ride'em cowboy...

we're home

~

after leaving florida just a bit earlier then planned

{my prayers and thoughts to all the families affected by the tornadoes}

we're safely back in wisconsin

have you ever driven seventeen hours straight through from point A to point B.

for some reason we pride ourselves on the ability to do just that. 

granted, we stop for gas and potty breaks and this time we even stopped to switch drivers,

but normally my hubby does all the driving {i think he's part truck driver} and we just go. 

i have to say though, that driving the last leg, which fell from midnight to 6am, 

{the first time we've done that and even took turns}

is brutal and produces zombies that slightly resembled us.

so we beat the storms and arrived home just hours before mother nature gifted us with five inches of heavy, white snow. personally, since i got to spend six weeks in florida, i think she did that just to play the na.na.na.na.boo.boo game with me.

today was over sixty degrees. freaky.

now i'm kind of in a nesting mode. 

cleaning, organizing, re-doing and decorating. an early "spring fever" perhaps.

so all of my beachside daydreams are put to rest for now

{i mean i'm still dreaming, just not with my feet in the sand}

and my smile, well that never really changes no matter where i am.

*

what's wrong with these photos....

two nights before we left florida

and

headed for home

this is the sunset mother nature blessed us with

and

then after being home only three days

this is the wisconsin reality she threw in our faces

~

actually i think mother nature must have a new

highly under qualified

assistant

that has a mean streak and was fired from his last job

working for her temporarily

{we can only hope}

~

anyhow

the sunset photo above is untouched

{straight out of the camera}

and

honestly

the sky was that orange

~

and

the snow photo

{also straight out of the camera}

well

it has been touched

and

crumpled

and

torn into tiny pieces

stomped on

and

burned

~

what

i'm not bitter

i'm not

~

seriously

i "savored" the entire minute it took for that photo to go up in flames

*

it's simple...

i "savored" january

and

in savoring i realized how simple life can be

and

how simply i can live

~

most of you know i spent the month of january in florida. and to tell you that i tried to savor everyday would be an understatement. i not only savored my time there. i sucked it up until it oozed back out of my pores. these are the photos to prove it.

in living simply, i didn't miss any of my "stuff" at home.

all the little things i buy or save that fill up a corner here or a spot on a shelf over there. the stuff that has to be dusted constantly. nope. i didn't miss any of it.

i didn't miss all the clothes and shoes that were still in my closet that i didn't take with me. i liked having only options a, b and c when it came to choosing what t-shirt to wear on any given day. the rest of the alphabet options are really unnecessary.

~

standing on the beach multiple times a day seeing how the color of the water constantly changed, was all i needed to be happy. rubbing sand off the bottom of my feet before getting into bed every night, no matter how often i swept the hardwood floors, became a habit i loved.

~

i learned that sitting in the warmth of the sun for the sake of doing nothing else, is never a waste of time. and that walking miles and miles a day through an ever changing environment kept me focused. focused on just how simply i could live.

~

really. how many lipsticks does a woman need to be happy. my new answer. one. even with my love of face creams. i only packed one. so no decisions had to be made after i washed my face at night. do you have any idea how freeing that kind of thing is. very.

~

as soon as we got home. before i unpacked my suitcase. i cleaned out my closet. i filled two huge garbage bags that are now ready to go to good-will. and that feels amazing.

and that's just the beginning.

the rest of the house is going to get an overhaul too. mostly those drawers and closets that tend to almost grow things when you're not looking. you know what i mean.

you go into your junk drawer to find batteries and an hour later you're all like "wow. i forgot we had this and what cord does this go to and why do i have 4 screwdrivers that are all the same size" and when you finish rummaging, you walk away with a magnetic key holder for under your car and forget that you were looking for batteries in the first place.

~

so i was thinking that maybe simple or simply or simplify would have to my new word for the year since that's what i feel like i'm doing. but i wouldn't have gotten to this point without savoring everything the past month. so i will keep "savor" and i will keep savoring everything life wants to throw at me.

granted. my expectations are a bit high after an amazing start. but maybe sometimes that all we need. a whole lot of good in order to savor everything else that comes our way.

~

and

now to my hubby. thank you for giving me a gift that i will never forget. thank you for everything and i mean everything you did in order for me to have the time of my life.

just like dirty dancing. i really owe it all to you.

and

these photos you took of me. wow.

thank you. thank you for seeing me the way i truly am and letting me be me.

authentically me. the me that only you can bring out. the me that only you know.

*