#2 Madison's Monthly: Creative Projects, Home Design, and Intentional Time
#2 Madison's Monthly: Creative Projects, Home Design, and Intentional Time
How I've been reflecting, preparing for the year, and being present with myself and others
The beginning of 2024 has been quite a time of reflection.
Rather than jumping into my goals for the year in the heart of winter, I’ve decided to sit on them. Instead, I’ve been focusing my energy on meditation, unlocking my creativity, cooking new recipes, and reading.
It turns out all of these things were exactly what I needed to discover what I wanted out of the next year.
Almost all the time, we need to sit in stillness and enjoy the quiet to realize what we are chasing because we think we should be chasing it versus what we truly want.
While I’m still trying to hone in on the goals I’m ready to tackle in the next year, here are some of the activities that have helped me to relax into the version of myself I’m meant to be in 2024.
Painting, sewing projects, oil pastels
For the last few weeks, I’ve been reading The Artists’ Way and following along with the weekly exercises. I’ve written my morning pages at least 5 times every week and taken myself out on solo dates.
I’ll be honest- in the beginning, I wasn’t noticing too many changes. The changes are finally beginning to sweep over me. I’ve noticed the desire to create and express myself through all types of different mediums.
I deconstructed and sewed a vintage Cabbage Patch quilt into a vest inspired by one of my favorite brands.
I bought a set of oil pastels to play around with.
I finally worked on a painting I hadn’t touched for months.
My friend and I had the cutest mocktail and paint-along night.
I’ve realized how soothing it is to create. Nothing else gets me into the flow state more than sewing, painting, or stretching my imagination.
I’m learning to enjoy the process and release the attachment to the outcome, as perfectionists like me often don’t want to do something unless they are masters at it. It’s time to do more things that bring me joy without worrying about the end product!
A space I love
It’s been over a year since we moved into our home and the living room still looks like it did the day we moved in. I’m a firm believer in taking the time to find pieces that are one-of-a-kind and built to last. Sorry, but you won’t find me ordering furniture from Amazon or buying the same lamp as everyone else at Target.
However, I spend almost all of my time in our home. We both work from home, so we quite literally never leave.
I forget which podcast I heard this on, but someone was talking about how she really invested in her home and how it looked. You can’t expect to produce your best work or live up to your highest potential in a home that doesn’t match that same energy.
Nothing affects your attitude, energy, mood, goals, etc. more than your environment does! Build an environment that matches the person you want to be.
So, that is what I am finally beginning to do.
I bought a large, cozy wool rug from a company called Revival Rugs. Our house already feels more homey and lively! I’m obsessed with the burnt orange color.
Next, I am planning to curate a gallery wall with our favorite wedding photos, portraits of the dogs, and vintage photos of our families. Framebridge has consulting services you can use to create the perfect gallery wall design where you can then apply the price you paid to their frames.
If you haven’t seen our bedroom transformation, here is a little sneak peek on how it turned out!
Technology-free Nights
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been really focused on relaxing and turning inward. At the beginning of January, I became encaptured by this book.
The Great Alone is about a family that moves to Alaska to live an off-grid life. It is told from the perspective of a young girl growing up in the 70s. It’s a great story about family dynamics, Alaska, homesteading life, and love. I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it!
Besides reading, I’ve also taken up chess. Sebastian and I have been playing one game each night on a little hand-carved wooden chess set I bought at a market in London. It’s been a fun pre-bed activity for us that has also helped me learn something new!
Cooking as Therapy
Similar to being creative, cooking helps me to decompress and take my mind off of anything and everything. When I’m cooking, I lose myself in what I’m doing.
While most people see cooking as a chore, I view it as a way to work with my hands and create something fun to nourish my body. In this modern age, it’s hard to find hobbies that don’t involve the computer.
Cooking is the technology-free activity that I crave after a long workday staring at a screen.
I’ve been cooking a lot of recipes from two cookbooks I got for Christmas- Cook This Book by Molly Baz (now obsessed with her) and Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden. I highly recommend both!
Some of my favorite things I’ve cooked include:
lamb meatballs and toasted almond apricot couscous
fennel sausage bake
beef and celery stir-fry
asian pork & beef rolls (recipe coming soon!)
Learning as my 2024 Word
I’ve always been someone who loves to learn and then take what I’ve learned to teach others. In the last month, I’ve been leaning into learning.
I enrolled in two data engineering courses (that’s what I “do” for a living) and a solopreneurship course (which will hopefully help us with this newsletter!). I’ve slowly been eating away at these courses, eager to improve in my career and side hustle.
I’ve also been enrolling in painting classes (which keep getting canceled sadly) to learn more techniques behind something I enjoy doing.
I’m hoping to also enroll in a Spanish course! I’ve been down the Spanish learning journey before, but nothing has stuck. I realized I need to take lessons in person, as I can’t be on the computer anymore after a day of work.
With learning so may new things at once, I’ve realized how purposeful learning makes me feel. When I’m taking in new information, applying it, and evolving, I feel like I belong in this world. I don’t know how to describe it, but it makes life that much more meaningful.
I’m not just a sponge soaking in pointless information all day, but taking in information purposefully and crafting it into something that can make a difference.
Next Month…
In the next few months, Sebastian and I will be experimenting with this newsletter to find what makes you excited and solves your problems. We will be sharing more of our personalities through our writing and branching out into different topics.
You can expect some newsletters about our upcoming travels to Mexico, past travels to cool places that we think you would enjoy, seasonable recipes, education on ingredient labels, thought pieces, and more.
If you enjoyed Madison’s Monthly, drop a <3 in the comments. I appreciate the love!
Madison