addicted to life

Hi, my name is Beth and I am addicted to life.
And books, Doctor Who, and geek/nerd culture...)

But seriously.

New experiences.
I eat them up.
Sometimes quite literally, as new experiences often come in the form of food.

This week I have been in the process of creating a goal list for my life. There are so many skills I wish to learn, so many places I wish to see (i.e. the entire world), so many foods I wish to taste and/or make. And when there are only 24 hours in a day, at least a few of which I ought to spend sleeping, I become easily frustrated with myself.

But then I remember that I can always begin my goal list closer to home. I have a kitchen; cooking new foods isn't an unattainable goal! Actually, I cook new foods with regularity, interspersed with old favourites to keep Nate happy. Though he has liked everything I make. (I think that's a win for my cooking skills as a wife. ^_^)

Plus, there is so much to explore in this corner of Wisconsin. Granted, at this point in time, it's difficult and occasionally impossible to make plans for us. Nate works a lot and his schedule is erratic at best. All a part of the job. And now that I have gotten a part-time position at one of the local grocery stores, our schedules may conflict. I'm praying hard that this doesn't happen since we see little enough of each other as it is.

Anyway, I digress.

Life. I've heard it said that life is what we make it. And I suppose that rings true.

In the meantime, I shall continue to write my goal list and dream.
And, you know, clean the house so that it's not in shambles when I start work next week.

visions of white

Growing up, I always preferred black to white. Pink and black were my preferred clothing colors for at least a decade. And I had a slight obsession with glittery things, but this was slight. :P My fingernails were usually black (still are; some things never change!), and I hated wearing white anything. I felt that it didn't do anything for my skin tone and I am so accident-prone (I spill coffee at least once daily.) that wearing dark colors was a way to prevent spillage from being too obvious. Now, I still love pink and black, but I have graduated to purchasing more colors for my wardrobe whenever I shop, which isn't often. My closet and dresser drawers are now a rainbow instead of a pattern. I can't pinpoint when this shift took place, but basically a few years ago I realized that most vintage styled clothing doesn't only come in pink and/or black. And of course, I knew the only all-white outfit I would ever wear would be my wedding dress. And I was very satisfied with my dress. (Which was only to be expected since I made it myself!)

DISTRACTION: It's a bit odd to me that I hated white everything but have always loved snow. Yeah. Just not sure about that one. Anyway.

Now, translate my preferred clothing colors to the challenge of decorating a home. Yeah, pink and black aren't going to work anywhere other than maybe a bathroom, or a sewing/craft studio (I can dream of having one, right???). I mean, I could have tried to have a pink kitchen, but nahhh. I wouldn't say that my color choices are more grown up, exactly, but they have become more varied.

Lately, I have been reading magazines such as Victoria, Real Simple, and Midwest Living, which have some gorgeous photographs of interior decoration. There are also a few blogs that I follow and read everyday that have been my inspiration. This brings me to the title of this post, visions of white. Again, I cannot pinpoint exactly when the shift happened and I began to think white was more than an accent color, but I have a very strong feeling that it has a lot to do with the lack of natural light in our little rental home. For example, last week we decided it was time to purchase new sheets for the bed, because the one nice set we had had seen better days since I generally refused to put the older sheets on. Plus, the colors were just...dull. Anyway. What we had on the bed were cream colored sheets and a blue and cream striped comforter. Pretty, but rather dark and getting dull. So I went to Target and found a set of gorgeous green sheets with darker green vines all over them. These were on sale, plus 100% organic cotton (score!); they felt so amazing. At that point I knew the comforter we had was going to be relegated to the guest bed, and that fact became cemented in my brain when I fell in love with a beautiful white comforter that was patterned to look like a quilt. SO PRETTY. And white. Which I wasn't too sure about, but then I just went with it. I made sure to get a white bedskirt, too, since the blue one would have looked tacky. After this long and involved post, I know you want a picture, but I don't have one yet...I'm sorry. It does look lovely, though. Plus, I moved the red area rug out of the bedroom and now it looks so bright in there. And a bit bigger, too. It's amazing what a bit of white can do.

Anyway, long story that probably wasn't necessary to say that my new decorating scheme has become lots of white with pops of color here and there. And plenty of flowers and plants eventually. More of a natural look, I think. Granted, this may not all take place where we live now, but it's always nice to have ideas. Especially when you hope and dream of having beautiful hardwood floors and no carpet anywhere. (I hate carpet, but more on that some other time.)





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As I am also a huge fan of Victorian decor, I used to want a home that had rooms similar in style to the photo below, but I realized that would be hell to clean. Maybe just a few paintings of Victorian rooms.