My journey to simplicity

Folks, it feels like I’ve reached the end of my journey to simplicity – the blog… not the actual journey. I’m pretty sure I’ll always strive for simplicity. I just don’t feel the same passion for writing about it as I did in the beginning. Therefore, I’m giving myself permission to move on. What’s next? Well, lately I’ve been concentrating on a new project: writing fiction. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was a child, and I’ve been talking about doing it for years. So I’ve finally decided to take it seriously. With the help of Mr. Romantic, I’ve created a new website where I write about writing, and share my fiction works with you. You can sign up for updates (I’ll try my hand at fancy schmancy email lists and stuff). I sincerely hope you do sign up! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing you, an actual living breathing person, are reading my words. For reals! I’m not quite sure how long I’ll keep myjourneytosimplicity.com going. But don’t worry, all w

I’m looking at myself in the mirror and I reach up to my face to adjust my glasses because they feel out of place. Only, I’m not wearing glasses. On March 15, 2017, I did one of the scariest things I've ever done in my life. I got laser eye surgery. I wore glasses for 20 years. So even though I can see that I’m not wearing eye-glasses because the surgery was successful, I still have the reflex and sometimes the feeling like I need to adjust my glasses. This got me thinking. For the past two years, I’ve been trying to improve. I’ve been trying to eat better. I’ve been trying to live a minimalist lifestyle. I’ve been trying to write a novel. I’ve been trying to become the most awesome me I can be. And I’ve been hard on myself for my “failures”. Not adjusting my eye-glasses is not hard. I just have to not do it. Right? I meant, they’re not even there! There’s nothing TO adjust. And yet, I’m having a hard time kicking that habit. So, I really need to cut myself some slack when my diet

Mr. Romantic and I went to Europe! We planned a 16-day trip to visit Paris, London, Bath and Salisbury. I was very excited to go! … and a little nervous…  My only plane trips until then were the ones Mr. Romantic and I took last year to NYC and back.  This plane trip from Montreal to Paris was a significantly longer one (7 hours or so). I handled it well. "So, 16 days… whaddya bring with you, minimalist?”   I’m glad you asked! Just like with our trip to NYC, I packed light. I only brought what fit in my carry-on, travel belt, and purse. To prepare for the trip, I read blogs and other articles giving advice on what to wear in the cities we were to visit to blend in and not look like a tourist. It mentioned the type of shoes you should wear. A little boot with a heel and fancier, but casual flats. Finding comfortable shoes is difficult for me. The only pair of shoes I could find that didn’t hurt my feet were dark grey athletic shoes. I was feeling a little self-conscious about wear

Can I still be called a minimalist if I'm contemplating getting a bigger house for my family? I sure think so! Let me explain... Back in December 2015, I met Mr. Romantic. We hit it off right away. We had our first date on December 4 and our second on the 5th. We've pretty much been inseparable ever since. Yep, it was that easy! My condo lease was coming to an end in August 2016, so I could move if I wanted to. And I wanted to! I was unhappy with the condo. So it was either find a new place to rent, or move in with Mr. Romantic. Within about 5 months into our relationship, we were basically spending all of our time together anyway. Either in the downtown condo or in his suburban townhouse on the weeks he had his kids. So after much talk and going through my ultimate should we live together questionnaire , we decided to take the plunge. We've been living in his three-bedroom townhouse for a little over eight months now. Two adults and three kids. My daughter doesn't hav

I apologize for posting later in the day than I usually do on post day. I changed my mind a few times on what to write. Things have been somewhat hectic lately...  Many things have changed in my life over the past year: My teenage daughter moved out and moved back in. Then, we moved from downtown Ottawa to the suburbs of Kanata where my daughter and I’ve had to learn to live with more people – Mr. Romantic, his cat, and every other week his two kids. (It had been just the two of us for about 13 years.) My daughter has changed schools three times. Once, because of our move. And the other two times so that she could be in a school and program better suited to her needs and wants. I’ve changed jobs in October. The original work team I joined when I changed jobs in October has since been dismantled and I’m now on another team. (I’m still transitioning.) And this month, I’ve had laser eye surgery. My vision is still adjusting, as is my brain. Thirty years of wearing glasses

Well, that went by quickly. I said I was going to blog once a month from now on . I figured that would give me more than enough time to think of a topic and write about it. Well, seems like life has been too hectic for me lately. My blog is called My journey to simplicity . Seems like my journey keeps taking me off the path of simplicity. I know I know, that's just life. I'm actually writing this post as I'm sitting in the kitchen on a busy Friday morning as Mr. Romantic is trying to get his kids out the door for school and I'm about to leave to drive my daughter to school in Orleans from Kanata (making my morning commute to work about 1.5 hours). *Sigh* In an effort to try to bring my journey back to simplicity, I've started a bullet journal. I think this is going to be a great tool for me. I've been enjoying it so far. I'll write more about it in another post. Perhaps for my March post... Mr. Romantic's son is standing right beside me and reading t

Hi there! Sorry for the late post. I just wanted to let you know what I'll be changing the frequency of my posts again. My life has become a little too hectic right now to write a weekly post. So from now on, I'll be posting on the last Friday of the month. See you February 24, 2017!

I don’t normally write my blog post the morning of. I normally plan, write and edit. But this week has been an extremely busy week at work. I get home and I’m just drained. The only thing I want to do is crochet. And there were times I couldn’t even do that! Last night, I woke up multiple times and my first thoughts were of work. I really don’t like letting work creep into my off duty time. However, I couldn’t help it. Even when I tried to purposefully push the thoughts out of my mind, they’d come rushing back. These big intrusive bully thoughts of work. *sighs* When I woke up to really start my day, I decided that I would do my best to create tiny moments of peace. So as I was waiting for the water to boil to make my coffee, I sat in the calm and dark living room lit only by the warm yellow light of a little lamp. Then I walked slowly to my car, stopped before opening the door to take a deep breath and appreciate the mild winter air. So Mother Nature is supporting me in my quest for p

Last Sunday afternoon, Mr. Romantic and I went to see Breakfast at Tiffany’s at a local movie theatre. It’s one of my favourite activities that we do! Even though I’ve seen this film before, somehow it was a different for me this time. As I was staring up at the screen at the flawless Audrey Hepburn, I couldn’t help but admire her very simple, yet very stylish and timeless wardrobe. Oh I know I’m not the first to write about Audrey’s fashion sense. She’s pretty much a fashion icon! I noticed how minimalistic her wardrobe was. At least, in this film. In many scenes, she was wearing the same black dress. However, just by changing her accessories, it made it look like a completely different outfit. I could tell that what she was wearing was of good quality. That’s really the key, right? Have only a few simple, classic, stylish, timeless, good quality pieces, and have fun with your accessories. So, I’ve been inspired (again) to rethink my capsule minimalist wardrobe (again).

Well, I wrote a whole blog post on New Year’s resolution, but I lost it. So now it’s post day, and I don’t have anything prepared. So without much thought and editing, here’s today’s post: This year, I didn’t make a new year’s resolution or wanted to take on a challenge for January 1st. Now that we’re almost mid-way through the month, I kind of want to take on a challenge. Dealing with life’s ups and downs, moving in with Mr. Romantic, and becoming crochet obsessed has left me feeling a little off of my minimalist path. So I feel like I need to do something about it. I don’t want to have my minimalist member card revoked! Remember near the end of last year I had intended to start a series on how to be a minimalist and ended up posting just Part one ? In that post, I told you that before you take any physical action on how to be a minimalist, you should dream of your perfect life. Well, I’m going to take my own advice.  Dreaming is one of my favourite pastimes. I had dreamed up

I love being at home. I try to make it a peaceful retreat. Since I’ve moved in with Mr. Romantic, we’ve been working at pairing down our belongings so that we’re left with just what we truly love or need. Although we still have much work to do, I’d almost always would rather be home than anywhere else. So it makes it hard for me to go to work. I have to leave my nest for at least 10 hours a day (including the commute and time spent in my cubicle). Being out in the chaos of the world is stressful. So I try to bring a little bit of home with me to work. For example, I keep a set of utensils at work so that I have sturdy metal utensils to use, just like I would at home. I never have to worry about utensils when I pack my lunch. I know I have everything I need to eat whatever I bring. It’s obviously also better for the environment. This way, I’m not contributing to the plastic environmental problems. I also keep a little tea pot and cup set and various tea flavours at work so that I can ha