I have decided that my favorite spaces take me someplace mentally. Is it this way for you? Maybe not quite a full frontal 'take me away' moment, but at a bare minimum they give me a feeling, a suggestion of something I like, or of something I would love to like if my life were different… if I were different. That doesn't necessarily mean I want to be different, don't think I'm getting crazy on you or waxing philosophical. It's merely that I feel like in life we head down a path and even when that path is our favorite thing ever, there is always another path we didn't choose or that just isn't our path at the moment. For me, my path du jour is that of young children in the house, and dogs, and dirt, it's all things boyish and chaotic filed with busy days and tired nights. There is constant struggle and occasional success, miserable failure and complete overcompensation, missed moments and cherished memories.
I think we are a typical household in this way. Except that we are also a very unique household that is made up of two entrepreneurs, which I have mentioned in previous Room Envy articles: The Trust Fund Hippie and The Singapore Sling. This is one of our greatest struggles and it's ongoing, uphill and difficult… the end…. but also the greatest most rewarding thing ever for both of us individually and as a family. But today is not about that struggle, it's about triumph. It's about my goal to make everyday a bit more about life's little triumphs and those moments that should be enjoyed now while they happen, so that I don't live with regret. I don't want to look back 10 years from now with sadness about all the time I didn't spend enjoying my babies, and all of the things I didn't accomplish because I was too busy. Will those efforts toward my personal success be worth it? It's doubtful, but those extra moments of snuggling the Bird and focusing on Blake, will be stored away in our mental memory book of experiences and can never be taken away.
I hope to chat more about my own personal freelance and blogging experiences with you in a dual-entrepreneur household and I hope to expand this site's content just a tad to include more of my personal life and lifestyle topics. Many of you have asked in the past and I have been hesitant, in part because I'm unsure who is interested in anything that relates to what I am doing. And I still feel this way completely, but in truth I worry that I have an audience that is rooted in one particular thing and may not like these expanded topics whatsoever. That I may see a sudden uptick in people unsubscribing and it will feel like rejection. After all we are talking about putting it all out there. Being open and honest about my life, my kids and what goes on behind the scenes regardless of how pretty that is or isn't, and what if you hate it? What if you don't like what you see… what if you don't actually like me? Of course that is probably taking it to an extreme, but let's be real I'm sure you can see how a negative reaction to this kind of change might be interpreted even if it is entirely innocent and you simply decide to leave because you only want to build things and you don't care to chat about boobs, kids, or a peek behind the scenes of the life of a blogger. It would feel personal. So I haven't done it, and I'm a chicken. While I may or may not actually talk about boobs, my point is that these things are a large part of my life and by large part I am not referring to boobs but generally to my kids and blogging and how things operate here at the House of TDC. You may have noticed a bit more silence on my part lately and this is definitely due to the fact that I have been doing a bit of soul searching. I feel like this blog has grown, I have grown, and it's time to let things take their natural course and evolve. Change is good, but in my case with my particular audience it's also tricky and I run the risk of alienating many of you. That would crush me to know that I let you down by letting you in. Sounds weird to say it out loud, you know in an entirely not so out loud but online way. But my gawd, it could be amazing. You might adore it, and it could be glorious and everything I have ever dreamed of. Or it might be a total flop…
So I hope to ease into things with this Room Envy series and see how it goes… I would love some feedback if you have the time. In the meantime let us envy this space and how tranquil it is since my own life is nothing of the sort and we can chat about some other things that aren't so deep and that I bet you didn't know about me. Or maybe you did and you secretly have that ESP thing happening. Or not, and I just took it to a weird place.
One // I adore period films and shows (a la Downton Abbey for an easy reference). I always have. I have been a Master Piece Theatre addict since well before there was even a glimmer of Downton Abbey and while I think DA is good, it's actually only marginal in comparison to some of the others they have produced over the years. Some of their reproductions of the classics (Austen, Dickens) are also knock your socks off good (some could use an update).
Two // I brush my teeth every couple of hours. I do not like the way dirty teeth feel. I know that this is not normal because other people don't brush this often or complain of this, but it bugs me and so I brush. If I eat, I brush. If I drink something other than water, I brush when I have a chance. I like my teeth to feel clean. If I am going to be gone for an extended period of time (like at a conference or all day thing) I will bring my toothbrush and toothpaste with me in my purse. So… there's that.
Three // I am obsessed with functionality. I use functionality as my greatest design challenge when I'm working on a space and I actually think about the functionality of things on an almost constant basis. I will not design a pretty space that is not utterly and completely functional, to the best of my ability and knowledge. Ever. It's a good thing I like a challenge.
Four // I have crazy bad allergies. I am allergic to something insane like 98% of all environmental things. It sucks big time. I'm currently sporting one heck of a sinus infection and it's taking me down several notches at the moment… ugh. Also, it has me revisiting a few things in my home which I will be sharing with you next week; one in particular was a bit of a shock so it should make for good blog fodder.
Five // My Blakey Love just graduated Kindergarten. Those of you who follow me on Instagram already know this, but it's a bit of an interesting thing for me since I feel equally happy and sad all at the same time. I have a tendency to dwell on things and my baby growing up too quickly is no exception, hence the entire beginning of this post, duh.
Sometimes I'm so clever I out smart myself, ha. But I like that I managed to come full circle with that last one and so I shall leave you on that note and hope you might leave me some feedback on getting a bit more personal here and expanding our topics just a tad. Of course that assumes you actually made it past the pretty pictures or the first sentence. Probably not. Crickets I tell you…
Calvin Klein Home – Philip Dixon House
