzanne Terry 