I Own a Rug

I'm a millennial.  I cringe to admit that fact, however,  being born in 1990 places me smack in the middle of the 80s-99 babies. 

I did not grow up with generation X parents like the majority of my peers.  My parents are Baby boomers and I was an oops (They have assured me I'm a very loved and welcome oops)

My formative years happened in a rural community with very traditional "John Wayne-esque" values. 

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Stand for what you believe in.

Work hard and earn your own way.

The fewer words spoken, the better.

Deep patriotism

Whining is for the lazy and the coward.

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Sometimes I stand in awe of my peers and how they...

• not only receive, but demand financial aid from parents well after college.
• fail to see the harm in being late to work (it's cheating the man who is paying you to do a job in case you're wondering)
• who don't vote (my brain atrophies after hearing those explanations) 

Sometimes I really really really hate being a millennial because I get lumped in with that lot.

However

There are many levels where I'm right there with my peers.

#adulting is a real thing.  

I'm not sure if the arrival of social media during our lives, giving us the ability to divulge every nuance of live has caused this, but somehow it seems as tho previous generations didn't fail as much.  They just kind of became adults and had babies and houses and tons of debt and everything was trucking right along sans catastrophe.  This goal/weight of achievement over our heads just adds to the pressure of scraping our way up the slimy, obstacle ridden incline to "responsible adulthood" (insert dramatic music) Whatever that means.

Perhaps it's because so many of my generation received awards for merely showing up to a soccer game let alone winning but we seem to have this communal struggle and subsequent irrational joy of succeeding in the basics of adulthood. Example: taxes, getting engine oil changed, paying bills on time, keeping food in the refrigerator, acquiring a home via rent or purchase and taking care of it. 

I did not grow up getting trophies for existing but I still feel a great deal of pride catching the bus back to MY OWN home from the market with toilet paper and hand soap in my giant IKEA bag.  

They say it's the little success right?

Sometimes I feel quite good about how adult I am.  But remember how I said when I moved I realized I don't own pillows or towels? Yeah that was a blow to ye 'olde self esteem. 

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Today added a big old notch in my adulting belt.

I bought a rug.

Not a bath mat.  That's college kid level.  

No, I am the proud owner of a runner.

A long grey, jute runner that starts at my front door and travels 8 ft. into my kitchen.

It looks like an adult lives here who may have some of her act together! 

An adult who understands that a long sheet of fibrous material between door and abode will keep the dirt and PNW moisture out of my living space.

A mature individual with a sophisticated monochrome decorating scheme.  (Grey's and whites? How Scandinavian chic)

A wizened member of society who stood gazing at this new member of her apartment feeling quite pleased with herself while eating Trader Joe's brand cheerios directly out of the box because someone forgot to buy almond milk...four days ago.

#realtalk

Home Tour: Seattle Micro Apartment

Welp I learned during this move that I did not own any adult furniture.  I have always lived in and rented places that were furnished.  College apartments contained beds and tables and a couch and chairs and desks.  I've since then rented from people who already have their houses set-up and I simply lived in a bedroom and borrowed the rest of the house.  

That era has ended.  Hurray!  Not that I fail to appreciate how kind people have been to me...but I've longed to sit in MY chair by MY table in the home for which I've paid and chosen all the accoutrements for.

Well I didn't have a table, or a chair, but I paid for a key and a door to lock behind me.  My own home.

These photos are the start....

A bare room with my possessions scattered about.  Target bags and Ikea instructions littering the floor.  A solo heater in the corner because snow.

After a great deal of shuffling and organizational elbow grease my home is happily livable! Not just livable though, cozy and sweet and full of details that bring me joy.

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The Finished Product

After a trip to my parents to pick up all the plates, cups, bowls, whisks, and Pampered Chef items I have been storing for years waiting for this moment...I finally had all the amenities to make my wee apartment a home for one.

I have had to learn how to live small (which I love) and to practice my generally minimalist philosophies.  

