Noraleigh's Mountain Vacation

 Now that we find the crisp days of autumn nipping at our heels, I wanted to relive some of my favorite summer memories through words and pictures before we officially trade in the long golden days of "making hay" for sweater weather and pumpkin-everything!

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The second week of August was the most delightful, action packed, sleep deprived, memory making, fun-filled, adventure seeking, exhausting week of the summer. Hands down.

It was the week that our three year old niece Nora came to visit.

This was to be her longest (and furthest) time away from mommy, daddy, and Lolo (her little sissy) and we knew the probability of homesickness was high. But that notwithstanding, my sister (her mom) and I thought we'd give a week a go - knowing full well we might end up delivering her back to her own bed several days earlier than planned if she just decided she couldn't handle it.

But "handle it" she did! This girl was livin' her best life up here in the mountains!

On the drive to our house, Nora kept commenting on how big the mountains were. And why were there so many? And were we going up them? When we confirmed that we did indeed live where the mountains were, she started referring to her time here as her "Vacation in the Mountains". I'd ask her what she normally did for this or that, and she'd say, "Well, I don't know! I've never been way up in the mountains before, so maybe I do things differently here!". She was delighted to discover that we actually have a Target store in the mountains (girl's got priorities), and on every trip around town she was constantly on the lookout for both the mountain signs that point out local sites/attractions, and Mill Mountain, our cities central hill with the huge star on top.

My goodness, did we pack in the fun! Coloring, painting, chalking the sidewalk, scooter-ing, swinging and sliding at the park, egg collecting, coming to work with me, visiting her Great Aunt and Uncle, going to the library, eating mini cupcakes, splashing at the water park, poking around the craft store, having pizza and movie night...  Whew! And that was just some of what we did!

Knowing myself as I do (someone who could slip into obsessive photographer mode at the drop of a hat), I purposefully decided to leave my camera in its bag for the entire visit, and really try be present. Noraleigh soaks up quality time like a sponge and having people play with her is her jam, so I wanted to give her the best version of me. Not the "smile!" or "could you do that again and hold it" version of me...

I did take a few quick cell phone snaps throughout the days to send to her momma who I knew must be missing her like crazy and wondering how she was doing. But that was it. No social media documentation, no selfies, no big girl cameras snuck out at all.

And ya know, it made me soak...slow down...savor every little memory to tuck away in my mind in vivid detail to remember once she was back home in South Carolina and we were missing her.

There was one exception though. On an evening where there was still a hint of magic left clinging to the long blades of grass after a quick summer storm, Nora indulged her Auntie with a full on photo shoot. We dressed her up like a princess, complete with sparkly crown, and though she was not convinced that her mom would actually know it was her in the pictures, you could tell she was lovin' every minute of wearing make-up, having her hair done up fancy, and slipping into an impossibly enormous ball gown.

She has no idea what a gift this was for my romantic fairytale photographer's heart.

So, all the other memories, they're not sitting on my phone for me to scroll through whenever I want. But the many sides of Princess Nora that we captured during our shoot that evening, will help bring each and every one rushing back to mind in the crystal clarity that only memories made while being fully present can provide.

Hard for a taker of pictures to adopt that m.o. sometimes. But I'm glad I did. And I hope in the future, I'll choose to do it even more.

The Gardens of Ingleside | Dahlias

This year, I grew dahlias for the first time! I've always shied away from them because of the growing conditions we had at Windy Poplars (heavy river-bed soil and low light), and the fact that they aren't perennial in our zone (7b). But now that we live in full sun with raised beds, it was [dahlia] game on!

 I think they get a bad rap for being "high maintenance". I could see this being more an issue in a landscaped situation, but because I have them back with my vegetables, I decided not to stake, plant them fairly close together, and let them just go willy-nilly. The soil is very light in their bed, and I watered heavily until they started coming up, then cut back to a moderate watering schedule. Now (August) I don't really water them at all, unless we go a week or more without rain - and they are performing beautifully.

