Small Joys: volume 15
It's been a minute since I've posted a Small Joys post-- what better time than in August, my month of reflection and renewal? I'm taking a break from editing and posting our honeymoon photos right now to get a little writing in before work tonight! Hope your Monday is lovely and that the week ahead is filled with small, joy-filled moments that take your breath away in the midst of all the hustling and busy-ness.
No. 1: Freshly made beds. Yes, I'm the person who will make our bed at night just a couple of hours before we climb back into it just so I can feel like the bedroom is clean. My mom raised me to be a bed-maker; we were never allowed to leave for school until our beds were made. Lately, our bed goes unmade due to the fact that Scott sleeps in it at night and then I climb right back into it in the morning coming home from work. He claims that we have too many pillows on our bed and doesn't like having to take them all off at night, so when I'm working I try to leave the bed unmade for him. But oh, how lovely it feels when I have a few days off and can justify having a clean, well-made bed again. I'm writing to you now from the foot of such a freshly made bed, and though I will be napping in a few short hours pre-night shift in it, I am loving the neatness of it for now and am thrilled with how clean it makes our bedroom look. Such a simple thing to bring such happiness.
No. 2: Italian breakfasts. Alright, I'm not going to lie to you. I could eat Nutella-stuffed croissants for every meal of every day. Italy spoiled me with the breakfast pastries and Nutella galore (they serve it like it's butter over there. It's laid out each morning with butter, jam, and other breakfast condiments). Today I made a nice American breakfast filled with homemade breakfast potatoes, Polish sausage, and scrambled eggs, but I'm secretly wanting those delicious Italian croissants and espresso again. In attempting to get back into shape and resume our healthy lifestyle, Nutella and croissants just don't fit into the plan. Ah, what a tragedy.
No. 3: Wedding photos. We've gotten a few sneak peaks at wedding photos from our photographer, Melissa Vega, but I'm so excited to see them in their entirety soon! Here are a few that she's posted online (check her out on Facebook under "The 25th Hour Studio"). She's amazingly talented and so creative, I knew when I decided to use her for our wedding that I wouldn't regret it!
No. 4: Books. Oh, books. I've always been a bit of a bookworm. When I was little, my bedroom was the only one upstairs in our house, but my mom could tell if the light was on from downstairs. I had a small walk-in closet and would stay up late in my closet with the light on reading Harry Potter books (does this shock you, Mom? I'm not sure you knew about this!) so that she couldn't see that I was still awake. Even now, I relish any free time I can find to read books. I'm currently reading... three books, which I typically don't do. I'm reading one for book club (Radical, by David Platt), and even though I haven't been able to make it for the past few Mondays due to honeymooning and working, I've been keeping up and will hopefully return to book club soon for discussion. I started Emily Giffin's new book a few weeks ago called The One and Only, but it was a heavy book to take to Europe, so I left it here and started Beautiful Ruins instead while in Italy. It takes place in a town near Cinque Terre, where we spent the beginning of our honeymoon, so I kind of had fun reading it while I was staying there. One of my favorite bloggers, Annie B. Jones, brought up an idea for long-distance book clubs, so I think I'm making this book part of that. I'm actually participating in two long-distance book clubs now, one called Sisterhood of the Traveling Book Club with my old book club in Raleigh (Susan, Claire, Jordan, and Shannon) and one with my former roommate, Fancy Chancey. Any book recommendations, friends? I joined Goodreads online and have been enjoying going through book recommendations on there, but I always love a recommendation from a friend.
No. 5: 1% milk. I went about 2 weeks without drinking milk while we were on our honeymoon and it was the happiest day for me when I was able to purchase a gallon of milk from the grocery store the day after we got back. Most people drink vino (wine) and l'acqua frizzante (sparkling water) in Italy, but I didn't see milk in many places we went to. I drink milk daily and sometimes twice a day when I'm home, but while there I didn't really notice that I was missing it so much. When I got home and poured my first glass of cold milk, it was heavenly. I realized then just how much I need milk to be a part of my life.
No. 6: Handwritten notes. I did my best to keep notes on our trip to Italy while things were going on, but sometimes I didn't do so well with this. Now that I'm back, I'm trying to go through the notes to see what I missed about our days there. I have a stash of pen-pal letters that I forgot to mail pre-honeymoon, so I'm working on getting those out this week and starting new ones for pen pals old and new. I'm going international with pen pal letters this fall, and it looks like I'll be writing to my dear friend Rebecca (who is in the Peace Corps in El Salvador) as well as some friends in Europe. I found this picture on my phone when I was going through our honeymoon pictures and wanted to share it. Apparently I get my love of journaling and writing from my grandmother, who kept a journal we never knew about while she was living. I love this excerpt because it briefly mentions the first time she ever met Scott (if you can't read it, it says "Cristina left on Monday. Got to meet her boyfriend, Scott (nice guy)."). Yesterday would have been this sweet lady's birthday, and in honor of her, I'm going to continue to write letters to friends and in my own journal about life happenings.
No. 1: Freshly made beds. Yes, I'm the person who will make our bed at night just a couple of hours before we climb back into it just so I can feel like the bedroom is clean. My mom raised me to be a bed-maker; we were never allowed to leave for school until our beds were made. Lately, our bed goes unmade due to the fact that Scott sleeps in it at night and then I climb right back into it in the morning coming home from work. He claims that we have too many pillows on our bed and doesn't like having to take them all off at night, so when I'm working I try to leave the bed unmade for him. But oh, how lovely it feels when I have a few days off and can justify having a clean, well-made bed again. I'm writing to you now from the foot of such a freshly made bed, and though I will be napping in a few short hours pre-night shift in it, I am loving the neatness of it for now and am thrilled with how clean it makes our bedroom look. Such a simple thing to bring such happiness.
