My happy place

Here are some pretty tree pictures... again I apologise for not having their links... they have been stored in a folder for some months, please feel free to claim them if they are yours.

My last 3 posts have been about my trivial tribulations ... my sincere apologies. Today has been a beautiful and reflective day, I have done my yoga practice, made our meals with intention (not breaking any dietary guidelines), fine tuned a few more of the details regarding my trip and grounded. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I am a blessed soul who lives in abundance in many forms... so today I just want to express a little gratitude.

I have 2 beautiful families, I have found my true love, I have my health, I have opportunities and potential, I have dreams and accomplishments, I have memories and stories to tell, I am grateful.

Today over lunch, The wondering wanderer pondered over the ridiculous human tendency to take things for granted. I am pretty sure we all do this to some degree, maybe some more then others. Do we take what we have for granted because we are constantly desiring more, do we no longer see what it right before us because we always have our eye on the next prize? I don't think it is wrong, especially in our youth to have goals and dreams, but I do think we do ourselves a disfavor by not appreciating what we have already and what we have already done.

Sitting inside with the best husband in the world, eating our hot veggie soup, while a freezing, Siberian wind howled and rattled around our house, I felt quite comforted that there wasn't anything else I wanted right then. So here (for me) is a list of things I am grateful for, in no particular order...

family, the best husband in the world, trees, trees, summer, avocados, juicy~ dribble down your face fruit, red wine, yoga, sunsets, sleep ins, candle light, harmonica music, acoustic guitars, marmite, good books, pretty pictures, hot baths, chai tea, paper cups, bunting, butterscotch flavors, men with beards, old cars, surfer boys,trees, charity stores, Winnie the poo, henna paintings, sun dappled patches of earth, cheesecake, twilight, incense, the colour green, organic clothes, traveling, trees, photographs, soup, ugg boots, old jeans, cuddling, tear jerkers, picnics, braais (bbq's), fresh air, open space, the beach, little hands and feet (obviously not me... I appreciate them on little people), laughing, smiling, tickles, kites, sail boats, fairy lights, snowmen, origami cranes, flowers, bicycles, vanilla, long walks, smiles on strangers, holding hands.

That's today's list.

Incidental Lovin' ....

There are naturally, a whole lot of obvious reasons why I should be feeling good about my little life overhaul, no one can dispute the joys of good health and (relatively) guilt free living. We cannot dispute it, but I think everyone I know would have to admit to taking it for granted. The only time we really appreciate our health is when it suddenly fails us a little, and then suddenly not having a sore throat, runny nose or some other (minor or major) ailment becomes central in our day to day existence. At the risk of sounding a bit like a sermonizer, learning to love what we've got (as opposed to hankering after more) is an art, appreciating the simple things, finding joy in the now, being zen... these little ingredients for content living all make perfect sense on paper but aren't always a piece of cake, (.... mmm cake), in reality, especially when you are enforcing an element of deprivation to your life. However, besides the afore mentioned obvious benefits, there have been a multitude of teeny, tiny little things that have sprung to my awareness over that last week that have stretched a smile across my face. Little pieces of incidental love that have made what would have ordinarily been a mundane moment, an "Oooo I need a photo of that" moment. I have loved standing in the little pool of morning sunlight that pours into our kitchen window to rinse the greens that go into our juice. I love how our dish rack looks fresh and alive with it's green occupants and that we almost never have to use soap to wash the dishes anymore because everything just rinses clean. I love how my fruit bowl is a perpetual mass of overflowing color. I love how my shopping bag looks more like a country bouquet with all the leaves spilling out. I love how most of our trash is biodegradable (desperately need to restart the compost heap again though). I wallow in what has become our little morning routine of lying in the sun upstairs and grazing our fruity breakfast together. I love the simplicity that has become meal planning. Simple things, I know, but lovely things that make me smile, lovely things that I am grateful for :~)