Ice Day(s)

Typically I'm not a huge fan of winter or snow, for that matter. I can go for one good snow and then I'm over it, but this year I was praying hard for a big snow (kind of a joke since we live in Wilmington, but hey, a girl can dream!). The forecast a few days before was calling for a BIG snow here ... like 5+ inches, but as it got closer the forecast began to change to more ice and less snow.

I prepared just in case and stocked up on my weeks groceries on Sunday night. Tuesday we waited ALL day for something to happen & not much did until that night. Schools were out on Tuesday because the weathermen had said it would start early Tuesday morning. Will & I walked down to the park near our house and took a few before shots just in case something did happen. By Tuesday evening, it was sleeting and began to accumulate pretty quickly. We had a potluck dinner over at our friends house (they live two houses down) and I made English pasties (a tradition on the Nichols side of my family).  It was such a blast hanging out with them that night and eating dinner together! Living in this neighborhood is so fun & we love that we can just walk over to friends' houses and share food on cold nights.

Wednesday morning everything was covered in about an inch or so of ice. Our neighbors came over for some homemade cinnamon rolls that I made and we sat by the fire. I so enjoyed my day off from school! We mostly just relaxed, read books, walked to the park and watched kids sled etc. One of my favorite parts about the day was watching all the kids in our neighborhood attempt to sled on the tiniest hills ever. None of them had sleds because, well, we live at the beach, so everyone was using boogie boards. It was so great & reminded me of all the great times we had growing up sledding down our street.

Our little house looked so cute with some white stuff on it & the neighborhood looked so peaceful (even if it was just ice). We took Clyde out to experience it & he absolutely hated it. Anytime you pick him up and walk towards a window or door, he now freaks out and scrambles out of your arms. Guess he's a summertime boy.

Schools were out yesterday and are out again today too (4 days off!). The ice is melting quickly, now that the sun is finally out and the temperature has risen. We're starting to go a little stir crazy at this point, but it was fun to stay in and spend time with friends for a few days. Last night, Will and I broke out a deck of cards and played a few games, then watched a movie on the laptop in bed. It's been a dreamy few days and definitely a break from reality. We southerners love a good snow ice so that we can shut things down for a few days and spend some time with our family and friends. Now that I've had my one "snow," I'm looking at you, spring. We're ready for ya!

Spiritual Glaucoma

Ever stepped back for a moment and realized that you've been so focused on your own life, problems and day-to-day occurrences that you've missed so much? Yep, I'm guilty too. Sometimes we get so caught up in what is not going right for us that we miss what IS going right for others. We miss the big picture and forget that we are part of a much larger story; we're just a tiny piece of that story.

At church yesterday, our pastor was talking about spiritual glaucoma. Glaucoma causes damage to the optic nerve due to a buildup of pressure in the eye. Without treatment, people with glaucoma can start to lose their peripheral vision. Look at this example.

See how it narrows the vision? Well, imagine that in your own life. Spiritual glaucoma. I know I've experienced it. Being so focused on myself and my issues that I miss so much. He read Malachi 1:1-5 and talked about the people that Malachi was addressing and how they had begun to experience this glaucoma. They had been told to simply wait for the Lord, but they were sick of waiting and were unable to see the bigger story that the Lord was creating. In their minds, the Lord did not appear to love them because their vision had been so narrowed and they had grown tired of waiting. 

Don't we all grow tired of waiting? I know I definitely do. Waiting on the next big event, waiting on this to change ... and so forth. If we can expand our vision and treat this glaucoma, we can see the larger picture and be reminded that yes, big things are happening all around us and although you personally may be in a period of waiting, you must wait faithfully & joyfully. 

What a great reminder for this Monday morning. A tough and difficult one, but so necessary. 

Five.

Five things on this cold Saturday morning:

ONE:
We visited Cameron Art Museum here in Wilmington for a little midweek date. It's a goal of mine to explore our city and since it was 20 degrees & I was off work, we decided to hit up the local museum. We saw an exhibition called Art Among Friends which featured paintings and artwork from America created between 1880 and 1940. We really enjoyed it! Also, our museum has a cafe that features local food so we stopped in for lunch & had delicious BLT sandwiches. 

TWO:
I made brown butter donuts with chocolate icing & rainbow sprinkles this week for our new neighbors (and Will sampled). They were delicious and the donut part had a little bit of nutmeg in it, which brought out a unique flavor. I found the recipe here on one of my favorite baking blogs. I highly recommend ALL of her recipes!

THREE:

Y'all, it may snow. In Wilmington. Maybe... but let's be honest probably not. I'm praying HARD. The forecast looked like this yesterday for the upcoming week. (although I just looked a minute ago and they've already reduced the accumulation amount). I've become my Dad and am so excited about the potential of snow that I can't handle it. Checking the forecast every few hours for updates has become a normal thing. I just want one snow!!

