Inspired by...

I love finding new inspiration on others blogs. I have an eye out for new chairs and I came along this post. What a difference paint and fabric make! I'm totally inspired! Now to find a chair like that.

Home & Life goals

It's goal time here at A Walk in the Garden and boy do I have lots of them. I talked before about my blog goals for 2009, but today I'm talking a little more about Home & Life goals.

In the last year or so I've been really concentrating on quality. Quality furniture, rather than disposable good for now furniture. Substance. And making our house a home. A home to me is a warm cozy place with softly glowing lamps, soft rugs, plush cushions, and snuggly blankets. It's clutter free and is full of favorite accessories, memories and pictures. It's the little things. The finishing touches. The pleasant smell in each room. It's the warm smile after a long day. It's a pot of coffee in the morning. It's afternoon sunlight filtering through the windows or a brand new day at dawn's first light. It's organized and serene. It's a safe haven from the world. A home is taken care of just as it takes care of you.

I have plenty of goals and resolutions for 2009. Resolutions follow me all year long. Things like being punctual, smiling more, commenting on others blogs. Goals, however, I've broken down monthly. I think having a deadline will help.

I haven't decided the difference between goals and to do lists yet. So for now, I just write things down that need to get done, feelings I want to achieve, things I want to accomplish.

So for January a few of my goals include:
* take down Christmas decorations
* decorate for Valentine's Day/Winter
* update the family address book (we use Highrise HQ)
* get rid of an old couch we never use
* sell our secondary car that we never use
* have friends over for a nice dinner
* reorganize master closet

For more goal inspiration...

Video: Organizing Lipstick

I love all things organizational. This video combines going green with being organized. While it looks a little labor intensive, it could be a fun project for a rainy Sunday.

Finishing Touches

I always love a well finished room, don't you? Welcome to Finishing Touches Friday... where I look at the finishing touches that make a house a home. You might find pictures from my own home, links to other blogs, or even catalogs.

Hooked on Houses is having a party and I thought I'd join in with a little something I'm hooked on.

The door of our home office has a problem staying open...so I'm totally hooked on attractive doorstops! Isn't this one beautiful? It's from Ballard Designs. And I'm not totally shocked by the price. $25. Get yours here.

Wordless Wednesday

How To: Christmas Storage

I wrote an article last year for ehow.com, including pictures, on how to Pack Your Christmas Decorations using Recycled Materials. I thought I'd send you over there for your How To Tuesday to check it out.

Organizing Tip #1: The Shower

One piece of organizing advice that's always stuck with me is the idea of keeping your sink clean. Why? Because having one area spotless, a central area to your life (and the heart of your home) will make you feel good. It looks good to see a nice empty, clean sink. Especially when everything else is chaotic around you.

This past weekend I started thinking maybe the same could be said for the shower.

Since this is usually your first or second stop of the day, wouldn't it be nice to get into a nice clean, organized shower every morning? And wouldn't it be nice to be able to put your hands on exactly what you need to get clean?

So take 5 minutes today to give your shower a once over. I have a few tips below:

• Start by getting rid of old bottles, old soaps, anything that hasn't been used in a while.
• Toss anything that could be collecting bacteria into the sink or hamper. Bottles, scrubbers, washclothes... it's time to make your shower shine.
• Once your shower is empty, give it a good once over with a sponge and a cleanser.
• If you have serious grime, consider a product you can spray and leave on, and then come back to later.
• Rinse/wipe all the bottles and things as you put them back in the shower.
• Does your shower have a liner? Does it need cleaning? If you have glass doors, shine the outside as well as the inside.

Hopefully by now your shower is a little cleaner, a lot more sparkly and organized too.

Printables: Goals

Here's a great worksheet for listing your goals, dreams, and desires. Print it out and fill it out today. There's no time like the present to start living the life you've always wanted. One of the best first steps to achieving is writing it out. This will make the planning that much simpler.

More helpful worksheets available at thenest.com.

Preparing for a new year...

A few weeks ago I started thinking about my goals and resolutions. That's not unusual for me at this time of year. I did something a little different and already I'm seeing incredible results.

While thinking about my goals, I find it's best to write them down. Keeping track of that piece of paper is another matter entirely. This year I also listed projects I'd like to complete, personal goals, professional goals, blogging goals.

I listed a lot of goals! :)

When I thought about blogging in 2009, I decided I wanted to be more consistent. In the past I've posted sporadically.

I love helping people get organized, decorate their homes, get rid of clutter, or learn something new. I love being surrounded by a warm, happy, nurturing environment and I know there are many more like me.

One of the ways I learn is by writing things down. I've done research in the past and posted little snippets of information to my blog. This is as much to learn it and remember it and have a reservoir for that information as it is to share it with others.

So I thought about all of that and of what I can share and teach others through my blog.

And I wrote down more lists.

Using blogger's post in the future feature will let me write up tips and articles, pre-program pictures and then forget about it. Thus being more consistent. There's still plenty of on-the-spur-of-the-moment blogging to be done, but there's also plenty that I can write ahead of time and post/schedule.

I've got lots of wonderful things ready to share: product reviews, snippets of wisdom (from other sources/books), wordless Wednesdays, how tos, organizing and decoration tips, books worth reading, worksheets and cheatsheets, and even awesome videos.

If this sounds good to you, go ahead and follow me/add my RSS feed to your feed reader. Or take the RSS address and stick it into rssfwd.com to get an instant, daily or weekly email from my blog.

Happy New Year!