Kicking off our first everyday beautiful life post of the new year today! I’m happy to introduce Rachel of Lovely Clusters as our guest today. Lovely Clusters is a lovely place, indeed. I visit it daily and always find inspiration. Rachel gives us an exquisite post and something to think about as we are still making or pursuing our new years resolutions. Enjoy!

{Nature & Relaxation}
There is nothing more calming to me then being outside in a forest, even if I get a few mosquito bites. The clean air, the fresh smell and nothing to do but talk with friends and admire the greenery is fun and relaxing to me.

{Doing what I love}
I love designing whether it be an interior, business card, website, or crafting cards and journals. I love it all!

{Reading and Learning}
If there is something I don’t know too much about I will look it up or ask my husband. My husband is that guy who Googles everything if we cant think of something. It makes me happy when it comes up again and we know it already. Knowledge is power!

{Being with the people I love}
If you can be with the people who you trust, who treat you well and make you feel good about yourself I think you can live a very beautiful life.

{Travel}
Going outside of your normal routine can be so healthy and rejuvenating. Living on an island can feel monotonous at times and whenever I leave I notice how gratifying it can be. I usually want to be back though in about a week.

{Setting Goals}
Completing them brings me joy and a great feeling of accomplishment.

I hope this list puts a smile on your face. It’s nice to look at the things that make life beautiful in a bigger picture. I think I am going to make them be part of my New Years resolution. Cheers to 2010!!

– Rachel Follett from Lovely Clusters

Photo Source: SWAN clothing, stylemepretty, aimeelikestotakepics, liebemarlene, oxcar,

Merry Christmas!!! It’s my favorite day of the year. While we make preparations to roast a pig and gorge ourselves on Cuban food with about 30 other loud Cuban relatives, you are probably enjoying a quiet moment reading blogs before the madness begins at your house. We have an expert on beautiful living for our guest today. Claudia of the blog Paris Apartment is also the author of the book by the same name. You may also visit her website to learn more about how she has made a living from, well, beautiful living. Claudia now resides, like me, in South Florida, and unlike me, she makes frequent trips to Paris. {I wish! Must do something about that…}

Enjoy her lovely list and we hope that you have a wonderful holiday!

{Flowers}
I have a firm belief that flowers were put on earth just to make us happy. Whenever I need a lift, I’ll grab a small bouquet. Otherwise a tiny bud or just a whiff will do the trick!

{Love letters and keepsakes}
One of my favorite things in the world are trinkets from the past. Just having tiny mementos that were so thoughtfully written and crafted with such detail brings a beauty to daily life that modern technology and mass production just can’t match.

{Bedding}
There’s nothing as beautiful as fresh sheets and pillowcases on down pillows. It’s one of life’s simple pleasures and if they’ve been pressed, well, that’s pure bliss.

{Family}
Life is more beautiful when shared with the ones we love. Family means everything to me and I don’t know where I would be without any single one of them.

{Lounging around}
Nothing makes me happier than spending time relaxing, reading and having absolutely no agenda. It’s only when I have time to myself that I can appreciate the beauty in the little things, like breathing and daydreaming.

{Fantasizing}
I love to imagine what it would be like to fix up an apartment in Paris. It’s wonderful to imagine creating a beautiful life in the city with all the trimmings. Everything starts with those daydreams!

{The Ocean}
Nothing is more beautiful than nature. At the ocean time stands still, and the only things that matter are earth, air, fire and water. It’s one of the few places to get to infinity and beyond!

{Travel}
Traversing this glorious planet is my obsession. There is not an inch of it I wouldn’t love to see from the castles to the caves.

{New Shoes}
They put a spring in your step that nothing else can quite match. Especially if they’re Chanel.

{Old books}
Being in the presence of old books; their smell, their feel, their energy…it’s a way to be transported to another time and place. They’re so constant and quietly beautiful.

{The future}
Looking to the future I see a beautiful world developing that’s clean, efficient, friendly and hopeful. A world where we use the power of nature to make sure every person on earth has water, food and shelter.

{Security}
My life is only beautiful because of the selflessness of others who have and still fight for my freedom. I don’t have the words to express my gratitude to these perfect strangers who live and die so that I might have the opportunity to indulge in any of these dreams, but grateful I am!

Could we have a more perfect guest for a mid-December EBL than Alice of Painted White? Her style and her pictures are wonderfully soft and suitable for winter. If you don’t know Alice, she has a lovely shop filled with all sorts of beautiful things for your enjoyment. Of course, she also has a blog. Visit both when you are done reading her lovely list.

Love…

Love ignites the soul and can add beauty in even the simplest of ways. Once when I was away on a trip, my husband had packed away several tiny hand written notes and tucked them in the pockets of my suitcase and clothing. Each day I found a new one. I still remember how thrilled I was and how my heart would melt each time I found a bit of folded up paper…

Faith…

My faith in God is what gets me through each day – and especially the darkest of times. Faith is what brings the light shining through and reminds me that there is so much beauty to behold here…if we only stop to notice…

Family…
We would be lost without family – those that know us best and accept and love us just as we are. My life would not be near as beautiful if I didn’t have my family to share it with…

Generosity…

I believe life is about sharing what you have. Not hoarding it away. I love, love, love to give gifts – especially those that are personal or handmade. I love to wrap them up creatively too…just taking a little extra time to show how much you care. And , I am always overwhelmed and blessed by gifts received – a handmade card is surely enough to bring tears to my eyes…

Remnants of the Past

Anything with a history, a past, a story to tell – these things can be found all throughout my home and life. From my vintage sofa to a scrap of paper found in an old book – they are all reminders of the past and give my life beauty and character…

A Neutral Palette

Surrounding myself with a simple palette helps me to notice the textures and details of everyday things. It also creates a peaceful and soothing environment when done right. I love a room filled with whites, creams, beiges and grays with perhaps a bit of darker browns and blacks thrown in…

The ability to Create

Without it, I would be lost. The ability to create has richly blessed my life. I love tapping into different avenues of creativity from painting, to collage art, to sewing, to jewelry making. Whenever I am creating my soul feels fulfilled and satisfied…as if it knows I am doing what I should and following my deepest passions…

If you read one post this week on my blog, please make it this one.

We focus on the beautiful here everyday. As you know, it is impossible to live a beautiful life without giving and kindness. It’s vital to take the time to consider the value of others. It helps us be aware of our own value and our role in this life. I firmly believe that we are all made of something precious and shared. I believe that everything in this universe is connected. So, today I’m asking you to take a moment and do something kind for someone else. Do something beautiful for your universe…

Paloma at La Dolce Vita approached me with this wonderful project. She rounded up several bloggers to give back this holiday and make a difference for a very special charity. Pencils of Promise is a kick-ass 501c3 {aka non-profit} that partners with local communities and organizations to build schools of early-stage education in developing nations for some of the world’s most impoverished and undereducated children.  There are more than 75 million children in this situation worldwide. I find that totally unacceptable, as I’m sure do you.

Last December, the Pencils of Promise team visited a small village in Laos. By July 2009, they had built a new school for the village children who started attending classes on September 1^st.

The next step?

Pencils of Promise is focusing on helping the girls of Champet, a village in Laos that is home to the only high school in the area. In order to attend this high school, the students in the village and surrounding villages must leave their families and homes to live in dormitories. These dormitories are basically makeshift bamboo huts. They are not safe, but the girls are taking this huge risk to get an education. They are taking the risk to better their lives, their community, their world. How courageous is that?

In the spirit of the holiday season, we are asking for your help today on behalf of these children. Just think of the enormous impact we could have if each person who reads this post donates just $1.00. If you are willing and able to give more ($35.00 buys shelves for a classroom, $50 provides pencils for one year, $100 provides a teacher’s salary for three months and so on), it would be greatly appreciated. We are in the midst of the giving season and hope that you will find it in your heart to make a donation to this worthy cause today. If these girls can put their lives at risk to better themselves and their universe, can’t you spare a minute and one dollar? I think we all can.

