Posts in Simpler Living
Treat yourself to a Free Vacation

Next weekend cancel everything. Make no plans. Be spontaneous. Do what comes naturally. Go with the weather. If it is sunny go to the beach. If it is rainy turn on the fireplace and drink hot chocolate.

 

This past weekend was one of the most relaxing and also somewhat productive weekends my family has had in along time. The secret, we planned nothing.

 

We woke up on Saturday, lazed around, read, had coffee, did a bit of gardening, a bit on the computer and had a nice leisurely lunch outside in the sunshine. By 2 pm, my daughter asked if we could go to the Halloween store to buy her a costume. She no longer wanted to be a princess but now that she was 10, she wanted to be a vampirette. Casually we drove on over and found the perfect costume for a decent price. Next door was Borders and all being lovers of books and bookstores, we all agreed "let's go.:  Wandering the aisles and settling down to read a magazine or a book, we had some ice tea and just let the time slide by-- one hour-- two hours-- we had no where to go and no one waiting for us. By 6:30 we decided to head home and make dinner and slide again into a DVD, all cuddled up in bed together. Upon waking up on Sunday morning to a gorgeous crystal clear blue sky, I packed a picnic and we headed out to Stinson Beach for a long walk and a beautiful morning. A latte in hand, a Sunday paper tucked under our arms we drove over the Mountain to the beach. There is nothing like Stinson Beach on a sunny fall morning with a few people walking the two mile strand, dogs snapping at the water, and the water glistening like diamonds.

 

Halfway back, Zoe decides she needed to build a deep hole. No reason, no purpose, no destination, it just was what she felt like. Jean on all fours digging like a dog found himself immersed in enjoying the dig with her. An hour later we grabbed our picnic, chairs, and blanket and sat down to eat and read the paper. ---and so the day continued.  It just flowed. Zoe wanted to see a friend and we called and picked her up 5 minutes later. (How often does that happen?) A quick play date (which now is evidentally called a date that she is ten). A quick stop at a friend's open house because it felt right, not because we were committed and the home for dinner and hanging out before bed.

 

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Creating the Life You ..., Family Time, Pace of Life, Simpler Living, Small Joys, Travel, Work-Life BalanceSuzanne Saxe-RouxMini Vacations
A Question about Shoes and Simplicity

In our transition to streamline, simplify and get rid of unnecessary clutter I sat staring at two boxes too big for one person to carry alone. Tucked behind was my duffel bag of shoes I brought back from France. Granted I threw away a few pair before we left, but all in all I bet I was fashionable with 3 pair of boots (brown, black and red), one pair of running shoes, a pair of hiking boots and trail shoes, a comfy black leather mule, a green cole haan walking shoe, green and orange flipflops, black sandals, a pair of black professional shoes for work, and a two pair of higher heels for summer evenings.  Seeing that on paper it seems like alot but at least I know each pair were worn throughout the year.  Now however, I am faced with at least 4-5 dozen more shoes that I haven't seen in three years.

 

"A system." I say to myself. "I need to a system." Pile #1; ugly, old, done. Pile #2, old comfort shoes - think about. Pile #3, useful - think about. Pile #4 Wow, I forgot about these. Pile #4 Absolutely, I missed them.

 

An hour later I sorted, sifted, tried on and whiddled my shoe collection down to about 2 dozen- a major feat. Still too many I'm thinking looking at my colorful collection of fun tennis shoes in six different colors and sandals of every shape and form and three pairs of comfy velvet and patent leather hush puppies in black, navy , and red. What is a girl to do?

 

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Simpler Living, Work-Life BalanceSuzanne Saxe-RouxDecluttering, Shoes
Two for One

Getting your hair cut, colored, highlighted and coiffured into an elegant hairdo, at least until you wash it again, is a right of passage for all woman at least every two months. Going to the hairdresser is an event qualifying as a fantastic day’s outing. It starts with coffee before, a scrumptious light lunch after and maybe a little shopping added for extra esprit.

 

Lately I wasn’t as happy with my hairdresser and the highlighting weave I received. It just was getting a little dull and was not quite up-to-par. I ran into a woman I met at a country lunch, well coiffurred and she told me in whispers, to keep the beauty a close secret close between us, that she was in the village to get her hair colored by a hairdresser who came to your home. “Imagine”, she said, “getting beautiful in the comfort of your own home.” Whether it was the old fashioned way sitting in the coiffuse’s chair, or a more personal way and to save on taxes and overhead, my ears perked up immediately. “Oh, she’s marvelous at color weaves and less expensive as she doesn’t have the cost of a big salon.”

