Archive for category: Elegant Living

I love decorating a table for dinner. I always try to keep it simple so when I read the blog entry for printable place cards from the  Ballard Designs Blog I knew this would be a big hit!

I have been adding small but elegant lifestyle changes to my life. I have always loved using dishes instead of paper plates. I love drinking out of glasses instead of plastic cups. There is nothing wrong with using paper dishware but for me I just want to use my nice things everyday.

I hate the motto of “saving things” for later. Why? Later may never come. So why not use your beautiful dishes now. Why not drink out of glasses now? What is wrong with using nice things everyday? Since when are we not good enough?

Well, we are. So I have been using my things everyday. I have now moved onto napkins. I have been reading Style & Simplicity by Ted Kennedy Watson for the last few weeks. It is absolutely inspiring! In the chapter called “Dish Towels” he mentioned using good quality dish towels as napkins. I thought what a great idea! He mentioned that his favorite were Le Jacquard Francais dish towels from France.

I have been buying mine from the local flea market. They are wonderful. I have now placed them in a basket on the counter so that after I prepare our plates for dinner we get into the habit of grabbing a linen napkin instead of a paper towel. I love using them and so does my daughter.

A few years back my husband was attending his younger son’s parent-teacher conference. During the discussion about the classroom rules and the year’s subjects my husband learned that they would NO longer be teaching cursive writing.

I thought to myself how dumb is that! The teacher said that since everything is computerized writing would not be necessary. Hearing that really made me sad. If children do not know how to write in cursive then how in the world are they going to sign their credit card slips and mortgages?

So since the schools are no longer teaching that I decided to teach my daughter on my own. I went on the internet and printed off some cursive writing material and I have been having her practice. She is getting much better at it.

I loved learning how to write in cursive. I couldn’t wait to learn in school. I loved it so much that other girls would have me write their “love letters” to their boyfriends. It was fun but cursive writing for me added more beauty to my work. Teachers always complimented me on my writing as well as my assignments.

I still like writing hand written notes to people. I just hate that it’s not being taken seriously. I read somewhere that cursive writing awakens the creative part of the brain and believe you me some of our kids need it!

A few weeks ago I was reading a blog entry on “Penmanship” from Ted Kennedy Watson’s  blog. It was absolutely fantastic and inspired me to write this blog entry. You must read it. Another place that I “subscribed” to on my Instagram is Word of the Day.  They post a word, definition and use it in a sentence. It is great! We will be in the car and I will read the word of the day and ask my daughter about it. It’s another way to incorporate vocabulary into our lives. So please continue to write and teach your kids the importance of cursive writing!