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Elevating the Everyday and Living a Beautiful Life

When my mother passed away, and we were going through her belongings, my husband found my mother’s copy of the book Living a Beautiful Life by Alexandra Stoddard. Alexandra and her late husband Peter were friends of my mother’s, and my mother had many of her beautiful books. In this copy, she’d marked many of the suggestions Alexandra made to “live a beautiful life;” simple things to elevate the everyday.

These suggestions—from setting the table with beautiful table linens to always having fresh flowers—aren’t difficult to do, but make such a wonderful difference. I’ve been trying to remember to add fresh flowers to our grocery order, and I recently invested in some Julia Amory table linens, which I love (you’ve probably seen them ad nauseum on Instagram as the background to several posts!) I’m trying to organize my things better, a less-than-easy task for me, though one I’m hoping will become more of a habit as the days go by.

I love this picture of my grandparents’ house, and this is one of the rooms I remember best. I chose this picture for this post because I love the silver tea service set out. Yes, this was a photoshoot from a magazine, but I remember the elegance my grandmother brought to everyday life. I’d love my toddler to remember that, too.

Life is so short and so precious. Shouldn’t we try to bring as much joy and beauty to the world as we can? How do you elevate your everyday?

3 thoughts on “Elevating the Everyday and Living a Beautiful Life

  1. Three things:
    1. Ordering that book!
    2. Did we know your grandparents’ house was shot for a magazine? I can’t remember if there was a past post about this or if I’m making it up in my head in attempt to answer my own question.
    3. Elevating the everyday and living a beautiful life is actually woven into my 2022 goals (now that I finally have the time!). Like you said, I’d love my toddler to remember how every day was pretty, special, and magical. It’s such a wonderful way to experience the world around you and you’ve already mentioned some ideas I also have. A couple kid specific ones I’ve thought of is food presentation (ex. if we’re going to bake, might as well use cookie cutters) and storage (ex. a colorful, organized art cart we can roll out).

    1. It is such a great book and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!!

      I don’t know if you did! Maybe I mentioned it? This was the house of theirs that I remember the best; their other house was also published several times. Tom Samet shared a post about a party my grandparents threw at that house, you can see it here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-hP08pJdvu/ (and follow his Insta if you don’t, it is THE BEST!)

      Aww, that’s so great. YES re: cookie cutters! And if you haven’t read it yet, check out The Montessori Toddler. It definitely incorporates this as well. I went to Montessori from pre-K through the end of fifth grade and it had a huge impact on me/my life.

      Hope you’re having a great (and beautiful!) Monday!! XO

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