"I adore simple pleasures...they are the last refuge of the complex"

So, I am a girl of small comforts. Some of the things I love most are the little things in life. It’s weird how some of my most treasured moments are made by just silly details. Let me give you some small examples:


• Sitting in coffee shops, or by a fireplace, or on a window seat, simply enjoying something warm and reading a good book
• Good music crooning in the background of any of said scenes—some that come to mind are Owl City, Norah Jones, Death Cab, Postal Service, John Mayer, Sam Cooke, Michael Bublé, Coldplay, etc….depends on the mood, but generally I like the low key stuff. (P.S. The songs I’ve had stuck in my head for like 2 weeks? Saltwater Room by Owl City and Possibility by Lykke Li. Good stuff). P.S. Does anyone know how to attach music to your posts? I would love to do that if possible....
• Good books in general. Especially if they’re old and have that wonderful, dusty smell. Mmmm. Call me weird, but doesn’t your heart skip a beat in that scene of Beauty and the Beast when he shows her the library? Yes. Don’t lie. It’s a choked up moment and you know it.


• Wine, especially with good company
• Curling up in pjs and watching a movie
• Chocolate, particularly when savored with something like coffee (Have you noticed happiness and food seem to somehow be linked in my mind…hmmmm)
• Sitting and having good talks on a cozy couch—this is something I miss doing with you, mom!
• Wide open spaces. No. Not the Dixie Chicks. But really—there’s something about a field or just a huge meadow that makes you want to run through it like a small child escaping from their kid-leashes.
• Being adventurous/trying new things. I definitely have a life list—somewhat inspired by that movie the Bucket List that I never saw, and somewhat inspired by awesome friends who have just as much of a wanderlust and adventurous spirit as I do. There’s nothing more satisfying than checking off that little box…

• Puppy ears—seriously, I think that’s pretty much the softest thing God created.
• Being outside—sitting and soaking up a sunset, or a beautiful view. This was probably my favorite part of Peru. There was a day on our way to Machu Picchu where we hiked for 2 ½ hours to the little town below the mountain. I seriously had to stop multiple times along the way to just stare at the view. Can’t beat moments like that.
• Hugs
• Being barefoot. Freeeeeddddooooommmm!!!!!



• Water—I’m definitely a beach baby; being around water in pretty much any capacity (no, I’m not talking about standing by the sink or anything), but natural sources of water do something to my heart


I don’t think it’s an exhaustive list…just a few examples. I know these last few posts have been a bit on the discouraging side, so I thought I’d brighten up the page with some things that make me happy (:

Speaking of Peru, I WILL eventually get stories up here.

For those of you who haven’t heard through the grapevine, the “event” I talked about in my first post that had me so upset was that my bag containing my camera, camcorder, and journal was stolen from me on a bus from Ica to Lima. “I’m not happy Bob….not happy”.
It definitely stole some joy from the trip. As my mom said to me later, the enemy knew exactly how to hit me—I express myself, particularly relating to travel, in words and photos. To have both of those mediums stolen from me meant so much more than just having the items themselves gone. To me it felt like the trip had been taken from me—a sentiment I still have to struggle against. All my pictures, my point of view, my personal experience….every story I had written, ticket I had saved, flower I had pressed, drawing I had sketched…all rifled through and thrown away. Ouch.

All that to say, I have very few pictures of the trip itself, and those I do have are the ones taken by my friends. I will still try to share them.
What will be more difficult, and what has kept me from sharing stories thus far, will be remembering the exact order of things and trying to capture the little moments and stories that made the trip what it was. I will definitely try…and I know it doesn’t have to be exact (a perfectionist? ME? Nonsense.) but it’s still hard for me.

Anyway. Another bullet point for that on-going list is traveling—seeing and experiencing new things, meeting new people, stepping outside of my tiny little world long enough to glance at the bigger picture for just a moment or so. Peru was that, and I don’t intend to give into the lie that what I experienced was somehow lessened because some jerk grabbed my bag while I was asleep.

Stories to come.

Hope you can write out your own list too. Sometimes it’s just good to remind yourself of the beautiful things (: