Wear your aprons and burn your candles!

Anne of Green Gables Chocolates

The Mountain Lake Observer may not be the most well-known newspaper in the state, but when I lived in Mountain Lake from 2000 to 2003 I was a fan of it.  Susan Meissner, the editor, wrote her weekly column in such a clever way that I looked forward to what she had to say each week.  Sue has now moved to California and is a full-time author.  I highly recommend any of her novels!  One year Sue wrote a News Year's Resolution column that was distinctly memorable to me.  She was encouraging her readers to "burn your candles."  Her goal for her new year was to stop saving things and start enjoying them.  She wrote about lovely china dishes that seldom got used and sweet-smelling pretty candles that sat in a cupboard.  She wrote about other special items she planned to start using.  This concept really hit home for me because I like to keep my nice things nice.  I save my new clothes and only wear them once in a while.  I save pretty stickers thinking I need to use them only for something super special like letters or scrapbook pages.  I put brand-new favorite books on my shelf and hardly touch them for fear of bending a page!  I hide away old art and pottery projects so I don't break them.  And, I save items from my years of traveling instead of enjoying them.  But, NO MORE!  You see from the photograph that I am now wearing my Anne of Green Gables Chocolates apron in my kitchen!  I am actually wearing it and using it!  It might get dirty!  It might get wrinkled!  But, I am enjoying it.  I got this apron in 2002 and am just now willing to start using it!  But, I love my apron.  So, my message to my readers..... "Start wearing your aprons.... start burning your candles..... start living life to the fullest!"