For the last few weeks we’ve been working to clean and organize our homes for our families and to welcome guests. Now it’s time to turn inward, to pamper ourselves and enrich our own lives.
Let’s be a little selfish. Make time for yourself. Demand it, you deserve it! Ask your partner to spend time with the children while you get a manicure – or drop the little ones off at a grandparents’ or friend’s house for a few hours.
Encourage your boyfriend to go out with the guys, so you can go out with the girls or just have a few quiet hours at home alone. Read that book you’ve been dying to finish; lazily leaf through magazines drooling at the pretty pictures; take an extra long bath. Linger just a bit longer over your morning hot beverage of choice.
QUICK THINGS TO DO TODAY:
- With long winter nights ahead of us, consider joining an online book club or book reading group.
- Make yourself a manicure, pedicure or hair appointment for this week, or just go get a walk-in service. (Or whatever would make you feel pampered!) If your budget is tight, just make room in your schedule to give yourself a manicure or pedicure using your own nail polish.
See if you can make plans to have lunch with a friend this week, or perhaps you two can go to a movie some evening. Tight budget? Re-watch an old favorite DVD or find something intriguing on cable, then pop in a naughty frozen dinner or pizza you already own and have been storing in your freezer. Ice cream for dessert!
- Make a list of fun things you’d enjoy doing this week. Definitely take your budget into consideration, but spoil yourself a bit if you can.
TODAY’S PROJECT: Pampering
Whatever pampering means to you, see if you can treat yourself to some tonight. Get your partner to give you a massage maybe. Take a long, hot bath with lemon ice-water to sip and a book or magazine. Watch a TV show that isn’t very good for your brain but is deliciously fun to watch. (I recommend Weeds on Monday nights).
Go out to dinner, or grab fast food (something I don’t normally do) for a one-time treat. Think just about yourself, doing the bare minimum you can do tonight to keep your house in order and your family happy and fed before you go off by yourself for some YOU time. Remember that a happy wife and mom makes for a happy household.
LOVELY BLOGS: Luxury Interior Design Journal
A Canadian interior designer shares her finds, furniture store recommendations, and browsings. I just love looking at the furniture she showcases here – such interesting pieces! Check out these interesting chandeliers, too.
http://www.laurabielecki.com/blog/
LOVELY WEBSITES: The Baldwin Online Children’s Literature Project
“Bringing Yesterday’s Classics to Today’s Children.” This is a fabulous resource for parents, teachers, and lovers of children’s literature. Dozens upon dozens of books have been scanned or otherwise digitized, and presented in a manner that it’s actually pleasing to read them on the screen (unlike many Gutenberg etexts). You can click on separate chapters to jump straight to your favorite part of an old book.
Sadly, the “What’s New” page doesn’t show anything new added since April 2009, so I hope this isn’t an abandoned project. From the website, here’s more info:
“The Baldwin Project seeks to make available online a comprehensive collection of resources for parents and teachers of children. Our focus, initially, is on literature for children that is in the public domain in the United States. This includes all works first published before 1923. The period from 1880 or so until 1922 offers a wealth of material in all categories, including: Nursery Rhymes, Fables, Folk Tales, Myths, Legends and Hero Stories, Literary Fairy Tales, Bible Stories, Nature Stories, Biography, History, Fiction, Poetry, Storytelling, Games, and Craft Activities.
“We offer these resources at no charge and grant permission to individuals to print copies for personal and educational uses. The texts are formatted so that attractive copies can be printed easily, in larger type for younger readers and smaller type for older ones, with illustrations included where possible.”
My favorite resource here so far is The Blue Fairy Book.
Pamper yourself tonight with a long luxurious browse through this archive, if you love children’s books.
LOVELY LINKS FOR TODAY:
Apple Walnut Cupcakes (What’s Cooking, Chicago?)
Baked Olives in Cheese Appetizer (Worth the Whisk)
Booze, Coming to a Starbucks Near You (CNN)
Give Brussels Sprouts Another Chance (Chatelaine)