Welcome & Blogs
- How can you make your life easier and more balanced?
By being aware of who you are and being more intentional about your surroundings, you can create a lifestyle that works for you and those who live with you - without it being complicated, time-consuming or costly. Campfires, four basics and tools that work will empower you to introduce positive change into your day-to-day life.
Christine Eisner believes that “living less” may be one of the keys to true well-being. Just as in the Wizard of Oz, sometimes it’s as simple as looking inward and saying “There’s no place like home.” Her offerings, website and work with clients focus on creating environments that encourage balance. In her unique vision, individuals and their spaces are equal partners in the process of change. Christine is a mediator or translator, not a white-gloved magician with promises of instant makeovers. Instead she offers know-how and a new approach to living in an increasingly demanding world.
- To subscribe to our quarterly e-communications, go to Contact Me. (Your information will be kept confidential.)
- For LD Services and Upcoming Events, click here.
- To learn more about Lifestyle Design go to About LD and Christine and then find out more at Campfires, The Four Basics and In the Press.
- For Blogs on topics from lighting, to rugs, to balance through nature, to recaps of recent offerings, scroll down this page — and feel free to add your comments.
There really is no place like home – especially if that home is a true reflection of the people who live in it. Like any lasting change, creating a home takes a bit of time and effort, but with some practical tools and a focus inward, it doesn’t have to be complicated or costly. In fact, the process itself, feeds the soul.
We hope you enjoy your experience on this website and return again soon!
A Return Trip to Scott's - Friday, August 7th
Posted by
Christine Eisner
in antiques, atlanta, bargain, field trip, flea markets, scott's, shopping, summer
With plans for summer travels coming to the front burner, make sure you save the date for one of my Lifestyle Design Field Trips to Scott’s Antiques Market.
Go to Upcoming Events for all the details. Spaces are limited to assure quality time for all - especally since we cover so much ground. This is always well-attended and felt to be a great value for the time and money spent. So join me!
Leave a Comment
Even when a home is opened up for a party or just a small gathering, rarely is there an opportunity to really ask questions about where things come from, how they were created, why certain choices were made, and on and on… There are always too many distractions… Well that’s not the case with my annual Lifestyle Design Home Tours.
My annual Lifestyle Home Tour — a complimentary gesture of thanks to current and past Lifestyle Design participants and friends is around the corner. This year, my friend, Katie Walker has agreed to walk us through her home in Buckhead which was just featured in 16 pages of the March issue of Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles.
This home was also recently described as “Art as Inspiration, Inside and Out” in a recent article in The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Home Section. Over the years, these surroundings have been shaped and re-shaped, as children have grown up and new-found passions and interests have come to the forefront. Given their love of design, art and entertaining, it is no surprise that furnishings and artwork are not tied down to permanent resting places, but instead, are always open to reinterpretation.
Check out Upcoming Events for more information and to rsvp. Spaces are very limited.
I have been in touch with a wonderful group of women through a course I’m taking. Even though we are from all over the country, we seem to share a common bond in our desire to be proactive about pursuing our passions. That said, it does make for some stressful times as we all try to find time, space and dare-I-say, a bit of serenity in the middle of it all!
“Serene” is not a word I would use to describe my day-to-day right now. I have a lot on my plate, but that seems to be how I am wired. It is how I choose to live and it gives me something that I need. I think that can be true for a lot of us — and if it is an intentional choice, that’s a good thing.
For me, and people like me, serenity may not a realistic goal. However, making opportunities that allow for times to pause and re-energize is important. Without that counterbalance, life can wear you out. That is what I mean by a “balanced lifestyle.” Like a tightly wound watch, it is important to give ourselves a chance to unwind every so often — so that the generally fast “rhythm” doesn’t wear us out. Everyone does that in different ways, whether it is through yoga, meditation, knitting, reading or sleeping in on a Saturday morning. That’s the balancing part of lifestyle design.
So right now, I have a mindset that equips me to live these days knowing that things are a bit “squeezed”… BUT the important thing is that I already have envisioned and planned for a late Spring / early Summer that to be more unstructured, fluid and relaxed. That’s what makes the “now” workable — and even stimulating for me.
I’m working on a book right now – a practical guide to living well… With such sobering times these days, it seems worthwhile to share a bit of it in this blog. It’s about taking stock of what you like about your life – The Good stuff and the Not-So-Good stuff. Just as with Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, the path can be made so much more simple by looking inward and realizing that “There’s no place like home.”
Three Suggestions:
- Take a closer look at the routines and rhythms that occur in your relationships, in your surroundings and inside yourself.
- Become more aware of these good things so that you know what are the experiences that contribute in a positive way.
- As you become tuned in to the Good — as well as the Not-So-Good, it will become easier to turn up the volume on the positives, while turning it down on the negatives.
Whether you choose to examine your diet, your home, your relationships or yourself, spending a bit of time each day, is an important step in moving yourself forward in shaping the lifestyle of your choosing.
Since coming back from Kenya a week ago, I seem to have a revised perspective on nature, which I will share with you.
There are different “levels” of nature and how we bring them into our lives. One level consists of the elements, like cotton, wood and stone and other natural materials, that we incorporate into our surroundings. Another is made up of controlled living things, cut flowers, house plants, exterior landscaping and the amount of “green” we see through our windows. A third level is the wild, unorganized, unorchestrated kind of nature that is rarely attainable in urban and suburban life. This last type, the wild nature that you find in the mountains, on on untouched beaches and on the savannahs of Africa, is becoming an “endangered species” in modern life.
Three sessions can make a big difference in the routines of living. This workshop is one I offer each January and from the feedback I’ve received each year, it is “informative, stimulating and fun.”
Join me!
If you are in transition,whether it is due to relocation, downsizing,separation, loss — or just the feeling of being “stuck,” this workshop is for you
This trip was nothing short of amazing. We were in amazing, untouristed places: lewa/wilderness trails and serara in northern kenya, and then in a mobile camp in the Mara for our last three nights. It has been a trip that I have always wanted to do and one I will remember forever. I’ll share just a bit…
We had 3 nights in Leiwa, in a cottage with the most amazing views of sunsets in a valley outside our window. These days were our first look at animals in the wild, which we got to look at on horseback(!) game rides - the last one Sarah and I got to ride at a faster pace on their polo ponies…! Then in Serara, we stayed for 2 nights at the lodge of our guide’s parents. Piers and Hillary Bastard. About 20 years ago, they were invited by Ian and Emma Craig (who founded the Leiwa Downs Conservancy, where we stayed before Serara), to create a unique cultural and wildlife conservation effort, in the middle of nowhere. Since then, they have created an amazing place for very small numbers of visitors (14 max) in the most beautiful wilderness setting, refined in a purely natural way, and fell just short of being the #1 eco-project in Kenya.
In thinking about year-end, it seems that life is pretty good when it is pure, simple and focused on what matters… At the moment, for me, this means trying to stay simple, unhurried and in the moment, stepping away from technology more often and being selective about where I place my attention and energy.
Last night we celebrated Christmas and Hanukah at home, before leaving on this trip. I’m happy to say that our celebration and this trip seem to reflect my lifestyle priorities.
Our traditional meal on Christmas Eve is simple and the cooking effort is led by Dean. To elaborate a bit, the main feature is “pan eggs,” a dish dual-inspired by individual tin pans given to us years ago by my father and oh-so-yummy fried eggs cooked for him (and us grandkids) in browned butter by my Swiss grandmother.
Together, we create a campfire for us and our children.
A friend just sent me an e-mail confidently assuming that I was calm, cool and collected, having totally planned ahead for this holiday season and just chilling out…. Wouldn’t it be nice?!? So, it seems time to dispell a myth - and share some of my holiday doings…
First, a quick confession: I am just like the rest of us… trying to get too much of EVERYTHING done — At the same time, I am aso trying to be realistic in what I expect of myself. Frazzled, yes — at times, but not all the time, which is the important part. Planning ahead, definitely — but even the best laid plans… You know the rest.
So, here’s what I’m up to these next couple of weeks: