home | new art obsessions

as we decorate our home dream of decorating our home, I've been finding art styles that we dig, see below for some of my latest faves. I think my taste could definitely be described as bold and whimsical.  what art do you love in your house?  what art do you wish you had?

zoe pawlak

we've done it! (now we can start)

the past few weeks, it has felt like the manfriend (manfiance now!) and I have a "to-do list" 8,000 items long, and each time we knock one off, we barely have time to pat ourselves on the back before we realize that there are five other things we didn't even realize we had to do.

but I guess that's just how it goes when you graduate from medical school, move to a new city, set up a "real" house with your partner, start a new residency program, get a new car, and get engaged to your best friend, right?

every day we climb into bed completely exhausted, and I haven't even started residency yet! chris has just started orientation but we definitely both have the pre-starting/just starting jitters. it is somewhat familiar, actually, in a start of college sort of way (do I have the right shoes? oh no, what if I didn't have time to get all the books yet? do I know how to get to class? etc) all the stuff you realize that you JUST. FIGURE. OUT.

finally, finally, finally, I feel like our home is pretty set up. it's not all the way there yet (we still have folding chairs - nice folding chairs, but still - as our dining room chairs) but thanks to a trip back to my parents house to rifle through their basement, a couple leaving the city for dubai who sold us their furniture for super cheap, and our amazing but slightly crazy landlord who replaced our broken down fridge (but not freezer?) by carrying the old one out and new one in himself - it's starting to feel like we live here. check out the photos of the new place below.

chris and I are definitely starting to feel settled in. today I found another adorable neighborhood coffee shop, studied in my living room, and went on my first solo run in the city; it was just lovely. I start tomorrow (with an acute cardiac life support class!) and I'm just so excited!!

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"what is not done today will not be done tomorrow"
- faust, translated from german by our landlord

Poetry Tuesday: Habitation

Because I'm thinking a lot about both marriage and living in a new house, a poem to restart Poetry Tuesdays by Margaret Atwood, called Habitation.


Habitation

Marriage is not
a house or even a tent

it is before that, and colder

the edge of the forest, the edge
of the desert
the unpainted stairs
at the back where we squat
outside, eating popcorn

where painfully and with wonder
at having survived even
this far

we are learning to make fire.

spring cleaning 2013!

Home wasn't a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place, but a moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to create a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go.” 

― Sarah Dessen, What Happened to Goodbye

~~~~~~

yesterday at approximately 1:30 am we returned to our lovely home in Vermont!  While we did immediately drive down to Stowe to meet friends at the end of their long weekend bash in an incredible house down there, we have since had time to revel at home.  With only a few short weeks left in this place that's been my home for four years, with people who have been my home for four years, and with thoughts about designing my next home (stay tuned for more on that soon) I've been thinking about ways to REALLY immerse myself in feeling home - leading me to the question:

what makes you feel home?

(seriously, tell me!)
for me, it's FULLY unpacking and settling things back into their places - it's planning impromptu runs and walks with friends - it's lacing up my running shoes and just going, not having to plan out a route because this is my home - it's making my own coffee just how I like it, instead of hoping I can ask the barista at the closest coffee shop for just the right amount of soy milk without sounding obnoxious - it's curling up with the manfriend in our most comfortable bed and feeling like we are back in our places too.

unpacking and changing to a spring/summer closet!  yay dresses!!

morning coffee ritual at home

 all our shoes are ready for any kind of spring weather in our mud room

(note the bean boots, running shoes and birkenstocks - one can never be too prepared)

plans for the next few weeks in Vermont include:

* hiking the presidential traverse
* canoeing in lake champlain
* visiting the kitchen table restaurant (on our list for a long time along with all the farm animal restaurants including: the black sheep, hen of the wood, the belted cow, the prohibition pig, the bearded frog, the starry night cafe, the bluebird tavern, and of course, to keep them all in one place, the farmhouse) 
* walking/running in Shelbourne farms
*the burlington farmers market (now outside!)
*hike camel's hump for the last time in a while
* get creamies with buddies from Burlington Bay Cafe
*play paintball in our white coats
* boat cruise on lake champlain
* pack up our whole house!

home | How to Live as a (temporary) Nomad

because I like to think I've mastered it a little...

1. yoga podcasts & yoga mat

(it's good exercise and good relaxation at the same time, AND portable)

 I've had a lot of requests for good podcasts and here are my two favorites to check out:

Dave Farmar

Kindii McCollum

for extra awesomenss, play epic music in the background - I like either the Lord of the Rings pandora station or James Taylor (so similar, I know)

2. keep some things constant - like breakfast

I read somewhere that if you don't have to think about your morning routine, you feel much more relaxed going into the day and I think it's absolutely true.
My routine is making coffee in my french press, oatmeal with walnuts, seasonal fruit, and maple syrup, and reading for at least ten minutes.  If I have to wake up 20 minutes earlier to make this happen, I've found that it's worth it.   Things that make this tradition better? Other morning people to share it with, like my friend Lizzie (with popovers, below):

Burlington, VT

3. have something you can "decorate" wherever you are
my mom gave me a teeny vase that I take and put one flower in everywhere I go
I also have a framed photo from my last birthday with me and my tribe of women, and a little one of me and my family.  I just pull them out and put them on the dresser wherever I am and it feels just a little bit more like home.

from anthropologie home

4. get a cell phone charger for your car

I know it seems ridiculous, but I am finally one of those people who needs my phone to operate efficiently.  and because I spend too much time in my car moving from place to place, the car phone charger has let me not worry about using up battery playing surgery podcasts (lectures) on long commutes while also GPS-ing directions to and from new places; boring, maybe, but seriously life changing.

5. stay in touch
I do this by a combo of calling people (especially in between things), making dates whenever I'm in town, email and this blog

Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh, PA

Burlington, VT

Santa Cruz, California

6. reflect often
get a journal, start a blog, go on long walks and 
just think about where you are and where you're headed

Scarsborough, ME

7. get oriented (aka bring your running shoes)
or, if it's more your style, walking shoes.  Nothing like jogging around to get oriented to new places

Wildwood, NJ

8. know your belly
this way when you go somewhere new and make the inevitably crazy first grocery store run, you don't spend a million bucks on things you won't actually eat.  some of my staples include breakfast food (see #2) veggie burgers, beans, tortillas, cheese, salsa, fresh spinach, frozen broccoli
(and of course the assorted local cuisine, as seen below)

Santa Cruz, California

9.  create a tradition
not forever, but just for that place.  Find a coffee shop you like and make it your study spot, go for a long run every Thursday in the park, do yoga on the tennis court on sunday mornings, watch old movies in bed on Wednesday afternoons when everyone else is working and you're post-call, grab coffee with a specific friend every Saturday morning (or mimosas, as seen below)

Burlington, VT

10. figure out what you can control and what you have to let go
for example, I have pretty little control over my schedule these days (hello call until 10pm last night and working 16 days straight) but some of the things I can control is wearing compression socks on long call days/nights so that my feet don't hurt or swell as much or that I always have almonds in my pocket in case I have to miss a meal.

what are your tips for living a life on the move?  
I rarely try to elicit comments from readers, but I would love to hear some for this one!
and for my less computer saavy readers (hey grandpa!), how to comment: go to the end of this post and find where it says "0 comments" in purple and click on it.  It should bring up a new window and you can just type in there.  

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"Adventure is a path. Real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it.  Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness.  In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both.  This will change you.
Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.
-Mark Jenkins