Update: Completed Books and Purchased Books

The book I finished first was The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese art of decluttering and organizing by Marie Kondo.  Marie introduces her KonMari method of organizing, which basically has you "tidy" your entire home by organizing in a category-by-category system.  Within each category, she has the reader hold each item and ask the simple question, "Does this item spark joy?" If it does, you keep it.  If not, it is discarded.  The result is a lot less stuff.  She then goes through the process of deciding where to keep these items and how to store them.  Her second book, Spark Joy: an illustrated master class on the art of organizing and tidying up is considered the "Companion" book to the first, and contains illustrations on her organizing and storage methods.  I keep this book with me on-the-go, as it is easy to open and read a paragraph without needing to remember a previous story-line.

       

In keeping with my goal to complete the 14 started-but-never-finished book on my 2016 reading list, I now keep ONE book on my nightstand (to discourage switching from book to book and loosing interest again), and ONE TWO books in my car.  Slight confession: I completed the ONE book (see above) that was in my car- I would read while waiting in the car pool line, bank line, Starbucks line, you-name-it-line- and was so encouraged when I finished it that I *may* have picked up the sequel at Costco.  So, while I have completed the first book of my 14, I have now started another, which keeps my number of books to read in 2016 at a solid 14.

Just in case you were wonder, the book kept on my nightstand is Marrying Mozart by Stephanie Cowell.  I read this book at night when I have a larger chunk of time.  I am not sure how historically accurate it is, but I am enjoying it, nonetheless.

The second book I am keeping in my car is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  This book is broken into months, starting with January.  I am currently in the middle of April and being motivated and challenged every time I pick it up.

In all honesty, I can see how I so easily accumulate books.  Last Saturday I even attended a symposium session called, "The Piano Teacher's Bookshelf," and highlighted at least 10 more books to purchase.  The promise of wisdom and knowledge promised by books make them so irresistible to me!  

In Pursuit of Flexibility

This past week was CA-RAZY!  Between meetings, birthdays, group lessons, and a broken dryer, my normal household cleaning schedule was almost non-existent.  In the past, this would have driven me completely bonkers and I would have spent every day rushing to "catch up" on the previous day's chores.  Fortunately for me (and everyone else in my household), I decided about this time last year to choose grace over perfection.  Don't get me wrong, there is something very deep in me that loves perfection and wants to strive towards it.  It's a battle I frequently have to fight with myself. Occasionally, perfection wins.  More and more, however, it's grace that wins.

Eliot's First Ride on the Carousel!

While the desire for perfection has been in me for as long as I can remember, the true effects of striving towards it became very clear to me after we had been in our new home for about a year.  I would diligently clean all the floors by sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping them.  I would then sit back and just wait for someone to track something in from outside.  The anxiety that gripped me was crazy!  However, it was the anxiety that helped me see my idea of perfectionism was so out of wack: in my mind, if the floors were perfectly cleaned, then everyone would be happy because clean floors make everyone happy.  In reality, no one cared about the clean floors except for me and really it was just the idea of perfection that gave me the illusion of happiness.  What really made me happy was watching my children playing outside then welcoming them back inside with hugs and kisses.

Celebrating Fiona's Birthday at Mittie's Cafe on Main

So when our week turned topsy-turvy, I decided to embrace it along with all of the wonderful things the week brought.   I strongly believe that because I had firmly stuck to my cleaning schedule for several weeks, it really made the messes easier.  For instance, when our dryer broke towards the end of the week, we didn't run out of clean clothes!  I had stayed on top of our laundry schedule up until it broke, so pushing our next laundry day back until the dryer was fixed was no biggie.  Knowing that some weeks are going to be crazy and being flexible when those weeks come is so important to keeping a positive attitude and cheery spirit.  Sticking to your own chore schedule before and after those crazy weeks certainly helps as well.

SOOOO Excited for her Big-Girl Bike!