No. 2: Italian breakfasts. Alright, I'm not going to lie to you. I could eat Nutella-stuffed croissants for every meal of every day. Italy spoiled me with the breakfast pastries and Nutella galore (they serve it like it's butter over there. It's laid out each morning with butter, jam, and other breakfast condiments). Today I made a nice American breakfast filled with homemade breakfast potatoes, Polish sausage, and scrambled eggs, but I'm secretly wanting those delicious Italian croissants and espresso again. In attempting to get back into shape and resume our healthy lifestyle, Nutella and croissants just don't fit into the plan. Ah, what a tragedy.
Our FAVORITE Italian cafe for breakfast
in Florence: Scudieri. For 5 euro we could
each enjoy a cafe Americano and a Nutella-stuffed
croissant with chocolate sprinkles on top.
No. 3: Wedding photos. We've gotten a few sneak peaks at wedding photos from our photographer, Melissa Vega, but I'm so excited to see them in their entirety soon! Here are a few that she's posted online (check her out on Facebook under "The 25th Hour Studio"). She's amazingly talented and so creative, I knew when I decided to use her for our wedding that I wouldn't regret it!
Photo credit: Melissa Ashley Vega
Photo credit: Melissa Ashley Vega
No. 5: 1% milk. I went about 2 weeks without drinking milk while we were on our honeymoon and it was the happiest day for me when I was able to purchase a gallon of milk from the grocery store the day after we got back. Most people drink vino (wine) and l'acqua frizzante (sparkling water) in Italy, but I didn't see milk in many places we went to. I drink milk daily and sometimes twice a day when I'm home, but while there I didn't really notice that I was missing it so much. When I got home and poured my first glass of cold milk, it was heavenly. I realized then just how much I need milk to be a part of my life.
No. 6: Handwritten notes. I did my best to keep notes on our trip to Italy while things were going on, but sometimes I didn't do so well with this. Now that I'm back, I'm trying to go through the notes to see what I missed about our days there. I have a stash of pen-pal letters that I forgot to mail pre-honeymoon, so I'm working on getting those out this week and starting new ones for pen pals old and new. I'm going international with pen pal letters this fall, and it looks like I'll be writing to my dear friend Rebecca (who is in the Peace Corps in El Salvador) as well as some friends in Europe. I found this picture on my phone when I was going through our honeymoon pictures and wanted to share it. Apparently I get my love of journaling and writing from my grandmother, who kept a journal we never knew about while she was living. I love this excerpt because it briefly mentions the first time she ever met Scott (if you can't read it, it says "Cristina left on Monday. Got to meet her boyfriend, Scott (nice guy)."). Yesterday would have been this sweet lady's birthday, and in honor of her, I'm going to continue to write letters to friends and in my own journal about life happenings.
No. 7: No-bake treats. I never got on board with no-bake desserts when this were becoming popular. But after a visit home, I'm game. My sister-in-law had these no-bake energy bites that Scott and I thought were delicious and pretty healthy, and we've been making them ever since. I take a couple to work (one for my late-night, 2200 snack, and another for the morning around 5 or 6 to hold me over for the rest of the shift) and Scott snacks on them instead of some unhealthier treats that I sometimes keep around. I highly recommend this recipe to anyone who is looking for a somewhat healthy snack or dessert item. Here is the link to the no-bake energy bites.
No. 8: Gossip Girl. This is possibly super lame that I'm admitting this, but I've been watching this show for weeks on Netflix and can't seem to stop. I HAVE to know what happens with Chuck and Blair. I used to follow the show in late high school and early college, but then I just kind of stopped watching TV for a while and paid too much attention to nursing school books. I keep Gossip Girl on now any time that I am cleaning, doing laundry, cooking, etc. It's nice background noise and maybe I'm more invested than I should be in the characters. I feel like they are my friends now, which is admittedly sad for someone who is still trying to meet real friends in a new-ish city.
No. 9: Studying. That's right. I like to study. I like school. I've been thinking about school a little bit lately, but I'm not sure if I'll go through with applying quite yet or where I would even apply, but it's on the mind. My actual studies have been for my Med/Surg Certification exam, which I'm hoping to take either later this fall or early next spring. I got a little behind on studying while in Italy so it all depends on how quickly I get myself back on track (are you wondering how I'll do that with all of the Gossip Girl episodes and books to read? I'm wondering this, too!). I think I'm meant to be a lifetime student, though. I really do love studying and miss syllabi, freshly sharpened pencils, school supply shopping, etc.
No. 10: Colorful running shoes. I miss running so much and feel so sluggish without it. I put on my bright colored running shoes the other day to run some errands and realized just how much my feet missed them. My goal this fall is to work my way back up to running longer distances. I'm hoping Indy weather is better than Wilmington weather for this; our relatively cooler summer gives me hope for long runs through the city this fall. Any Indy friends interested in running with me? I miss my old running buddy, Shannon, more than I can possibly express. We would make an event of it-- catching up with one another while running through the beautiful roads in Chapel Hill, enjoying coffee after. I'm looking for someone to do this with in Indy and would welcome anyone who is interested! I'm a slow runner, 10 minute miles are my jam.
Lots of love and joy to you this week, sweet friends. Set some fun and challenging goals for August and get to them, the month is already 4 days old!
Grace & peace,
C.
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