Slow Living, Slow Buying, More Happy...

I have a friend called Jane and she has a small, turquoise, ceramic butterfly hanging off the handle of her mugs cupboard in her kitchen. We had a conversation once about it and she told how she loves to have small but special things around the home and happy that little butterfly makes her. Then the other day I watched an old programme with Kevin McCloud and he was making shed. At the end he says how "proud" he is that it took him 6 months to build his shed. Initially, in my head, I go "6 MONTHS! SO LONG!" Then I think about it, I think about how this special shed is beautiful and unique and a sum of real craftsmanship. It's like Jane's butterfly, it's special.

I've been thinking a lot recently about slower living, slower parenting, allowing some nothing about the place... Just in general taking life a little bit slower.

And I think I'm going to start expanding that... Slower accumulating of stuff and things. If you remember the cot I up-cycled for Bow's nursery? I can honestly say that that cot makes me happy every single time I see it. Every single time I see it I love it and mentally high five myself for not succumbing to the urge to hurl it over the garden wall and ceremonially burn it on the village green when the 382628293947238th fly dive bombed the wet paint and stuck to my flawless gloss finish thus ensuing a clumsy, thumby rescue mission leaving horrible finger print marks.

I think that's why Pinterest makes me happy. Almost every picture looks like something that someone has put some real love in to it. Then I imagine how much happier I'd be if my house was full of things like that. Things that make me feel like Bow's cot does. So I'm slowing down the buying and upping the crafting in effort to surround us by more special things.

Exhibit A... The fruits of our wild flower picking this week... These stayed fresh for a few days and gave me a little bit of happy every time I saw them :D