Dwelling Well in 2011

The holidays have passed, and I hope yours were everything you wished. Mine were filled with family and friends, which is exactly what I love about the season.

Having adopted this blog, I feel the need to define what it means to Dwell Well. The start of a new year seems the perfect time to clarify and reflect, and so I shall. To me, dwelling well means to live thoughtfully and intentionally. One of the ways I do this is by creating and teaching. Some of my creative endeavors may seem a bit frivolous to some, but they are almost always an expression of thoughtfulness and care.

In order to dwell a little better, more thoughtfully and intentionally, I have made some goals. They are not resolutions (those too often become broken promises), but they are ambitions that will hopefully carry over beyond a single year.

This year, I would like to give more handmade and useful gifts. This is something I do fairly regularly anyway, but I would like to be even more intentional and less last minute about my gift giving and crafting. (We’ll see how that “less last minute” part goes!).

My other Dwell Well goal is use less plastic. No more water bottles for me! No more plastic ware for leftovers! Fewer plastic bags! I have been working on this one for a while, but again, not as carefully as I’d like.

My sister gave me some glass bowls for Christmas a few years ago (pictured above), and I love using them for storing leftovers. They are sustainable; they are convenient, and they are cute. (The plastic ware I already own shall be saved for sending food out of the house with friends).

Join me as I hunt for old glass refrigerator dishes! I’ve also found some new ones , and a link to the store where my glass bowls originated (one of my favorite dish ware stores ever, actually. Not local, but independent and mindful of the world around us).

What does Dwell Well mean to you, readers? I would love to know what you think, and even what you would like to see more of on the blog this year.

Happy 2011! Let’s make it a good one!