Good Month

Hey friends! How are you? Are you celebrating the holidays? If you are, are you making sure to check-in and enjoy the moments? I hope so! We’re not planning on celebrating Christmas over here. (You guys know this) but we’re thinking we might do pizza on Christmas day for our own celebration/family tradition. We did it a few years when Alex and I first got back together. Then we stopped after I got sick. But I think we’re going to pick it up again this year. In a gluten-free, vegan way of course 🙂

Or maybe we’ll celebrate via Alex’s ethnicity and go to the movies and eat Chinese food, haha. Except not really because I don’t actually like the movies… or Chinese food. I mean, I need to try authentic Chinese food before I make that statement. But I do know, for certain, that I do not like Americanized Chinese food. Anyway, I’m sure whatever we do it’ll be a great day. I’ve come to find that I really enjoy this season so much more now that we took away the expectations and the traditional idea of what we’re *supposed* to feel, do, and celebrate. Ya know?

This season has been so lax for us. We’ve had a really, really good month over here. We did get some germs from Marlowe’s school. That was fun (nope). I guess it’s to be expected? Maybe? If I’m being honest, we’re pretty surprised. She went three years without one illness, not even a cold. Went to the other side of the world and back. Spent months on end in central America. And only ever got sick once, from a water-borne bacteria, and nothing else. But then we threw her in school and we got all the visits from the germs, haha. But still, it’s been a good month. A few days of snot cant keep us down.

This last weekend felt extra special. Alex got the weekend off, magically, at the last minute. And since we all know full and well, a weekend off won’t happen again for a long, longgggg time, we took advantage of it. We packed up the car and headed north for an overnight. It’s funny when we travel now…. one little suitcase for clothes and a large cooler and bag set up for food. Oh and our water filter too. And we’re set to go. We can end up pretty much anywhere and know we’ll be fed and have clean water. It’s pretty enjoyable.

Well, after an adventure day spent in the Orlando area I convinced Alex to skip the turnpike and take the long way home. Now, I’ve always been a “take the long way home” kind of gal. I think I got that from my dad. I like to take some off road and see where I end up. Alex though? Not so much. He was pretty skeptical when I said we should take the road east to the ocean and drive home from there. After all, it does add an hour+ to the trip (depending on which road you take south.)

But he did it. He agreed to my suggestion and we headed east. We made it to the ocean and took the long scenic road home. Well, almost home. I told Marlowe and Alex about the time I took the long way home, maybe 13 years ago or so, and saw a beautiful inlet. That day I kept driving but made a mental note to one day visit that space again. Well, 13 years later, it happened. We approached the Sebastian inlet and got off the road. First, we checked out the beachside east of the bridge. And while it was definitely beautiful, Marlowe and I voted for the intercoastal side to the west. The water was calmer, the breeze was milder, and it felt different than home.

On the intercoastal side, we filled up our water bottles, unloaded our cooler, and made make-shift salads on the picnic table. The intention was to make salads in a hotel we stayed in, but it never happened. And while it’s obviously easier to prepare meals at home (or in a hotel kitchenette space), there was no reason we couldn’t make it work… even on a picnic table in a recycled plastic lettuce tub. So we made it work. It wasn’t perfect, but it was great.

(Ps. This has, without a doubt, been one of our favorite salads lately. We eat it ALL the time. I hope to share a recipe with you guys soon. And hey, it’s so easy, you can prep it and make it anywhere!)

We enjoyed our time in the warm, but not too hot sunshine before packing up and heading home with the early winter setting sun. We would have stayed much longer, but school calls for Marlowe every Monday. And there’s no way she’s missing it… I couldn’t pull her away if I tried. She loves it so much.

Alex is a planner and I try to lean into that as much as I can, but man, I just enjoy the go with the flow energy of life so much more. We planned just enough (mostly the food aspect), but everything else was up in the air in a “let’s see what happens” mode. It was unarguably perfect. The three of us had the best weekend. The best month. And really, it’s been a really good year.

I feel like I’ve been somewhat absent here, and everywhere in the online world. My phone was tucked away and off this whole weekend. And with good reason. And I’m finding that happening more and more these days. Mostly due to failing battery life on my phone and a deep belief that I upgrading my phone goes against everything I want right now. I’m happy being checked in to real life and the people around me first and everywhere else second. I’m just so grateful for some good un-plugged time together this season. It’s been all I could ask for and more.

Ps. I saw a shooting star the night before. It felt like magic. I think it was.