How to hygge, an alleged hipster's guide

Over the last few months, I've had several people label me as a hipster. I definitely don't think I'm a hipster, but it's my understanding that that's just what a hipster would say. Perhaps I'm just not aware that I'm a hipster. Last week I admonished this label to my friend Bryan, who quickly set me straight. "Oh, you're a total hipster. You know about everything awesome before anyone else does." Whuuuuuh? Is this the definition of hipster? Maybe I shouldn't be getting my culture cues from Titus Andromedon?

"Do you guys have a rezzie?"

If we're talking about loving things retro before they become cool again, then I am definitely a hipster. I point to my Instax camera, my film camera, my record player, my vintage records, and my extensive pen pal collection as proof. That's less about figuring out what's cool before everyone else does, and more about being unwilling to let go of the things that used to be cool for so long that they suddenly become cool again. Like flannel.

With this new awareness that I tend to like things before they go mainstream *insert hair flip* I thought it would be cool to clue you guys in on something I think is about to blow up big time. It's called hygge and it's not pronounced "High-Gee" because that's not an English word. Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure how to properly say it, as I don't speak Danish. One website says "HOO-gah" while another says "HYOO-gah." However you say hygge, I kind of love it.

...and I have no idea how to explain to you what it is.

Hygge, it seems, is not something you do or make. It's something you feel, and we all know emotions are the hardest thing to cram into words. The closest English has been able to come to translating hygge is "cozy" or "contentment" but the truth is that hygge is an experience, a state of being, inspired by indulging your senses. Let me show you what I mean.

Does that help at all? Hygge is candlelight and fluffy sweaters. It's books and blankets and baked goods. It's coffee and twinklelights. It's warmth and camaraderie.

Since buying our house, I have worked to instill some sort of je ne sais quoi in our home. I have always had a hard time explaining our design aesthetic because "cozy" didn't really explain what I was trying to accomplish. It just figures that the word that does, hygge, is from another language. But this is me, this is the peace and tranquility that I have spent years striving for. Comfort and joy. To know that the culture of an entire country feels the way I do helps me to feel like less of a hipster misfit about my drive to create a feeling, an atmosphere, not only in my home but everywhere I go. Ambiance is everything to me, and hygge is exactly what my heart strives for.

The good news is that hygge seems to be spreading. I don't think it has quite made it to the US yet, but there are a few new books out this year that are making a big splash the UK. Hygge is being touted as the "new" way of getting back to a simpler life of cozy pleasures, and even a way of helping combat the Winter Blahs as the warmth of fall fades away. I don't know about all of that, but I do know that hygge is how this alleged hipster wants to spend her life well past the point of it being cool.

***Aside from the very first picture, none of these pictures are mine. The Titus picture came from a Google Search and the last four were found on Tumblr, where I have been hygge'n it up all season long.