The goal for Blogger Action Day: Build safe, legitimate housing for the female children to have access to further their education. Currently, some parents are unwilling to send their kids to school because of the danger of these huts that you will see others living in. This dormitory size will fit about 200 young Laotian girls.

The cost: $1 and 1 minute

The result: More than I could possibly express on the pages of this blog.

{btw} If you would like to stay informed about the difference Pencils of Promise is making, be sure to become a fan on their Facebook page.

photography by nick onken

Today’s guest is Amy of Old Sweet Song. Now, I’m going to be completely honest. I only asked her to be part of this so maybe she’d ask me to be part of her Blogger Crush series. Ok, not really, but it would be cool. The truth is that I have a blogger crush on Old Sweet Song, and I’m extremely envious of her {any other bloggers} living in NY. Granted, I’m not sure I could handle living in NY, but I like to pretend that I could. Besides living in NY and having a pretty cool blog with one of my favorite series’, Amy shares some of my tastes. I call for another blogger meet up next time I’m in NYC. Amy, you are officially invited!

{Being in love} My boyfriend Anthony is the love of my life. He makes my heart smile.

{Chocolate} The darker the better. My favorite is Green & Blacks dark chocolate with dried cherries. Seriously, I cannot get enough of it. In fact, I am eating some right now. Not even lying.

{New York City} It’s an amazing thing to live in the greatest city in the world. After 5 years I still have moments where I think “wow, I live here!”

{Etsy} I can waste hours peeping all the lovely things. People who make things totally inspire me. One day I will join them. Some recent pretty finds here and here.

{Food Blogs} Another tine suck of mine, food blogs. I never tire of looking at them and reading recipes. Bonus points for food blogs that feature gorgeous photography like SproutedKitchen.com which is one of my faves.

{Good Books} I like to fall asleep reading. Right now I’m reading Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. I’ve just started it but have high hopes, considering she wrote probably the greatest book ever.

Photos: 1. weheartit, 2 & 3. Flickr, 4. Etsy, 5. SproutedKitchen, & 6. Scribner

So, today is obviously not Thursday, but let’s make it an EBL day. I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend so far. I usually don’t blog on the weekends, but I’m making an exception for the month of December.

Judy of the fabulous frock heaven, known as Sunday Brunch Dress Shop, is our EBL guest this week. She’s witty, intelligent, and following the dream as young, female entrepreneur. {Within months of launching, her shop was featured in Lucky.} She kinda rocks. I can’t wait to meet her, although I’ll have to; I missed her last time I was in NY.

{Love} My wonderful amazing loving wonderful fiance makes my life more beautiful and happy than I could have ever imagined for myself.

{Fuzzy Best Friend} My English Bulldog Munch. We adopted him when he was 4 years old. He makes my life that much more joyful and funny. All he needs from life is food (preferably as much as possible), pets and a soft bed to snooze in all day. We can all learn a lot from him.

{Paris} There is something magical about this place. It’s something in the crepes perhaps. Everything is more beautiful in Paris. When I’m there all I can think about is when I will be back.

{Internet} Um, really. What would my life be without the Internet??

{Sketchbook} I’ve never been good at keeping journals or diaries. But since I started keeping a sketchbook my brain has felt much less cluttered. It feels good to get ideas and thoughts and images down on to paper. This is the first step to creating.

{Coffee} I have no problem saying this: I love Starbucks. I love them for their dependability, and I love them for their ubiquity. They are there when and wherever I need them. I’ve also taken to purchasing their beans rather than the hit-n-miss I did too often at Whole Foods. Every morning I feed the bulldog and brew myself a strong cup of Starbucks in my French Press.