 

I liked the idea of reducing the excessive costs of my hair appointments that kept escalating and trying the marvelous traveling stylist a-la-domicile. The next thing I knew I was on the phone, stumbling through my California accented French to leave my new best friend, styling guru, Letticia, a message for a rendez-vous.

 

The next day I received a return phone call and in French we confirmed an appointment for Thursday at 14:30 (2:30 pm) at my house. I repeated the time, fourteen hours thirty, as it is said in French, just to make sure I had the time correct. At promptly 2:30 on-the-dot in she walks with two large cases full of supplies, brushes, hair products, and a brown silk cape. Moving a chair into the bathroom we set up a mini salon and began to discuss once again the color of my highlights. “Blonde et Miel.” (Blonde and Honey). “Oui.” She then went on to explain to me (all in French) that you shouldn’t highlight all the hair but just the top as it gets to blonde and dry at the bottom.

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Simpler Living, Time off in FranceSuzanne Saxe-RouxSaving Money
The Answer to Closet Clutter

The Answer to Closet Clutter

 

There are a variety of things Americans have learned from the French, but when it comes to closets, it is not one of them. For the past two years, Jean, Zoe-Pascale, and I have lived in a ancient Maison de Village in a small country village.  Our goal was not specifically to simplify, but to live a different life that would provide balance unknown to most professional dual career couples. Simplification however comes in many forms and learning what the French have to teach us is what we were after.

 

French homes, many of which are hundreds of years old all have one thing in common, no closets. They just aren’t built. Gorgeous wooden armoires, tall as the ceilings, new modern creations, and cupboards are used, but not closets.

 

Moving into our home for year round living we had to figure out some method to handle all of the clothes, books, and work supplies we had mailed from California. We didn’t want to invest in furniture, but instead pulled upon our college day resources and nailed heavy duty antique hooks on the wall and purchased old coat racks with character for hanging clothes. This worked fine until all of our winter clothes arrived by post in large boxes. Figuring out where to put the additional clothes was one problem, but the fact that they were winter clothes, heavier, thicker, and bulkier posed another.

 

With no closets there is just only so much room. Trying to stuff old jeans and winter coats into the back of a closet was not a possibility, there was no closet. Hanging them on the coat racks and hooks just wouldn’t do; the weight was more than they could take – thus the reason closets were built. However, here we were and we had to figure out what to do before the hat racks tipped over and the hooks came out of the wall.

 

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Conscious Choices, Simpler Living, Time off in FranceSuzanne Saxe-RouxCloset Clutter
Round Abouts versus Stoplights

I had an epiphany today driving from our village of 2000 people in St. Quentin la-Poterie to Uzes a village of 8,000 people 5 kilometers away through the countryside to the larger town of Nimes 30 kiliometers away with a population of 60,000. I realized that if I never went to Nimes or outside of the Uzege region (about the size of Marin country) I would be able to drive without ever stopping at a red light. The reason I realized is that there are no stoplights in this entire area. In 14 summers and over a year living her this is the first time I noticed this. No stoplights. The reason I even noticed it was because I was driving alone and had to stop at a red light.  Wow a red light I thought. I haven't seen one of these in a long time.

 

Instead France and especially in the country roundabouts are loved. Those beautiful circles that are planted with various landscape designs, fountains, vineyards (yes on a roundabout) gardens and trees. The French being a very civilized society knows how to weave their cars through the double lanes, pass a car on the left and cut over just in the nick of time to the cut off to the road on their right. Cars entering the roundabout yield to those already in the circle (first come firt serve) and somehow they all move together.

 

In driving through these roundabouts I’m amazed at the feeling of flow. There are no abrupt stops where you wait forever for the light to turn green or in the worse cases for the left hand turn lane to go, then the right hand turn lane, then the opposite turn lane, and ten minutes later you get to go. I could have finished the New York Times crossword puzzle in the amount of time I waited.

 

Now roundabouts have their challenges also, especially if you don’t know which direction to take. More marriages have been lost in a roundabout when the wife is reading the map and the husband is yelling “Which way do I go.” The solution is simple however; keep going around until your wife figures it out. Sometimes it’s one time around, sometimes two and our all time record was four times around.

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Conscious Choices, Pace of Life, Simpler Living, Time off in France, Work-Life BalanceSuzanne Saxe-RouxStress