July: wrap-up

Time flies, it is already end of July! July (Impeccable Home) was in some sense two different projects. The first one was to make our apartment less cluttered, more peaceful and more beautiful. The second one was to try to feel more at home here in Copenhagen.

Overall I am happy with my progress this month. I didn't manage to finish everything. And I did have a few bad days last week, where I wasn't doing too well with my resolutions. In particular I let clutter accumulate everywhere around me; at home, in my office, even my bag and wallet were suddenly overloaded with unwanted stuff. It was definitely a reflection of an inner turmoil that I was going through, but I think I am back on track now.

The apartment
I made the bed everyday, I lit candles, played music, and bought flowers on Fridays. These are little, and perhaps silly things, but I found those to make a notable difference to the feel of my home. I tried to make a habit of putting stuff back in place after use, I wasn't too successful with that one, but I will definitely continue trying. I did some decluttering, and while I wish I had done more, I am at happy that I've managed to maintain my clutter-free areas. It feels like I have more breathing space at home now. One of my resolutions was to make weekly menu plans, and do weekly grocery shopping. This has been such a time- and stress- saver. I can't understand why I wasn't doing this before!

I finished this months' reading list: "Apartment Therapy: The Eight Step Home Cure," "Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide" and "Feng Shui That Makes Sense: Easy Ways to Create a Home That FEELS as Good as It Looks." I found all of these books to be useful and each of them contributed to my project in a different way.

My big goal for this month was to paint and redecorate my kids' room. I am not done, but I did take some "big" steps. I already bought the paint, and will use one of the weekends in August to finish up.

A smaller goal was to finish a blanket I started knitting two years ago. Having half-finished projects lying around for too long is not good for your energy. The blanket is not done. But I've been knitting every night now, and actually quite enjoy it. I put knitting on my resolution chart to remind me to keep going until the blanket is done:)

Denmark
I had fun with this one. I went for a few walks around the city, ate delicious ice-cream in Tivoli, visited the little mermaid, read some Danish fairy-tales, got to know a bit about the Danish royal family as well as the basics of Danish politics. I fixed my bike, so now I can start biking around again, and I signed up for a Danish course that will start in the fall.

Older stuff
I continued with most of my older resolutions. I am definitely more positive than I was 2 months ago, I smile more, I am more patient, more balanced. I've been much more aware of my often negative, and limiting self-talk and have been working on substituting this with a more positive one. I still meditate almost every day, and plan to add another 5 minutes to my meditation sessions (making it 20 minutes). I finally got exercising in my routine (running three mornings a week), although this one is still an effort for me.

August: Impeccable Family
The focus in August will be on my kids, how to make them happy and healthy. And how to be a better parent. I will post more about my tasks and resolutions later this week.

Cheers, Di.