Inspired by one of my favorite blogs Brocante Home (who was in turn inspired by a feature in Harper’s Bazaar written by Diana Vreeland), Why Don’t You is a week’s worth of ideas for adding a little something special to your life. Simple ideas for lovely days!
Pick and choose what sparks your interest and fits into your schedule. Or use these simple ideas for special days as inspiration for coming up with your own ideas.
WHY DON’T YOU? – SIMPLE IDEAS FOR LOVELY DAYS
Stretch before getting out of bed.
I’ve known some people who wake up and pretty much just jump right out of bed. I am not one of those people. I wake up slowly and because of my physical conditions, I wake up stiff and sore. My joints and muscles need a little coaxing each morning in order to start working again.
Now, you can simple stretch in whatever way feels natural to you. But why not begin with a bit more of a routine? For me, all of my exercising is done either in bed or in a chair. It’s the only way I can do it right now. But, I’ve actually been doing these stretches and yoga moves in bed for the past 20 years! Obviously, you should check with your doctor before beginning any physical activity but these are super gentle movements.
I began after my car accident (the stretches I do are the physical therapy exercises I was given). Doing these first thing in the morning and again at bedtime have kept me incredibly flexible despite my injuries. I do each of them a few times and the whole thing takes less than 10 minutes.
Try simple moves like lying on your back and turning your head gently from side to side. Reach your arms over your head, stretching first with one and then the other. Stretch your arms out to the sides, right hand reaching to the right, and left hand reaching to the left. Bring your arms in front of you as if hugging yourself.
Bend your knees and gently hug them towards your body with your arms. While lying on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the bed, let your knees drop (slowly and gently!) towards the bed. So, your right knee will go towards the right and left knee towards the left. You might want to start with only one knee at a time, but if you can, work up to doing both legs at once.
Lying on your back, tilt your pelvis up, pressing the small of your back into the bed. You might find this easier to do with your knees bent. With knees still bent and feet flat on the bed, drop both knees to the right. Move them back up to center and then down to the left. Alternate your feet between toes pointing and feet flexed. When you’re ready to get up, roll gently to one side and use your hands/arms to slowly push yourself up. You should be then sitting on the side of your bed, ready to stand up without hurting yourself!
Plant something.
It’s too soon around here to start planting in our gardens. The snow is gone but it may come back! Still, I’m itching for that spring feeling of digging my hands in the dirt. So, why not plant something indoors? A simple herb garden – a window box in your kitchen window will be a lovely treat because you can actually take cuttings to use in your cooking!
Spray your bed with restful fragrances.
Having trouble getting to sleep? After the time change, I’m finding my inner clock is all messed up. I have problems getting to sleep and I have problems waking up. In winter, I often use a lavender essential oil spray in my bed or on my pillows but in spring, I like to add a little rose oil to it as well.
Pro tip: I find it overwhelming to spray my bed at night. No matter how lightly I spray, it’s always too much and instead of making me feel relaxed, it seems to wind up my mind with all that fragrance. So, I spray my bed in the morning while I’m making the bed. By night, it’s just perfect!
Put away the last traces of winter holidays.
Hey listen, no judgement here if you still have Christmas decorations up. Our tree only just went into storage a week ago! But while I don’t mind the coziness of Christmas and Valentine’s Day through February, once March comes along, I am all about embracing spring.
You don’t have to decorate specifically for Easter if you don’t want to. Simply swap out your wintery wreath for something light and airy, with some touches of spring color on it. You might still want to keep some warm throws and Pashminas around for those still chilly spring evenings but you can start slowly adding in more spring touches.
Celebrate the first day of spring.
When my daughter was little, we held a party on the first day of spring – of course, ours was a birthday party for Big Bird (yep, it’s his birthday) but still, it was just something small and sweet to acknowledge the change of seasons.
This doesn’t have to be elaborate. It doesn’t have to be work. Treat yourself to a vase of daffodils on the dinner table. Add something that makes you think “spring” to your menu – for me that would be asparagus. Have dessert first. Just do something fun!
Spread some joy to others.
Send out Happy Spring cards to friends and family. You could even include a packet of seeds to get them thinking about spring days in the garden too!
Clean out your kitchen drawers.
Oh those drawers just get so grungy after a while, don’t they? How do they always seem to have bits of crumbs down in the bottom of them?
Empty them out. Vacuum out all the crumbs and then give them a quick scrub. If you’re really keen, add some pretty drawer liners. You can even just cut pieces of oil cloth to use. I like a colorful polka dot or gingham. It just looks so cheery every time I open the drawer.
What will you do this week to make your days lovely? Find more Why Don’t You? posts here.
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