•5 min read
An Arkansas getaway
When I was eleven, my family visited Arkansas for spring break with some friends. It may not be what most people think of as a typical "vacation hot spot," but then again, maybe that makes it more appealing. It is a beautiful state—lush, green,...
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Easter scenes & sights & sounds
We had a quiet Easter this year—slowly ushering in the day that gives us so much hope—the day when death was defeated, once and for all. Jesus cannot be held down in the grave. And what hope springs from that truth!
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My favorite smoothie
I'm not what you would call a "smoothie person." I enjoy them, but I don't crave them. It's likely in part due to the fact that we don't own an awesome blender—just a food processor and an immersion blender. And so far, I haven't felt compelled to...
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This city, this day, this moment
Today is a joyful day. It's not really a special day or an adventurous day or an exciting day (unless you're me) but I woke up excited to live out the day ahead of me. Resting time isn't wasted time. Someday, my days will look really different and...
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Share what you love
I talk about knitting a lot, I know. I enjoy so much about it and it's a constant source of creative inspiration for me. But it has other benefits:
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Where beauty grows
Everywhere I drive around Austin, I see wildflowers. They are pockets of color, persisting. From what I've read, wildflowers are more prone to grow where the soil has been "disturbed" so they grow more frequently along roadsides and in places one...
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Finished Late Night socks
They're done! This is the first pair of fingering-weight socks I've made (and kept) for myself. The self-patterning yarn was incredibly fun and motivating to knit, since I could always convince myself to knit to the next color. One of my favorite...
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Spring in my step
To all my Northern friends and family, I realize that my yearning for spring is likely nowhere near what you may be feeling, especially in the midst of heavy wintry weather, which is something that doesn't really happen here.
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Not exciting, but sanctifying
I feel a pang of it every now and then: wanderlust and the pull of an "exciting life," or even just a different life from the one I have. It's followed closely by discontentment and comparison. You see, honestly, I really like (well actually, love)...
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Progress toward creative goals, winter 2017
I wrote a post in January about this year's creative goals. They seemed a bit lofty at the time, but I've actually made a good deal of progress. I think now is as good a time as any to check in, assess, and adjust as necessary:
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A staycation
Schedules of nurses are weird. They are irregular; different days every week, only a few days every week, but far more hours in each shift. That said, I love to have full days off on weekdays. Even if I don't have three days off in a row, it feels a...
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In the in-between & new favorites
It struck me today that much of our lives are spent in "in-between" phases. We dwell in the already-past or the not-quite-yet. We're caught in the cradle of reflection and anticipation and we dream and think of the future. I write about this all the...
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Patches of light
The light this morning fascinated me. I love the beauty of contrast in a lot of things, in fact. I notice
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Tuesday joys & my making
Tuesdays with him are patches of midweek joy. I've written about it before in a post of instagram, so I won't reiterate it here. But I'm so fond of little loving routines. And amidst the routine of a work meeting, we preserve a few extra moments of...
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New materialism & satisfaction
There are days when I think I've won the battle of against the thought of "I want more stuff." In the past, I've countered this with large amounts of donations and a cross-country move.
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Better resting
I love being a nurse and generally, I'm exhausted after a shift. The two are not mutually exclusive. But I have this tendency, which comes in waves, to approach days off and generally, rest as an entitlement, and that breeds some less-than-balanced...
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Sweeter than an afternoon treat
Initially, I inadvertently used the term "fika" a bit flippantly, thinking that it was something we already did. I mean, we do drink a lot of coffee. But it's more than that. Since we began talking about fika more, we practice it more, and as a...
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Birthday weekending
It's still (his) birthday weekend around here, so we're enjoying a few days in a row of sleeping in, sipping coffee slowly, and generally being our homebody-selves. More specifically:
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Him, 27 years
Today is Nicholas' birthday and each year, around this time, I write him a love letter.
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Creative goals, 2017
I've seen a few of people's "best nine" selections of things they want to create in 2017 floating around on the web. And so, I thought it would be a good idea for me to loosely organize my "creative plans" for the year. My reasons for this are...
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On sentimentality
I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and I'm realizing more and more: I'm a sentimental person. I'm still deciding whether that is a strong point or a fault. Perhaps it's a bit of both.
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Tidiness & a welcoming home
As a 22-year-old newlywed, I didn't have much "vision" for our home. I appreciated order and organization, as I always have. However, we accumulated a lot of stuff throughout our college years and I felt burdened and unsure of how to store or manage...
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January weekending
Weekends in January (so far) look like:
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A sick-day mentality
I'm in the midst of kinda-sorta-maybe feeling better, and I'm hopeful that the (slow) recovery will continue!
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One Second (most) Everyday
This will be my last year-specific post for quite some time, but it is one I really wanted to share.
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