 I ordered both dinner plate and semi-dinner plate varieties from American Meadows (they're on sale now - go check them out!), and definitely like the dinner plates better. The stems are longer for cutting, and they seem to last longer in a vase too. Plus, I just have a penchant for big bodacious blooms (peonies, hydrangeas) so...

 My favorite variety is, hands-down, Cafe Au Lait. I've been obsessed with it since a florist used them in a photo shoot I did in England years ago, and for the longest time I couldn't find them available in the US. I was thrilled beyond thrilled when I saw American Meadows carrying them last fall! Speaking of the company (this is not a sponsored post) - they offer really great customer service, which is super important to me. When I had a tuber not come up, they sent a replacement straight away!

I haven't decided yet whether I will attempt to dig them up and store them over winter... If anybody has successfully done this, please leave me your tips. I HAVE decided though, that I will never be without dahlias in my garden again, if I can possibly help it! They are a stunning addition to my cut flower gardens, and I have absolutely loved having them fill the house with their beauty this summer.

Autumn Morning

Crispy golden leaves littering street and sidewalk - children scuffling through the drifts and piles on their way to school. A biting gust of wind steals my breath and throws my hair wildly around as I open the door and my reluctant, be-sweatered pup tiptoes outside to greet the day. The smell of frosty damp earth mingles with the homey fragrance of wood smoke. Fireside breakfast awaits with woolen blankets, cozy slippers, and piping hot tea as my Jesse and I slowly wake and begin to craft a plan for the autumn morning before us.

One Thing...

Who am I? How did I get here?

This outspoken proponent of slow and intentional living is drowning.

I guess a move and home renovation will do that...nobody is immune to the swiftly flowing undercurrent that whisks you off your feet and then pulls you under before you even know what hit you.

We're tired. So tired. We're stressed beyond any stress we've ever known. We're disconnected. We're prickly. We don't have any capacity to hold up under the weight of the everyday challenges our life is fraught with. At the slightest breath of ill wind, we snap in two. We don't know who we are anymore. 

And we don't like it.

Now that life is resuming it's normal(ish) cadence for us, we find ourselves faced with the opportunities to: slow down, savor, say no, breathe, feel, focus, choose what we welcome into our life, be intentional with our time, to LIVE!

Or not.

Simple as that. Slow living may not be easy, but it IS simple. We know we've been running at waaaaaayyyy beyond our capacity this past year. And this is the low it has brought us to. - This past week I've been thinking about how if THIS is what life is gonna look like (feel like, be like): what's the point?? Seriously. 

So there is some major aeration getting ready to commence here at Ingleside. Our souls desperately need some space to breathe. We have a staycation weekend planned to get some healthy boundaries in place, take stock of relationships that are only sucking the life out of us, get realistic timetables and priority lists down for some of the remaining house projects, identify those things that are like poison in our lives, institute rituals of calm back into our days, revisit things that bring us joy and fill our souls- and make intentional space for them.

But today, my one thing was to re-learn how to sit...and savor. Even if it's for 5 minutes at a time.

Case in point: I grabbed a fresh Honeycrisp apple to take on the run as I got back to my nagging to-do list. One bite, however, stopped me in my tracks to reminded me that we are in the glorious throes of apple season, and never again will these underappreciated stalwarts of the fruit world taste quite as heavenly as they do right now fresh from the tree. 

So I sat down. And did nothing but savor every last bit of that chin-drippingly good apple.

Somehow, that small act of making space in my day to savor, also made space in my mind...in my heart... and in my soul. And the nourishment wasn't just physical. It was full and complete.

What is your one thing? What will you choose to savor today?

To Market, To Market...

One of the greatest perks to living here at Ingleside has been the ability to walk everywhere! It may have been  just the tick on the amenities list that actually tipped the scales in her favor while contemplating the purchase... We found ourselves asking: "How in the world can we NOT live in such a convenient location?" 

We love walking to the grocer, to the coffee shop, to the movies (well, ok, we haven't actually taken advantage of the theatre yet), to the bakery, to the restaurant, to the massage therapist, to the ice cream parlor, to the farmer's market on Saturday mornings...

