Enchantment Learning & Living Blog

Welcome to Enchantment Learning & Living, the inspirational space where I write about the simple pleasures, radical self-care, and everyday magic that make life delicious.

On Preparing a Dinner Party

February 8, 2014

You feel like Mrs. Dalloway on the morning of her party: fresh, excited, ready to relish everything from the flowers at the market to the bright red radishes you will pair with your Toscano cheese for appetizers.

You get to use your fancy dishes--the elegant salad bowl, a gift from your parents; the cheese tasting slate board, a new-home-splurge; and the rich gold and teal cake stand, the perfect accent for your chocolatey desert. You are even pleased that your pantry is fully stocked, ready for an impromptu dinner party without much fuss. It takes only moments to sift through the contents of your freezer and refrigerator and put together a menu--braised pork chops with winter vegetables, a salad with pistachios and beets, a platter of artisanal chocolates and citrus.

Menu complete, you turn your attention to your apartment. It is clean and tidy, as it always is. You must only tuck away your knitting and blankets, leaving your couches free for guests. You pick out the records that will best fit the evening: Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan. They are the perfect backdrop for a dinner with family, mellow but festive. They won't overshadow the laughter or the conversation.

The food preparations complete, your apartment fragrant with the scent of pork chops simmering in apple cider, the only thing left for you to do is don your festive dress and put on some records while you wait for your guests to arrive.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On An Unexpected Friday Morning at Home

February 7, 2014

It is not quite the snow day you had hoped for the day before. Although the trees are still coated in white crystals and there are patches of ice on the grass, most of the snow has melted, leaving behind only bracingly cold air and a pleasurable hush.

Still, it feels as if it is a snow day. Your meetings have been canceled one by one, toppling like a string of dominoes after the first push. Afternoon plans have melted with the snow too for one reason or another. It is as if the world has granted you an honorary snow day: no important things to do or places to rush off to.

You linger over your morning coffee, aware of the fact that you would be applying your last swipe of mascara and hurriedly stepping into your shoes now if you still had those meetings. Instead, you putter around the house makeup-less in a cozy cardigan.

You are hesitant to fill up this time stretched out before you; you want to continue to feel the abundance of this moment as you fill the kettle with hot water for tea and then step out onto your patio to breathe in the winter air.

There will be plenty of other Fridays to venture from your home and flit from one activity to the next. But today is not that day. So instead you linger on your porch to savor this unexpected gift and the sweet slowness of the morning.

On Almost Snow Days

February 6, 2014

The night before you had watched the snow pile up outside your window.

You went to bed thinking perhaps there will be no school tomorrow. No. That's not true. You hoped fervently there wouldn't be. Not that you don't love your work, but as soon as the snow started falling the playful child in you woke up and began dreaming of making snowmen and drinking hot chocolate and curling up next to a fire after you've exhausted yourself playing out it the snow all day.

Your childish hope was almost answered: a two-hour delay. You discover this early the next day when your alarm goes off and you roll out of bed, ready to begin your morning rituals of yoga, breakfast, coffee. Then you remember the snow and rush to your computer to check the news as if it were a gift you couldn't wait to open. There it is. A two-hour delay.

You peak outside to see the snow glowing in the darkness. You eye the clock. For a moment, you don't know what to do. Email your students? That would be the responsible adult thing to do. Stay up and go about your routine? That would be the organized thing to do--think of all the work you could get done at home. But you leave both ideas behind in favor of the simple joy of crawling back into bed, snuggling under your pile of downy comforters and knitted blankets.

It is, after all, an almost snow day.

On Introverts

February 5, 2014

You know who you are.

The quiet soul in need of home, a good book, a cup of tea to replenish yourself. The one who knows that a mellow evening listening to jazz records in the comfort of your pajamas is a legitimate Saturday night plan.

It is not enough for you to simply be out with strangers--seeing and being seen--filling up your time in an effort to be busy or important. No. That way leads only to tiredness and a dry, brittle feeling deep in your bones. If you must surround yourself with anyone, it will be your fellow introverts, the kindred spirits who understand the intricate world that unfolds in solitude. They are the ones you can linger over a pot of tea with or share in a yoga practice. The ones who relish time spent together but understand--even appreciate--when you need to curl up on your couch, just you and a novel.

