Hygge:

I happened upon this fascinating word while on an adventure in San Francisco with two of my friends. We had one day to wander. After a week of a fairly planned out bachelorette party in Napa Valley/Sonoma, we were given our last day before flights back home to be aimless ladies about the town. How do three girls who connected during a literary London, study abroad program choose to spend their last day in a big city? They wander down gorgeous streets in search of the next best bookshop. And we found a few that day.

Our first stop, a place we were pretty sure we weren’t cool enough to be in, City Lights Books. Beautiful space with many levels, including a beatnik section upstairs where one of my friends got a book for her husband. Our next stop, Alexander Books, another charming, multi-leveled space that felt a smidge less hipster. We fell a bit in love with the man at the counter who desperately wanted to gift wrap the book I was buying...for myself. Crestfallen at being thwarted the chance to show off his ‘mad skills’ (his words, not mine), he satisfied himself by saying the next time I need a book for a gift, he will wrap it. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was leaving his city the next morning. While out and about my friend, whose fiance is a chef, is given the name and address of a bookshop that specializes in cookbooks, used and new, including some rare first editions and signed copies. She mentally starts checking birthday, anniversary and christmas presents off her list as we figure out the best way to get there. We request an Uber, whose driver we have to direct around the town we have spent less than 48 hours in. He gets us to the little neighborhood which houses our destination and promises to rate us five star customers. Even though it took him multiple tries to come get us and we ended up walking to him, we still give him five stars. The annoyance of not being picked up right away and right where we are gives way to his charming personality and the good story his blundering pick-up gives us.

The bookshop is everything my friend was hoping for and is certainly good enough to entertain me. I get lost in the cocktail section, am fascinated by some of the most beautiful cookbooks I have ever seen and happen to catch sight of one particular book title, “How to Hygge.” My friend sees me look at it and explains the concept. Since then, I have read at least a dozen different definitions. All similar in some ways and yet each definition has focused on a different aspect. The general gist that speaks to me the most is that hygge equals the act of making moments more meaningful. Being more present in the small daily tasks of life. And finally, doing activities, eating foods and creating rituals that make sense to the season that you are currently in.

Since that moment in the bookstore, when I knew I wanted to learn more about this concept, I have ordered three books on Hygge and spoken with my husband, at length, about it. His feelings are that we already do a lot of what they speak about. We hike year round to appreciate all aspects of nature, not just the sunny and warm days. In the winter, we make tea and sit on the couch together almost everyday, a ritual of coming together over something warm and delicious at the end of the night, while we catch up on and see where our separate paths took us that day. We sit on our porch on summer evenings to feel the air and listen to the night noises. We love having people over to share meals and to share drinks. We tweak our home each season: fresh flowers in the spring, bowls of pine cones and flickering candle lights in the windows in the winter, etc.. All that being said, he has agreed to read along with me to see how we can enrich our lives, even more, by this concept. It seems that each winter, I find something that makes me look forward to the long, cold nights as a time of peace and rest before I get excited for Spring and what that will bring for me. I love that stumbling into a rare bookshop in San Francisco with two rather important ladies brought about this discovery of a way of life so similar to my own but with more guidelines, more improvements that I can make to continue to grow and find new ways of being. I can’t wait to delve into these new books that will become the next adventure my husband and I will go on.

To be continued...    

The Wedding Planners

I kind of get Bridezillas. Kind of. Planning a wedding (on a budget) is not for the faint of heart. In the year and half that the Boy and I have been engaged I have gone back and forth from wanting a wedding to wanting to elope roughly 737 times. I don't think I am exaggerating. Sigh

I think, finally....finally...finally we have landed on having a wedding. All due to a little bed and breakfast just outside of town that has somehow managed to combine all important aspects of the wedding (according to The Boy and I) in one not very expensive, pretty package. 

Thank you White Garden Inn, you may have saved our marriage....

Just kidding, the Boy would have eventually given in to an elopement if I had thrown something like changing my last name as a bargaining chip. Thankfully, I can base the decision on name changing on desire and not desperation. 

Priorities:

-Fun party

-People we love

-Pretty atmosphere

-Good food, lots of wine, beer and champagne

-Stress-free environment

The White Garden Inn has a beautiful porch to dance on, lots of room outside for lawn games, pretty nooks and crannies to sit and mingle and connect in and five huge rooms to recover in when the evening is over. Fun party, check.

