Happy Happenstances

Don't you just love it when your home design just falls into place without much thought? Over the past several weeks I've been lucky enough to pick up a small library of home decor books at the thrift store, one or two at a time. (A girl needs all the inspiration she can find for two to three dollars a book, right?) I enjoy looking through my books and magazines in the comfort of my sun-filled living room, and so I'll often have a stack lying around.
A month or so ago I found this big beautiful metal basket for three dollars at the thrift store. I brought it home and just dropped it off onto the door/coffee table. It looked so beautiful there that that became it's home. One day, in an effort to tidy up, I threw my stack of books into the basket and plopped the one that I had been reading onto the stack. When I walked back into the room, I saw my happy happenstance. The books looked beautiful in the basket, especially with the open one on top. It was as if I had purposely displayed a photo gallery right on top of my table. In these dreary days of the remnants of winter, it's nice to see beautiful photos of spring displayed in such a random sort of way. It's just a little something that makes me smile.
Then there was another happenstance. A few weeks ago I was looking through my paint decks. I had them spread out on the door table when something caught my eye. I have had several of you ask me the paint color of my vibrant green table and up until that moment I have had to reply that I didn't know, because it was a mistint that I'd purchased from the home improvement store. But there, staring back at me was the answer inquiring minds wanted to know! In my free little Fall '08 paint deck from PB was the color of my table. It's BM jalepeno pepper. . .well, because my table has an added layer of glaze, I suppose the correct answer is actually "aged jalepeno pepper."

Hooray for happy happenstances!

Living Without Regret

Recently a friend of mine told me that her silver collection stays behind closed doors because it's too tarnished. I replied, "I love the look of tarnished silver!" I really do. I often love the character and charm that imperfections give to things. . . and people, for that matter.
That conversation got me thinking. Why do we rob ourselves of happiness just because things aren't as perfect as we think they should be. And why do we put off enjoying things because "it has to be just right." I know that I am guilty of this and it's something that I am trying very hard to change. My neighbor, who has terminal cancer, wisely advised me, "It's not the things you've done, but the things you haven't done in your life, that you regret the most."My husband came home the other day to report that the business next to his was selling off clothing items that belonged to a man who had recently passed away. He said that there were literally hundreds of items that belonged to this man that still had the price tag on them. It made me wonder why this poor soul kept all of those really nice, expensive things tucked away. I felt so sad that he never took the opportunity to find happiness in actually using the things he owned.
I'm hoping that when my friend sees my display of tarnished silver, she'll be inspired to go home and enjoy hers, polished or not.
I've decided to take a good look at my life. What am I doing, or not doing, that is keeping me from enjoying my life to it's fullest? I want to start living my life with no regrets.