Road Trip to Athens

Flannery found a giant leaf

Flannery and I took a road trip to Athens yesterday.  We visited with some good friends, stopped by our old house, and walked around downtown shopping a bit.  It was a really lovely trip, and we both enjoyed catching up with some of our old friends.  We're already making plans for our next trip back!  What fun!

at Trappeze, where we stopped for a cheese plate

playing with her snap bracelet (remember those?)

She got a birthday cat from Helix, one of my favorite downtown shops.

See the yellow gingko trees in the background?  So pretty. 

What places still feel like home when you visit?

Experience your Community where You Are

I'm trying to feel more at home in our new neighbor- hood.  To work toward that, I've decided that I need to try to get out into the community a bit more than just working and taking Flanna to school.  So, this weekend, we went to the Decatur Book Festival.  It was right downtown in a cute little area, and there was so much to do.  There were hula hoop contests, and tons of booths with books and toys and art for sale, and authors speaking on stages and signing their books, as well.  I was impressed that the turnout was so good for the festival.

The girls seemed to enjoy it, too, especially the puppet show and the kettle corn!  All in all, it was a nice little adventure, and while I still miss Athens and all the other places I hold in my heart as "home," I'm confident that we'll settle in and feel connected in this new home soon, too.

Our own version of Where's Waldo?  Can you find the cousins?

Forget not the Beauty of the In-Between

Moving is such hard work!  But we did it--we made it to Georgia, and we unloaded our stuff!  We're storing our furniture at a friends's house and are staying with family for the summer while we house-hunt.  So, at least for a few weeks, we're done with lugging heavy boxes around, yay!

This morning, I got up early and took the dogs outside for a bit, and listening to the birds chattering in the woods, I was just transported right back to my childhood here in Georgia--how I'd wake up with windows open to a slight breeze, sun streaming through, and the busy sounds of the forest floating in.  

It's so nice to be back home.  And the best part is all the time we're getting to spend with family and good friends.  I know we'll look back on this transition summer--living with family, looking for a home of our own-- one day and will treasure the closeness we got to have with our family.   Once we have our own place, we'll have to plan times to see them once more, and the little everyday moments of shared experience won't be so common.

This whole time we've been moving, this little quote keeps popping up in my head, (from my favorite song of all time, which is also the inspiration for my blog title)

"I want to be champion of evening, to forget not the beauty of the in-between."

Forget not the beauty of the in-between.

I often try to rush things, to get to the next step, to keep growing and accomplishing and getting things settled and determined and decided.  But sometimes, there is also beauty in the in-between.  



What transition are you appreciating (or maybe not so much appreciating yet?) right now?  A new baby, recovery from surgery, moving, traveling, a new job?  Let the in-between be just that, and enjoy it!

Things I'll Miss

Because of our fast-approaching move, I'm trying to enjoy all the things I love about Durham this month.  Mostly the people.  There are so many wonderful people I'm going to miss when we leave here, and we're trying to squeeze in playdates and get-togethers like crazy before we go!

But also, there are places here that are dear to my heart.    The path we walk back and forth from Flanna's school.  The low brick walls she loves to climb and balance on each day on her way home.  The honeysuckle bushes on the way to the park.  And, oh, our neighbors' flower gardens.  When we pass them on our way somewhere, Flanna has to smell the flowers, notice the elephant ears, point out the monkey grass.  I'll miss those little things. 


Another thing I'll miss is Trinity Park.  A wonderful park just a few steps from our front door...it's been such a blessing, a place where I met so many friends, where I've watched Flanna go from 2 1/2 to 4 1/2.    From needing help getting on the swing, to pumping her legs herself, to almost crossing the monkey bars by herself now.

And, lest I forget, a park where the Durham Symphony plays a free concert every spring.  Right in the middle of the street.

Yeah, I think I'll miss that.

What do you love about your community right now? 

  

A Clean Room! Quick, take a picture!

Flanna with her blanket from Grammie

I was just thinking today that we are going to need to start packing our apartment up soon.  Which makes me sad.  There are so many things I love about this place.  Its location.  Its natural light. Its storage space.  It's low rent.  Hah. 

Anyway, here's a peek at Flanna's room one of those rare days when it was clean.  So cute!

What's one thing in/about your home that makes you happy?

Two Jumpers on a Log

These girls have balance.  Neither one fell, throughout all of their exploits on this giant fallen tree.  I was impressed.

Flannery taking photographs of "nature," as the girls kept saying. 

What a lovely time we had out in the woods!  Home is refreshing for the soul, but home AND time spent in nature---pure happiness.


Have you been able to experience nature a bit this winter, and has it refreshed you, as well?

Focus on the Good Stuff

My mom, sister, and mother-in-law visited last weekend, and I was struck by how much a few little changes to our apartment during our preparation for having them here, really made me appreciate our place a bit more.

I'm not made for apartment living, so it's tough for me to see the joys of apartment living very regularly. But in terms of location and cost, this apartment is just right for us for right now. Even so, I find myself often getting frustrated at our lack of storage and no yard of our own and a zillion other little annoyances.

