Are You Saving Your Best for Someday?

It's good to be back home! I arrived on Tuesday night and have been catching up ever since. I hope you've all had an amazing week. Every time I come home from being out of town, I see our home in a whole new light. After spending time in a hotel or a guest bedroom, everything seems larger and more comfortable than I remember it the last time. While I love traveling, I'm always thrilled to sleep in my own bed again and get re-acquainted with the familiarities of home. I'm also reminded of how much we have. When I was in NYC with Paul last week, I saw firsthand how he kept things in his room to a minimum because there isn't a whole lot of space, you have no choice but to just keep the bare essentials.

On Wednesday morning I reached for a cereal bowl and was greeted with a reminder in the from of these beautiful white Pottery Barn plates.

They were a gift we purchased for ourselves after we got married, our first set of 'nice' (not to mention pricey) dishes that we selected together. My old work friends pooled together and provided me with a bridal shower/going away gift card and when I perused the store I knew exactly what I wanted-a set of 8 white dinner plates and the coordinating clam shell salad plates which I just adored. Paul and I dreamed about how they would be perfect for both entertaining and just for us in a beach home we plan to own 'someday'.

I am embarrassed to say this but in the past 4.5 years we have not used them one time! Why? Because they're 'too nice' for our day-to-day meals, I'm afraid we'll break one, leaving an odd number of 7. Pretty silly huh? I know I'm not alone. How many times do we receive gifts or buy ourselves beautiful candles, soaps, clothing, a spectacular wine or something else so lovely and never open the package, pop the cork, wear it or just enjoy it? There is this thought that we'll save it for a special occasion, we'll use it some day and that once we use it up, it will be gone. But really, when is someday? The special occasion is called life and we're living it right now! We are never guaranteed anything else other than today, this moment, now!

I've become better at burning my favorite candles and using other items that were once being saved for the right time but these plates are one of the last things that still need to be broken in. What's the point in having nice things if we don't use them? It reminds me of the days when women would cover their sofa with plastic or not let their family, especially children into the 'sitting' room for fear of something getting dirty or ruined. What's worse is that many skin creams, soap and specialty food items go bad after a period of time, causing us to miss out on enjoying the very thing we were saving in the first place. So, today I am FINALLY breaking in our plates! While we have more suitable dishes for a casual dinner, tonight I'm finally going to eat my salad out of one of the clam shell plates and eat my main course from one of the dinner plates and tomorrow I'm going to do the same and each day after until I've used every one of them, so they are no longer new.

What about you? Have you been saving a few things for someday because you are waiting for just the 'right' occasion? I encourage you to just break it in or open it up and enjoy it TODAY! :)

Lazy Long Weekends

I hope you are all having a great weekend! To my American readers, I hope you are enjoying an extra day off this long weekend however you choose to spend it. I've been filling this past week with lots of new sights here in NYC. So, this weekend I'm giving hubby some time and space to clean out his apartment here, do some laundry and also help him put some items in storage. It will be a  pretty mellow Memorial Day weekend in the big city for us. How about you?

Here's how I typically spend a long weekend.....

{A bike ride in a quaint town or along the beach.}

{a picnic in the park filled with our favorite yummies & a good book or magazine}

{Trying a new recipe or just enjoying some sweet treats.}

{A weekend at a cottage or lake house.}

{Quietly reflecting and daydreaming as the waves crash around me.}

I hope you have a restful and rejuvenating weekend surrounded by those you care about the most!




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9 Months Down, 9 More to go!

Hello Lovelies! Sorry for my absence, no sooner do I find myself excited to be blogging again after some time away, I have to pack up and jet set to another city for a while. These plans weren't part of the program a few months ago but I'm embracing the spontaneity nonetheless. I thought I'd share a little update with you since some of you have e-mailed me with questions about where I've been and how Paul and I are doing.

Recently, I took a week off to visit family in California and then attended a beautiful wedding after finding out about it just a few weeks before, the happy couple didn't want to waste any time in planning an elaborate wedding and I was happy to be a part of their day.

Before coming home from California I started to get a really scratchy throat which the recycled airplane air just perpetuated. With the dry air, many late nights and the timezone change, upon arriving back to Orlando I had a full blown cold on my hands at the precise time that several new staging and design clients were starting to contact me. Thankfully they were willing to work with my present crazy schedule. As for my cold, it was winning up until yesterday when my homeopathic remedy called 'Coldcalm' as well as my extreme raw garlic intake and loads apple cider vinegar and honey finally started to fight back, I still have a ways to go though.

I was finally able to work on some designs plans and get all of my laundry ready and am starting to pack for yet another trip, this time to see my hubby in NYC! This will be my first visit there since he began his Master's program at NYU 9 months ago. Do you remember back when I wrote this post about this new chapter in our life? That first full year of school just seemed so far down the road that today I can't believe it's over, on May.11th Paul handed in his final assignment and his first full year officially ended, only 9-12 more months to go!

In March hubby started entertaining the idea of summer classes to speed up his graduating time frame. I'll admit it was really stressful and difficult for me to even think about because he had promised to come back home for those 3 months in the summer so we could reconnect and spend more than 2 weeks at a time together. I know how hard he's worked to get to where he is today but I started to feel as though the distance was too much for our marriage. We've gone though so much together these past 9 months including planning for some home improvement work to be done to our home while at a distance. We were starting to become disconnected seeing each other every two months so I proposed to move to NYC for the summer if he went ahead with the classes and he was excited about the idea.

For the past month I've been thinking about the move and we've looked at furnished apartments together online in the city that we can afford. I also love the idea that I would be a very short flight or even a drive away from family and friends in Toronto too. Hubby told me he's still waiting to hear whether he'll get approved for financial aid during those summer months. We both decided that if he does, I'll be moving north to experience life in the big apple and if he doesn't, he'll be flying home for a couple months which isn't a bad thing because it's our least expensive option. He'll be spending next month in Vietnam where he'll complete one of his classes that he's already begun to make his course load easier next year. Either way, the plan is to spend the summer together and I'm very excited about it! Again, if I'm slow on the e-mail responses or you don't see me popping by your blog for a bit, that's why.

That is what's been happening around here for me. What new changes have been happening where you are? Is anyone else currently in a long distance relationship?




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