With the pull to organize our homes during these first few weeks of the new year and Spring cleaning on the horizon, it was timely and interesting to read an article published last month in The Washington Post highlighting Marie Kondo's latest book "Marie Kondo's Kurashi At Home: How to Organize Your Space and Achieve Your Ideal Life."
Having amassed a dedicated following with her decluttering method of sparking joy after the successful launch of her first book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" and popular Netflix show, she explores and applies a similar concept in this current publication by focusing thoughtfulness, calmness and happiness within our mindset and routines rather than through curating an orderly home.
During a recent media webinar, she explains that life is messier since welcoming her third child causing her to give up on the idea of a spotless, flawless home in favor of spending time with her family. This admission has understandably created some backlash, yet there is a sense of relief that reality seems to have also set in within her household providing some sort of validation and normalizing the chaos most of us experience on a daily basis - so much better than feeling as though we will never achieve, match or be able to maintain a particular system in keeping our homes in a state of perfection.
Social media already plays a heavy part in the pressure to reach unattainable lifestyle goals through artfully styled, impossibly minimalist interiors beautifully arranged in soothing tones of white with scented candles, plants and vintage books stacked on carefully designed coffee tables. To that extent, it is often reassuring to see the candid behind-the-scenes mayhem of some of those photoshoots and understand that there is a whole lot of preparation and a team of individuals working on accomplishing those results.
For all of us - Marie Kondo included - with real lives filled with a mix of full-time jobs, commutes, pets and children in baby or teenage stages, embracing and accepting the frazzled commotion as a rational process and savoring the moments or fluctuating seasons of life are not only necessary, but key to prioritizing the most important feature - the people making the journey with us.
Everything else can wait.
Happy weekend!
weekend+notes | 2.24.23
The three front door colors to consider if selling your home.
If you are counting down the days to garden during this tricky time of year of winter weather extremes, these hearty Spring flowers will spruce up your outdoor containers now and last in the event of a late frost.
Marking my calendar to visit at least one - maybe both - of New York City's popular French café Maman's two new locations in D.C.
Love this list of superfoods to easily add into meal prep.
Stash this spring cleaning guide with your caddy and you will be ready to cross off items throughout the house in no time!
With Virginia finally joining the ranks of charging for plastic bags in stores, it's notable that France became the first country to ban plastic cups, plates and utensils in 2020 - an important step we should all consider following in the fight against plastic pollution.
xo
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