i found plates, she says gleefully

i have wanted a set of eight plates for, oh, over a year now. not that i've been searching diligently, you understand; still, it's taken a while.

it's like most everything i need. i am willing to wait until i find "it" - the thing that i just love. i always know it when i see it, plus i want it to be either local or handmade or reasonably sustainable.

happily, i stumbled across these plates in april. they make eating off plates such a lovely affair.

you know what's funny? i often felt guilty about this. not about the plates, exactly. i felt guilty that i cared so much. that i had to wait until i found the thing. that i couldn't just buy something, anything, to make do. (it took me almost two years to save and find a couch, for example. until i did, i had one chair. i was fine with that.)

there have been a few instances where i gave in and bought something. i no longer have those things. the things that i waited for? i still have all of them. i intend to have them forever. (well, as long as they last, anyway.)

it has a lot to do with a need for beauty. a need to be surrounded by beauty. a need to be in an environment that is beautiful.

now, i no longer feel guilty. i can accept this about myself. beauty is a quality that is important to me. when and where i can, it is important that i make it a priority.

i wish i had accepted this years ago. cubicle-land - at least my old cubicle-land - was very grey and dreary. i could actually feel my spirit dimming when i walked down the long grey corridor into work every day. the difference in mood and creativity when working from home as opposed to when working from work was tangible. nothing i did to my cubicle (filled with un-beautiful computers that i needed for my job) helped. no matter how many pictures i put up, it was still grey. (plus, there were the rows and rows of identical grey cubicles to contend with.)

at the same time, i felt guilty that i cared, when everyone else didn't seem to care. i felt guilty that it mattered, when it didn't seem to matter to everyone else. i was compounding the problem by adding a layer of guilt on top of my un-met need.

i can see now that if i had accepted that beauty mattered, if i had made it a priority, it would have unlocked my creativity and i would have found a way to make my environment beautiful.

Comments

[Tracy]

Those have to be some of the most festive and amazing plate I've seen! What are they made of--china, stoneware? LOVE the vibrant colors and patterns. Eating off those would seriously elevate meal times to fine dining. :o) Beauty... I can relate so much to what you are saying, Elizabeth. I think being surround by beauty is as essential as breathing. I wait to find the beautiful too. I don't want something that doesn't resonate anymore just because it feels a gap, is practical, etc. Beauty and quilt...can't pair those. ;o) Happy week, my friend ((HUGS))

[Jan]

I love those plates- well worth the wait.

I have put more thought recently on the well-worn stuff I like/love. Beauty paired w/function. I like stuff that seems like it has a story. Maybe my story. (Not just something I bought at the big box store. Though sometimes I have to resort to that.) I am trying to reconcile with it being okay if it/they (esp. dishes) get broken by the kids.

Anyways, congrats on the plates! They are gorgeous and I'm sure they are fun to eat off of. Also, I can relate to the layer of guilt. I have worn layers like that, and now I am trying to shed them.
Thanks for this post, it sparked thought for me.

[Gayle]

Those plates are very pretty! Definitely worth waiting for.

I used to work in offices. I was never happy there. There was no beauty, no joy and no fulfillment. One big wish I have for my children is that the thing that they end up doing for money is something that gives them joy.

[tammy]

oh i know the trapped in a grey box feeling... and trapped is the key word. now, alas i'm retired and it's like i can breathe and be me and live my beautiful life. i live by the wm morris quote (think it's morris) "have nothing in your home that is not useful or that you do not find beautiful." no guilt there! i hate labels, but if one fit me it would be minimalist, who values beauty. it's not cold at all, it's totally what YOU are talking about, and it so beats having tons of stuff. hugs. ps - your plates are happy plates!

[Kim Mailhot]

I tend to be a "want it now" type who settle on close to exactly what I want most of the time, not waiting for the "perfect" thing but I do completely agree about having beauty and things that touch me in my environment. Sometimes, it can be the simpliest of additions that make all the difference. Enjoy eating nourishing food off your new plates, Elizabeth. Happy Monday !

[elizabeth @ retinal perspectives]

@tracy: they're bamboo! i think they might be intended to be a set of serving plates, not dining plates exactly, but i am using them for my purposes. :)

[Kate D]

oh I totally get you! Those plates are definitely worth the wait! I think it's important to surround ourselves with things we love - embrace the beauty!

[Patty]

I love the plates and love that they don't all "match"! I like variety! And your thoughts about creativity and surrounding yourself with beautiful things totally fits with what I have been thinking about lately. How being creative is a chosen life-style. Anyone can have it, but it takes a certain effort, a mindset, certain choices need to be made. It doesn't happen automatically. Obviously, you were well on that path already when you were working. And now you are further down that path than ever, never to return to the old "gray way"!!

[jillian]

Oh i love those! I too am waiting on the right plates...just using cheap target ones till I find them.

It's so hard (for me) to wait on most things - but I'm learning, and it is by far the better path to take. :)

[Briana]

Those plates are gleeful and it makes me gleeful that they make you gleeful. GLEE!

I so relate to this, both the need for beauty and the associated guilt. For me it usually has more to do with my surroundings -- the neighborhood, the weather (!), the lighting in a cafe.

I'm always exclaiming in appreciation when the aesthetics are just right, and people are usually looking at me funny.

One thing I notice is that I don't give as much care to my inside surroundings (i.e. home)... which I think must still be related to the guilt. Gonna have to ponder that...

[Kylie]

I so relate to the cubicle grayness! I put up beautiful photos and cards (including yours) in my cubicle. I even have an electric pink lamp. All of it helps a little, but it's still overwhelmingly gray and drab. I still can't see sunshine from where I sit.

I love those plates. They must be a joy to look at and eat from. Well done on holding out for the real deal.

[Darcy]

I do the love thing with clothes (Can I *not wait* to wear this? Okay then I can buy it), but it never occurred to me to do it with **everything**. Genius!

[elizabeth @ retinal perspectives]

@darcy: clothing is the one area i cannot do this with yet (for a few reasons). i am inspired to follow your example someday!

@kylie: an electric pink lamp! that would be so fun. the inability to see the outdoors was definitely part of it. maybe there needs to be a rule that cubicle buildings can only be one story and must have skylights! :)

@briana: glee! i'd love to hear more about your pondering. :) home aesthetic is most important to me, then job, then .. elsewhere.

@jillian: waiting is hard. i hope you find the perfect plates too!

@patty: oh, i loved reading your thoughts about a connection between beauty and creativity. they definitely seem like they could be connected, depending on how one prefers to express their creativity. interesting to think about.

@kate: embrace the beauty, indeed!

@kim: funny you should say that! i was looking at my food on the plate and thinking how pretty my rice cake with peanut butter looked, and how it could change my eating.

@tammy: i love that quote. i love minimalism myself. for me, it's not the minimalism with no stuff at all, but the minimalism that means only 1 thing on a table, for example. i am glad you are finding your beauty in retirement.

@gayle: what a beautiful wish.

@jan: with a story, yes. i want that. my story, or a story that it came with.

[brooke]

beauty matters.

I will never understand why it doesn't to so many people.

I think it's important to have a strong filtering system for the objects we allow into our lives: that they give, and don't take, from us.

Sounds like you found some perfect plates! We have Fiestaware and I waited for them and they make me so happy. The colors are similar and I find myself choosing what color I wish to eat from that day. (changes each day!)

xo brooke

[Chris]

I often shop that way, waiting until I find "it" and not always knowing what "it" is I'm looking for but will know "it" as soon as I see "it". Sounds like you understand the concept of being surrounded by beauty in whatever form it happens to take. Love the plates by the way! Beautiful.