August 14, 2015

Lately I've been...


Spending this summer living on my own (while my husband has been away working in the States) has been a unique, fascinating experience (I haven’t lived solo since 2004). Many elements of my daily life are the same, or very nearly so, as when he's home by my side. Others have been more, or conversely, less, challenging, and some have come as total surprises (such as that I've had an even greater degree of difficulty sleeping than usual).

Ultimately though, I'm made the most of this summer and while I've missed Tony - who will be home in about three week's time - with every last ounce of my heart and soul, I've still been able to do a lot of work, a ton of introspective thinking, and also made some time to simply relax and unwind, even if it was just for half an hour at the end of the day while I painted my nails and watched Netflix.

Last month the smart, lovely, inspiring Madison from the blog Minnie Muse shared a fun list of things that had/have been filling her thoughts and days lately. This entry really spoke to me, especially since I've had such a great deal of alone time with my own mind as of late, and thus, inspired entirely by her post, I thought that I'd take a few mid-August moments and pen one of my own.






Dreaming of: Traveling. Realistically, if possible, to somewhere in BC or Alberta. In my totally hypothetical daydreams, to any one of a dozen or more countries in Europe that I've always longed to visit.




Moving back to: A greater degree of work-life balance, with actual days off (yes, I'm still struggling big time to create those for myself), an ongoing emphasis on more time spent outdoors, and not letting myself get so wrapped up in my job in the moment that I forget about the bigger picture that all of my tomorrows hold.




Reading: My usual – about five books, all history/vintage or science related, all on the go at the same time.




Watching: Some of favourite 80s and 90s sitcoms (like Home Improvement, Fraser, and Roseanne) on Netflix and YouTube. I can happily rewatch those over and over again, without ever tiring of them.




Eating: As much locally grown summer produce as I possibly can!




Creating: Aside from blog posts, not nearly enough. This is something I need to work on (and this isn't the first time this year, I've mentioned as much, I know). Crafting has always been vitally important to me, yet I struggle immensely to find time for it in the context of my current daily life, where work and family almost always seem to win out for me when it comes to what I spend my time and limited energy on.




Photographing: Flowers, the sun-kissed Okanagan landscape, and the occasional selfie, especially since my sweet photographer hasn't been here to help me document my outfits (see my Instagram for plenty of those things and many others, too).




Wearing lots of: Shirtwaist dresses, turbans made from long scarves, and the colour pink, which usually comes out in full force for me during the summer.




Writing: Blog posts, Etsy shop listings, email replies, and blog comments - the usual, really. :)




Listening to: Oodles of great classic rock, Motown, and big band - all genres of music that go hand-in-hand with summer for me.




Painting my nails: I seem to be hopping back and forth primarily between different shades of coral, red, and blue this season.




Loving: My friends, my family, my pets, and all of the other blessings in my life. Also, the fact that it's almost pumpkin-spice-everything season again! :D




Wishing I had a...: Way to inject hundreds of hours more into each day! As well as a self driving car (so that I could finally experience driving on my own). A few more months of summertime weather would be pretty fabulous, too! :)




Planning: This year's Halloween costume and party - there's less than 2.5 months to go and I can scarcely wait!!!




Thinking about: What, ultimately, really does matter to me at this stage in my life and what is just familiar routine (that could use some shaking up, I mean); some of my blog posts and outfits for the fall; how much I miss Tony; and about taking lots of nature walks while summer (and then autumn) is still out in full force.



{To learn more about a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.}


♥ ♥ ♥



Thank you very much for writing your great "Lately post", Madison. I love the simplicity and relate-ability factor behind it and think that I may have to repeat this idea with new answers down the road one day - perhaps at this same time next year. We'll see!

It's always wonderful to have a snapshot of where your thoughts and days are at at any given point in time. I don't keep a journal or diary, yet I've long viewed my blog as such and genuinely adore recording views into my world here to look back on and see both how far I've come, and what has remained the same, since then throughout my site's more than six years of life.

If you've never written a "Lately" style post, I wholeheartedly encourage you to do the same, be it a one off event, an annual post, or even a far more frequent occurrence, such as every week or month. It's important to capture the present and let it help guide and inspire us in the future, and I really feel like today's entry will do just that for me.

Long after my husband has returned home and even more of the usual ebb and flow fills my days, I'll have this post to remind me of where my thoughts and dreams were at in the midst of a summer spent alone, but never lonely, thanks to my family, my work, and of course, Tony's love which keeps me company in the most beautiful of ways, no matter where in the world we each are.

35 comments:

  1. Self driving car - I'd like that too ahahahh!! I like the idea of this post - thought lately I've been sleeping far too much and feeling sorry for myself for being jobless!! I really need to learn to be alone... I'm not really good left alone with my thoughts. I get anxious!

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    1. Doesn't it sound amazing!!! The folks working on them at Google say it's not a matter of if, but when, and have projected that they'll be on the road in a matter of years (how soon they'll spread beyond the States is another matter, but I'm sure that if they do come to production on a real sort of scale, they certainly will become internationally available, too).

      I'm the total opposite, but do fully understand how you handle being alone, too. A lot of people, I'd venture to say more so than folks like me, are the same. It's not uncommon at all. We're social animals by nature for sure and it can certainly be tough to be alone for long periods. If you ever find yourself in one, please know that I'm always here to chat with and keep you coming via the good, ol' interwebs.

      Have a fantastic weekend - big hugs,
      ♥ Jessica

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  2. I feel like if I wrote a similar post each year it would be virtually the same - but perhaps I'm just due some big changes :) I definitely see echoes of what you're doing now in what I'm doing now and one of those big areas of overlapping is wishing I was creating more. In fact, I've begun a post on exactly this topic, in a bit of a departure to my norm. So maybe I sort of am writing a 'lately' post, just a more specific one ;) x

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    1. We are so often on the same wavelength, my sweet friend - it's almost uncanny! I really look forward to reading your similar post and hope that you're having a great August. I'm blown away by how incredibly quickly this month is whizzing past. I thought July was quick, and it was, but August feels even more so to me.

      Many thanks for your lovely comment. Have a beautiful weekend!
      ♥ Jessica

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  3. I look forward to see what you do for Halloween - we're rubbish at it over here, but as a reformed goth I love it. (I need to plan this year's Halloween Cake for work. I did a martian one last year.)

    Fitting crafting around everything else can be tricky. It's not just the time, it's finding the mental stillness to be creative. I hope you are able to get back to it to your satisfaction.

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    1. That is a wise way to look at things. I hope so, too, but quite frankly, with my current super heavy workload, I don't sadly see much time for it. That pains me in a way and I will try for a nip of it here and there when possible once we're into the fall and winter again. I need it, I truly, truly, need it.

      Thanks! I'm so psyched already for Halloween and actually just bought my first new decorations of the season today, as a few stores have some out already.

      Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
      ♥ Jessica

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  4. Always fun to "catch up" with my friends! :) Thanks for the blog inspiration, I shall be trying to do the same on my own! :)

    Be well, and no counting "sleeps" until Hubby is home! (ha, ha)

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    1. Your post is fantastic and I'm really, really happy to have inspired you. Thank you very much for answering these questions, too, and for sharing so much of what's been on your mind and filling your days lately as well. You're a total dear!

      Big hugs & joyful weekend wishes,
      ♥ Jessica

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  5. When you're used to living with someone, being alone is disconcerting at first. Then you relax into it and enjoy the solo time. No need to answer to anyone; no need to even explain yourself. Then again, if there's a noise at night, who will protect you?! Been there, buddy. :-)

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    1. Very true! It is certainly one of those starkly double sided situations. There are pros and cons to living alone alike and I do cope very, very well on my own, but I certainly miss Tony immensely and am so happy that he'll be home in less than three weeks now.

      I hope that you're having a great August, Ally. Thank you very much for your lovely blog comments this week.

      ♥ Jessica

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  6. I can totally relate to the wanderlust, I haven't traveled at all this year and I have such a desire to hit the road or jet off somewhere! I have an overnight trip to my old college town coming up for a wedding and hopefully that will "count" in my brain a bit. I say you should schedule some crafting time on purpose! Plan that the next free day you have is crafting day, sure other things need to get done, but fulfilling your creative needs is important and deserves to be treated as such! (also, I can almost taste the pumpkin spice already, bring on the pumpkin spice, the plaid, the crunchy leaves!)

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    1. Goodness, do I hear you there. It was very mild for the first half of the year, I think because I was still flushed from the awesome trip we took last fall to Vancouver Island, but once the summery weather started to appear in late spring, so too did that really deeply routed desire to hit the open road. Fingers crossed we'll both be able to get away again sooner rather than later. I don't see anything beyond a weekend or long weekend in the cards for us this year, but perhaps another lengthy trip might be able to happen in 2016.

      That is a good approach for sure and certainly a logical way to go, thank you. I virtually never have free days, but I could try and finally take one (save for days when I've been to ill to work, I've not taken a full day off this whole year yet) and devote it to crafting. Even just one or two such days a month would be a massive improvement over how things sit now.

      Oh me, too! I bought some new Halloween items for the first time in the stores this year and am am so excited that fall is almost here again.

      Many thanks again & have a stellar weekend!
      ♥ Jessica

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  7. I'm glad you are handling Tony's absence by being kept busy with so much. Wow, he's gone for a long time. Since you don't drive, has it been hard getting your groceries and such?