Other would say you are doing nothing when you turn inward. But they do not understand the luxury of letting your mind roam unfettered, unfurling in the silence and tenderly probing one thought after another, then drifting beyond the borders of this world into others.

In these silent hours, you begin to cast off that dusty brittle feeling in your bones like an old coat, filling your body up with stories and dreams and the gentle murmur of a heart content.

On the View Outside My Office Today

February 4, 2014

So it snowed last night in Albuquerque and I woke up to a desert city powdered with snowflakes. Then this glorious winter-scape greeted me when I got to work. Seriously have no words for this kind of beauty, so I will let the picture speak for itself.

On Mondays

February 3, 2014

They are the ugly duckling of weekdays, lacking the glamor of Saturdays or the flirty hope of Wednesdays winking and hinting that the weekend is just around the corner.

But Mondays. Mondays. If you are willing to peel back the beat-up old exterior like scraping off faded decorative paper from your walls, you will find the fresh patina of promise. A crisp, spring green frond unfurling into the workweek, delicate leaves licking possibility. The week is as yet untouched by extra hours at work or unexpected busy evenings.

Oh, Mondays. They are unabashedly ready for the bustle and industry of the next five days, leaving long naps and late nights in the wind as they jump and dance through the week on a full battery. You are completely recharged, gliding through your day, ready for anything. You have not yet begun to feel the gentle tiredness in your body and mind as you do on Thursdays, a sign of a week done well.

You know Mondays are one of the great unsung pleasures of the world, too often lost in the shadow of the weekend, made from its louder, flashier siblings. But Mondays, Mondays. They are the dependable pleasure of your afternoon cup of tea and your evening yoga; your daily walk and time at your writing desk.

Mondays. They merely go about their day, asking only that you sometimes pause and take in their quiet possibility.

On the Ritual of Tea

February 2, 2014

It is a symphony for the senses. The gentle whistle of the boiling kettle; the soft murmur of tea leaves being poured into a strainer like grains of sand slipping through an hourglass; the first splash of hot liquid hitting the teacup; the fragrant steam washing over your face.

And that first sip. Nothing compares to that first sip of a fresh cup of tea. The welcoming hot brew on your tongue, washing away the wrinkles of the day. Your hands wrap around the ceramic mug enjoying the heat radiating from it, wrapping around your fingers like cozy mittens.

You contemplate this as you watch your tea brew in a hand thrown ceramic teapot. You peer into the pot's open top to see leaves unfurling like tiny dancing figures gliding through the hot water.

Earlier you stared into your pantry, debating what tea to brew. A black tea would be the ultimate refreshing burst of energy, but you dismiss the Earl Grey and smokey Lapsang Souchong before you because they belong to your office time. They are the beverage of Victorian ladies and Sherlock Holmes respectively, reminding you to move through your day with grace and awareness. No, you need something else now. You sift through your green teas, all promising that meditative calm and clarity, but push further still to your own herbal blends--not teas at all, really, but herbal steeps.

These herbs call to you, the soothing balm to your soul. The tulsi and raspberry leaf fill the pot with a delicate, earthy perfume that washes over your face in a gentle warm mist. It is time to pour. You savor your cup while gazing out the window at the bare tree branches. And when the tea is gone your eyes fall to your empty cup. You see stray leaves sticking to the bottom of it, teasing you with glimpses of your future if only you knew how to read them.

I Made It Through the First Month of Daily Blogging!

February 1, 2014

I have spent all 31 one days of January posting blogs daily about the magic of everyday life and the simple pleasures we often take for granted. Woohoo!

This one-month milestone has whetted my appetite for more meditations on the delicious moments of day to day life. What's more, I want to hear from you--what topics are you enjoying? What simple pleasures do you look forward to in your day? It has been a treat to share my bits of daily magic and find kindred souls who feel the same way about yoga, reading, or tea. So let's keep the conversation going! Tell me what you would like to read more about. You can comment on this post or email me at enchantmentlearning@gmail.com to share your thoughts.

If you've been loving what you're reading and want these daily meditations emailed directly to you, please subscribe to my blog here--and spread the word to your friends and family. Thank you, everyone, for your support with this writing project and for sharing in this conversation!