Little Pleasures

Little Pleasure #1 :: splashing out on a punnet of rather expensive out-of-season strawberries ::

Cost :: £2.50 :: utterly delicious and worth every penny ::

Little Pleasure #2 :: treating myself to a new face cloth when I was away at the weekend ::

Cost :: £4.99 :: love, love, love it, as I love pretty much all Pip Studio stuff ::

Little Pleasure #3 :: two bunches of daffodils bought from the market ::

Cost :: £2 :: the tightly closed buds are now opening and the colour is glorious ::

Little Pleasure #4 :: finding this thrifty top in Oxfam on Friday ::

Cost :: £3.95 :: the colours of these stripes make me deliriously happy ::

::

When I first started reading blogs almost four years ago, it was more often than not the small details of other people's lives that I found endlessly fascinating. I just could not get enough of it. I found the simple snapshots of ordinary days and ordinary things incredibly intriguing and inspiring to see. The Little Pleasures of life. Something baked, thrifted, purchased, remembered, crafted, found, loved, appreciated.

Observing how other people chose to celebrate, remember and document these small pleasures through their blogs really inspired me at a time when my life felt very adrift and unsettled. It helped me to re-focus, to zoom in and discover enormous happiness in the Little Things of my own everyday life. That level of appreciation firmly stuck with me and now I cannot imagine living my life any other way. 

A few strawberries, a bunch of inexpensive seasonal blooms, a pretty little bit of fabric (with pom-pom trim!) and a thrifted garment. This week's Little Pleasures, and I feel so lucky to have them!! Yes, I am one happy Mumma!!

Wishing you a week full to the brim of happiness and delight!

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Comments

[tinajo]

A lot of prettiness, love it! :-)

[Meredith]

I love this post. It is the simple things that we should remember. A bit of color, some time to do the things we love, health and love. What more could you ask for?
Have a lovely day,
Meredith

[PinkCat]

Loving the stripes!

I too often find the little, personal details in people's blogs the most interesting.

Thank you for continuing to be inspiring. You make me think about simple things as being perfect pleasures. I'm slowly changing my way of thinking (out of both necessity and choice) to live more frugally and get joy from ordinary things. x

[Hazel]

That's it! You have hit the nail on the head! That is what I love about certain peep's blogs. It's all in the details and it is something I have been encouraged to do - just look at the detail and be thankful for small things in my life. Have a lovely day. xx

[Cuckoo]

I hear you! That's what blogging has done for me too, makes me stop and see things I'd normally not have noticed. It's brought my life to life. Does that sentence make sense? i feel like I need much less these days because I properly absorb the minutae of my life and my loves. It really is, despite so much horror in the world, a wonderful life we lead.

While I'm here, today I am trying to do a tutorial on how to do a bobble stitch. I've just posted about my bobble blanket, which feels like laying under an aero, and I assume that if people are at the stage where they want to learn how to do a bobble stitch then they'll already know the basics of crochet. Just in case they don't, may I direct them to your brilliantly explained stitch guide?

I'm trying to hurry through my to do list you see. Baby Boy number 3 is 2 days over due and I'm acting like a cat searching for a dark cupboard!

xxxx

[greenrabbitdesigns]

The simple things in life are definitely the best!
A bunch of flowers is one of the most joyous things to buy, no doubt. :)
Vivienne x

[Kirsty]

i lashed out and bought myself a bunch of lovely flowers today and felt so wickedly indulgent and loved it!

x

[vanessa]

Taking pleasure in the smallest of things is the biggest amount of fun! Oh how I love Pip.......and daffs............and strawbs (delish)....and stripes (oh my most fave of just about anything possible!!!!!!!!!!!)

I know what you mean. I always find other blogs fascinating, just on daily life, the ramblings of motherhood etc. Just always nice to know that you are never alone in your thoughts!

Much love

Vanessa xxxxxxxxxx

[Mar]

All the happy colours I see here, bring a big smile to my face, I love reading about your little indulgents.

[Michelle @ beingfrugal]

And this post is the exact reason why I adore your blog.

I started crochet after I challenged myself to make a blanket from freecycled yarn. Unfortunately now I appreciate the gorgeous yarns out there and have to spend some money but I feel it's a treat.

Every aspect of my life has to be planned and thought out so we don't overspend. Yes I could get down about it (and I do!) but I'm determined to life a happy, full life with what we have. This very reason is why my friends and I have set up a forum all about being frugal. To share tips and ideas, to learn and be inspired by living frugally, not out of desperation but as a life style choice.

Thank you for bringing frugality into the forefront of people's minds.. as times get more and more difficult I want people to still enjoy their lives and their small things :)

[claudia w]

I have noticed in a few of the blogs I follow that they are now following you! You have inspired so many people...One blogger showed her crocheted flowers from the Japanese pattern you shared! It is so great that we are so far from each other, yet so near! I have always admired your color and design choices...you inspire me too.

[Lucy]

Oh wow - a facecloth with pompoms! Now that is something to be celebrated!!

I thought it was just me being a nosey bugger interested in the simple things in other people's lives so it was nice to read that! :) x

[Ruth]

Ah, indeed the little things in life are the ones we often don't notice but that give us such pleasure. My current little pleasures are my new slippers - a gift from my Mum. Bright red felted Haflinger slippers. Bliss!

Also life would be very joyless and dull without a few little treats for oneself here and there. It doesn't matter what they are - so long as we appreciate them!