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    1. It has been quite a while now for sure and I think that we're both really feeling, though we are certainly do well and getting by just fine on our respective ends. I'm very fortunate to live in the same town as my mom and step-dad, so with their help (they both drive), I've had no problem popping out for groceries, banking, medical appointments, and other errands periodically and am very grateful to them for their help on this front.

      Wishing you a fantastic weekend!
      ♥ Jessica

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  8. Thanks for sharing these informative snippets. I adore the vintage images that accompanied them just as much! I seem to create a bit in one go then have a break. :)

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    1. Thank you very much, sweet dear. I really enjoyed finding accompanying images for all of these points and am delighted to know that you liked seeing them.

      You know, objectively, I'm starting to think that might be a smart way to go for me, too. Because I simply can't seem to find time to craft the way things are now. It's just work, work, work, work, work, and of course family priorities every day. I super miss crafting though and sound like broken record saying that. Even if it's just one or two full days a month, booked intentionally for that purpose, it would be amazing!

      Big hugs,
      ♥ Jessica

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  9. I will be spending all November without the man. He will be gone to the US, half time working, half time visiting his mum. We had this before, but I'm really not looking forward to be living all alone ...
    I really hope, that I will eat healthier, when he is gone ... Because he makes me eat a lot of Mexican food, which I never did before. Now I love it so much that ... I could roll myself in a tortilla and lay my head on a pillow of cheese ... ;)

    When I was in the hospital in July tha hubby wasn't able to find any good sleep ant home without me ... so it's not just tha ladies mmissing their men ;))))

    XX
    Ms. Falcon

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    1. Tony doesn't sleep well when I'm not home either (and my step-dad is the same way with my mom). Things have gotten a touch easier for me in very recent weeks on the sleep front, but it's still not the same as when he's here.

      Gosh, that's rough about November. I'm here 24/7 if you need someone to chat with and help keep your mind off missing your DH (or just for fun :)).

      I hope that you're doing positively this month, my sweet friend. You have been in my thoughts and heart constantly.

      Huge (gentle) hugs,
      ♥ Jessica

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  10. This is again and amazing post, dear Jessica, and yes, being alone leads to thinking, I mean, like you said, introspective thinking and in you case I think it was great, so you wrote this post - but I am not saying it was good that Tony went to the US! You see, 3 weeks will pass like a second, or nearly, 2 seconds :) Time really flies, I am happy for you! I liked that you want to visit Alberta and crafting is also so important to me! I also love Motown, pumpkins and Fraser, and Halloween! I would say, for Halloween a nice costume like Linda Darnell in A Letter to three wives, that would be so nice! I hope you have a very beautiful weekend, dear Jessica, and that you are togethher with your family!
    DenisesPlanet.com

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    1. Hello dear Denise, thank you very much for your terrific comment. Oh my word, it so does - and as a very introspective person, that is by far one of my favourite elements of flying solo in general. I've had a lot of time to think this summer and have realized and come up with some really enjoyable and/or important ideas/goal/realizations.

      I bet they will! August has been ridiculously speedy. I thought July was quick, and it sure was, but this month feels easily five times faster - if that's possible!

      I am indeed spending the weekend with my family and it will cap off with a dinner party that I'm throwing at my place tonight. In fact, I need to go start a few things right now, so I'll wrap up here for now.

      Big hugs & tons of happy wishes for the coming week,
      ♥ Jessica

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  11. You have chosen such gorgeous images with which to illustrate your list. As you know, I think crafting is the best thing to do in free time, I think even half an hour here and there really makes a difference to my head space. Intrigued by the reading of 5 books at once! What are you reading at the moment?

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    1. Thank you very much, my wonderfully sweet friend! I adored finding the images for each of these points. It filled a full evening and was a lot of fun. I'm with you so much regarding the positive mental benefits of crafting and I know that's a major part of why it's so hard for me to go this long without, for all intents, crafting - and why I will keep trying to find a way to make time for it my busy life.

      Thanks for asking! I just finished up a couple of books last week and at the moment I'm reading The Antiques Roadshow Primer by Carol Prisant (which I thrifted earlier this month in great shape for just $3.99), The Nature Principle by Richard Louv, and coming down the pipeline next, I'm planning to start Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne. What are you reading at the moment yourself?

      Seriously, thank you for all of your fantastic blog comments this weekend. I've been out and busy with events family for most of this week and actually just picked up Thursday + Friday's mail from our box up the street this afternoon. Your awesome birthday package was waiting there for me there and I'm going to email you thank you properly for it absolutely asap! (I'm throwing a family dinner party tonight, so it may be tomorrow or Tuesday - but soon for sure. Thank you so much for everything, I love it all to bits!!!).