It's just the best.

And having lived in the country for most of my life, it is the height of luxury to my community-loving soul.

We so enjoy running into friends, making new ones, beginning to establish ourselves as "regulars" at all the local businesses... it's just such an outward way to live, and it's what we'd been hoping to find.

Nice when things don't disappoint, huh?

There's just something about the unhurried act of choosing to walk, and shop, and hang out in your hamlet that says, "I'm open to the possibility of community, to the intersection of lives, to connection." So different from the American par. 

It's refreshing. 

And we're grateful for the opportunity to experience it.

Introspection...

Recently, I was reading THIS article from the blog Becoming Minimalist, and what really resonated with me from it were these few questions toward the end. Questions that take time to uncover the answers to. They require slowing down, stillness, introspection. They require really digging deep and tuning in with your heart and what matters most to you...things we don't typically do often enough. So why not take yourself to a coffee shop, plan a visit to the park with your significant other, or cozy up with some tea in your favorite chair, and spend some time with these questions...

I think you'll be glad you did.

+ Do you speak up when it counts?

+ What do you love to do, but never make time for?

+ In regards to the risks you're afraid of taking, what do you really have to lose?

+ What are you proud of?

+ Do you speak kindly to yourself and to others?

+ Are you living or existing?

+ What impact do you want to leave on the people you love?

Gentle Thoughts Vol. 3

"Can you remember who you were before the world told you who to be?" 

- Danielle LaPorte

Listening Well

Why has it become so difficult to be HEARD?

Perhaps because of my intrinsic draw toward community and sharing life with others, or maybe because I teach exercise classes that focus on mindfulness and being fully present, but one thing that makes my heart sink clear down to my toes is whenever I feel like someone isn't actually listening to me. It's akin to a good hard kick in the gut. And ya'll, I feel like it's getting worse by the day. Don't you?

It may be the email reply that comes back with only one of your three questions answered...for the second time. Or perhaps the people in church who ask "Hi! How are you?" as they keep walking, with no intention of hearing your reply. Maybe it's my husband who is carrying on an intermittent text conversation through the evening hours and then asks questions the next morning that I already gave him answers to the night before. Then there was the vet tech who was asking about Caroline's recent injury, and I mentioned three or four times how she has been favoring her back left leg, but when she went to type up her summary asked, "Is she favoring any of her legs?" *bangs head against wall* All of these examples happened to me just this past week, FYI.

In the social media world, I've seen this showing up so much lately. People write a very clear informational sales post: including size, condition, age, price, etc... Then two or three people comment instantly below asking: what size is this? What price are you asking? When, if they would have just thoroughly read the original post, they would have clearly found the answers they were looking for. Or on Instagram when somebody comments "This is awesome!!" on a post that was actually about your dog dying.

Is this the ultimate disrespect?? Is it telling people, "I don't care enough about this interaction to be here present in it...you're not worth the energy it takes to listen."

But what has caused this epidemic? Why can't we listen well anymore?

Though by no means a professional, I feel that much of this decline has come through the transient one-sided-ness that characterizes present-day social interaction. You can easily see whatever people are in the mood to share (whenever it's convenient for you) by choosing to click open Facebook, Instagram, Periscope, Snapchat, etc.. - BUT you have no obligation to interact with the conversation they've started, so you consequently have no vested interest and therefore no reason to fully be present in it - i.e. really hearing/registering what they say. In fact, if it bores you, you just click along to the next post in your feed... AmIRight???

This learned way of interacting seems to be subtly teaching us how to be pretty darn rotten friends/neighbors/professionals/etc., and, zoom out a bit: people whose brains don't know how to "land". Constantly hovering, ever looking for the next thing, the next post, constant distraction, entertainment, darting to and fro like ADD riddled hummingbirds.

Sure, maybe that's a strong concept. But think about how comfortable you are with truly being present in any given moment. Can you go out on a date, and happily leave your phone at home (or in the car)? Can you put your iPad away, open the windows and do nothing but listen to the rain? Can you do something fun or make something cute, and not have the urge to 'Gram it?

 If you know us, you know that answering "no" to any of the questions in the last paragraph is the antithesis of slow living - a lifestyle we are passionate about bringing awareness toward. Living slow simply means the practice of being fully present in each of these moments we've been given. It means savoring life.

It means listening well. 

Do I think social media is from the devil? Hello! Of course not. I actually think it can be an impetus for wonderful things! But I do think we can all learn to be more present in social media just as we can in real life. To comment, not just "like", to reach out when someone felt vulnerable enough to share their heart, to encourage, to engage with real life friends IN real life about what they've recently posted.

 To listen (not just skim and click).

Can one person start a listening revolution? Doubtful. 

But I can hope that today you heard...and that you'll share this message with others who will hear.

I can hope that tonight as you go home to your family or roommates, and tomorrow as you walk through your day, you will learn to "un-plug" sometimes so that you can plug-in to those relationships and interactions and let the people that cross your path know that they are worth the effort of listening to.

____________________

The White Oak Tea Tavern | Salem, Virginia

One of our favorite haunts has a new home! 

The White Oak Tea Tavern used to live in a centuries old log cabin in Daleville where we became "regulars" nearly since its inception. I even remember going to a White Oak Tea in-home party (before the tavern ever existed!) and tasting Cherry Rose Festival for the first time...it was love at first sip and created a loyalist for life right then and there. ;-)

My husband and I are both self-proclaimed tea enthusiasts, and we were beyond thrilled to discover a tea tavern those many years ago far removed from the teeny cucumber sandwiches that left your tummy rumbling for more, lacy curtains circa great-grandma's house, and floral wallpaper in dizzying abundance. This was a place where men felt just as comfortable as women, you could wear your jeans and a tee shirt to dine, and you left fat and happy!

We love the relaxed pace and friendly atmosphere that owner Kim Arney brings to the tavern, and somehow, teacup in hand, Jesse and I always say we have the best and most focused conversations there. Whenever we had something important to discuss, it was time for a Tea Tavern date... Whenever we had something to celebrate, the Tea Tavern it was again! Whenever it was a gray and rainy Monday, you guessed it: the Tea Tavern made it's way onto our agenda. :-)

Nothing is predictable but change they say, and when we heard that our beloved tavern was going to be moving, our hearts broke a little for all the sweet memories those old log walls held, but Kim assured us that The Old Preston House was full of its own kind of charm, and thanks to our impending move, we'll actually be closer than we were to the Daleville location! Yay!

The grand opening was this Monday, and of course, we wouldn't have missed it for the world. Poking around all the wonderfully unpretentious nooks and crannies, somehow, it already feels like "home". Having much of the same decor helps, and "our" cozy chairs (seriously, shouldn't we get nameplates on them, Kim?! hahaha!) made the move too, much to our delight.

The food, headlined by two delicious chicken salad selections: a savory hot version served in a bread bowl, and a cold sweeter version served on a bed of lettuce (we always get one of each and share) somehow seemed better than ever! But of course the star of the show is their huge selection of delicious tea varieties: black, green, white, herbal, pu-erh, you're sure to find a few (or a dozen) favorites among them. 

 They are open from 10-5 Monday-Saturday, and reservations are no longer needed (except for large groups), so grab some friends and family and plan your visit to The White Oak Tea Tavern soon, we bet you'll become "regulars" in no time!

You can find the new location directly across the street from Walmart on Main St. in Salem.

Waste Not, Want Not

Recently, I've been trying to be more aware of our consumption level (and consequent waste) of food. Though over-buying has never been a problem for us (thanks to never having a pantry or large fridge/freezer), there are still things I find myself regularly throwing away that, with a little extra thought, could be used/consumed/enjoyed and we would consequently be getting the most thorough bang for our food budget buck each week.

It seems that this sort of thinking really comes back to mindfulness...a large pillar in the slow living lifestyle. When we finish with what a recipe requires, we seem to mentally conclude that we're "done" with an ingredient, don't we? Any leftovers are just waste or excess. But they don't have to be!