I would love to know- have you developed a chore schedule?  How to you handle crazy weeks?

ALWAYS make time for Gelato!

In Pursuit of Completion

I am generally pretty focused.  I tend to complete tasks set before me.  I also love to read and at any given time am reading at least 4 books.  Every January, one of my goals is to read more.  Beginning 2013, I started to record lists of books I read throughout the year.  I averaged about 12 books a year but was very disappointed when I looked back on last year's list and saw a mere 8.  I decided I needed to up my reading game and started another book immediately!  That was when I realized: I had actually started more than 8 books in 2015, but only actually finished 8...  I began to look around my house where I (and I'm sure everyone else) keep books (in my nightstand, the bookcase, my desk) and realized I had quite a few unfinished books.  They had not necessarily been abandoned because they were uninteresting but rather because I had started another book and the poor thing got left behind.  I gathered all of these books (there were 11, including the three I had started this year) and decided for 2016, before I ventured onto any more books, I would finish these.

I also thought it would be fun to go on Amazon and see when the books had been purchased.  Of course, not all of them were purchased on Amazon, but it was interesting to see just how long these books had been on my "To Finish Reading" list.  And I actually found not one... not two... but THREE additional books that I had forgotten I started... so, I added those to the list as well (and started to get a bit nervous that I may not finish them all... again.):

1. Joie De Vivre: Simple French Style of Everyday Living by Robert Arbor and Katherine Whiteside (purchased on Amazon, March 2006)

2. Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers

(received as a Christmas gift some time ago)

3. Women, Work, & the Art of Savoir Fair: Business Style & Sensibility by Mireille Guiliano

(this book was published in 2009, so I'm sure I picked it up somewhere soon thereafter)

4. Backyard Birding: Using Natural Gardening to Attract Birds by Julie Zickefoose 

and the editors and writers of Bird Watcher's Digest

(purchased at Scottsdale Farms, 2012)

5. Beautiful Ruins, a Novel by Jess Walter

(purchased on Amazon, December 2013)

6. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

(picked up at a second-hand store, 2014)

7. French Women Don't Get Facelifts: The Secret of Aging with Style & Grace by Mireille Guiliano

(purchased  on Amazon, July 2014)

8. The French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook by Mireille Guiliano

(purchased on Amazon, September 2014)

9. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

(borrowed from a friend Spring 2015 :-/)

10. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

(purchased from Goodwill, Summer 2015)

11. You Matter More Than You Think by Leslie Parrott

(purchased on Amazon, September 2015)

12. Madamoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History by Rhonda K. Garelick

(received as a Christmas gift 2015)

13. Marrying Mozart, a Novel by Stephanie Cowell

(I cannot even remember when I purchased this one, but I started it a few weeks ago)

14. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

(Purchased towards the end of 2015)

Whew.  I didn't really expect this list to grow as I was writing this post.  I just kept finding them... in a bathroom, on [yet another] shelf.  

I would love to know... am I the only person who starts books and doesn't always finish?  I am certain I am not... Please comment below and let me know what books are sitting in your "To Finish Reading" pile!

In Pursuit of the "Magical Breakfast"

One of the first (THE first, perhaps?) books I read on French lifestyle was French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano, former CEO of the luxurious Veuve Clicquot.  In this first of her six book, Ms. Guiliano introduces the simple secrets of the "French paradox" of how French women enjoy their food all the while staying slender and healthy.  

One of Ms. Guiliano's "secret weapons" in her arsenal of tricks and recipes is introduced in her fourth book, The French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook .  The recipe is for her "Magical Breakfast Cream" and has come to be one of my breakfast staples as well as go-to snack.  There are many variations to this recipe- an entire page of tips and tricks to help you find your own favorite version is included with the original recipe!  The recipe below is the version that I make and have varied little from over the years:

Ingredients:

• About 1/2 Cup of plain, fat-free yogurt
• 1 teaspoon flaxseed oil
• Juice of half a lemon (I love Meyers but any yellow will do)
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 tablespoons raw rolled oats
• Half a dozen walnuts

Ok, so this definitely looks like more than 1/2 a cup of yogurt... which means I will make up for it by using more of the other ingredients.