Thank you for sharing your little pleasures - we get to enjoy them too through your lovely blog.

[Puppet Lady]

I think being thrifty is one of life's little pleasures too.

[Bethany]

Living frugally is not for fun - sparsity is no fun. Some blogs play at the idea. Scarcity and lack is all to common for some. Ingredients for home baking costs more than a 40p packet of biscuits and the fuel for baking must be accounted for. The hot water for bathing (with or without luxurious oils) must be paid for - it costs nothing to be clean is a saying you sometimes hear - but oh yes it does! Living simply is often a luxury - paying out extra money for simple cotton fabrics for example (with a hefty price tag). Showing off 'simple natural fibres' and being sneery about those who will never use anything other than acrylics - - lucky if you have the choice. Simple daffodils even at £1.50 a bunch is not something I can spend my cash on, not at the moment and in fact not ever. I see people playing at being poor - when it is a choice no doubt seeing how little you can spend is a challenge that could be conceived as fun. When you haven't eaten for 2 days because it is that or sit in the dark (yes it happens, the example I give is from an unemployed man in his 50's who no one wants, despite his experience - that fate can await us all and no he isn't lazy, he is prepared to do ANYTHING and yes he has tried, more than most people try at anything), then amusing is the last thing it is. The lack of money is soul destroying and far from being a Pollyanna game. You can't go anywhere or do anything. A thrifted item may just as well be £150 as £4 is too much for some. I think there are people who have no idea how some people really live. There is nothing 'simple' about poverty it is fraught with difficulties and strain.

Being glad is easy if you have those everyday things taken care of first. Holidays. I've not been away anywhere and I mean nowhere since I was 15. I am now in my forties. Yes I may sound like I have eaten too many sour grapes but actually I am happy! That still does not negate what I am saying. I regularly meet down- trodden sad people who have had a bellyful of looking at the birds chirping and trying to imagine that it makes them happy. They are not and I don't find it difficult to understand why - perhaps they have wet feet because they have holes in their shoes, or they don't have a warm winter coat as they can't afford them. Putting your fingers in your ears and humming la la la very loudly does not mean the world is not a very harsh place for some people and no there is nothing wrong with them if they find it difficult not to sing with you. Not an attack on Lucy but yes on blog land generally as the attitude of some serves to be very exclusive.

[karen]

What a lovely post Lucy - you are so right that it is the little pleasures that make the difference. The trick - which you have in spades - is to spot the pleasures in the everyday.
I am about a third of the way into a granny stripe blanket - inspired by you. That is certainly giving me HUGE pleasure at the minute.

[Becky Cochran]

Lucy, you and all your followers might enjoy a book I ran across, Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnoch. It is written like a devotional in that you can read one to three pages, they're dated January 1 etc..some days are shorter than others. There are things in the book that I leave in the pages, but other things I take out and experiment with, for example the Gratitude Journal she talks about. What you do is buy, or make a small journal, get a lovely pen or pencil to your liking and place both on your night table, then each night before you tuck your feet into bed jot down just five things you noted in your day that you appreciated or were thankful for and in some small way it does change how you view your world. There are some days for some of us that it's rather difficult to come up with five and other days where you have so many things to choose from...after several months of this small exercise, read back through what you have written and you will find that you have begun to notice all those simple and abundant things in our lives. I've shared this with so many many friends and relatives. I keep the book by my bed too. I love this one little section that talks about cleaning your house, it says to do it as if you're making love to it...quite a concept.
Enjoy all those little things that make our days so lovely ladies.

[BodilE]

As usual, a post full of wisdom and lovely color. I think it is amazing how you always manage to find those "atticy" looking items, whether it is a mug or a top, they all fit together to make this lovely cheerful style, that in my mind I have started calling "atticy", from your blog. If you look at the bottom of my post from yesterday, called "new yarn", I have posted pictures of a scarf crocheted in "atticy" colours. Have a wonderful week :)

[Tickety-boo]

Love todays post Lucy. You took the words right out of my mouth. Those were the exact reasons I startes my blog. Yours was the first blog I ever read. I discovered you when trying to fond out how to join Granny squares almost exactly a year ago. Your celebrations of day to day life made me focus on the good to be seen in everything we have.
Love the wash cloth (with Pom-Pom trim!) by the way :o)
Love Tickety-boo
xxxx

[Stacey]

Wonderful! I go in and out of this, and what a wodnerful remidner! Thank you.

[Jackie]

A Lovely post Lucy ~ I really enjoyed sharing your little pleasures with you, and you are right about blogging making you more aware of the little things around in life. I love your Oxfam stripes ~ very Attic 24! Enjoy the rest of your week :O)xx

[Jennifer]

I too am often drawn by the everyday of other people's blogs. What pretty, and sweet finds for you, they would make me very happy too.

[Wendy]

I like the top, it would go very well with my wellies :) I rather like the face cloth too.
I have just made two stripey hot water bottle covers. I thought of you when I was sewing up the brightly coloured one.

[berit]

I´ve been smiling true the hole post :) thanks for bringing just joy an happiness ! have a great week :) Best regards from Norway

[Halldóra]

I totally agree... It is the little things in everyday life that are so important. I am happy that I have learned to appreciate them, and happy that I get the chance to read blogs that remind me about it :-). Right now I am enjoying birds in my garden eating the old breadcrumbs I just gave them...