travels

A little forest bathing

September 9, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

This weekend we went away to a perfect little cabin nestled in the woods. I wish I could say it was 100% relaxing, but I have homework for college that I needed to do while there. But, we made the best of it. The Little Mr and I headed down Friday night and because we arrived so late and it was already dark we grabbed pizza from one of the local places, watched a movie, and had a really lovely evening.

Saturday morning I woke up and did a little knitting on the porch while listening to the rain in the trees. Then took advantage of the hot tub and did some more listening to the trees from the comfort of the hot water. Once the Mr arrived, we all headed to the caves to do some hiking. It has been far too long since I spent time out in nature, and I feel that void so very deeply lately. It was raining while we were there, and we didn’t let that get in our way until it started raining extra hard (which can make the hiking a bit dangerous with a little one), but I could have definitely used more time there before coming home. Oh well, I’ll take what I can get at least.

I’m way behind on homework now, because we were all exahusted and I couldn’t focus after we got back, so now I’m playing catch-up and trying to not stress about all the work that I need to do. But even if I bomb this homework and following exam, the self care alone from the weekend was worth it.

Easing back into routine

May 18, 2015 Marie Leave a Comment

We arrived home yesterday, much to my relief. By Saturday I was getting home sick and missing the baby, to the point where that night I packed as much as I could so we’d have less to do Sunday, and then Sunday morning we were up and out of the apartment by 9am. When we arrived homeI unpacked, did the week’s laundry, and soaked up all the snuggles I could get from the Little Mr. Today we’re easing back into our routine and I’m trying to prep my lunches for the week so I’m not tempted to eat out to make up for all the eating out we did over the last week.

Tomorrow it’s back to the daily grind. A little sad, but for the best. Routines are my favorite and while it was nice to have a break from routine it’s also nice to be able to go back to them with a fresh attitude so I can adjust them as needed.

More than a vacation

May 14, 2015 Marie 2 Comments

I had a lot of anxiety about this trip. I’ve never been to Chicago. I’ve never really been to a big city like this. Let alone the fact that I was going to be on my own for a large part of it while the husband is in a conference. We rarely traveled as a kid. I remember at one point we went to the Mall of America and my mom freaking out while my dad was driving as we drove through Chicago because my mom doesn’t deal well with traffic or big cities. So I suppose I had a lot of that anxiety transferred over to me. It didn’t help that, when my parents found out about this trip, I was told “Chicago isn’t a good place to be right now” – even at 30 years old my parents think I shouldn’t be off doing something on my own without… a man, I guess.

Anyway. I’ve been on my own both Wednesday and now today. I’ll be mostly on my own again tomorrow, though I get to travel the red line north to see my old high school friend. I’m happy to report that I haven’t yet been mugged, attacked, stolen from, etc. I’ve seen some things, and I’ve done some shopping. I got coffee at a shop on Michigan Avenue and sat on the patio and knit and watched the world go by. I sat this morning and knit at the Daley Plaza while watching people shop the local farmer’s market. I’ve been mostly unbothered by anyone. I feel like I’m just another Chicagoan, even though I’m not. Which is, really, kind of a big deal considering I’m a woman from a smallish town who rarely travels.

This trip, I’ve discovered, has been more than a vacation. Sure, it’s about seeing and experiencing new things, but it’s really been a lot more than that for me. It’s been a learning experience. I’m re-learning how to be on my own, something I haven’t had to be for many years. I used to be incredibly independent, but at some point – probably after years of being married – I lost that ability.

There’s also something about being away from all your things. I packed for the week with essentials: some clothes, toiletries, and knitting. The apartment we’re renting is very minimalist. The whole thing has me rethinking my entire life – just how much stuff do I need? How many clothes, how many shoes, how many decorative things, how many cooking utensils, etc do I really even need? I’ve constantly dreamed of being more of a minimalist and I feel like this week has given me the chance to live it more than I’ve had a chance to before. Do I really need all the things that I own? How often do I use it? Is it really worth spending the time to clean it, clean around it, organize it, etc? And how much of that time is being taken away from my time interacting with my environment – being out in the world rather than hiding at home from it?

Beyond seeing and doing new things, this trip has me completely re-evaluating my entire life.

We took to the woods

November 4, 2013 Marie Leave a Comment

Oh, the woods. That smell, fresh and pure and clean. That stillness – hearing squirrels rustling the fallen leaves, and the birds fluttering about, the tree branches moving in the wind – no cars to distract or intrude upon it. The pure and complete darkness that comes at night, with no street lights to brighten the unpaved road. Heaven for my heart and soul.

