Dreaming of Living Beautifully

Years ago when I was the director of marketing for a regional design center, I met Alexandra Stoddard when she came to the center to speak at one of our events.  She's an interior designer and author who has written tons of best-selling books with titles such as Living a Beautiful Life, Living Beautifully Together, and 500 Ways to Add Elegance, Order, Beauty and Joy to Every Day of Your Life.

Alexandra Stoddard's Weekend Retreat (Country Living)

 

Alexandra is also a philosopher who says things like "Live by the trinity of what is true, great and beautiful." 

 

Uh huh.

 

But my assistant and I had dinner with her and her husband after the event, and she truly was a lovely, gracious woman who said she really did live the way in which her books advised. I believed her.  I was inspired.

Fast forward to today. Now I look around my house sometimes and wonder, "What would Alexandra think?"

I try, Alexandra, I really do.

I really want to live beautifully.

With a sparkling clean kitchen.

Pretty bedrooms.

Source: New England Home

Curtains that billow in the breeze.

Flowers everywhere.

 

 

Perfectly organized closets.

Source: HomeDecorators.com

 

 

Everything clean and pretty.

 

But ... I'm a piler. 

 

There.  I admitted it.  I pile things thinking I will put them where they belong later.  I'm also a procrastinator. So later can be a day, a week, or even months down the road.  Which is why my office looks like it does. And my basement workspace never got reorganized after we moved some furniture down there to have the floors refinished. 

And I live with droppers. 

 

Droppers are people who just drop things where they happen to be and don't put them where they belong.  (I'm forever complaining about the droppers, but even though my piles are basically neat and somewhat organized, I secretly know I'm just as bad!)

And I have shedders.  Lots of shedders. Shedders like to roll around on the floors, the rugs, the furniture--any place where they can leave behind their fur.  They also like to leave nose prints on windows, paw prints on floors, scratch furniture, and slobber water out of their bowls.

I am forever cleaning up after the shedders, nagging the droppers, and procrastinating about the piles. 

It wears a girl out.  Who has the energy to live beautifully?

But I have dreams and goals!  I do!

I'm going to get the basement workshop organized again so I can paint furniture down there instead of the dining room. I'll move my dining room table and chairs back to their original spots, and  I'll keep flowers on the table.

Source: Flower Garden Girl

And I'm going to sort through all the paper in my office so it's a space conducive to creativity.  And I'll keep flowers in there too!

I am Alexandra!  I am!  You'd be proud of me.

I will live beautifully.

Source: Dreamy Whites

Sometime.

Soon.




(All photos picked up from Pinterest, original sources noted where I have the info.)