So yesterday I showed you guys a rather fetching fritatta, but what I am going to show you now is what was UNDER the fetching fritatta: this darling platter. Isn't it adorable?
And what was under that? That platter is cute as Hell!
What was I thinking?
As I've been unpacking in our new home I've been finding these little stickers on everything. They are prices that I put on all of my belongings as we tried to shrink what we owned over and over again. In 2009 we moved from Danbury, CT to Beijing, China, thinking that we'd be living oversees for at least a year, but possibly longer. Luckily, we didn't own much in the way of fancy furniture or high priced electronics. Most of our apartment was furnished with hand me downs, or thrift store items. Though I was personally attached to some things, there was no logical reason to keep most of it, as it would be cheaper to replace it all than store or move it. Keeping this in mind, we sold or donated almost everything we owned until all of our worldly posessions fit into a 5' x 10' storage unit. 50 square feet. For reference, a one car garage is usually around 200 square feet.
Our time in China was cut short, and we wound up returning to the U.S. broke, but well traveled, three months later. We recouperated in Florida, then returned to Connecticut to enter an eight month rebuilding phase while we saved and planned for our next move to Austin, Texas. During that time, we downsized again in hopes to avoid paying for a moving van or truck. Many tag sales and trips to donation centers later, we widdled what we had left down to a 3' by 3' pallet, and what would fit in the trunks of our two small cars.
My husband and I are often wondering things like, "Didn't we have a cookie jar?", or "Where did that book about such and such go?". The answer is inevitabely, "Oh yeah. We sold it for twenty five cents." Now, I wouldn't trade my experiences in for those transient material things that have now gone missing, but now and then it stings to think of a favorite sweater or a special cookie jar that you hunted down at a flea market all those years ago. You just can't help but let out a quiet little "dammit", when you think of those things.
Now that we are living in a city that we plan on staying in for years, I've decided to change gears. From now on, no more down-sizing. I'm switching to up-sizing. I'm not planning to run out and buying a plasma TV, or a new car, or anything like that. When I say up-sizing, I don't mean filling my life with bigger and more expensive things. I'd much rather fill it with smaller, cozier things, like plants in a garden, tiny baby kittens, or thrifted knick knacks and vintage dishes. Now that we are settling down I am looking forward to coming home to a place full of loved-on little objects, familiar nooks, and decorations that one day my family will come home to and love as well. After a long time of packing light and going where the wind swept us, I am all about digging in and encumbering myself with the little things that make a small apartment, or a rented house into a home.
No more tag sales.