In late summer, early fall there is a house in my town {Leesburg, VA} that puts out flowers at the end of their driveway, along with a donation box for a food pantry. For two years now I’ve driven past this little stand almost daily and thought about stopping. The house is simply beautiful. The flowers and the way they are put outside for you to take silently as you donate is wonderful. Last week I was on my way home with Colton and finally decided to stop. Chloe’s birthday was coming up and flowers seemed like an appropriate gift, or maybe an excuse to finally stop.
Today I repurposed the jar that the flowers came in and put tiny beach shells mixed with sand it in. Chloe and I grabbed fistfuls of these shells as we jumped the waves at the Outer Banks a few weeks ago. The week we were visiting the beach wasn’t littered with shells like it typically has been in years past. We decided if the ocean wouldn’t wash the shells up we would go into the ocean to get them. We had many laughs grabbing this “junk.” From a distance it doesn’t look like much but up close there are tons of perfectly shaped tiny shells mixed in with the sand.
I’m a visual person and need reminders for myself for most things – from sticky notes telling me what I need to get done that day, lists on my calendar, or random objects that remind me of happy times. Lately I’ve been reading some minimalist blogs and it’s been helping me to cut down on the clutter in our house.
I only keep what truly makes me happy – I don’t have or want space fillers anymore. I would rather a space was empty than something I didn’t love was occupying space. I won’t ever live a minimalist life by minimalist standards but one sentiment that I REALLY have been focusing on lately is how much our STUFF takes away from actually living our lives. The accumulation, cost and then time spent on cleaning up and putting things away – is staggering. 2014 has been a very hard year for me and I want my future years to be spend loving and feeling loved, rather than cleaning up and finding more space fillers – I want the objects in my house to give me a sense of warmth instead of stressing me out – I want change for the better. So while the shells are certainly filling a tiny space, they make me feel a sense of happiness, so they stay.
Those are my random thoughts for the day 
Hope you all enjoyed the cooler temperatures if you are in the Northern Virginia/DC area – marathon season is fast approaching!!!
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