This week, when I was doing some prep cooking for the coming days, I was really mindful of what was in our refrigerator, and a) what I could do to make it most easily consumed, and b) what I could do to make the best use of the ingredients I bought. Here are a few of my findings:

One of the most-wasted fruits I buy are strawberries. We like strawberries, they just come in a larger package than most fruit, require some prep work, and often by the time we get to the last 4 or 5, they are bruised, mushy, and not consumable. So this week, as soon as I got home from the market I soaked my berries in the vinegar-water solution we use, rinsed them thoroughly, topped and sliced them, and placed them in a glass container to store in the fridge. This makes them easy to see, instantly grabbable and ready-to-use for a snack, to top some yogurt and granola for breakfast, to eat with a little fresh whipped cream for dessert, whatever! The result: we went through the entire box of strawberries with zero waste this week. Win!

Another thing I wanted to tackle was the little bits and bobs left over from recipes...mainly citrus (lemons and limes) and fresh herbs. I use these, forget about them, and then find what's left in the back of a drawer weeks later having died a slow and lonely death. - So this week, as I was making a spring pea soup requiring fresh mint, I used the several sprigs I needed from the package (can't wait to have my own herb garden again!!) and dropped the remaining sprig to two into a pitcher of water in the fridge. Incidentally, I was also cutting up a cucumber for a kale salad, and snuck a few slices of that into the pitcher too. A recipe that called for half of a lemon obligingly donated the other half to our infusion, and the result: we've been enjoying some deliciously refreshing cucumber/mint/lemon water for the last few days with no bits and bobs going to waste!

Bananas: these guys can be rather unpredictable in their ripening habits. Sometimes I find myself with a whole bunch of very ripe, quickly darkening fruit. When that happens, I often peel and freeze them to use later for smoothies - the riper, the better!

Kale is another sometimes-forgotten bottom-drawer-dweller. I'll use what I need for a salad, and then the last bit I didn't use will languish away into eternity. So now what I'm trying to do is to just wash it ALL at the same time. Use what I need for my salad, and then tear the rest into moderate stem-less pieces, dry thoroughly, and store in a paper towel ready to grab for smoothie use. Somehow, having it already washed, and de-stemmed makes all the difference. Plus knowing it's there ready for me keeps it on my radar throughout the week.

Have you found little tips and tricks that helps you use up all your food and leaves you with a cleared out fridge at the end of the week all ready for a fresh filling from the farmer's market? Please share them in the comments!

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

One of THE absolute best thing about our transient home downtown, has been our neighbors.

We always craved community life while we lived at Windy Poplars (which was located in a country neighborhood where people lived because they wanted to be left alone). In our romantical minds, we had visions of finding a fabulous apartment complex where everybody knew everybody, and regularly hung out after work... That's how things are when you live in communal housing, right? Obviously, my husband and I had never done this before... But as we shared that idealistic hope with friends, they would share story after story of how they never even met the people who lived on either side of them during their years of apartment tenant-ing. 

Moving ahead with trepidation: we find our floft (loft+flat = floft in case you're new to the game), move in, and meet a couple neighbors right off the bat who seem potentially friendly during the move-in process...And some who don't.

Our hopes lifted ever-so-slightly-ish.

A few weeks go by, and once we'd settled in and collected enough chairs for company, we decided to host a Hot Cider Social and take a stab at blindly inviting the people who live behind the doors of the "Back Alley" - the length of our hall has maybe 8 doors or so, and 6 of us have our own entrances, so we don't necessarily run into each other coming and going inside the building. Jesse's cautiously optimistic that maybe 2 will show. I had zero expectations. A day of crickets went by, but then lo and behold the RSVPs start rolling in! Nearly every.single.neighbor. came by for a bit during that open-house style social, and most of them were meeting each other for the first time (even though some have lived here for years! What??!). We've gotten together with many of them often since then...some for dessert, some for wine, some for tea, some for dinner, some to celebrate, some for conversation on the terrace... It's been such a gift getting to know these people!

