{simplify.}

When did everything become so completely over-processed? So cold, so mass-produced?
Most store bought items are wrapped in several layers of plastic packaging.
Popular music spends hours or even days being "edited" on computers, the end result being catchy but without true heart and raw emotion.
Every photograph in every magazine is subjected to so much photoshop that the final image looks nothing like the beginning.
Even things that should be simple are complicated.
Clothes. Food. Beauty products.


My New Year's Resolution: strip away all of the plastic and chemicals and excessive...mess. All of the overwhelming colors and sounds.  Live more natural, simplified. Be conscious of what I am using and throwing out. What I am feeding myself. What I am reading, watching and listening to.

I want to end 2014 having embraced all of my 5 senses.

For my ears to be delighted by the sounds of nature and...life
For my tastebuds to be awakened by the flavors of the world.
For my body to know the softness of well-loved flannel, the warmth of real wool, the coolness of cotton.
For my nose to smell the natural perfumes of the earth.
For my eyes to see the wonder and beauty all around me.

{...home.}

I love our home. I do. I love the way it looks when it is covered in snow. I love it on nights like this when you can hear the rain pouring all around, but you know that you are safe. That you are protected. The glow and crackle of a warm fire, the smell of vanilla scented deliciousness filling the air. My heart aches to know that there are people in this world who will never get to experience comfort such as this. I pray that I will never again take a single moment in our home for granted.