WGI will fit our entire wedding guest list, regardless of weather. People we love, check.

WGI is a B&B, a pretty house with a wrap around porch, lots of gardens and will let us decorate the place however we like. Pretty atmosphere, check.

WGI is letting us bring our own food (read: delicious) and our own alcohol (read: a lot) Good food, lots of wine, beer and champagne, check.

WGI is not your typical wedding venue, so we aren't restricted to doing any traditional wedding things that we might not want to do. And we will have the B&B the entire weekend so we don't have to feel stressed about decorating and tearing down, etc... Stress-free environment, check.

Everything is coming together and I can finally concentrate on making things happen. For me, making a decision has always been the hardest part. Once a decision is made on something no matter how big or small, getting the job done is always a breeze in comparison. It is so nice to finally work towards our actual wedding and not just the vision of it. The next six months will, I am sure, fly by. and I can't wait to celebrate marrying the Boy. 

Morning Views

This is the lovely view I see when I wake up. 

The arm belongs to the Boy. 

I do love that Spring is approaching and the days have been getting warmer but I will miss this early morning snuggling. The waking up and feeling his warmth around me and nestling deeper into it.

Sigh.

  

These are a few of my favorite things...

It is a very cold day today and I miss the woods. It has snowed the past couple of days and it would be perfect weather for a nice winter hike except for the cold.  So, because I am restless and chilly and longing for warmth, I will share a list of things that keep me warm during these times:

Earl Grey Tea Lattes. I make a cup of Twinings Earl Grey tea, add some sugar, (I am usually a honey with tea sort of person, but for some reason sugar is better with earl grey...) vanilla and milk and it is the perfect late afternoon/evening beverage. It goes especially well with your favorite reading chair, a pair of thick socks and a mystery (currently reading Cocaine Blues which is the series that Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries is based off of).

 *My Favorite Nook

My faux fur blanket. Seriously. It is the softest thing my skin has ever felt except for maybe the bunny rabbit my sister had when I was in middle school that always made me sneeze. Fortunately, this blanket does not make me sneeze (and I never accidentally drop it and feel really bad when it runs into things because it is dazed...)

Vanilla oil after bath spray. It smells like toasted vanilla beans and feels amazing after a shower. I used to use lotion, which always felt so cold and goopy after a shower, but now I swear by oils which seem to moisturize my skin much better and better yet, never seem cold on my skin. This particular one has been my favorite of those I have tried.

Doing puzzles with the Boy: Lately the boy and I have been trying our hand at 500 and 1000 piece puzzles. When we first got Netflix, pretty much any night that we were both getting home late and eating dinner late, etc..we would just go straight to snuggling and watching Scandal or White Collar at the end of the day. Now we switch that up with venturing into the dining room where we have had one puzzle or another set up for the past three weeks. We pour some wine, put on a record (usually either Neil Young's Harvest Moon or Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits) and hunker down. It is amazing, sometimes we get lost for hours and barely even speak. But it is so nice to work side by side with him. And also, I really, really like puzzles.

 

*Just one of our accomplishments so far...

So, until Spring comes, until we all thaw out and we feel the warm sun on our faces, I will continue to hibernate and drink as much tea, read as many books and put as many puzzles together as humanly possible! 

Lady Detectives Galore

The Boy and I got Netflix this past summer. Basically, we went from no cable and no outlet from which to watch anything at all popular and exciting on t.v. to having an application through which to watch thousands upon thousands of t.v. shows, movies and most importantly BBC miniseries....It goes without saying that in the past six months, we have done significantly less Rummy 500 playing and significantly more snuggling on the couch and watching the boob tube. 

As soon as we signed up for Netflix, I did a little search for the best female detective lead, British shows (yes, I was that specific) and boy did that search really come through for me. They recommended quite a few, two of which have been (and I cannot stress this enough), amazeballs: Bletchley Circle and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. The latter, while not British (Austrailia is close enough, right?), has brought into my life my current role model: Phrynne Fisher. The good news for any newcomers to this show, is that there are two seasons to enjoy on Netflix right now. The bad news is that you'll be done with that in sometime under two weeks and will be waiting with abated breath for the third season, which, word on the street, tells us started being filmed mid-October of this year.