Nothing makes my heart happier than a neighbor popping in wearing socks and sweats to share some snacks and what's been going on lately in their life - or a neighbor knocking on the door on their way home from work excited to tell us about their new job offer - or a neighbors girl's day complete with manis and face masks - one bringing over a DVD they thought we would enjoy - or many tea times full of relaxed newsy put-your-feet-up chat - or one texting to borrow a blow dryer - another to borrow some fresh lemon - or one bringing over some stew to share that came out extra yummy... 

We just adore our neighbors, are so thankful to find that community in apartment complexes CAN exist, and already feel a little tinge of sadness that we all won't be living here on the back alley together forever!

Roses In Winter

I've never been a big fan of roses... Perhaps just for the sake of being different? I tend to shy away from the overly prosaic as a rule, but like any rule, there is usually an exception.

And my exception is the glorious Bluebird. It's held me under it's enchanting spell since I was a teenager apprenticing in a family-run little flower shop. Building order after order of yellow, pink, white, and multi-hued florabundas without batting an envious eyelash... One too many young starry-eyed boyfriends ordering the overly-cliched red dozen perhaps, had skewed my appreciation for what many consider the mother of all flowers.

But then one day a new shipment appeared on our loading dock that would change the way I would look at roses forever. Out came the boxes full of heady blooms, and straight into the walk-ins they went for safe keeping. The afternoon carried on, and toward closing time one of our chief designers started working on a hand-tie for his wife whose birthday was close on the morrow. He disappeared into the fridge for some fresh materials, and emerged with the most magnificent rose blooms I had ever beheld. Enormous...soft...velvety...luxuriously abundant chalky blue-lavender petals with slightly deeper centers...equal parts vintage and modern. I think I audibly caught my breath.

Turns out they were his wife's very favorite, and it was easy for any casual observer to see why. Every rose ever after would pale in it's shadow. Those many years ago, it was one of the first true lavenders on the market. They were expensive and hard to come by. And I was head over heels.

Each time they would come in by special order, I couldn't get enough...hovering over the work table of whomever was filling the order, burying my nose in their soft fragrance... They quickly became my cultivated soul flower.

Months passed, and I came into work on the morning of my 16th birthday (a little gray-ish feeling to be working that day, truth-be-told) to find waiting on my work table

16 Bluebird Roses

displayed in an arrangement fit for royalty.

I cried.

I had never (and perhaps have never since) received a gift that made me feel so incredibly special. I did not deserve such a gift. From co-workers/a boss no less. I did nothing spectacular. We were not super close friends. Yet the time and thought that went into ordering them (a month or more in advance), the exorbitant cost, the artistic time and love that went into presenting them in such a grand fashion. All of these things that went over and above the usual status-quo effort expended on a gift...it was overwhelming. And for the week or two that they were alive, my heart nearly burst from the purest form of human kindness they exuded. This gift of all gifts.

So what is the purpose of this tome? To educate you on the virtues of the Bluebird? To cram as many superlatives into one blog post as is humanly possible? To simply pass the time on this snowy weekend?

No, dear ones. My purpose in writing is perhaps less obvious, it is to share with you the joy of being known. My co-workers saw the simple delight that these particular roses brought to my life. How they spoke to me, and made my heart sing. - Perhaps that seems strange to some of you - but us romantics often feel rich, deep connections with objects and creatures of the natural world.

And not only did they see it, they remembered, and they chose to go out of their way to make me feel like a million bucks. This insignificant 16 year old apprentice.

Since then, lavender roses have become a dime a dozen on the market...you can easily find them everywhere, and though only a dim whisper of the glory of their forerunners, every time my husband brings me home a dozen, my heart swells again. Because he knows me. And he knows this story. And I love how he reminds me of it each time they grace our home.

As they are this very moment.

The Year of The Leap

A New Year has dawned.

