Tag Archives: Courtney Carver

a year of living simply: week 16

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Hi, everyone! Hope your Tuesday is off to a terrific start! I’m soaking up time with my fam and crossing my fingers we get some rain here in California this week.

It’s time for this week’s simplicity…

year of living simply

Last week’s challenge was to look ahead on the calendar and prepare for upcoming holidays and celebrations: Father’s Day, graduations, birthdays. I bought and wrapped presents for my brother’s graduation, my sweetheart’s graduation, my dad’s birthday {coming up at the end of the month} and Father’s Day. I also bought some cards, though I still have to write in them. I noticed that the whole process of shopping for gifts seemed much more enjoyable when I was doing it with plenty of time in advance.

clothes for goodwill

This week’s challenge is to clean out your closet! At the very least, try to get rid of one item. Make an honest assessment. If you haven’t worn something in the last six or eight months, are you really likely to wear it tomorrow or next week? Why not give the item to someone who might love it, and make room in your closet for only pieces that you truly LOVE? {One of my goals of this year of simplicity is to only keep pieces that I absolutely love and feel fantastic in!}

I think we all tend to overestimate the amount of clothing we need. Wouldn’t life be simpler if we had fewer options to choose from when we stand in front of our closets each morning? I was super inspired by the way Jen Hatmaker only dressed with seven pieces of closing for an entire month as part of her book 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. And blogger Courtney Carver has written about how much she loves having a small capsule wardrobe — learn more at Project 333.   

Questions for the day:

  • What did you get a jump on this past week?
  • What is one item you can get rid of from your closet?

a year of living simply: week 2

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Thank you so much for your kind words and enthusiastic support of my year of living simply challenge, which I launched here last week! I’m so excited to be embarking on this fulfilling endeavor with all of you 🙂

Over the course of the year, we’ll be focusing on various meanings of simplicity: in our possessions, routines, spending habits, projects, relationships, food choices, and more. We’ll rid ourselves of clutter — physical, mental, emotional. We’ll reflect on what truly matters to us, and why, and what we hope to do with that knowledge.

year of living simply

Last week, the challenge was to identify one or two or three things that you tend to over-purchase, and write out a pledge not to purchase any more of these items for the next month {or however long feels good to you.} Personally, I have a weakness for over-purchasing tea, stationary/notecards, and pretty, flow-y scarves. I pledged to purchase no more of these items for myself during the entire year of 2015, or until I use up the embarrassingly large stash that I currently possess.

I must admit, I was a little surprised at my impulses to purchase these items, even during the first week of the new year! Especially tea. I realized I tend to visit the tea aisle whenever I’m at the grocery store, just to check out if they have any new flavors or any good sales… even though I definitely do NOT need to buy more tea because I have more than enough to last me for a good long while! So, I made a conscious choice not to even stroll down the tea aisle. I did not want to tempt myself. Same with stationary. At Trader Joe’s the other day, I refrained from even browsing their card display. Instead, I used two cards I had already purchased for friends’ birthdays, and used notecards I’d purchased after Christmas last year for all my Christmas thank-you notes. It may seem like a little thing, but it feels like progress!

kind notes

The challenge this week relates to digital clutter. I don’t know about you, but I spend way too much time struggling with my email inbox that constantly seems to be overflowing, begging for my attention, distracting me from the important tasks I truly want to be working on. I have gotten better about responding to email right away, instead of putting it off and letting it sit in my inbox for days. But I still have a ton of email clutter that stresses me out whenever I open my inbox.

So the challenge for this week is to ruthlessly unsubscribe to unnecessary emails. You know those emails you delete without opening? Or those newsletter-y, informative cause-based emails piling up that you are theoretically interested in, but haven’t opened in weeks months because you don’t have time to read them? Or {for me} all the emails from literary journals with links to stories and essays and poems that I want to read, that I’m blindly hoping some mystical future version of me will one day find time to conscientiously read, even though I know I won’t?

This week, take five minutes to unsubscribe and ruthlessly delete these unnecessary mass emails you never read. See what it feels like not to get these emails for a week. If there happen to be any you miss, you can always go back and resubscribe after the week is over. For now, try it out. I’m excited to hear how it goes for you!

Side note: here is an insightful and thought-provoking post I read this week with a secret to being more productive {hint: it’s doing less, not more!}

Questions of the morning:

  • How was the first week’s challenge for you? What did you pledge not to purchase any more of for the time being?
  • What digital clutter do you struggle with?

a year of living simply

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Happy Monday, everyone, and welcome to our new subscribers! Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to visit my little corner of the internet. I am grateful that I get to spend my time with you!

On today, the first Monday of 2015, I’m excited to debut this year’s week-by-week challenge! These year-long series have become my favorite component of blogging. I learn and grow so much, especially thanks to the comments, insights, and support from all of you!

  • In 2013, we did a year of kindness, completing a unique random act of kindness every week.
  • Last year, I hosted a year of Wooden, where we followed the teachings of Coach John Wooden to add meaning to our lives in a variety of areas.

In looking over my goals for this year and thinking about how I hope to grow and where I would like to be as I type to you a year from now, I kept coming back to one word: presence. I want to be more present. I want to be aware of, and grateful for, every moment of this unique and amazing life. Sometimes it feels like life is rushing by so very fast, in a flurry of social media and distractions and texting and constant “busyness”… I want to slow it down. I want to savor it. I want my days to be made up of beautiful moments, not long to-do lists.

making a life quote

Next, I started thinking about fellow bloggers who make me feel excited and inspired. There are many — too many to name right now! — but a consistent theme of their posts is authenticity and simplicity. Paring down your life in order to make space for the things that TRULY matter.

Something lights up in my soul when I think about that mission. Simplicity. Time. Space. Room to breathe, and learn, and grow, and simply be.