Start by mixing the flaxseed oil into the yogurt.  Squeeze the juice from one lemon half and mix completely.  Add the honey and mix completely.  Ms. Guiliano states that "It is important to add each ingredient one at a time and mix well to obtain a homogeneous preparation."   

Next, prepare the oats and walnut mixture.  I add my 2-3 tablespoons of oats and half a dozen walnuts to my chopper and chop away.  I actually do this a few times and keep the mixture in a jar in my fridge.  This really helps save time!  Sprinkle a few tablespoons of the mixture over the top of your honey and enjoy!

So, why does Ms. Guiliano call this recipe "Magical?"  In addition to the benefits of detoxifying lemon juice and high-fiber flaxseed oil, it's a perfectly complete breakfast that will keep you from getting hungry until lunch.  Substitute this for a week after a more indulgent period of time (ahem, Christmas holidays, anyone?), along with omitting two other "offenders" (foods you tend to consume out of proportion) for the week and see if you don't say good-bye to pounds that accumulated during said time.  

All Photos ©Fiona Diaz, 2016

In Pursuit of a Tidy Home

Over the years, I have found the best way to keep our home tidy is with a system.  While this is nothing new to many people, I wanted to share my current system that I have had in place since last summer and has been working very well for our family.

I used to try to cram all of the chores that needed to be done into a day or two.  The entire day would be spent doing laundry or cleaning.  These days were not fun and often I would get so over-whelmed with all that needed to be done that I would simply choose to not finish all of the chores.

I strongly encourage all of my readers to develop a system of your own to maintain your home.  Right now, I am a stay-at-home mom with two little ones.  My daughter is in preschool 4 days a week, and my son is home with me all day.  I do still teach piano lessons from our home 4 afternoons a week, as well.

MONDAYS

The best decision I could have made Fall 2015 was to leave Mondays wide open.  I no longer have students scheduled on Monday afternoons and my daughter's preschool program is only Tuesday-Friday.  Starting the week with an extra day to catch up has been nothing short of a luxury this past school year!  While I know our Mondays will not always be so free, I have been taking advantage of the extra time by using Mondays to prepare for our week ahead.

• Laundry
• lights/delicates
• darks/jeans 
• kids
• linens (either kitchen or bathroom)
  

As I mentioned above, laundry used to be one of the chores that I would save for once a week.  It would then take all day (and sometimes two or three!) to wash, dry, iron (when necessary) and put away.  While I've never truly despised laundry, I would definitely not look forward to laundry day.

• Meal-planning/Grocery Shopping

Many people do this on Sunday but for now, I use my Monday afternoons to plan the meals for the week and complete the bulk of our weekly shopping this day.  During the week we keep our meals very simple.  We generally eat the same things for breakfast and lunch everyday!  While some may get bored with this, I have found it is the easiest way to not have to worry about planning out these meals.  It also makes shopping easier since I know exactly what we need to purchase each week.  For dinner, we always have a protein and a vegetable.  The protein in normally baked and the veggies are either steamed or roasted.  There are so many different combinations for veggies and proteins, we have yet to get bored with this!  Occasionally, I will add a pasta or starch to this meal.  

• Budget balancing/ Bill paying

Finally, Mondays are the days I balance our budget and pay bills.  Expenses from the previous week that did not get recorded are recorded on this day.  I take our spending cash for the week and deposit any checks on this day.

TUESDAYS

 Tuesdays are technically our first day of the week.  Once a month, this is also the day of my monthly teacher meetings.  During those weeks, Tuesday chores are normally spread out through the rest of the week.

