Give Me The Simple Life

Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need - a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing." - Jerome

I stumbled on this quote-ironically, while shopping on etsy. It sums up what I am attempting to do with my life (and cost that seller a sale-maybe not the best marketing technique for useless hair doo-dads). 

However, I am not always successful. Is it just the nature of us as creatures to desire to collect things? To have the strange philosophy that if one is good umpteen billion is better?

 I find I am happiest when I do not need to exert my energies on pointless choices. Which of the 20 perfumes? Which of the dozens of shirts? What should I make for dinner? 

Am I the only one? Does anyone else desire a few friends, not an accumulated army of acquaintances, some loyal animals , and a couple little luxuries? 

To motivate myself to simplify, I have a couple reminders around the house. These are both mottos and goals. I find I am never so happy as when I am in clean, simple surroundings with just a few friends or my own thoughts. 

If you are interested, a more explanatory article is here.

Sunset Boulevard

After so much talk on Arizona sunsets, I thought I would post a few lovely pictures that my dear Mr. Darling took last evening. The spring ushers in not only sweet crocus, daffodils, and tulips but also introduces beautiful celebrations of evening as the sun travels beyond the Rocky Mountains.

I so frequently feel blessed to live in such an amazing and diverse area! Discussing with friends the other night Mr. Darling and I realized and appreciated how quickly we can travel to water, mountains, desert, snow or just beautiful grassy fields. All this without a brutal winter or cruel summer. This area is simply amazing!

Being a Florida girl, I occasionally miss the thick foliage, the tree tunnels across streets, and the magic of living near bayous, bays and beaches. I also know that, on occasion, Mr Darling misses the saguaro cacti and conveniently located airport. But, to me, nothing is quite so beautiful as home.

In Relief Society today, the teacher asked where we can go to slow down and be still. After listening to answers such as the temple or out in the mountains, I felt so very very grateful knowing that I begin and end each day in a place that is quiet, peaceful and allows me to see and know the grace of God in all that is around me. These striking (unretouched!) photographs remind me of just how content I am with our home and our lives.

Sing for Absolution

So, while surfing today I found this little treasure. It is not necessarily the best example of superior vocals, but it makes me laugh. So I thought I would share.




So, Girls, what do you think?

The House That Jack Built

Ok, So Jack had NOTHING to do with this house. Mr Darling, however, did. What do you think of his work? Wouldn't it be nice to cook in that kitchen?

Me And You And A Dog Named Boo

"We all get along can you?"

My dearest husband currently lays his hat in San Francisco. I am in Spanish Fork. This presents quite the problem when I am cold at night, when I get scared, or when I need to get a jar lid off.

However, it seems to provide a great deal of

 amusement for Mr Darling. This is a photo he snapped with his snazzy Apple phone product while exploring the San Francisco downtown area. 

In truth, he was just visiting Apple Mecca, the San Francisco Apple Flagship Store, which he can describe to you in greater detail than he can currently describe our wedding dinner without photographic reminders. To explain that, when Weston dreams of his happy place, it is an Apple Flagship Store. He loves the smell, the packaging, the emo-dressed kids with all the latest news on Apple's newest projects. In short, 

it gives me a run for my money.

But these pictures are HILARIOUS and I am so glad that Mr. Darling knew how much I would like them and paid the residency-challenged individual $1 for the privilege of taking this picture.

Mr Darling summed up the experience thusly:

"Here are the funny pictures I took tonight. They were just Walking around the streets like it was no big deal, people everywhere. If you want better pics, you can go to his website...if you can believe it, the website address was taped to the side of his money cup :-)"

If you too are interested, the website is www.helpdogcatrat.com.  It has really cool pictures and a funny video. It also requests paypal donations but they aren't mandatory. I have to wonder if this guy makes more than I do selling photos of his well-trained pets.