Hey guys! Exciting news! I'm giving away 5 copies of Gretchen Rubin's brand new book, Happier at Home, today!

I got an advance copy of the book (faaaancy!) from the publisher, and I read it on the plane to and from Colorado over the weekend... I loved this book.

I was struck by how similar I am to Gretchen in some ways. In the first chapter she wrote: 

It made me think about the way that I engage with my surroundings. While I don't think I'd be living in a studio apartment with nothing more than a futon on the floor if left to my own devices, it did make me realize how I tend to get my surroundings to a point that's acceptable and livable, but not usually much more. I put in the least amount of effort, and then I leave things as they are, often half-finished or not-quite-right. I get apathetic or overwhelmed, and then I do nothing. When Ryan and I moved into our new house in June, we vowed that we were going to work on making our basement into a comfortable hang out space rather than a dumping ground for all the random things we didn't know what to do with, and yet we haven't made the time to do it, and every time I go into the basement it's kind-of depressing and is a reminder of all that I haven't done to make my house a home.

I think I get overwhelmed because there seems to be so much to do all at the same time, but I love how Gretchen broke down the areas she wanted to improve in her home life to increase her happiness and tackled them month by month, one topic at a time, using lists (I LOVE lists!) and charts to keep track. Focusing on just one topic per month makes it seem DOABLE. And that's big for me. If a project or idea seems too big and broad, I will procrastinate and find any reason not to do it.

For example, I've been saying since we moved into our house in June that I want to set up a backyard area for eating and lounging, and I've gotten as far as buying a table. It's sitting sadly in the backyard without any chairs or anything... a little thorn in my side of projects left half-done. While buying chairs isn't a very big thing in and of itself, all of the options for finding chairs overwhelm me: searching for thrift stores to hopefully find the perfect vintage-y chairs, going to IKEA, what about Home Depot?, maybe garage sales are the way to go..... too many options, and then I do nothing.

But Happier at Home is inspiring me to take charge of my home life and make it purposefully happier! I WILL get some chairs this weekend and work on my little backyard area. I'm determined, because I know how happy it'll make me to have a place to sit and hang out in the backyard.

{Gretchen takes on 9 topics in the book, one per month: Possessions, Marriage, Parenthood, Interior Design, Time, Body, Family, Neighborhood, Now.}

::::

So, now for the giveaway part!

Good luck! Can't wait to read your comments.