The Little Things II

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This post is part of “The Little Things” series, which includes reflections about the little details that make life more meaningful and enjoyable. For other posts in the series, click here.

Some people hate birthdays. I am decidedly not one of them. I love birthdays, especially mine haha! And I also love that my birthday is almost exactly in the middle of the year. For me, that distance from the beginning and end of the year gives me a great opportunity to reflect abou the resolutions I chose for the year, and about all of the changes that have happened in the past year. It feels like my birthday in 2017 was just the other day, but at the same time so many things have happened and changed since ten! We bought a house, I’ve made new friends, finally got my green card (after a lot of anxiety and waiting!), I feel more confident at work and life in general, and feel like I’ve grown a lot as a person. It’s been a fantastic year. And this more introspective time makes me appreciate even more the little details in life. Here are a few of the things that have made me smile:

 

Gardening: what?

Having grown up in the concrete jungle that is São Paulo, Brazil, I never really had the opportunity to have a full-blown garden. Our house here in the U.S. not only has a garden but also several planters for fruits, veggies, and herbs! The family we bought our house from, a couple who is very dear to us, planted several things before the move so we could enjoy the garden in our first year here. We had zucchini, cherry tomatoes, arugula, chives, and a ton of other amazing things!

This time around, it’s my turn to take care of the gardening. I confess that the beginning was a mix of anxiety and excitement. I have a terrible history with plants—I either over or underwater them, forget about them, I don’t know… Just know that they all end up dying! Who in the world would give a whole yard to someone with that track record?!

At the same time, I was really excited. My mom adores everything that has to do with gardening, it’s like an escape for her. I felt a little closer to her through sharing a hobby. I’m also happy to cultivate our own vegetables and herbs, since over the past few years I’ve become increasingly aware of what we eat and where our food comes from.

 

Getting rid of things

Every year, I do some sort of spring cleaning (which may or may not be more of a summer cleaning) and end up selling or donating things I haven’t worn or that don’t fit me well. Not sure why, but this year I feel a lot more detached! You know those pieces of clothing we may even like, but don’t feel super confident in, or that new top you swear you’ll wear someday? I’m getting rid of all of it!

And it’s not just with clothes. I’m extending this Marie Kondo-ness to makeup, skincare, and plenty of other categories. It seems that every skincare #shelfie we see includes more and more products. Of course, each person is free to make their own decisions, and there are a lot of products that have very specific uses, but I don’t know… Lately I’ve been focusing on products I know I really love. I haven’t just been getting rid of things—I’m also buying less. And the feeling of not having a stockpile of things I don’t need is lovely!

 

Small wins while renovating

When you get a designer, an engineer, and a historic home, you can be sure there will be thousands of projects going on! Since we’ve moved to our old new house—which was built in 1892, mind you!—we made a giant list of things we wanted to do to it. This list ranges from fairly small things, such as changing door handles so they’re all of the style from when the house was built, to enormous projects, like completely gutting the kitchen and bringing the laundry from the basement to the first floor.

Next month will mark the end of our first year in the house, and we still haven’t been able to start any of the larger projects. A couple of months ago, I started feeling that anxiety of wanting everything to move more quickly. In an ideal world, our house would be a neatly packaged episode of Property Brothers in which our whole house is ready in 6 weeks! But I’ve consciously chosen to appreciate the small changes we’ve made that make the house more functional. We’ve changes a few light fixtures, we’re redoing a lot of wiring, we have a new coffee bar in the kitchen, etc. Each small detail makes the house a little more “us.”

Besides all of that, it’s fun working through these crazy projects as a couple. Of course we often get frustrated (with the project and with each other, tbh!) but in the end it’s always wonderful looking at something we did together and feeling that joy of a job well done. That’s what HGTV won’t show you: how renovations really bring a couple closer.

 

Staying home

As much as I love traveling—and a significant part of this blog is dedicated to that—it’s been more than a year since I’ve had the opportunity to stay home for such a long period of time. I haven’t traveled since the beginning of April! There’s nothing like enjoying your own family, your home, and sleeping in your own bed. Each experience makes the other more enjoyable—staying home makes the next trip more exciting, and traveling always makes me happier to come home.

 

Scents that remind you of other places

I know I just mentioned how happy I am to be home for a while! But you know when a scent transports you to a completely different place? Our brains are really incredible, and the sensation of those memories is amazing. Since I test a lot of beauty products, they are usually what trigger those moments. Two in particular are really strong:

• Weleda’s Skin Food moisturizer: as soon as I unscrew the lid, I immediately go back to Mexico City! That trip was so incredible, and that’s where I started using this cream as my last layer of skincare before bed. It’s such a strong and immediate association, it’s crazy!
• Skin Laundry’s Gentle Foaming Face Wash: this was a recent surprise! It’s been a while since I’ve used it, but I threw it in my gym bag and when I used it, it was like I had been taken back to Tokyo. That’s when I realized that I had only started using it during my latest trip to Asia, so of course my brain would associate that scent in Japan, which is where I spent the most amount of time.

 

How about you? What are some of the small things that make you happy? Share your little things in the comments!

Stay curious,

Nati