If you like 1920's trouser/blouse combos, you will love this show. If you like slinky gowns, sequin hairpieces and furry shawls, you will love this show. If you adore powerful female roles, ladies with wit, compassion, strength, intelligence and an unapologetic zest for men, alcohol and solving murders, you will love this show. Also, if you have taste, you will love this show. Just kidding, you can have taste and still dislike this show, I just wouldn't understand.  

The lead role is played by Essie Davis, who at 44 has skin that I only dream about (see photo below):

Seriously, the pants, the blouses:

The gowns, the dancing:

And I forgot to tell you about her golden lady's pistol:

Basically, can I be her when I grow? Please?

So, if I suddenly quit my job and become a Lady Detective, watch this show and you all will know why. 

Next up: Bletchley Circle. We keep the brilliant female leads, the solving of murders but it gets a whole lot darker. 

C'est La Vie

Today the world is telling me I must go to Paris. The signs are everywhere. All these pretty little French songs are coming up on my Pandora station. We just got in a shipment of new clothing at work and like every other garment is striped black and white. Also, my friend just dropped off some brie for me to enjoy. She just happened to drop off some cheese on today, the day that the world is telling me to go to Paris. 

Also, my passport is in my wallet.

Always be prepared, that's my motto...or maybe it's the Boy Scout's motto, either way it is a good one.

When I get off work and a limo is waiting alongside the curb to whisk me away, that's when I know it's true. I guess I will spend the rest of the day planning what's the first thing I'll do when I step off the plane. There are worst ways to day dream the day away...

Oh and so that I don't leave you feeling suspenseful, this is the first thing I'll do when I step off the plane

Look fabulous, while walking the streets and stepping off curbs, like Audrey. Oh and I'll be holding an umbrella. There is a chance of rain tomorrow, guys come on, it's not just for the artistry, I like to be practical too.

Summer

Summer in my town is small and sleepy and all sorts of wonderful. Everything slows down and everyone re-discovers why it is they love this town.  Our preamble to summer are the millions of bluebells that bloom on one of our most popular trails. When you stumble upon them sometime in April, it begins to dawn on you that the summer is really, actually, going to happen. Then the students, who make up about half of our population, begin to realize this as well, creating a frenzy about town, as they hurriedly write papers and study and read books that should have been read months ago. All of this activity culminates in a week and half purge of the town, as the students celebrate their freedom briefly before fleeing town with just the essentials. They leave behind couches and old t.v.s, clothes and books. In those last moments they are frantic to make themselves as light as possible, shedding anything that may weigh them down this summer. Then the hoarders and the deal-seekers drive about town, picking up what goods they have deem worthy from amongst the piles and piles of trash left behind. And then, the big moment, we pause, cock our ears to the sky and listen. Tentatively, we smell the air. We look back and forth. We drive Uptown, we find a parking spot and we all breath one collective sigh of air. The town has been reclaimed. For three blissful months it is ours and no one else'. Don't get me wrong, come August, we will all be longing for the hustle and bustle of the school and all its' attendees, but that doesn't mean we won't treasure our little town, when it does truly feel little.

Our annual wine festival, which takes place the weekend after this said purge, feels like the perfect way to celebrate this town. As the Boy and I make our way uptown, me beside him, holding his hand and taking two skips to his every one step (the Boy is tall), I vow to go to every festival, every Thursday night concert and wake up early to hit up the Farmer's Market every Saturday. It is hard not to declare such things, when you get to walk around your town park, listening to the lovely croonings of local musicians, drinking wine and drunkenly speaking to everyone you see. Everyone is practically drunk upon arrival, such is their overwhelming excitement at this ritual into summer.

The only point to this post is simply to say that today I am happy it is summer. Tomorrow, I will think about running again, to attempt to get my body lake-worthy and doing some much needed spring cleaning and I might even tackle the issue of my skin, which insists on being less porcelain and more of a searing white light when the sun shines directly upon it. But, today I will breath the honeysuckle on the air and listen to the loveliness that is the silence, where once were drunken cries and I will sigh in complete and utter happiness that it is Summer in my Town.