runlindsayrun

Serendipity

Part One

I joined a good friend - and her good friend - for a 'girls night out' at their church a few weeks ago. I didn't ask a lot of questions, I just knew that I needed to get out of the house (and we've talked about maybe switching to this church so I thought it might be cool to meet some people there in advance). We sat down and I realized that the guest speaker for the evening is something I've totally heard speak before. At first, I was disappointed. But it was *so* what I needed to hear.

THANK YOU, UNIVERSE.

She's a fabulous woman who is a wife and mommy and small business owner, and she's developed some extraordinary systems for managing her household and minimizing clutter in her life. Just like the first time I heard her speak, I left feeling inspired. Unlike the last time, I walked away with a copy of one of the books she highly recommends - and after reading the first couple of chapters, I had a mini breakthrough. I've realized that I am a perfectionist when it comes to managing out home. The result is a home full of clutter, because I don't want to start something I can't finish and do perfectly - so I keep putting it off, and getting super stressed out about the clutter.

Don't get me wrong... Our house is far from an episode of Hoarders. But it's also far from the tranquil space that I *so* wish it could be.

Armed with this realization (and accompanying painful self-admission), I took a couple of cautious little baby steps to incorporate some of the ideas into our life. Step One (for me) was spending 15 minutes pulling things out of our front closet that we don't need anymore. Much to my horror, I filled two giant recycling bags full of stuff to donate. AND I DIDN'T FINISH CLEANING OUT THE WHOLE CLOSET. There's more to go through. And I didn't clean it at all - there's still some dirt on the floor and fingerprints on the door and uncoordinated hangers turned around the wrong way. And I didn't sort things into the pretty boxes and baskets I planned to shop for before tackling The Closet Project in the first place. Or find something to hang on the wall behind the bench to really FINISH our entrance space. I just spent 15 minutes doing a little bit.

I feel stupid admitting that I didn't know it was possible to do something halfway (not EVEN halfway) and still feel good about it.

The bags were dropped off immediately the next day, and even though it wasn't FINISHED, I feel so much better. And with a little bit of extra space available there again, I've been hanging up coats and stashing shoes inside instead of tucking them on top of and underneath the built-in bench right beside it - which in turn is keeping our entrance cleaner and making me happier.

If I'd known that taking a baby step - and doing something halfway - would make me THIS happy, I would have done it forever ago.

It's really the little things, hey? :)

Part Two

Did you know that the restaurant Serendipity (from the movie) is a real place in NYC? That really serves that ridiculous-looking frozen hot chocolate? I AM SO DETERMINED TO GO THERE.

Labels: Being Domestic, Fly Girl, Movies, New York New York, Travel

posted by Lindsay @ 7:58 AM