      Oodles of hugs,
      ♥ Jessica

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    2. I'm really glad the package arrived, sorry it was late. I will be emailing you back shortly! Your books sound very interesting, I hope you are enjoying them. I am part of a book club where we swap books between ourselves so I am busy reading through a stack I got from our last meeting. I am just reading Lucia Lucia by Adriana Trigiani which is set in 1950 and is about a seamstress in a New York department store. There are brilliant descriptions of the most beautiful clothes!

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    3. How how exciting!!! I've never been part of a book club, though I've often thought that it would be oodles of fun to be - and/or to start one online for us vintage fans. I tend to primarily read non-fiction though, which isn't always the star of book clubs, totally understandably, so that accounts in part for why I haven't ever perused joining one (my the unpredictable nature of health would largely be the other reason why). Lucia Lucia sounds right up my alley fiction wise those. I'll have to look into if our town's wee library has a copy. When I do read modern fiction, 9 times out of 10 these days, it's historically based like that story.

      Thinking of you and sending tons of hugs & happy start of September wishes your way!
      ♥ Jessica

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  12. Oh Jessica....I was so happy and excited to see your post on my feed and then to read through it and see that you were inspired by my "Lately" post was truly an honor :) These post are definitely so much fun to write but even more interesting to read and delve a little into the inner lives of fellow bloggers! Thanks for writing this post and sharing your thoughts and thanks for being inspired by my own post :):)
    xo
    -Madison
    www.1minniemuse.blogspot.com

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    1. You are sincerely welcome, sweet gal, it was my pleasure! Thank you again for penning your lovely post. It resonated deeply with me and seemed like a really fitting way to remember a lot of what was transpiring in my life as the end of this summer without my beloved husband at home started to draw to an end. I could definitely see writing a new version again down the road to similar capture a snapshot of such things a second (third, etc) time.

      Wishing you a sunny, beautiful week ahead!
      ♥ Jessica

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  13. oh yes - eating fruits from local farms!!! thats what i do since weeks like there will be no tomorrow :-)
    and i still dream of showing you europe!!!
    wish you that the next 3 weeks fly by very fast :-)
    xxxxxx

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    1. And I am daydreaming about seeing it - one day, I tell myself, one glorious day! Likewise, I very much hope that you're able to come visit the Okanagan some day, too. I just know that we'd both be wild about each other's corners of the world.

      Tons of hugs & happy wishes for the new week,
      ♥ Jessica

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  14. What a lovely Idea for the post! Definitely inspiring me to get creative :-)

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  15. What a beautiful post! You are such an incredibly lovely person :D

    I am so excited for autumn! I hope that PSL's get released at the end of august again this year. Early in the morning today I posted a photo I took several autumns ago and wrote "SOON".

    Wishing you and yours the best!

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    1. That has been me lately so much as well! In fact earlier tonight I hosted a family dinner party and used autumn (though not Halloween quite yet) themed table linens (and decorations) and served a GF cinnamon apple crisp for dessert.

      Thank you very much for your touchingly sweet words. You're a dear, wonderful person as well.

      Huge hugs,
      ♥ Jessica

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  16. Of course you don't sleep as well as when Tony is beside you, he's your favourite teddybear. ;) What a lovely post, and such beautiful mood filled photos. I feel like writing such a post myself, but have decided to keep my blog closed down. What I've been thinking of lately (the past three days) is life and especially death, since a young man (23 years old) had a car fall over him at DH's job and died. His father found him almost dead, can you imagine. It hurts me so much and I didn't even know him. Son is 22 and I hope and pray that anything will EVER happen to him. The young man was always happy and since he was working on the night shift he always greeted DH with "See you tomorrow, Max" and he replied "I hope so" and smiled. He is attending the funeral today, went home to get some dark clothes. I simply cannot get this out of my mind. It seems so incredibly unfair. Enough, I'd better stop. I hope you have a fabulous day. Here the sun is shining and it gives absolutely no meaning. XOXO

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    1. That is most certainly is - and such a cute one to boot! :)

      Oh my word, I'm deeply sorry to hear about your husband's coworker. That is incredibly sad and heartbreaking. I can imagine and it brings tears flooding to my eyes to even think about it. That is just so tragic and horrible. My heart is with that family now. Thank you for sharing your grief with me, dear Sanne. My deepest sympathies to you and the young man's loved ones.

      Gentle hugs & endless understanding,
      ♥ Jessica

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  17. Fun post!! I hope that you get your Europe dream one day soon. In my most hypothetical of travel dreams it is BC!! I would like to go to Alberta too though.

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    1. I truly hope that you're able to visit both provinces, dear Holly. Each is stunningly gorgeous, full of great towns and tiny communities alike, and bursting with endless wilderness adventures, too, if such is one's cup of tea.

      Many hugs & happy end of summer wishes,
      ♥ Jessica

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