Words are my jam

I've come to realise over the last few years that words really are my jam.

That's not to say that I don't love images, but it does seem to be words that capture my attention. The  way I discovered this was when I noticed how much words found their way into my decorating choices. This is a perfect example:

I picked up this cushion second hand on Gumtree and it sits on the bed in our guest room. Every time I open the door to that room or glance in as I pass by, it reminds me to take a breath and relax, just as the song it is named after does whenever I hear it. It also brings lovely memories of Sunday mornings as a child, waiting for the paper boy to blow his whistle to signal his approach, taking the coins from one of my grandparents and being so grown up as I waited at the gate to hand them over and very seriously ask for "a Sun Herald please". I'd take the paper inside and it would be divvied up between the three of us, with me being given the comics liftout with its offerings of Blondie, The Potts and Uncle Dick, Fatty Finn, Hagar and my favourite, Fred Bassett. Such simple times when the pace of life was slower and as my children would say, there was no 'adulting' to do. Easy.

In my pre-motherhood career on the corporate ladder, I can recall doing training in conflict resolution, and one of the techniques taught was to take a deep breath slowly in and out as you said the word 'relax'. It's eons ago now, but it has obviously burrowed into my muscle memory because every time I hear the word I still automatically stop and breathe. Not a bad thing, no matter your age. So, when I walked past this sign in an op shop, there's no way I was leaving it behind.

If you're a bit of a stress-head (yes, like me), there can never be too many reminders to just stop, breathe and relax. It's also how I feel when we arrive, we've unpacked the car, put the kettle on and are enjoying that first sit down after arriving at Bountiful. I love it.

I'll share more about using words to decorate in future posts, but for now, enjoy Lionel Richie and The Commodores and the song that made me chase a random cushion from Gumtree - Easy Like Sunday Morning. It's a song about being chilled no matter what the circumstances - or apparently the amount of bling weighing you down. But didn't they wear it well? 😉

Relax. Enjoy. And don't forget to breathe.