And as many of us do, I find myself in a contemplative sort of mood. My best thinking has always been done "on paper" (nowadays oft translated to a keyboard and screen), so I sat down with my thoughts on the morn of this bright and shiny new year and wanted to spend some time clickity-clacking away, trying to record the momentous twelve months that 2016 was.

In the spirit of authenticity, I just wrote and deleted an entire paragraph of realness. The ugly side of realness. This past year has had some record low points to be sure...and many of them are following me unwelcomed into 2017. But something I've learned is that very few people can truly handle your junk. Most don't care, offer unhelpful platitudes, or call you a whiner. - So I'm going to spare you (and myself) a trip to Negative Nellieville, and we'll focus on the definitive highlight of the year in this post. Just know, our life certainly isn't all rainbows and unicorns.

This year was one to remember in our household. It was the year we decided to

LEAP.

There have been stirrings in our hearts for some time now...years really. They started the first time we found ourselves in the European countryside. Because there...nearly five thousand miles away from "home" we truly did find ourselves. Not only that, but we found our kindred. Our people. The way of life that makes us come alive.

My husband and I have never really been at home here in America. The national status quo smothers our very souls and turns our hearts a delicate shade of grayish blue more often than not. We have always had a hard time connecting with people because of it. It's hard, nowadays, to find kindred spirits who value slow living. But we felt stuck...stuck in the rat race...stuck in societies expectations...stuck in the American way.

If you know me, you know that I'm a people pleaser, a planner, sentimental, a homebody, and most definitely NOT a risk taker. But this year shattered all of those things I thought I knew about myself.

This year I decided to stop existing, and start LIVING.

We've been talking, my husband and I, about how to make this European lifestyle we so connect with a reality here across the pond. It seemed (still seems, sometimes?) nearly impossible. I wasn't ready for a big change. Then my husband wasn't ready for a big change. But this year, we both found ourselves there at the same time. Ready. Ready to try anyway. And what is life, if not for following hard after your dreams...even if it may mean failure. To us, it's worth the risk. -

I remember well the moment: sitting in Patty on a camping trip, reading a book together about the tiny house movement, and in that moment, looking at each other saying, with much fear and trepidation, "Can we really do this??". But we did.

We took the leap.

Up for sale went our beloved Windy Poplars, and after a whirlwind of a season on the market (hello, showings nearly every day for a month), our home of 13 years that we had poured immeasurable blood, sweat, and tears into, was passed to the hands of a new owner at the end of a climactic bidding war. As our realtor said, "Everybody wants to take you to the prom, and you get to choose who you want to go with!" It seemed like a confirmation that a new dawn was just around the bend for us.

Fast forward three months, and we are catching our breath, happily settled into our floft (flat+loft=floft) downtown getting broken in to the next chapter of life that awaits us: living tiny as we continue to search for land. - We have a parcel that we are close to making a move on (prayers appreciated!) which will throw life back into high gear as we prepare for a build.

So what dreams are we chasing? Well, when I say tiny, I really just mean down-sized. We hope for our main living space to be a small cottage less than 1000 sq.ft. and to have separate guest quarters from which to run an Airbnb. We plan to shrink our mortgage, our maintenance load, and our subsequent servitude to both. We hope to be able to focus more on living, on helping to build strong marriages, on mentoring others whose hearts might be pulled in the direction of slow living, on working less and experiencing more, on being a part of a community instead of the isolated rural life we lived for so long, on savoring, on traveling, on truly living.

And we'd love to have you follow along on our journey! It's sure to be an adventure. :-)

"I went to the woods..."

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, 

to front only the essential facts of life, 

and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, 

and not, when I came to die, discover that I had 

not lived."

Henry David Thoreau

White Christmas

Growing up, my dad was a teacher. And teachers live for snow days. And teacher's children live for snow days. And New England transplants who are teachers and teacher's children really live for snow days.

Somehow, I don't really know when, the old Bing Crosby movie White Christmas became our family's "lucky snow movie". Whenever the weathermen were calling for even a chance of flurries, evenings would find Posh (our dad) correcting papers on the couch watching White Christmas, and we would all willingly gather round and enjoy the classic song, dance, and romance. It was a powerful movie, that. In the mornings, more oft than not, we would wake to find a sparkling world covered in a fluffy white blanket!

