are so happyare so happyhttp://www.aresohappy.com/home/2012-01-22T17:44:02ZSquarespace22 Januaryhttp://www.aresohappy.com/home/2012/1/22/22-january.htmlKyrie2012-01-22T17:40:01Z2012-01-22T17:40:01Z

"To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius. … A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility… Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another." Ralph Waldo Emerson

]]>16 Januaryhttp://www.aresohappy.com/home/2012/1/16/16-january.htmlKyrie2012-01-16T18:31:58Z2012-01-16T18:31:58Z

Snow day!

]]>15 Januaryhttp://www.aresohappy.com/home/2012/1/15/15-january.htmlKyrie2012-01-15T17:55:33Z2012-01-15T17:55:33Z

Have you seen but a bright lily grow,
Before rude hands have touched it?
Have you marked but the fall o' the snow
Before the soil hath smutched it?...
O so white! O so soft! O so sweet is she!
::: Ben Johnson

]]>14 Januaryhttp://www.aresohappy.com/home/2012/1/15/14-january.htmlKyrie2012-01-15T02:29:47Z2012-01-15T02:29:47Z

And so we end our first day in our new house. Thank you so much for all your well-wishes! xo

]]>8 Januaryhttp://www.aresohappy.com/home/2012/1/8/8-january.htmlKyrie2012-01-09T04:11:24Z2012-01-09T04:11:24Z

You cannot be too gentle, too kind.

Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other.

Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of him who gives and kindles joy in the heart of him who receives.

All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other…

Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace.

Keep silent, refrain from judgment. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult, and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil.

::: St. Seraphim of Sarov

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]]>5 Januaryhttp://www.aresohappy.com/home/2012/1/5/5-january.htmlKyrie2012-01-05T19:35:49Z2012-01-05T19:35:49Z

More Instagramming

As we slowly ready ourselves to move house, I am dumbfounded by the seemingly endless supply of clutter and TRASH that's coming out of our space. It has me thinking a lot about ways to reduce the sheer amount. Two thoughts here: reduce the amount of trash coming in to the house, and reduce the amount of time I spend handling the trash that does make its way in. I realize that these are not new ideas, and I thought that I already had some of these measures in place, but over time we have become lazy/more harried/more hurried and have let a lot slide. I'm hoping that a new place and feeling like we have a fresh start will help me back towards being more mindful.

Reducing the trash coming in:

  • whenever possible, buy in bulk/from our farmers. We do this already for the most part, but I would like to take it a step further and stop using plastic bags/cartons to transport things from the market to home. It takes a bit of forethought, but I think it's worth it. I love the idea of these bags and feel like I could make something similar...maybe even repurposing the girls' playsilks that have a hole in the corner?
  • get off the junk mail lists. I know that there are options out there to do this.
  • go paperless with bills. We are about half and half on this.
  • bring our own bags. I carry a basket instead of a purse (love this) but I need to tuck some cloth bags into it for things that don't fit in the basket. They are SO SIMPLE to make, and frankly we have a bunch scattered around already, I just need to get them organized. 
  • consider what else could be bought in bulk/with less packaging. I haven't thought about this a lot, but it seems like an idea worth considering.
  • switch from disposable wipes to cloth. I KNOW. Why the disposable wipes seem easier somehow I do not fully understand.

 Handling the trash coming in less:

  • process the mail as soon as I get it. This means actually processing it/doing what needs to be done with it, not just putting it into another pile. 
  • get rid of the constant mend pile. By either actually mending the things or letting them go. That stuff needs an expiration date.
  • as soon as food comes in, process into storage containers (I have these and love them)
  • clear surfaces. I think part of my frustration with trash/clutter is that it ends up covering all the flat surfaces in my house. If I processed through that on a more regular basis, that would be good. Where does all that stuff come from??? I guess that goes back to the list above.

Mostly, I just want to do things with a focus on reducing waste. What do you do to reduce waste? How do you deal with trash and clutter at your house? Share your tips and tricks in the comments, please!

 

]]>3 Januaryhttp://www.aresohappy.com/home/2012/1/3/3-january.htmlKyrie2012-01-03T17:09:36Z2012-01-03T17:09:36Z

trying to do 365 yet again, this time on Instagram

Every once in a while it seems like the blogging world goes through a watershed change. I've been blogging in some form for over seven years now, and it has been utterly fascinating to see its evolution over time. I think right now we're seeing it change yet again. I feel like a lot of blogs have been discussing this more eloquently than I am currently able to (most recently, this popped up on my reader this morning); suffice to say that I think it's healthy and right for this space to change and evolve, for me to continue to explore how to make this space authentic for me, without feeling like it's a burden. I want to be true to our experience, to write, as Rachel says, "about living this one life I get".

When I was looking back over my photos over the past year, I realized how many of them were taken purely to be something "bloggable", and how those photos just don't mean anything to me now. Pretty pictures flood my brainwaves these days, with tumblr and Pinterest just a click away. The images that were my favorite, the ones that were really evocative for me, were the ones I took for my Week in the Life project. Little slices of the everyday. And even though I resolved after finishing that project to stay the course of taking more photographs like that, I think maybe I was just a little burnt out and didn't know how to move forward. I felt stuck in this space.

I don't really know what this all means for this blog. I'm still most definitely around; you can find me on Pinterest, on Instagram, on Facebook, on the lovely Tea & Post. I don't know if I will always do all of those things. It feels like an uncomfortable amount, just writing it out like that. Perhaps I'm just going through some growing pains. 

I don't really do resolutions for the new year. I like the idea of focusing on a word, but let's be honest; a year is really too long for me to even commit to that. But as I have been thinking and reading and contemplating over the past month or so, a handful of ideas keep coming up. Silence. Stillness. Being centered, being the center. Openness. Authenticity. I hope that as I move forward I'll be able to keep these concepts in mind. I hope that you'll come with me.

]]>1 Januaryhttp://www.aresohappy.com/home/2012/1/1/1-january.htmlKyrie2012-01-02T04:39:19Z2012-01-02T04:39:19Z

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. ::: from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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]]>31 December: Year in Reviewhttp://www.aresohappy.com/home/2011/12/31/31-december-year-in-review.htmlKyrie2011-12-31T23:11:15Z2011-12-31T23:11:15Z

Happy New Year! I hope you are ringing in 2012 with joy!

]]>18 Decemberhttp://www.aresohappy.com/home/2011/12/18/18-december.htmlKyrie2011-12-19T04:09:34Z2011-12-19T04:09:34Z

We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup. ::: Will Ferrell as Buddy in Elf

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