A little bit of lovely

I came across this little chalkboard on Etsy* right around New Year's and ordered it immediately. I've never ordered anything online by impulse -- I usually travel back over and over before making the final decision. But this one just called to me and I had to have it.

I wasn't disappointed. It arrived just a few days later in its own special packaging, with a tiny eraser and a piece of chalk. It felt like a dear friend had sent me the most thoughtful gift.

The fact that it was just around New Year's is probably one reason I fell so hard for it, so fast. It fell (falls) right in line with one of my major goals for 2010: To live a more artful, thoughtful life in small bits each and every day, rather than letting days go by unnoticed while waiting for the "big" things to happen.

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans," John Lennon said. And that's been much too true for me.

So I have this little chalkboard near the door of my bedroom to remind me as I go out into the world that I should seek out loveliness -- and create loveliness -- even in small ways every day. I don't always succeed, but there is joy in the trying, too.

Have you done something lovely today, for yourself or someone else?

*The artist is Mary Kate McDevitt, and you can find her site here.
I like this one, too: