A quick note before I get into this post: if you’re looking for some of my personal life posts on the blog, I’m feeling a bit protective of our family’s privacy right now so those are private. I might re-publish in the future! It’s hard to strike a balance and draw boundaries between what’s my kids’ lives and what’s my life, and sometimes I reevaluate and change my mind.
When I think about it, I’d make a horrible mommy blogger, because I’d constantly be private-ing and public-ing my posts in an indecisive panic 😛 Good thing I don’t rely on that for a living!
For today’s feminine inspiration, I’m skipping forward from childhood inspirations (my first two posts were about the American Girl books and The Two Princesses of Bamarre) to a very recent inspiration: The Daily Connoisseur. I love her Instagram, her Youtube channel, and her book Madame Chic at Home.
While I love so much of her content, today I’ll talk mostly about her YouTube videos, specifically her Homemaking playlist.
If you want to feel soothed today, take fifteen minutes, sit down with a cup of tea and watch her video “Homemaking to Keep Calm” to start with. It’s fifteen minutes of cooking, cleaning, and teatime with gentle music and voiceover. As Eric said the other day when he watched a bit with me, you know you’re an adult when watching homemaking videos is a good Saturday evening.
Really though–I’m quite drawn to content like this. I love the rhythm, routine, and practice of finding joy in the parts of daily life that could be mundane but could also be made beautiful. It doesn’t matter that I have no aspirations to live in southern California or England as she does, or that Jennifer and her family quite obviously make more money than we ever will in our lives… it’s not the aesthetics I’m drawn to.
It’s the sense of contentment in domesticity that I love. And putting in effort to make things delicious and beautiful, to elevate everyday experiences, and truly believing that there’s value in that. As someone who is healing from a lifetime of being taught to value the big, showy experiences and accomplishments–neglecting little everyday joys for a jam-packed resume–these videos are like a balm for my soul.
In terms of femininity, I grew up in a household where things were regularly cared for and we ran on a set but flexible schedule most of the time. Until my parents got divorced when I was 13. Then they both continued to do the best that they could but both worked rather long hours and well, the sense of home that I’d had changed a lot. It didn’t exist in the same way.
It was during a formative period of life for me and it felt like quite a loss (although the divorce over all was definitely a positive change for all of us). Perhaps that’s why I’m drawn to homemaking as a career now, and part of why I genuinely love to craft a cozy refuge for my family… it allows me to recreate that environment, both physical and emotional, that I missed so much for a long time.
These videos stoke my desire to slow down – to enjoy all the little moments in the day, washing the dishes and folding the laundry – to create a home that lets us breathe and relax at the end of the day.
If this resonated with you, I highly recommend you check out the channel and the Madame Chic at Home book, which collects a lot of her wisdom into one volume.
xx Claire