life curation

The Joyful Journey: 7 Things I Do To Activate Joy Daily

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I found this charming mug in a Dollar Tree (of all places!). I saw it and knew it had to come home with me.

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As I reflect on my journey, I noticed that I intentionally inject joy into every day. It wasn’t always this way: I had a little help. Earlier this year I participated in the Joy Challenge hosted by Amina Makhdoom. That experience highlighted how much my daily life lacked joy. Since then, I’ve created a daily practice that makes sure I activate feelings of joy regularly.

Here are the 7 daily practices I engage in order to feel joyful.

1. I listen to my body. I may not always be able to honor what my body wants, but I give my body what it needs as soon as reasonably possible. Maintaining balance and refusing to overextend myself makes each day better.

2. I maintain some organization. I find it hard to remain joyful when I’m surrounded by clutter and confusion. As a result, I use various tools to stay organized. I have a leather-bound daily planner, hour-by-hour planning sheets that I use during days when I need to be extra efficient, and I also dedicate 10-15 minutes to tidying each of the rooms in my home (this never exceeds an hour). This helps me stay organized and makes physical, mental and emotional room for joy.

3. I indulge in at least one self-care practice daily. This can be as simple as taking a nap, reading a good book, or taking a little more care to moisturize after showering, or it can be as lavish as a weekend getaway, a massage, or an exquisite meal. I just make sure that every day includes at least one thing that I do just for the pure enjoyment of it.

4. I wear perfume. Nothing makes me feel as elegant and feminine as perfume. My scents vary, but I always wear one and I can’t help but smile every time I sniff my wrists.

5. I daydream. I allow myself to ponder all sorts of delicious possibilities. I don’t worry about the present, and I don’t mourn any missteps in the past. I just joyfully consider, “What if?” and think about all of the good things that can happy. I ONLY focus on happy, incredible scenarios, and how it would feel to enjoy them.

6. I start every morning with a cup of tea. I used to be a coffee drinker, but I find tea is much more mellow and matches my demeanor much better. I still get my caffeine but in a gentler way. I purchase high quality teas that aren’t bitter or have otherwise overpowering flavors.

7. I count my blessings at night. This is key to ending the day with joy. I have my gratitude journal where I log what went right with the day, but I also make a mental log of how blessed I am. Ending my day with gratitude gives me sweet dreams and sets me up for a positive day to follow.

Those are my 7 tips for a joyful journey. Do you have any daily practices that activate your joy? Please let me know in the comments below!

 

wine

Adventures in Enology: Cooper’s Hawk Wine Club

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Several months ago, I stopped in Cooper’s Hawk Restaurant on a whim. I sat at the bar and proceeded to order to my heart’s content. I chatted with the bartender and decided, at the end of my meal, to join the Cooper’s Hawk Wine Club.

I signed up for the lowest commitment – one bottle per month – just to see if I would enjoy the membership. I’ve since tried 6 of their wines, read several of the monthly newsletters, did a wine tasting, and dined at the restaurant again. I feel pretty comfortable offering an opinion on Cooper’s Hawk.

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This prosecco was delicious when chilled. I had it with chocolate.

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I really loved how well this went with an Indian curry I had.

 

I found Cooper’s Hawk’s wine club to offer fantastic value. Firstly, they offer a plethora of wines for you to try. Also, you have considerable flexibility with your monthly wine selections; you aren’t “locked in” to any particular wine offering.  They offer generous promotional coupons, both for just being a member as well as coupons in celebration of your birthday. The club also offers monthly themed events where members can enjoy exclusive menu offerings and limited edition wines.

However, if you’re looking for a spectacular wine, I can’t really recommend one from Cooper’s Hawk. I found that the wines are not particularly complex or fascinating, but decidedly SOLID. This is not a condemnation of the brand; indeed, the wines are tasty and enjoyable. I just haven’t had one that I found to be amazing.

These wines are a good option for those new to wine tasting and that want something better than most of the variety available at your local grocer. And again, the wine club is still a great way to get some experience with wine tasting.

Are any of you members of Cooper’s Hawk wine club? Do you have any particular Cooper’s Hawk wines that you could recommend?

relaxation

Holiday Weekend Diversions

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Well, as Labor Day approaches, I thought I’d be ready to go out and have some fun, exploring Washington DC and catching up with friends.

Unfortunately, that won’t happen. I caught a cold and I feel like I’ve been hit by a moving vehicle.

 

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(image courtesy of DIYSolarPanelsV)

So I’ll lay low instead, and rest. I’m actually overdue for a few low-key days: my work demands have increased and I won’t be able to get away and unwind until after the new fiscal year begins.

I therefore decree this Labor Day weekend my “Staycation”. I have several lazy-day activities planned, though, if I’m feeling better by Sunday, I may take a stroll in a nearby park (nature is restorative, after all). But until I’m feeling better, I’ll choose to rest up and lay low.

For starters, I’m going to finish reading “Outliers” so that I can post my review sometime in the next week or so. I’m also planning on doing something that I RARELY do: I’m going to watch some movies.

Don’t get me wrong: I absolutely love movies. But after sitting at a desk, and sitting on a commuter van, the last thing I want to do is to sit for 2+ hours and watch a movie. But since I’m going to be in bed anyway, I figured a couple of movies could be fun.

I still won’t watch a long movie, though. I’m going to check out some vintage movies at the Internet Archives website. This site features movies with outdated copyrights that are now part of the public domain. I love seeing the styling and elegance of vintage actresses.

The movies I plan to watch are Gang Smashers, Sepia Cinderella, and Hell’s Angels, because Nina Mae McKinney, Sheila Guyse, and Jean Harlow are EVERYTHING.

Oh yeah, I’ll probably also look at some YT videos and start writing up reviews for the items I ordered and tried out recently.

Hmm. . . As I look at it, my weekend doesn’t look very “restful” at all LOL! My “busy” habit is admittedly hard to break. But I’ll pace myself and not overdo it. After all, I need to feel better.

I hope you all are having a fun, fantastic holiday weekend! Make sure that you go out and do something extra fun!

food

Kitchen Secret: Dalmatinska (Dalmatian) Soup

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I’m still not 100% clear on how I came across this kitchen savior. I suspect this arrived in one of my Try the World boxes, but then again, I can’t remember.

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All I know is that I prepared the soup per the directions, and I instantly fell in love. This soup is the perfect basic vegetarian soup: just enough salt and just enough other flavors to make a well balanced base for any food, yet delicious enough to enjoy on its own. When added to boiling water, this dry mix turns into a reddish translucent broth with tiny balls of dough (similar in size and texture to large grain couscous).

The issue with most bouillon products is that they contain animal fat, which I avoid when I’m adhering to a vegetarian/vegan diet. So this vegetarian option is a great alternative to using standard bouillon cubes or packaged chicken or beef stock.

You can eat it prepared per the package, or you can do like I do: add a bag of frozen vegetables, or strain out the dough balls and use the broth as a base for sauces or to season other foods. What I really enjoy about Dalmatian soup is that it has lots of flavor but there isn’t one flavor that overwhelms the others. Also, the soup is generic enough where it could be used as a base for several ethnic dishes without overpowering signature ethnic seasonings and flavors, like curry, coconut or masala.

Dalmatian soup is a Croatian product, and since my hometown doesn’t have a large Eastern European presence, it’s difficult to find this in local stores. I order my Dalmatian soup from Parthenon Foods, which specializes in making European food products available stateside via online ordering.

Have any of you tried Dalmatian soup before? What did you think of it? Be sure to let me know in the comments!

art · luxury

My Time With Yves

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I would love to give you a bunch of captions, but this was an exhibit that had to be EXPERIENCED. Writing about it just doesn’t do it justice.

Yves St. Laurent “The Perfection of Style” was a perfectly balanced exhibition. Gorgeous outfits, lots of his personal notes, video clips, and great biographical information. I’ll post some of my favorite photos from the exhibit, but be warned: photos really can’t capture the genius that was YSL. Enjoy!

luxury

Review: Kimberly New York “Dimple” Perfume

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I scoured the Internet to find some indie perfumes to try. I love beautiful scents and I was eager for a fragrance that would be unusual but have some staying power.

Enter Kimberly New York perfumes. The scents have adorable names – Artsy, Bubble, Dimples, and Poetry – and my interest was piqued.

Fortuitously enough, the perfumer had a sale on the scent “Dimple”, so I purchased the full sized “Dimple” perfume, as well as the “Spring Street” 4-vial set, which had trial amounts of all four fragrances.

While I did purchase only one full sized perfume, I had a chance to wear them all, so I will review the entire line, but give my most in-depth opinions about “Dimple”.

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Here is “Dimple” ‘s description, straight from the Kimberly New York website:

SEXY. EDIBLE. WARM.

Dark chocolate almond biscotti, and mint chips snuggle sweetly. “Dimple” is as alluring as a heartfelt smile. 

Notes: 
top – mint 
middle – sprinkled sugar cookie 
base – dark chocolate

I can comfortably state that I smelled all of these essences in the perfume. The chocolate base reminded me a bit of Thierry Mugler’s “Angel”, but the mint top note was a refreshing spin. Honestly, when I first sniffed Dimple, I immediately thought of my favorite ice cream, Mint Chocolate Chip.

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I wore it and LOVED it. I asked a few men what they thought of the smell, and they gave it a thumbs up, too!

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Here are some of my takeaways from this line:

Pros: This line ships SUPER fast. I had my products within 3 business days. The products were affordable ($15 for the vial set, and $45 [regular price] for the full-sized fragrances). Also, the perfume bottle and promotional inserts/materials were attractive.

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Cons: You can’t accurately gauge the sillage of some of the fragrances using the “Spring Street” vial set. These are eau de parfums, but when I wore “Artsy”, I noticed that I could barely smell it on my skin. I applied nearly half of the vial initially, and then I had to reapply every two hours (normal reapplication for eau de parfums is about 4 hours). Funny enough, I wore “Bubble” and the sillage seemed more accurate (only used about 1/3 of the bottle, and I could smell it with ease).

In addition, you MUST reapply during the day. I’ll admit: wearing more luxurious fragrances spoiled me a bit LOL! I don’t have to reapply my higher-end perfumes very often. But these needed to be reapplied every 4 hours, or the scent would be lost. That’s not a “con”, per se, but just something to note.

 

Overall opinion? I’d definitely order again, and I’m looking forward to trying all of the fragrances. And when I do, I’ll be sure to review them!

luxury

Christie’s to Auction Audrey Hepburn Memorabilia

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Vintage cinema fans, time to rejoice! Christie’s (the prestigious auction house) will be auctioning off clothing and personal items owned by Audrey Hepburn. The bids are estimated to start as low as $130 for some items, while other items are expected to fetch over $100,000.

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(image courtesy of Movie Gazette Online)

 

The auction will occur both live and online. The live auction will occur on September 27, 2017, at 8 King Street, St. James’s, in London. The online auction will start on September 19 and end on October 3, 2017.

If you want to see the collection before the auction, you can visit the exhibition while it tours. The tours are as follows (information courtesy of the Christie’s website):

Tour dates

Hong Kong
Viewing Dates: 1 – 8 September
The LANDMARK Atrium, 15 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong

Los Angeles
Viewing dates: 11 – 14 September
Christie’s LA, 336 North Camden Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

The auction catalog can also be purchased for $25: Audrey Hepburn Collection Auction Catalog.

I enjoyed reading Christie’s touching biography of Audrey. You can check it out here.

I plan on checking out the online auction and seeing if I can find something that I simply must have. Do any of you plan to attend the touring exhibition, or the live auction? Or are you planning on purchasing an item via the online auction? Please let me know in the comments!

Uncategorized

Product Reviews Underway . . .

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I had far too much fun ordering beauty items over the past few weeks LOL!

I have a thing for indie brands: I love supporting small businesses and trying products that haven’t achieved mainstream popularity. I also love that indie brands tend to be highly innovative: they often offer colors and textures that are harder to find in mainstream brands.

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Since I recently purged my vanity of many outdated and/or inferior products, it was time to replace those items with quality products. What better way to replenish than to seek small businesses and try out their items?

If you have some indie beauty brands or small businesses you’d like to recommend, feel free to mention them in the comments. I’m always looking for new things to try!

music

Current Fave: Alice Francis

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I first came across Alice Francis during my neoswing phase several years ago. I was intrigued by her delicate voice and adorable vintage style. Her music videos were really cute, too!

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Unfortunately, when I found Alice, I was at the tail end of my fascination with neoswing, so I didn’t spend a lot of time researching her musical catalog. However, I thought I’d share this video of Alice: it’s one of my favorites. “St. James Ballroom” has it all: vocals, instruments, costumes, dancing and exuberance. Listening to her again rekindled my passion for neoswing. I may have to find out where she’s performing so I can see her live!

 

words of wisdom

Words of Wisdom: Elizabeth Taylor

Mstldelano3 Comments

I’ve been a fan of Elizabeth Taylor since watching her (very tiny) role in “Jane Eyre” when I was a child. I loved her even more as I grew up and learned about her glamorous, fascinating life. I know she had her share of heartache, but I’m inspired by the fact that she lived a FULL life. She took chances, she loved hard, and she had one heck of a ride on this planet. Rest in eternal peace, Ms. Taylor.

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(photos courtesy of Marie Claire, Pinterest, PicQuery, and WeNeedFun)