Today I...

...woke up and immediately walked over to the window in our bedroom to see the sun rising over the wintry backyard.

...made the bed for the first time in a long time, fluffing the pillows and tucking in the sheet corners, instead of leaving it messy and rumpled.

...had a healthy breakfast with my husband at the dining room table instead of on the couch, running my fingers over the table cloth I ironed last night instead of leaving it wrinkly.

...drank my coffee extra hot while sitting on the guest room bed with the sun pouring through the windows onto my face and read a book and the Bible instead of just taking my coffee into the office and starting work too early.

...realized that I have not been believing in truth - I've been wavering from faith to doubt to unbelief and back again, and that is why I have not had peace.

...said "No, thank you," to untruths that tried to invade my mind and prayed this verse over my life: "I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." ~ Romans 15:13

It's going to be a good day. But more than that, it's going to be good because I choose to believe in truth today.

Oh, the choices...

Oh dear. I keep finding new fabric potentials for the headboard in the guest room. I mean, just look at it! With possibilities like this being discovered every day, how does one decide?

Then, part of me wants to wait until Anna Maria Horner releases her new line, Drawing Room. I have only seen a few swatches, but it looks brilliant! What is a girl to do?

2008...a year of possibilities.

"Little children don't have more to celebrate. They just celebrate more things. They don't win more often than adults. They just act like winners more often. It leaves me wondering: Which comes first in life,
the victory or the celebration?"
~ A Childlike Heart by Alan D. Wright

It's 75 degrees on January 6th. To commemorate this special event, I took a bike ride on my SS Cruiser through a neighborhood that is slightly confused whether it should burst forth in full spring bloom or continue to hibernate in its winter starkness. I steered up and down hills and felt the wind blow against my face. On my way back home, I paused at the stop sign at King's Highway and Clinton and saw a cop passing through the intersection slowly, watching me. I smiled at him nervously, wondering if I would get in trouble for not wearing a helmet. But he just smiled back and said, "I like your bike!" and went on his merry way.

Back home and nestled into our red hammock, I opened an old book I had read several years ago, A Childlike Heart by Alan D. Wright. Flipping through to re-read a few passages that I had underlined, I saw this...

"Something happens between childhood and adulthood that changes our mind-set from 'I wish this day would never end' to 'I'm glad this day is done.'"

That got me thinking about the new year and how I'm the kind of person who will write a list of things I've already done just for the satisfaction of crossing them out. But I'm going to try something new in 2008: instead of trying to rush and accomplish, I'm going to make a list of possibilities. A person who is childlike has possibilities. So, off we go...

1. Start enjoying red wine. I never thought I liked wine...that is, until I tried Avalon Cabernet Sauvignon on Friday night. I've also realized that wine labels are works of art, as simple or ornate as they may be. This one reminds me of letterpress.
   
2. Make every recipe on Sara Snow's website.
   
3. House stuff:
1. Guest room: Paint walls ocean green & re-upholster headboard (current headboard fabric ideas: Surf & Sand Starflower, Surf & Sand Medallions).
2. Butler's pantry: Paint walls Tuscan reddish/coralish color & get cool fabric for curtains (current curtain fabric ideas: Veronique by Alexander Henry, Sofia Butterfly Garden, Basil Vine Sofia).
3. Guest bathroom: Paint walls purply-grey & get shower curtain that actually goes all the way around pedestal tub & doesn't spray water all over floor.
   
4. Office: Paint walls calming blue & cover walls with inspiration wires like Jenni's to showcase international photos from India & Africa & Italy.
5. Cool iron table: remove rust, spraypaint white & make mosaic for top with colored tiles from Bay of Naples.
   
4. Work harder on photography so maybe, just maybe, I can get a Canon Digital Rebel.
   
5. Watch more classic films.
   
6. Get rid of all my CD jewel cases and reorganize into giant books. (question: What do you do with your old tray cards? I feel bad just throwing them away...)
7. Travel to a new country. Because of my job, I could easily go back to Africa, yet I keep having dreams that I'm returning to India. And there's still the burning desire to visit Central or South America. Finally, I should prolly mention that I got this fortune with my Spicy Korean Chicken at Pei Wei: You will step on the soil of many countries in your lifetime.
   
8. Finish the following books:
1. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
   
2. Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer
3. In Pursuit of Peace by Joyce Meyer
4. Dancing Shoes by Noel Streatfeild (from You've Got Mail - a gift from Suz!)
   
5. When The Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd
9. Keep riding my bike as long as I possibly can without a helmet. Start wearing a bike helmet so I live to see 2009!
   

Happy New Year from The Baileys!