Not easy but quite simple :) I keep what I use, need, and find value in.

The backsplash is one of my favorite things, that subway tile tho :) Also the awesome giant cutting board from IKEA fits across my sink to give me more counter space for food prep.  

The string lights are one of my favorite ways to light a room.  So soft and bright!  My chairs have been acquired over the last month to my pleasure.  The wooden chair was my great grandmother's which I was gifted over Christmas, and the bamboo chair was a consignment store sale find.  The mismatched charachter and charm makes my space feel lived in and on-purpose.

My essential oils case is so pretty I leave it out :) 

Storage is a trick in a tiny space.  This little cart from IKEA is my pantry and tea/coffee station.

My clothing collection stays well curated since it's totally visible at all times!

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These are just the little bits that bring me joy.

 I'm still fine tuning my home

but realistically, who isn't?

Holidays at the Ranch

"Oh there's no place like home for the holidays..."

Since moving to Washington over a year ago, I've only seen my family twice since last Christmas.  

Being a wandering soul and adventurer comes at a bit of a cost.

But I have NEVER missed a Christmas.  

After I worked Christmas Eve I jumped in my truck and turned my wheels southward for 6 hours and East for about 45 minutes until I was rolling into the 160 year old driveway I grew up on.

My parents are so cute, even though I had told them to go to sleep and I'd just sneak in really late and see them in the morning, there they were...half asleep on the couch when I walked in.  Parents of adult children or not they still wait up! :) 

I won't drag on about how great it was to see everyone and do things...so here's the highlights...

• Spending Christmas day up in the snow as is tradition.  The sun was blazing and beautiful and we had an amazing time
• Frosting cookies with my 2 year old nephew.  He sat on my lap for 30 minutes patiently decorating.  The bells are his favorite! :)
• Watching my parents with my nephew.  Mom reading him stories on the couch (he adores her as he should) and Dad sneaking him cookies from the adult table (two mischievous boys)
• Cooking a birthday dinner for my Big Brother with the help of the talented and marvelously 39 weeks pregnant Sweet Sister-in-Law who is the most amazing impromptu winging it cook I have ever known!

I love my family dearly. We have differences and have distance but I am so proud to say I belong to them :) 

I Moved!

...and not to Canada, silly. 

Nope I now live in Seattle proper!  Or I will by tonight.  

Today is moving day!

For the last year I've been in the burbs living with a family member and enjoying cheap rent.

But there is a time when one needs ones own space and one must also stand on one's own feet entirely.

I'm one.

Actually I'm 26.  

But you get the idea.

Pictures to follow soon of the mayhem that is my wee apartment and my challenge to truly live that minimalist lifestyle I find so wildly attractive!  

Ok enough of this sitting in Starbucks, I have to go pay for my rental insurance and pick up my keys and start creating...

MY OWN HOME!

Go Vote

It's the presidential election tomorrow, we all know that.  But there are a lot of other things on that ballot besides the office of president.  Measures and senators and repeals and fundings.

 I'm not going to get political here and say who to vote for or things to consider. That's on you.

What I want to say is go out and vote.  

Do it.

I'm shocked by how many of my peers that simply do not care or are too lazy to register or drop off a ballot or even educate themselves by googling the candidates names.

Ladies less than 100 years ago we didn't even have the right to vote.  Or hold property.  Or retain custody of children. Or work in a capacity more than a secretary.

The ease of life you now know as a woman is due to people voting over the decades on your behalf.  

By not voting you are telling the next generations that you simply don't care about them because heck, you don't even care enough about yourself or your future to check a box.

Oh, but I bet you'll have strong opinions and voice them the next 4 years....even though you did absolutely nothing to contribute.

Vote or zip it for 4 years.

That's all I have to say.

#imnotwrong

Fall is a sneaky snake

Why is it mid October?  What happened?

Pretty sure I was knocked in the head and am suddenly have a Jason Bourne experience except much less violent. 

What did I do in the two months I didn't post?