Many, many years (and snow days) later, I think I probably still have the entire movie memorized. Even my husband regularly throws out quotes from Bing and Danny (Kaye), and readily breaks into their arpeggiated 

"snow, snow, snow, Snow, SNOW"

  with me whenever we spot the first flakes of a new winter storm starting to fall!

So this December, how delighted was I to find that our local theatre was performing White Christmas The Musical over the week of my birthday?! The tickets are purchased, the dog sitter secured, and I just can't wait to go and sing along to all my favorite songs!!! 

There will likely be tears. Because that's what nostalgia does to a girl who was a teacher's daughter from New England that loved snow days once upon a time. 

(Ok, who am I kidding. I still totally love snow days. And we still might break out our now-DVD version of White Christmas whenever the weathermen start getting our hopes up for a winter storm!). And speaking of winter storms, God: we're ready and waiting!!!

Slow Days

Slow Living

By nature of the label, such a lifestyle is rather...unusual. Nearly every response I receive to the question of, "How are you doing?" starts with the now-expected, "busy". It's just how life IS these days...isn't it?

Busy.

But at the end of your life, will those "busy" days be what flood you with feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction? Of a life well lived?

I'll venture a guess that for most of us, they will not. Likely, it's just the opposite. It's the slow days. The days that are full of lingering... with that second cup of hot and creamy coffee... between the cozy flannel sheets... over a warm muffin and marmalade... by the fire reading a favorite book -to yourself, or to an eager young audience... along a wooded path drinking in the beautiful intricacies of nature... listening to an angelic chior... comforting a friend in need... snuggling close with the one your heart was made for... penning a note to brighten a day... making memories... dreaming... breathing... loving... 

All things that take time. That require slowing down, and saying "no". Maybe even bucking the system and pursuing a lifestyle that is completely foreign to you right now. But the payoff: 

Peace. Contentment. Connection. Satisfaction. Gratitude. Sweet memories. True investment. Self-Awareness. Finding and living your deepest callings. Loving others well. 

Those things are worth it to me. Worth the challenge of living slow in a fast-paced world. Of using a life well lived as a measuring stick against the decisions we make. Of being intentional and selective so that we're giving our best self to our highest priorites. Of savoring each day, down to the minutia that it holds. 

Of going against the flow.

Savor

Savoring is one of the mantras of my life. 

A motto. A song. A theme.

The holidays, while many things, don't typically seem to lend themselves to savoring. Or at least in our common American renditions of the months of November and December. Rush here, rush there, jam pack your social calendar, eat 3 different holiday meals with various branches of the family, ferry around to daily play practices, bake until you drop, decorate up a storm, frantically shop until your list is all checked off... It can be such an exhausting flurry of (albeit merry) chaos!

But dear one, if you're barely standing come January 2nd, there IS another way! 

Savor.

Give yourself the time to stop and breathe this year. Create traditions that are full of peace and reflection. Learn to say no. Give some things you "always do" a year off, and rotate them back in next year. Instead of attending endless holiday parties, throw a low key event yourself for your closest friends. Maybe something as simple as an open house hot chocolate bar. You'll have the joy of celebrating the season with those near and dear to your heart in the peace and comfort of your own home. And then let yourself off the hook. You don't need to please everybody, OR even come up with an "excuse" for not attending every soiree' you're invited to (preaching to my people pleasing self here...).  - 

Why not allow each family member to choose ONE event they would enjoy most during the holidays. Block off days on your calendar for quiet nights together: sitting in front of the fire reliving memories of Christmases past, looking through old photo albums, watching a holiday movie, addressing/stamping/sealing Christmas cards assembly line style, enjoying carols around the piano...

It's hard. It's intentional. It might feel strange at first. But I've found that it's so, so worth it. 

Because everything you do choose to include in your holiday season will now have some breathing room to peacefully enjoy, to be fully present in, to calmly prepare for...

...to savor.