New Year's Wishes from Life's Patina

“I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.”
― Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald

As I was searching for the quote to start off my New Year's greeting to you all, this one jumped out at me. No, it was not like the majority of them that espoused good luck, happiness, out with the old- in- with the new, clean slate wishes but it hit a chord with me and is what I chose to pass on to you for the new year. I love the first line, "I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life." This has become much more important to me the older I get. It is not worth the waste of time to sweat the small stuff, to bemoan circumstances in  life or relationships. Plow forward, move ahead and be enthusiastic about everything in life! Life is an Exclamation point! We coined this term in 2013, as Chris and I both realized that we used a heck of a lot of exclamation points upon communicating with each other and others. This spear headed our full day retreat on that point. We had intended to hold more events based around Exclaiming your Life, but we were so passionate about the other things that we were doing in the barn, that time ran out for us to carry it off.  As father time is ticking forward, one thing that we realize all too often is that  many of our best laid plans go to waste, due to a lack of time. It is certainly not slowing down for any of us! We will be bringing that concept of Life is an Exclamation point to the barn this year so stay tuned!

All that being said, not only did the being enthusiastic bit strike me, but the rest spoke to me concerning how we do things at Life's Patina. I was interested in this far flung concept of corralling all of the things that I  love and would have in my home or that I would make out of old materials and offer them for sale a few times a year. I embraced it with both arms and my soul, and went full speed ahead. We brought in artists who also were believing in something that they were doing and were moving "full speed ahead." We   have embraced what we do, we love what we do and we are passionate about what we do. 

We have grown over the four years that we began with an idea and have moved it forward. We have expanded with events that cater to ideas that we are passionate about. Each and every one of our sales is attached to a charitable organization that we donate a portion of our proceeds to. We have given close to $18,000 to various local organizations through our sales and raised friends for all of them. We have supported those local artists that I referred to above and will continue to do so in the coming year.

We spend way too many late nights to count in the barn, putting all of the finishing touches on our vignettes and design so that when you walk into Life's Patina, you not only are shopping, but you feel something. We like to create experiences at Life's Patina. We do that through combing antique markets on the East Coast, buying from vendors who embody the products we want to pass on to you and by creating an environment that you feel good in and want to come back to.  We offer design services that can help you do that in your own home and will be offering more of that in 2015 for I will be working with Jill Harris from Vintageologie, who has much the same design aesthetic as I.

When Chris told me that I had to start a blog and join Facebook, when we first started,  I was certainly not passionate about either of those two propositions. I really was not game in sharing where I was eating lunch or sharing any of the information that I THOUGHT is to be shared on Facebook. I was not a writer for that matter either. Yet, I begrudgingly embraced both and have become very passionate about what I write and share with all of you. That will continue this year, for I feel that by sharing our experiences we just might be able to help someone who is in the same place.

2015 is an exciting year for us, for we intend to bring to you more of what we love and are passionate about through our events. Stay tuned and keep posted for we have some exciting announcements to make in that department as well as some new services that we will be offering. You can trust in one thing at Life's Patina, and that is that whatever event we are hosting, whatever sale we are holding, whatever life experience we are writing about it, we believe whole heartedly in it and we are hugging it, loving it, embracing it and are passionate about it!

The most important thing that we are passionate about is YOU:

 our customers, our followers on Facebook, our Blog readers. You make it all happen and without you, our passion towards what we do would be worthless. We appreciate all that you put aside to come to one of our sales for we know that it is difficult in this world in which time moves too fast, to show up. We value your support and the support of some of the charities that we have hosted. We love talking to you and finding out a little bit about you when you come to Life's Patina. We appreciate our readers more than you know, for it is equally valuable as people showing up for a sale to get a comment on a blog post that you enjoyed reading it or that the words helped you in some way, shape or form, or reached you somehow or you just plain enjoyed it! We LOVE all of our supporters in whatever fashion and we have a special event planned, just for you in 2015 in which more information will be forthcoming. We love celebrating the beauty of life, past and present with ALL of you!

So, in closing on my wishes to you in the New Year, I hope that you are an enthusiast in your own life, wherever it is going. That you are interested in something that you can embrace with both arms; an idea, a concept, a person, people. Run with it, hug it, love it and be passionate about it. I agree with the writer in that lukewarm is no good! Life is an exclamation point! If you have any exclamation points in your life that you want to share with us; a  charity or organization that you are passionate about, an artist or craftsman that you love, a blog that embodies the same spirit that we do or an intern that might be able to help us in advancing or growing our passions, please give us a shout out. 

Again, thank you for supporting all that we are passionate about and looking forward to seeing you in 2015~

Chris and Meg

meg@lifespatina.com
www.lifespatina.com