{Fashion magazines} I love the glossies, always have. It’s glamorous, mysterious and unattainable beauty at it’s finest. I can’t identify with them at all, but I don’t need to identify with things to enjoy them.

{Freshly laundered bed sheets} I hate stripping the bed, washing the sheets and putting everything back on. But in the end when I get into bed….aaahhhh. Totally worth it.

{New tube of toothpaste} I LOVE opening a new tube of toothpaste. It’s so clean. And full of hope! With most things I will be sure to use up every last drop so as not to waste xyz. But the anticipation of opening a new tube of toothpaste results in recklessness and me throwing out the last week of toothpaste in an old tube, to my fiance’s dismay. But we’ve come up with a new system. Where I get to open and use the new tube as he finishes up the old one. That is love.

{Fry something} I love fried food. Oh I know I know it’s not good for you but when I’m having a bad day, nothing satisfies me like a big order of fries.

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Happy Thanksgiving for all the US readers. Today I’m thankful for many things, which I’ll be sharing with you. I’m thankful for all my EBL participants. You all have given us a peek into your lives and helped us reflect on our own. I’m also thankful to Lori of Automatism for preparing this post, despite the death of her computer and having to get a brand new one this week. She’s a blogging ninja! Let’s take a look at what makes her life Everyday Beautiful:

Each day begins with a cup of tea. It’s a quiet daily ritual that centres me and readies me for the day.

I don’t leave the house without lipstick, which to me is a wardrobe essential. Not only do I not feel properly dressed without it, but I love the old school elegance of it, too (no lip glosses or the like for me!).

Blogging has led me to so many happy discoveries — at the click of a mouse I can view beautiful images of art, interiors, clothes and more. There’s so much beauty out there, just waiting to be found. Every day brings something new.

I always have a book or two (or more) on the go, dipping into in here and there when I can during the day — exploring the worlds within the pages of a novel is an ever-renewable pleasure to be savoured.

I love being an illustrator for a living, even when it’s tough (such as slow work periods or slow payment). To have a job creating art is a real joy, and I look forward to spending a day creating something beautiful.

Photos {via} 1. Debbie Trolar, 2. Marta, 3. Design*Sponge, 4. Sweet Home Style, 5. Lori Langille

I feel like everything is such a blur. It’s Thursday! {Again? Wasn’t it just Thursday?!!} Today we have the amazingly creative Ez of Creature Comforts. She’s got a fab flickr and a very nice package. {For real, could the name of her shop be cooler?} Check them all out after you read her post! {I love the first one on her list. That’s how I feel about munchkin!}

{My Daughter} As a single mom, much of my world revolves around my 10 year old daughter.  Through her eyes I get to see the world in better and brighter ways every day (she also has the best sense of humor and is constantly cracking me up).  As corny as it may sound, she is my morning light, my evening star, and the sunshine that lights my days.  I think she is the most beautiful thing in the entire world.

{Blogging} I honestly don’t know what I would be doing if I had not discovered blogging.  There is not a day that passes without leaving me inspired or moved by something or someone I come into contact with via my blog or blogland.  The connections and community of blogging are irreplaceable, and I am so thankful to be a part of it all.

{Music} Music is essential to me.  I can never remember an artists name or a song title (friend’s tease me about it), but regardless I am inspired daily by the music I listen to.  From classical to pop (and everything in between), I can’t live without it.

{Photography} Taking photos is a lot like breathing, in that it is utterly essential to my existence.  I love the stillness that takes me over when I am leaning in for a shot, or the way an image story is mapped out in my mind as I’m setting a photo up.  The entire process is wonderful and I hope that it is something that I will continue to learn and improve upon over time.

{Noticing Small Things and Mundane Details} This one seems kind of funny, but I guess I want to list it as one of the things that make my life beautiful because it hasn’t always been easy for me to find joy in the small details…and I know that when I take the time to not only look, but really see what is all around me, my life truly is filled with beauty.

All images by Ez Pudewa