It's easy being green

A facelift can be good for the soul. And one day I will probably boost my soul with one. But until then, I'm loving these trash to treasure projects.

The decor at our Oxford getaway is DIY chic thanks to my good friend Lori Burson, who can make a snap decorating decision in the time it takes to hang a picture.

Above left, Nanny's chair recovered with a geometric pattern. Not real comfy ... but real cute!

Above right: the table from my childhood house on Dixie Avenue, painted cream and roughed up with Lori's rotary sander. Some recovered club chairs I found in the attic give it pizzaz.

Right: Also from my grandmother's house in downtown Hattiesburg -- side tables, which were once an outdated maple, look so adorable painted lime green and placed alongside her antique iron bed.

My next project, once I figure it out, is painting an Asian-inspired lamp with bright colors like this one above, which I spotted in a store window in Oxford.

My lamp needs its youth and vitality restored ... a nip and a tuck of beauty that, yes, is skin deep and just what the doctor ordered.

I've come a long way baby

A man from South Central Bell came to my first grade classroom at Davis Elementary 45 years ago. Yes, it's been 45 years.

His name was Ott Brockman and I remember him predicting a future of robots and picture phones. He even showed us a model -- white frame, black screen, receiver perched beside it. George and Jane Jetson-style.

Fascinating!

But what if someone called when you had curlers in your hair, or worse ... what if you were walking through the house naked and your phone rang? Troubling.

All these years I've waited, expected. Other fantabulous things have come into my life. Televisions with hundreds of channels (then, we had two) and radio stations tailored to my whims (in 1960s Hattiesburg, everybody tuned into WXXX, affectionately known as Triple X, for the latest).

Now there are microwaves (no, we didn't have those) and voicemail (didn't have that either).

In 2012, we don't have to wait for a meal to cook or a boy to call

or a favorite song to play on the radio.

And now, thanks to an iPad with facetime, I have my very own picture phone.

As my grandmother would say: Oh my stars!

Life is like a game of Twister

So, what would you like people to remember about you when you die?

It kind of helps put New Year's resolutions into perspective.

Here's what they might say:

She had a great, comfortable house

She exercised every day.

She loved her dog.

She tried, unsuccessfully, to wear all the cute clothes in her closet but there were too many tee shirt/sweatshirt days.

Not too good, as funerals go.

I think I'd prefer:

She was generous.

She took on people as a project and really stuck with them.

She tried to just be ... before going out and just doing.

Of course the beginning of a new year is no time to think about funerals, but it is a time to consider priorities and think about the road you are taking or the couch on which you are reclining.

So what will this year bring? An abundant life or a retiring life? Here's hoping it's rich with activity, emotion, friends and strangers. Here's hoping it's difficult and challenging and a real stretch.

Reminds me of a phrase that harkens back to Nancy Ratliff's high school Latin class:

Non est vivere sed valere vita est

Life is more than just being alive.