• Bathrooms
• Master
• Hall
• Studio
  

• Studio
• Tidy
• Dust
• Vacuum

WEDNESDAYS 

Wednesdays are a busy day as I have one early afternoon student before picking my daughter up from preschool.  

• Floors swept/vacuumed
• downstairs
• upstairs
  

In addition to vacuuming/sweeping the whole house on Wednesdays, the kitchen floor is also swept as needed.  I do the bathroom floors on Tuesdays.

THURSDAYS

Thursdays are my second laundry day, as well as a day to catch up on any other chores that were not completed on their normal day.  Because I do laundry two days a week, the loads are typically smaller which means less time is spent folding and putting away (yay!).  

• Laundry
• lights/delicates
• darks/jeans
• kids
• linens (kitchen or bathroom)
  

FRIDAYS

By Fridays, my house is generally clean and most of laundry is completed.  If it is not, I can use this day to complete it.  If we are having dinner guests over the weekend, I use this day to plan those meals, shop for them, and possibly clean the hall bathroom again.  

AS NEEDED

There may be a few who scoff at my "as needed" list... I know many do these chores weekly, and I think that is fabulous.  I used to strive to complete these chores weekly, and it drove me completely bonkers.  So I decided that for right now, these chores are completed quite literally, as needed.  Typically, these chores are needed in our household twice a month, sometimes more.  If I have a lot of time during a weekday, I will complete needed chores then.  Otherwise, they are saved for Saturdays.

• Floors mopped
• Sheets changed
• Dusting
• Tubs cleaned

I would love to know- do you have a system for staying on top of your household chores?  What does a tidy home look like for your family?  Are there chores that you don't get to as often as you would like?  Please comment below and let me know!

At Home with Madame Chic Book Review

Jennifer L. Scott's second book, At Home with Madame Chic: Becoming a Connoisseur of Daily Life delves into daily life rituals and the importance of living a passionate life.  While these two topics seem like they may have little in common, Jennifer examines the importance of seemingly mundane tasks and decides to see what life would look like performing her chores with patience and mindfulness.

At Home With Madame Chic is broken into two parts:
Part 1 "Chez Vous" ("At Your House") begins with  Jennifer giving insight into how to get your home in order through organizing and decluttering while simultaneously finding pleasure and peace in the process.  One of my favorite quotes from Part 1 appears in chapter one as Jennifer is describing the pride and pleasure many French people take in making a home: "... a passionately pleasant home life sets you up for a very happy life in the outside world."

Part 2 "Les Routines de la Journée" ("Routines of the Day") is subdivided into three sections: the pleasures of the morning, the pleasures of the afternoon, and the pleasures of the evening.  These pages are full of wisdom and ideas of how to "live in the moment" throughout each day.  Included are lists of candle scents and music albums that are specific to different times of the day.

A story that stuck with me from Part 2 can be found in the last chapter under a subheading entitled, "Trying to Change Other People Is So Not Chic."  Jennifer shares a story of her and her husband and their difference of opinions relating to dinner rituals.  I'm sure by now, all of my readers know my admiration for Jennifer and her books.  My admiration was taken to a new level when I read that she prepares a home-cooked meal nearly every night, serves it at a set table (complete with candles and music!) all the while knowing that her husband may not be eating the prepared meal.  I was convicted on several levels with this story (from being grateful for Chris always sitting down eat our family dinners to realizing that if I know it will only be the children and myself home for dinner, there will be no cooking, and finally, my own general nagging to try to persuade Chris that my way is the best way in every arena of home).  Rather than nagging family members to persuade them to do things your way or that your way is best, it is recommended to rather "be the change [you] want to see in [them]."

I would highly recommend At Home with Madame Chic for anyone looking to find pleasure and peace in everyday living.  Of Jennifer L. Scott's three books, I would definitely say this one is my favorite!  I especially love how she doesn't make the reader feel like her way is the only way to do things and offers different suggestion for people with different lifestyles to maintain their homes.  This book ends with a sweet story Jennifer shares about driving by her childhood home.  This book truly encourages one to cultivate a home-life that one can cherish and  look back on with found memories.

