Sweet Spot Moment

 It was the last day before daylight savings.  I was tinkering around on my computer (as I do most evenings) when I had the abrupt realization that tonight would be the last time I'd see light before 6 pm for quite a while.  In one fell swoop I grabbed my camera, hooked Mabel up to her leash and grabbed David by the arm explaining breathlessly that we simply had to go take pictures of the last late sunset of the season.  He, though amused, was completely on board (and such is why I love him so).  We made our way to the docks behind our house (sometimes I pinch myself we live in such a beautiful place) and started snapping way.  It was one of those sweet spot moments in life.

We used our extra hour this weekend wisely with a movie binge of course, watching this, this, this and this.  I thoroughly enjoyed them all.  I love when that happens.

the nature of nature

(Found today during our walk)

I love bringing little pieces of outside inside.  Nature is the greatest decorator of all. When I start getting my britches in a twist over getting the house "perfect" I remind myself of the nature of nature itself - a myriad a moving parts, never finished, forever in flux, yet always in perfect harmony.

I read this great quote once and it has really stayed with me,     

"Nothing about nature is linear or symmetrical or impervious to decay. And yet what could be more mesmerizing?"   

How wonderful is that?

This is the balance and rhythm I strive for in my home - a living, breathing, ever-growing space...a mirror of it's inhabitants really.

And so I place little trinkets, found gems all around as small reminders - a votive of feathers on a bookcase, a handful of shells on my desk, a smooth creek rock on my nightstand.... 

so on those days when I can't quite get it together (read: clothes strewn on the floor, dishes piled in the sink, tripping over the pets and never quite making it out of my pajamas) I'll stumble across these little beauties and remember:

we are exactly where we need to be.

A Creek, A Waterfall and Thoughts on Perfectionism

The above are some more photos from our mountain trip.  Again, I still have an overloaded camera of pictures from the past three months waiting to be shared, but I'm just being too much of a perfectionist. (Where as my brain goes something like this: "I must find the most perfect way to file and organize my photos, then research all the photo editing software in the land until I find the most perfect one and finally perfect my usage of it before I put any pictures on my blog.) <--- Crazyland, right?  This is my curse.  My default is to do nothing rather than do something imperfectly.  Turns out, this kind of thinking leads to doing a lot of nothing.

I've learned to recognize this in myself and when the culprit arises force myself stop thinking and just do.  It's scary and exhilarating.  Sometimes I fail.  Sometimes that failure is the groundwork of some bigger and better thing...bigger and better than I could have imagined.  Sometimes it's just a flat out failure, but I live.  And that's what I'm learning, failure, even when there is no greater purpose to it, is okay.  It's a part of life and it's okay.

What a sigh of relief.

Today

banana and strawberry pancakes

a good read

a little rearranging of furniture (bit by bit the house is slowly coming together)

watching admiring him prepare the pieces that go to the gallery tomorrow (and bursting with pride)

a brisk walk

pasta dinner

red wine

a good day.

Contrary to Appearences

Contrary to appearances, we actually did make it back safe and sound from our little excursion over 3 months ago.   I really gotta get better at this whole updating thing.  The pic above is the view from our dip in the area's all natural hot springs during our trip and an experience I seriously recommend to everyone.  There are many more pictures, but I haven't nailed a good camera to computer work-flow system yet (lame excuse, I know), so my picture sharing has been confined to instagram at the moment out of nothing but pure convenience.  Thankfully, I love me some instagram.

Chat soon :)

xo,

Nicole

be back soon

 

I'll be m.i.a for a bit from blog land.  I'm heading out for a little adventure.  See you on the other side!

xo,

Nicole 

PS- Don't  you love my new banner?  My sweet husband made it for me.  He is the best.

Treasure

Sometimes life leaves little treasures just for you to find.  I found a bit of my own while visiting my mom's house a few months ago and stumbled upon these little gems. 

The awkward, pale, scraggly one is me. (I'm still pale, though not as scraggly and only sometimes, er, half of the time awkward)  My sister, the cute dark haired one hamming it up; and that foxy blond rocking the black tube one piece, my mom.  I estimate she is about the same age as me now here.

I can't quite wrap my mind around that.

Even though I don't remember this day, I remember the feeling...like waking from a dream when the specifics have faded, but the emotions remain. 

The timing of these finds turned out to be a small treasure on it's own as this was about the same time I happened upon this blog and this one and this one (and even more) all capturing the world around them in dreamy imperfect beauty with none other than polaroids.  I found myself wishing I had one of my own.
 
Well...

I had one more piece of unsuspecting treasure waiting for me in a forgotten cabinet at, again, my mom's house.  This. It's discovery resulted in a squeal of pure delight followed by an even higher pitched squeal at the knowledge it's film (discontinued film, I might add) also resides somewhere in her house (yet to be found, but have been assured it's there). 

It's truly like the universe sent me on a little surprise treasure hunt.

Now what I would really love to find is one of these. 

But all in due time.

xo,
Nicole