So, starting this week we are painting the new apartment and hopefully moving a lot of our stuff over there. (It’s just across the street, remember…) So of course I’ve been thinking a lot about the place and how it’s going to function for our family. And I tend to be a dreamer and have high aspirations. Combined with a love of new experiences, new spaces, new places… I can spend hours a day just THINKING about these things! There are a lot of changes we’ve been wanting to make in our home anyways, and a move is the perfect time to do that, so here are a few broadly stated dreams for our new home. And I’ll be blogging about each topic more in detail it the next week or two, with more great links and tips that I have found to be helpful and inspirational!

1. Simple Living. Switch to a decluttered and more simple way of life. I want to be able to spend time and energy on people, not dealing with stuff we own. The easier to clean and take care of, the better! (Which will require more discipline on my part… ouch!) Simplemom.net is great site for helping simplify your home!

1. Natural Living. We would like to start recycling and being more aware of how much energy, water we are using, food we are wasting, etc. Besides being better for our pocketbooks, I think this will be a good step to help us be more mindful of what we are consuming and why. I’ve linked to her site before, but Sara’s walkslowlylivewildly.com is my go-to site for ideas and resources on natural living. Thanks Sara! One of the changes I want to make is to start using bags like these from baggubags.com when I shop for groceries instead of discarding dozens of plastic bags each month. (plus they’re cute!)
   
2. Creative Living. We want to be surrounded by beautiful creative art that inspires us to make artwork, craft, play music, write music and read more. And in our new place we can put holes in the walls! How revolutionary! Which means I am especially looking forward to putting up pictures, scriptures and artwork that have been stored underneath our bed for the past few years. I love the collage of family pictures at http://tarawhitney.com/justbeblogged/page/6/
   
3. Hospitable Living. We want this to be a welcoming and comfortable place for others to visit. I grew up knowing that family and friends could stop by anytime during the day and I still miss that “culture” that is pretty absent here in the suburbs. (Although it will mean having a relatively clean house most of the time- which points back to item #1!) I haven’t found a specific site that just talks about this. If you know of a good one, let me know!
4. Healthy Living. We will now begin to eat meals at a table like real families and not in front of the TV like poor college students! We would also like to switch to more organic food (especially meats) and cut out white flour/white sugars, and eat a LOT more fresh fruits and vegetables. Happyfoody.com is great. The Organic Center has just released a free pocket guide, which lists fruits and vegetables that pose the greatest risks from pesticides. And the Eat Well site is a free online directory of farms, stores, restaurants, bed & breakfasts, and other outlets that offer local, fresh and sustainable food in the US and Canada.
   

These are just some things I dream about. I am looking forward to talking about these more in depth in the next few weeks!