In Pursuit of Travel- Dallas 2015

When I was little, I decided I loved Texas and wanted to move there.  So, as I would do with any new fascination, I tried to learn everything I could about the Lone Star State.  I took out all of our "T" encyclopedias, had the "Texas" pages marked, and kept the glowing Fisher-Price globe and Discovery map nearby.  Remember these?

Fast-forward a few years... even though my fascination with Texas has worn off quite a bit, we still talk about "Someday" moving there.  Perhaps moving to Waco and finishing my Master's.  Letting Chip and Joanna Gaines have a go at finding us a "Fixer-Upper."  Or maybe just moving to Dallas to be close to family.  It's still just a thought.  In the meantime, we try to make it out there at least once  a year to visit my sister-in-law and her husband.

We normally head out there with no set plans.  Our normally short stay is spent visiting, catching up, and laughing until we cry.  This time around, we were able to accomplish all of those goals, plus were there long enough to fit in a few additional plans.

 Similar to the rest of America, Chris and I have fallen for Chip and Joanna Gaines.  We stumbled upon their show while at my brother's house and spend an entire Sunday watching episode after episode.  Our thoughts of moving to Texas quickly resurfaced and we knew the next time we headed out there, we would definitely need to keep a day-trip to Waco in the plans.  Our first stop in Waco was the Magnolia Market.  We went on a Thursday around noon and it felt packed!  We later learned from the staff (who was SO incredibly friendly!) that the day we were there was actually somewhat slow.

 Joanna was one step ahead of us in deciding where to go next, and had a map of her favorite Waco spots waiting for us on the check-out counter.  We were able to make it to Harp Design Studio (which happened to be RIGHT next door to Clint's very own Fixer-Upper... don't worry, as much as we wanted to, we did not walk over and pose for pictures on his porch), Schmaltz's Deli, and even got to check out the then-Future Home of the Magnolia Silos.  As you can imagine, it was so fun to explore this little town all while keeping our eyes peeled for the Gaines.

That evening we got about as rowdy as we [four adults who have to get up with a one-year-old who has no clue different time zones exist] could possibly get at Tacos and Tequila with an infused tequila shots flight, my favorite of which was the Puro Verde.  This is one of my sister-in-law's favorites out in Dallas and apparently there are locations in Georgia, too.  Definitely would like to try them out here and see how they compare.

The next day was a pretty chill day while both my sister-in-law and her husband worked.  The girls did manage to make it out to Scardello Artisan Cheese, a "cut-to-order" cheese shop that featured over a hundred American, Texas, and European cheeses.  We were able to  purchase a cheese plate and bottle of wine to enjoy in the store.  Of course, we also had to take an array of cheeses home to share with the men.  Our cheese plate consisted of Flory's Cheddar from Milton Creamery (Missouri), L'Amuse Gouda from Holland, and Delice de Bourgogne, a creamy Brie from France.  

My lovely sister-in-law, Marlene

One cheese that I just had to take home was a Camembert-style cheese called Mt. Alice from the von Trapp Farmstead in Vermont.  As soon as the cheese salesman said "von Trapp," I was sold!  He informed us that yes, in fact, it was the same von Trapps from the movie and that Werner von Trapp (known in the movie as "Kurt") had moved to this farmstead in Vermont in 1959 with his wife, Erika.

A von Trapp Farmstead Cow!

Saturday was spent shopping around town and visiting my sister-in-law and husband's new home for a final inspection.  It was a lovely home and we followed the visit with a dinner at Mia's Tex-Mex, which was quite delicious.  Sunday morning, Chris and I strolled over to the local wine bar-turned coffee shop for some heavenly brew and got a quick lesson on how the coffee was roasted and brewed to make it so delectable.  Check out State Street Coffee and definitely try to stop by next time you're in Dallas.