But this weekend, I made a point to take in the good things about our home. To focus my attention on our larger kitchen, our cute artwork, our convenient washer and dryer, the park that's less than a block away. And it's made me much more satisfied with our place. Mind you, nothing changed significantly in the apartment...we still have all white walls, old carpet, a toilet that runs and wastes water, and hilarious 1970's cabinets. But my perception, my focus, my outlook, shifted slightly, and that has made such a difference. Now I see the gorgeous trees in our front yard, the convenience of walking to Flanna's school and Robi's work, the amazingly kind neighbors all around, and the other annoyances seem like trifles.

So, thanks, Thanksgiving. For inspiring my new eyes.

Here are some of the things I love best in Flanna's room: paintings hung above her dresser that she painted when she was 2; her map of America, a flower mobile she colored that my mom hung up for her by the window; her antique bed that used to be mine when I was a kid (in the pic, she's reading before bed with her grandmas and her cousin...sweet, right?); and her super-secret hideout tent in her closet.

That's just a taste of the good stuff. There's really so much more, if I just look for it.





What in your life do you need to see through "new eyes" to boost your happiness?

Traveling

We're visiting family down South this weekend. Fun! And exhausting (the traveling, not the people!)! Here are some of the highlights. Flannery with her great grandmother "Mema." I love how they're looking at each other with complete adoration.
Happy Cousins
Flanna with my dad. I just love how he looks shocked that I'm taking a picture.
My parents with their grandkids after eating yummy mexican food at one of our old family favorite restaurants. A wonderful blast from the past! This is after we drove by the courthouse clock that my dad worked on (he's in construction) way back when, pointing it out as a happy monumental link to this old home town.

And tomorrow, if the weather cooperates....the zoo! I have so many special memories of going there with my family as a child. Can't wait to see what's changed and whether anything remains the same.



What places hold special meaning in your life? Are there certain places that make you feel like a kid again and also very very old at the same time? That's what visiting the town I grew up in does to me.

There's Regular Sick, and There's Homesick

This week, I have really felt the tug of homesickness.

As my daughter says sometimes, "I miss the green house." (that's it, our old house back in Athens, in the pics)

Maybe it's just because I've been "regular" sick, and I don't really have a good support system here yet for times when I'm sick and my hubby has a ton of deadlines at work.

Or maybe it's because I'm missing a baby shower this weekend, of a friend back home in GA whose wedding I had to miss because I had just moved. And another friend is about to go into labor at any moment. And I'd love to have been preparing the perfect vegan dish to take to her after the baby comes. But, oh, that's right, she lives states away. And another friend has gone through some trying times this week, and I would've loved to have dragged her out for a fancy coffee and a long chat. But, instead our phone conversation got inadvertently cut off when my cell phone suddenly had no signal, in my own home. And I'm tired, and have been sick, and it would've been a perfect weekend to let Flanna hang out with her grandparents for a few hours while I caught up on the laundry or maybe took a nap. But, yeah, you guessed it, said grandparents are states away. And then I kept meaning to call my sister every day, but then it was suddenly 11 pm every night, and now I haven't talked to her in eons. Seriously, eons.

Hummph.

Homesickness is sometimes worse than regular old sickness.

But, on a positive note, my hubby won an award today for having the best "poster" at a networks conference at Duke. Which is really neat. That boy's a smarty. And it's worth occasional bouts of homesickness to get to see him flourish professionally.

Worth it, but I do still get to say, "Hmmph."




Have you always lived in the same general area, or have you made big moves in your life? How have you juggled maintaining old friendships and making new ones as you've moved through your life?

Clean up, Clean up, Everybody, Everywhere

Does this ever happen to you?

Since I went out of town for a few days, things have gotten a little out of hand. I fell behind on the laundry. I still haven’t unpacked my bag (from about a week ago!). I have stacks of pictures that I printed through snapfish but haven’t mailed to people like I’ve been meaning to. Junk mail stacks were piling up. I haven’t gotten my tax stuff together. And now it’s almost March already!

So, today, I told myself, “Do what needs to be done.” That’s one of my happiness commandments, which I stole from Gretchen Rubin (the brilliant author of the book The Happiness Project). I conquered two areas in my kitchen that had been bugging me for weeks, and made them beautiful.

First, the hooks where we hang Flanna’s lunchbox and backpack. Somehow all of the coolers and lunchboxes and backpacks we own had gotten hung in that spot, which I was trying to designate for stuff we use on a daily basis. And also (I’m a little embarrassed to admit) there were 2 cans of bug spray and sunscreen from SUMMER that were still sitting atop the shelf. Yup. From summer. Anyway, I goodwilled 5 bags that we never use, and stored the rest where our spare bags are supposed to go. And, voila! A space that doesn’t stress me out as I walk past it!

Then I focused on my mail bin. The bottom bin is for bills, which my husband takes care of, so they obviously stay neat. The top bin is for stuff I need to either file or respond to. Guess I hadn’t filed or responded in, oh, about 5 months. I’d been thinking I needed to look through this stuff but kept waiting until I had “time” to do it. Turns out, it only took me about 10 minutes to sort through everything and then file it in the 3 files it all needed to go into. I had really overestimated the amount of time that project was going to take, which I guess is why I had waited so long to do it. Now, I have room to grow again. Hopefully I won’t wait 5 months to sort through it again!

I’m still behind on laundry. But, those two tiny spaces now bring me a little bit of happiness when I walk into my kitchen. It’s a nice start.



What little nagging projects have you been waiting to tackle?