It was our 3rd annual knitting “retreat” – a weekend of food, wine, knitting, and movies. If you asked me 10 years ago if I’d ever have a group of girlfriends to go on a weekend trip with – not just once, but multiple times- I’d have told you that you were crazy. I’d never had real, true friends and I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to be friends with me. But here I am, with 4 wonderful ladies that I call my friends. Truth be told, I still wonder why these ladies like me enough to spend time with me. I still don’t always feel like I “fit in,” and perhaps I never will. Perhaps I’m destined to be slightly socially awkward for my entire life.

There was LOTS of good food. Friday I made my family’s tacos and shared my love of corn relish with everyone. Lunch on Saturday was a delicious tortellini and spinach soup, baked potato, and cheddar biscuits. Dinner, homemade chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes. So much good comfort food for a single weekend. We never took our hike like I had hoped, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed about that. I spent a lot of time sitting on the porch looking out into the woods to make up for it. Not quite the same, and I felt like I was ignoring everyone a little bit, but it’s hard to explain my absolute need for quiet time in the woods to people who don’t feel it, too.

Our ‘usual’ yarn shop in the area had permanently closed (though, honestly, I wasn’t too sad about it – the shop just… didn’t have a lot and felt a bit run-down), so on Saturday we made a long trek about 45 minutes away to visit a different yarn shop. I wasn’t intending on buying any yarn, especially since I just received a new skein of lace from Knitivity last week (shhhhhh, don’t tell the husband!). I’m still trying to work my stash down in between projects that require yarn purchases, after all. But I saw this skein of Art Yarn Regal Silk and immediately fell in love. It was definitely a splurge, at $24 for only 163 yards. I didn’t realize until after I started going through the few pictures I took that the yarn matches the sky from Friday evening, with the subtle blues and grays. So perfect!

Weekending in Yellow Springs

September 23, 2013 Marie Leave a Comment

Oh, how I do love that man I married! ♥ This weekend we celebrated our 6th anniversary and we spent our weekend in Yellow Springs. I have to admit, our weekend was less-than-stellar. And by that I mean that I was off-and-on sick all weekend. Bummer :( But it was still a weekend away, so I can’t complain too much!

Friday we checked into our rental, the Sunflower Cottage. It’s such an adorable little house and decorated in my favorite colors (my whole house is some combination of blue/green). There may have been a bit of day-dreaming about moving into a house exactly like it. I could just curl right up on that window seat on a rainy day and just read or knit the day away. I may also be drawn to how uncluttered the place is. Much like most cabins we’ve rented, the kitchen cabinets are lightly furnished, the refrigerator is empty for us, and the decor on the bookshelves is minimal. Coming from the chaos of my house (where I need to work on some serious organizing and de-cluttering), it was like a weekend in my dream home.

Saturday was Wool Gathering day, so we ventured north a bit to the dairy farm for yarn shopping. I only came home with one braid of roving, and two skeins of yarn. The roving is going to be spun up for a scarf for the Mr, and the two skeins were going to be gloves for my niece and nephew but now I’m not sure if I’m going to go through with it. Honestly, I wanted to shop for more. I had more money set aside than what I bought. I guess I just wasn’t feeling very… inspired? Don’t get me wrong, there were gorgeous yarns and fibers there. But nothing really jumped out at me screaming “BUY ME!” like yarn usually does. Oh well, I guess that’s what Etsy is for!

After Wool Gathering we stopped in town for food and then walked around the shops a bit. The shops were nice and fun to look through, but nothing there said “buy me” either. The downtown is beautiful, however, so it was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

Sunday found us up and out early, checking out the Glen Helen Nature Preserve. GHNP is home to the “yellow springs” for which the town got its name. The water coming out of the rock is beautifully clear and cold and tastes like well water (if you’ve never had well water then just imagine the taste of water with a very slight sulfur taste). It’s not the same as standing in front of the waterfalls at Hocking Hills, but it’s still lovely. And I still hold to my belief that nature is, to me, what religion/church is to others. As silly as it might sound, I wish I could have sat there for a bit by myself to close my eyes and just be.

So now we’re home and it’s time to ease back into the regular routine. I have a laundry list of things to do (including laundry, of course) so here’s hoping a weekend of relaxation results in a week of productivity.