And so, with delight, I present to you the yearlong blog series for 2015…

year of living simply

Over the course of the year, we’ll be focusing on various meanings of simplicity: in our possessions, routines, spending habits, projects, relationships, food choices, and more. We’ll rid ourselves of clutter — physical, mental, emotional. We’ll reflect on what truly matters to us, and why, and what we hope to do with that knowledge.

Here’s hoping that by the end of 2015, we will be less stressed, more present, and simply happier in our slightly simpler lives 🙂

For this first week, the challenge is to identify one or two or three things that you tend to over-purchase. What are your spending weaknesses? Maybe you have a bajillion candles around your house. Or twelve different salad dressings in your fridge. Perhaps your jewelry box is crammed with earrings because you can’t resist getting a new pair every time you go to Target. {Which is entirely understandable; they do have super-cute earrings at Target.}

Now, once you have your over-purchase weaknesses identified, make a pledge not to purchase any more of these items for the next month. Or two months. Or six months. Or year. Or however long feels good to you.

Write this pledge out on a piece of paper. Sign it. Date it. {I know it might feel silly, but trust me — signing a contract with yourself makes you much more likely to take it seriously and follow through on your promise!}

Personally, I have a weakness for over-purchasing:

  • tea {I’m sure none of you are surprised about this one} 😉
  • stationary/notecards
  • pretty, flow-y scarves

I am pledging to purchase no more tea, stationary/notecards, or pretty/flow-y scarves for myself during the entire year of 2015, or until I use up the embarrassingly large stash that I currently possess. {Even with all the tea I drink, I’m not sure I’ll be able to get through the entirety of my tea stash. We shall see!}

tea stash

I was tempted to put “books” on my list, too, but since I am a writer and have friends who are writers, I want to be able to purchase their books and support them without going against my simplicity pledge. So, “books” are sort of half on my list — I’m certainly planning to work my way through the giant stack I have beside my bed before deliberately purchasing any more books to read, but I reserve the right to purchase books written by my friends or colleagues or mentors or blogging buddies, etc. Oh! And I’m planning to review a book related to simplicity/minimalism on here every quarter, so I might have to purchase a couple of those books!

I want to end with this lovely quote from one of my favorite minimalist bloggers, Courtney @ Be More With Less:

Questions of the morning:

  • Is there anything you tend to over-purchase or have a weakness for purchasing?
  • What would you like to focus on during this year of living simply?

fabulous friday #37

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Happy Friday! I’m off to my favorite morning yoga class, then hoping to get a good writing session in at Starbucks before lunch, and then this afternoon I’m tutoring some really sweet kiddos. The rest of the evening will be spent hanging out with my grandparents and resting up for my crazy day tomorrow!

My Saturday = a full day of teaching + an evening reading in San Francisco for Arroyo Literary Review as part of the awesome Litquake events going on throughout the city + meeting up with Allyn and his MBA classmates for a “dare-e-oke night” fundraiser for their humanitarian trip to Kenya. {Any good karaoke song suggestions??}

Here are 5 things I’m loving right now:

1. This wise message on my green tea bag this morning, which reminds me of the namaste principle in yoga class:

tea message

2. The new NBC romantic comedy sitcom A to Z. You guys, it’s only been three episodes but this show is already something I look forward to in my week! If I were to write a TV show, I have a feeling it would be something like this. The show centers around Andrew and Zelda {get it? A to Z!} and chronicles their relationship from when they first meet. The episodes are organized by letter, for example the first one was “A for Acquaintances.” It’s a really clever and funny show, and I love the characters! I even got Allyn to watch an episode with me the other night, and he laughed out loud a couple times. My brother texted me after watching the first episode: Oh sweet Jesus this is a Dallas show! Haha. What can I say? I love love!

3. The pumpkin-pie fail that happened in my kitchen this week. I’m not exactly grateful for this disaster of a pie — something happened and it never really set, but the top layer sort of burned and peeled off the pie! Has that ever happened to anyone else? I followed my favorite recipe the same as I always do, but obviously something went wrong. The only thing I can think of is that I made it in a different oven than I usually do {I made it for Allyn at his place}… but other than that, I’m clueless! I need to make another one soon to make up for this pie.

gross pumpkin pie

However, the thing I LOVED about this pie was my sweetheart’s reaction. It was my first time ever making him a pie, and it smelled so good baking in the oven, filling the kitchen with spice and autumn. Anticipation was high! But then I took it out of the oven, and there was a huge air bubble on the top — the pie was like a dome, and as it cooled the dome deflated. It reminded me of that scene in Christmas Vacation when they cut into the delicious-looking turkey and it immediately shrivels up. Anyway, I knew right away that something was not right with this pie. I peeled off the top burnt layer and the insides were this mushy texture. So disappointing!

I’ll be honest: I was upset. And embarrassed. And confused. I was about ready to pitch this pie out the window! But Allyn just hugged me and said, “It’ll be fine! It’s still gonna taste delicious!” And when the pie cooled, over my protests, he cut himself a big slice and finished every bite.

We spent the rest of the night laughing about this pie. Now it’s actually a funny memory, and yet another reminder of why I feel so grateful and happy to be with this man.

4. This quote and beautiful photo from Courtney Carver at Be More With Less:

5. For my birthday, my friends Allyson & Henry got me a subscription to a superb and innovative literary magazine, McSweeney’s. Yesterday my first issue arrived! This issue is designed as a bunch of small pamphlets so it’s easy to just grab a story and slip it into my purse when I’m on the go. I’m so excited to dig into it this weekend!

mcsweeneys

mcsweeneys

Questions of the day:

  • What are you loving right now?
  • What are your plans for the weekend?