La Vie Est Belle 2015: Inspiration for the Year to Come

A New Year is such a delicious thing. Old years (while full of blessings, joy, and delight) are full of pain, mistakes, past-darkness, and fears. Not that the bad outweighs the good. At this time last year, I was unpublished, unemployed, and wondering what on earth I meant to do for money. Exactly twelve months later, I am well-established as a nanny, have two novels independently published, a novella more or less traditionally published, and a children's book ready to make the rounds. I went to Romania and came back, I traveled to work two summer camps, my best friend and best big brother got married, I had a whirlwind 24-hour jaunt to DC to see my other best friend after 2 1/2 years apart, and I fulfilled a long-held dream of acting as Stylist for a client or two. Another close friend got married, so many became engaged, babies were born everywhere, and God has continued to provide for our needs in miraculous ways.  So while twenty-fourteen was a hugely happy year full of new paths, new accomplishments, new jobs and relationships and lessons and faithfulness, I am also conscious that it was a year of turmoil for many people. I think of the unrest in Russia and Ukraine, Syria, Israel, the riots and mobs over racial matters in our country, the terror of ISIS and the many sadistic crimes it has committed...I think of several people who will not be living 2015 and the empty spaces they leave in the lives of their families and friends. Twenty-fourteen was a BIG year. For me, it was a good year. But I am tired of those twelve-months. Tired in a way I have seldom been tired before. It's funny how finishing with your tail whipped in a marathon and finishing triumphant feel nearly the same: you're still winded and breathless and ready to rest. It's time to bury 2014 in the gentle, winter snow (which has yet to appear) and to look forward with joyful anticipation to the fresh year ahead and all God intends to do in my life for His glory in it.

I have goals marked out for 2015, but enough about that in a different post. For now, I will give you the gift some of the beautiful images that have begun to serve as inspiration for this infant year due any day now. I have let myself wander through Pinterest in my Christmas break, pulling from here and there images that inspire me creatively, stylistically, spiritually, and practically. The funny thing about nearly every one of these pictures is its simplicity. I think I'm craving a rest from the craziness that was 2014. So funny how your subconscious tells on you! One of my main goals for 2015 is "Less of okay, more of excellent," in many many aspects of life. Including the things I allow to crowd my life. The simplifying begins with a series of photos I have given myself time to enjoy:

What is your gift to yourself before 2015 starts?

(you can find these images and more on my "Essentially Rachel" board)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the brink of the 2013 Adventure

I'm not a big one for making New Year's resolutions. I am, however, a big one for starting afresh. I love New Year's because more than I like ushering out the old year, I love welcoming the fresh one in. I love a new date to write on letters. I love the prospect of a whole twelve-month ahead of me that is unmarked and untouched and full of possibility. I think the future is one of those things that is best and brightest when ahead. Which sounds like an oxymoron because of course the future is "ahead". Just bear with me, okay? I have my little idiosyncracies like everyone else. ;) For me, there is a lovely lovely thought that there is something to come. Something I haven't discovered yet. A surprise, an adventure, and a twist in the road.

Honestly. I entered 2012 expecting the year to be much like the one before. After all, I could see absolutely nothing ahead of me that I hadn't expected. And then, much like a little rafter pushing down the river and suddenly encountering rapids, the year swept me up and off and I've only just poked my head above the waters to look around and see how far we've come.

Some of the big things this year? 

I went to a girls' retreat

I helped out with a wedding.

I arranged a successful match. ;)

I went to see the touring Broadway production of Wicked.

I went to Georgia for an entire month and met dozens of new friends.

 I started finished The Scarlet-Gypsy Song and edited it.

I wrote Fly Away Home and edited it.

I sent out query letters and got a response for A Mother for the Seasonings.

I had my "Golden Birthday"

I bought my laptop

I started to write for Meditations of His Love and met even more friends.

I got a Girlfriend-in-Law who was formerly (and still is) my best friend, and is now my brother's best friend as well. <3

I read the unabridged Les Miserables.

I went to a Jars of Clay concert.

I went to a Building 429 concert.

I did my first product review for eShakti.

I counseled at a camp.

I was a cat-herder for the Generation Joshua Student Action Teams (SAT)

I helped throw a double-graduation for Sarah and Matthew.

I received a Samsung Galaxy Tablet.

I caved and downloaded an e-book.

I got my license.

I went to the midnight premier of The Hobbit.

I saw Les Miserables.

What has happened in your life this year? Are you ready for the 2013 adventure?

In Which The Lass of All Trades becomes an Interior Designer...

The new year has not even begun and yet my work is very much cut out for me already! I have adopted a number of rehabilitation projects around the house, and I can't wait to begin! This will be my Course of Interior Design [on a budget) for the year, and I have many ideas. My sisters doubt my ability to pull it together, but I'm determined! Project No. 1 is....

The room over the garage. This past year it has been used in a number of manners, including miscellaneous storage, gift-wrapping area, catch-all, and Produce Refrigerator during the heat of the summer. (It has it's own a/c unit) Needless to say, it's needing major overhaul. The reason I adopted it? I plan to turn it into A Growlery of sorts--a sewing, crafting, girls' room that will be entirely for us! (when not in use as a refrigerator. :P) I have discovered that my favorite style of interior decorating, even more than Victorian, is Shabby Chic--sort of an antique, casualized version of French Provenance. :) Here is some Pinterest inspiration for the project:

Shabby-Chic gloriousness...

Must-haves. I am so going to copy this idea!

I adore those upper shelves! what a cool way to use a sloped roof!

Gotta love this chest of drawers! It'd be perfect for keeping fabric and odds and ends!

I am hoping to do something along the lines of this cute little garland in the room, somehow

My only nemesis(s) in this project is/are the problems of that room most likely needing to be used (at some level) for storage still, as well as the fact that the ceiling slopes at an angle, starting about waist-high, so vertical wall-space is limited. :)

The angle of the ceiling is very much like this, as well as the window at the end. :)

So that's the deal for the first project. Project No. 2? It has something to do with this:

An ancient Singer treadle-machine

Turning into something along these lines:

 Yes, I'm going to be converting the dead treadle-machine into a cute writing desk. (Dad's going to help me with that. :) So, what are your projects for the new year?