Well I mostly worked my little tuchus off(Yiddish slang for butt) this summer.  Much, much, much, more work than I'd anticipated due to other people at my job taking off large portions of time.  I'm not mad about it because now that fall is here...

(my favorite time of year)

( yes I'm that basic)

...I am taking MY time off!

Conclusion is... I'm going to be posting more adventurey things here in the future as well as my studies in medicinal herbs paired with my continued education in essential oils!  Also the DIY things I so love to do! (Can we say home made SPF makeup?)

I've done several outdoor excursions this summer on my wee days off so thats coming up soon!

Also did a teensy bit of traveling here in the states. Mainly one road trip across the top of the US to the MidWest and some mountain biking/hiking/outdoorsying in Colorado!  

If you don't already follow me on instagram, that's the best way to keep up with me when I'm not posting here as much!

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Oh boy have I missed writing here and I'm so excited to get back into the swing of things!

Birks and Socks

Recently I was having one of "those" days.

Where you pick up your tote bag on your way to rush out the door only to accidentally drop one handle and the whole bag spills half on the entry floor and half in the carport and you realize that the lid to your Nalgene wasn't screwed on all the way and the whole contents of your bag, books included, are soaked.

One of those days where a long series of event's and tiny moments all go awry and add up to a chaotic brainspace and anxious mood.

Cut to me driving to work and realizing to my utter horror....

I'm wearing socks and birkenstocks. 

Not just socks....hand knit recycled fabric socks that are wild colors like a Puruvian blanket...

...with my floral birkenstocks.

The clash could not be more real.  

The haphazard aura surrounding me could not be more vivid.

After getting gas, picking up my mail,  and fighting Front Street traffic to get to work, I sat in the parking lot...hands still on the wheel mentally berated myself.

"Geez Louise, Talcott. Well played.  Adult much? Good one.  Reeeeaallll classy."

One may elaborate that I banged my head a few times on the steering wheel for good measure.

But then....

as if a switch was flipped...

I changed my dialogue.

"No.  You know what? I'm wearing happy colored socks made by people who care for the environment and guess what? I do too!! Oh and my Birks? Yeah they are pretty amazing.  They make my feet feel good and what is so wrong with that. Nothing? That's right.  

Why should I knock myself for wearing ethical socks and sandals that are like therapy for my feet?

I shouldn't.  These socks and birks mean I won today.  And every day."  

With that that I gave a Mary Poppins curt nod of my head, swapped to my work shoes, and headed in to my job with a bounce in my step.

Sometimes we can have days that go wrong.  Every little thing seems wrong, wrong, wrong. 

We feel deflated.

Beaten.

Haggard.

Discouraged.

Fed up.

But we can change that feeling if we change our dialogue!

Maybe you did burn lunch,

and put a red towel in with the white sheets,

and get a library fine late payment notice,

and vacuum up your cell charger cord,

and open a backpack that spilled pine needles all over your just vacuumed floor,

and erased your camera card with all your future blog post photos...

However,

That just means you are aware of your nutrition and are making home cooked meals! What a champ!

Red towel? Well at least it's all clean!  And baby pink sheets are kinda cute....ish.

You clever dog.  You've got a library card like a super smart kid who reads a lot.  Intellectual giant you are!

Hey...you were doing house cleaning.  How responsible!

Pine needles in your backpack?  Yeah you adventurous Robinson Crusoe you!  That's basically the fairy dust of an explorer! 

The camera card really blows but hey! You have a chance to make your pictures even better next time!  Creatives make failures into triumphs!

See what I did there?  You can too!

You can put a positive spin on pretty much any flop. It may seem ludicrous or laughable but that's ok! Laugh!  Enjoy the irony!

You don't have to feel 100% phenomenal but you can change a downward spiral into...dare I say it...a character building opportunity? Yeah I said it.

Practice being okay with the "Birks and socks" in your days. Once you do...you'll realize...

"My feet feel amazing!"