I said no to the 6:30 sunlight this morning, beckoning me to get up and begin the day. I burrowed down under the covers and went back to sleep until 9 am. It was exactly what I needed! Deep rest. When a woman nears 50 with a wide variety of monthly hormonal expressions, you celebrate a good night’s sleep as if your lottery ticket had the winning number.
As I ate my oatmeal, I got the boys going on some math, some chores, movement, and reading. I wrote down a few things in my planner that I wanted to accomplish, one being to decorate a corner of the dining room with some summer vignettes. Well, if you decorate one corner, you know you get that momentum to want to freshen up other spaces. I went to the garage and pulled out a bin of summery items. These include some lanterns, a metal shovel, vintage thermoses, shells, buckets. I have some Ziplocks filled with shells gathered over decades, and I place them in little spots around the house. And then I pull children’s books off the shelves that speak to me of sand and surf, adventures and outdoors.
I removed half of the throws and pillows in my den. Took the fireplace tools out to the garage. Removed any spring touches I had added, lightened the surfaces, and added in whimsical vintage goods. I went to my office and grabbed my little Anne Morrow Lindbergh goodies, a framed art piece from Sanibel of her, five copies of Gift from The Sea, and a jar of shells that I collected there about seven years ago.
I took the lanterns that I bought at Target several years ago and hung them on nails that I already had in the dining room wall for other fun collections over the years. I hung the new needlepoint and a vintage map of Cape Cod. Again, I went to my collections of books and found some titles that included Cape Cod and New England to this corner. I stuck some starfish on the wall, a metal shovel, and a vintage SC plate up there too, along with a little embroidered star that one of my boys did many years ago.
Y’all. My mental health is much better. There is something about expressing yourself creatively in your home that is deeply healing and energizing. I didn’t go out and buy anything, only gathered items from around my home that reflect summer to me. I have small bins on our garage shelving that I keep seasonal decor in, and most are not bought from retail stores but are treasures that have spoken to me at yard sales and thrift shops over many years. These things bring me great joy and satisfaction in their beauty and uniqueness.
Technically summer won’t arrive until the end of June, but we are headed up into the 90s in our temperatures this next week, and our pool opens to members this weekend (not just the swim team). So for me, summer is officially here, and it feels good for my house to reflect that.
Enjoy these days between seasons. So much good abounds.
Aimee
This is such a lovely setting! So calming and relaxing. I've read some of those books also. Thank you for sharing.
I love the way you've incorporated summery coastal touches into your home--that's so fun. And I know what you mean about it being summer even if the calendar doesn't agree--I'm in Florida, and it's been summer-hot for a month now. We set up the pool, made the first popsicles of the season (my 9yo, after looking in the fridge, decided he wanted to make mango/pineapple with some coconut milk, so that's what we did and they are fantastic!), and we've been snacking on local watermelons and peaches. We're not quite done with our homeschool year, but we are so ready for summer break that I'm taking some time this week to see if there's anything I can cut out or compress the time frame on so we're done a little sooner.