Recently, I was informed that I am not’ hip’. Shortly thereafter, I was deemed unworthy of being listened to, or so in my perception, as I was interrupted and ‘spoken over’ every time I tried to get a word into the ‘conversation’.  No, surprisingly, these intimations did NOT come from my husband (kidding, sweetheart), but from friends, whose company I enjoy and whose taste and energy and lifestyles I embrace.  Where does that leave a person? Re-examination. That’s where it leaves a person. Right there at the front door, in freezing weather,without any lights or keys or tools to break-in.

Well, it’s a New Year. No better time to reassess ones’  ‘hipness’ or ability to make vibrant, informed and interesting contributions to a dinner party conversation? Right? Well, here it goes, right to the top of the list, along with,

• Shun the trends and trendiness that feel so formulaic and prosaic. Follow your own peculiar aesthetic. Don’t get sucked into the hole of the present trend that mimics mid-century patterns that are just “blown-up’ or ‘reduced’ and marketed as fresh and innovative. David Hicks did this in the 60’s. (Give the guy some credit). Explore your love of pattern and color, that’s informed by a vast and rich experience of historic design and painting from the beginning of time through now. Play with that experience; hip or not. Don’t follow trends; create them.
• Choose your conversation carefully. Politics aside, can we talk about dietary habits, for a moment? What’s the big deal? Everybody knows that I don’t eat meat and that I don’t object to those that do. I would, of course, prefer it if meat-eaters didn’t make an issue out of it and demand that I provide them with reasons for my abstinence, but, I’ve decided, for this year, anyway, to just respond to the question with “What’s you favorite color”? By the way, I don’t eat meat because I don’t want to eat something that looks like me, a mammal. It’s a personal thing and I’m not comfortable with it. Period. I’m not judging those that do and I can see a lot of merit to being a meat-eater. (I would encourage all my neighbors to eat more Venison.)! But please, be gracious and gentle, and stop asking me why I won’t eat another mammal. I don’t want to. Period. Case closed.I don’t want to eat dessert either, not because I’m fretting over calories, but because I do not like the flavor sensation of ‘sweet’. I don’t ask for any special treatment at dinner parties, nor do I expect  it. I only ask that I not be subjected to an ‘inquisition’ and not be challenged and reprimanded for my peculiarities.
• Design trends are short-lived. Face it. They are. I understand that one needs to keep up with design trends, but that nod only needs to go so far; gently. Let’s not become trend lemmings. That’s too embarrassing and humiliating for words. Let’s relate to the things (and it’s all about things, trust me) that we love and how we want to combine and contrast them to create an environment that makes us feel at home. Complicated, and yet, simple, at the same time.
• Create an environment that feels and IS an expression of your emotions. Not so easy to do, I can assure you. It takes time, thought, contemplation, sensitivity, and a grip on reality…what you can actually achieve versus what you dream about. Its all about the dreams!