hopes for the new year
Happy New Year! Please permit me to share a little something with you on this beautiful, chilly January 1st here in the San Francisco Bay Area. While I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions, it certainly feels like the perfect time to take a look at what has past as we embrace the excitement of what 2019 will bring.
The original image I planned for this post was a very complex and time-consuming miniature scene that I started to create just before a seasonal flu took me out of commission for several days. Well, so much for that plan.
My passion for creating and re-creating real life objects and experiences in miniature will sometimes find me spending hours obsessing about the details. As I accepted the reality that I would not create the miniature I envisioned, the lesson delivered became wonderfully clear. Sometimes we are offered an opportunity to go with a Plan B, and the simplicity and clarity of that plan can make you wonder why it wasn’t your Plan A.
Yes, a lovely miniature bedroom scene, with a large, open window overlooking the Bay Bridge, with dozens of details to take in, and a breakfast tray placed in just the right location at the center of the bed would have been fun to create, and even more fun to share… but there would be so many things to explore visually. The opportunity may have been missed to simply focus on the breakfast tray, which in and of itself, tells that story I want to share on a day that for so many of us is filled with so much potential and so much hope.
This 1:12 scale breakfast tray was created by Reutter Porzellan, a German company that has been producing high-quality dollhouse miniature accessories since the 1940s. The original tray held a German newspaper that I replaced with a specific U.S. newspaper I was told was a must read when I was in my early 20’s. (Thank you, Christopher Lord!)
A thoughtfully prepared breakfast tray (an indulgence… a way of pampering someone you truly care about, even yourself!) containing a freshly baked, buttery croissant, (the one carb I will never surrender), an unopened bottle of a favorite champagne (just in case it is to be saved for later) and just the hint of a mimosa (from the large navel orange on the tray), a presently empty teacup (awaiting the decision of a hot, soothing beverage or a cold, sparkling one), and lastly a January 1st Wall Street Journal (though this one has a special significance since it is dated with the year, not easily visible in this photo, that I first began earning an income from my miniature work.)
Here is what I hope 2019 brings for my family, friends, colleagues and all those that dare to dream –
A little pampering can go a long way. Take good care of yourself so you can be the best you for those in your world… and for those in the world.
Even if you are embarking on a new, healthier lifestyle this year, if you feel you have the discipline to enjoy a treat every now and then, do it!
Many of us live in a fast-forward world where we’re trying to do “all the things, all the time.” It’s ok to choose one thing over another. We really don’t have to do everything at once and all of the time.
It’s great to have options, and we always have them… even if they aren’t ideal. There’s always another way to look at what‘s right in front of us.
The present is indeed informed by the past; however, if it keeps you from moving forward and reaching your potential, shrink your rear-view mirror and move forward with confidence. Lean into those that you love, respect and cherish. Share your passions and your fears, solicit critical and constructive feedback, chart your course… and go. We really do learn more from our challenges than from our successes.
May 2019 be an incredible year for each and every one of you.