FOUR:

Our office at the house is starting to come together & I'm loving it! I'm typically not a work-at-a-desk type of person, but it's so bright and inviting that I can't resist. Also, this room seems to get the warmest because it has a lot of sunlight pouring in all day so sometimes I just go sit at my desk for warmth. 

FIVE:

This picture has me aching to travel. Wanna hop on a plane with me tomorrow? 

Little Cottage

I still haven't taken any decent pictures  of the inside of the house, but here's a sneak peak at the front! We are in love with this neighborhood and are so thankful that this house opened up at just the right time.

Please take note of the incredibly cute mailbox. I remember when we looked at the house I noticed the mailbox and thought, "I hope that isn't the current renter's." It makes getting bills so much more exciting. 

Alright, that's all I've got for now. I'll add more soon (hopefully!).

Comfort & Predictability

I'm sitting in a coffee shop filling the awkward time between school and tutoring. I'd hoped to get lots of schoolwork done, knock out some lesson plans, create some quizzes, but it seems like that's not quite happening. I made one quiz... that counts for something, right?

I'm reminded of those glorious college days where my roommates and I would drive a half mile to a coffee shop (sad statement on our laziness) and snag a big table to "get work done." In reality, our studying looked a lot like coffee drinking and chatting about every detail of life (probably making a scene while other people were actually trying to do work), but every once and a while we'd get a little work done and act productive. I can remember senior year sitting at a table with some of my roommates, searching for jobs like maniacs and complaining about how hard life can be. HA! Hilarious in hindsight. We were "ready for the real world," yet scared of the unknown. 

It's funny when you stop and think about the ebb and flow of life. How we go from comfortable times where we're just bee-boppin along and life is pretty great to times where change is so common and the familiar seems distant. I feel like I was in that comfort zone during college (or at least the second half of college) and then entered the crazy, full-of-changes part of life right after. Life felt pretty unsettled after moving to a new city and only knowing a few people, not to mention that my job felt unfitting. I was lacking friends where I could truly be myself and meaningful work to fill my time. It's just as of recently that I realized I've reached that sweet part of life where life is sailing along again. 

Will and I have been married for a year and half and we're in a groove. We've been lucky that that came right away, but I can see that with a year under our belt we are learning how to love each other better and better each day. We're blessed with wonderful friends and I'm happy to have a close-knit group of people to trust in town (I've still got wonderful friends all over the state & country who love me so well, but it's nice knowing I have folks close by too). Work is challenging, yet incredibly rewarding, not to mention I have the dreamiest schedule ever. It allows me time to volunteer and mentor and gives Will & I a little flexibility while he is working. Will has found a niche job and loves what he does. As of now, film work is still flowing into Wilmington & for that, we are so incredibly thankful.

I know that there is good in both the comfortable times of life and in changes, but for now I'm enjoying this stage of life. It won't always be like this, I'm well aware so I will enjoy it before the next roller coaster ride begins. Life is ridiculously crazy, but as I've gotten older, I've learned to soak in the calm days because I know they will not always be around. Some may say predictable is boring, but I'm pretty pleased with it right now.

2014

January is flying by and we're already almost into February! I blogged a little about some very general goals for 2014, but I'm still dreaming up some ideas. It can seem a bit silly to write these down, but I'm going for it and hoping to knock a few things off the list.

1. Read a book a month. (Hopefully more, but we shall see).
2. Take a sewing class. -- I've been checking on the schedule for JoAnn's and there are a lot of upcoming beginner classes.
3. Travel somewhere new -- We were hoping to make it out west this year, but we're not sure since this seems to be shaping up into a very busy film year (which is a good thing). Either way, I want to travel somewhere new; I'm open to things really close by or farther away.
4. Be an encouraging wife-- find ways to serve Will.
5. Get into a running/workout routine. Every since running XC in high school, I have craved that solid routine I once had. I'm still not sure if I want to get back into more distance running and train for a half marathon, or branch out and try some other activities like yoga or sprint triathlons. My goal is simply to start & stick with some sort of exercise routine.
6. Find ways to continue learning (ie: visit museums, explore new cultures, try out some conversation groups etc).
7. Be intentional about maintaining friendships & open our home up to foster new & old relationships. 

2014 has already brought so many wonderful changes for us. I'm looking forward to another great year!

New house!

We are settling in to the new house nicely and are already loving the neighborhood. After one day, we had met almost all of our neighbors which we loved! The house has lots of charm and character. I can't wait to post some pictures of the place (as soon as the pile of boxes dwindles down a little bit). 

We've been antiquing and searching for a few needed furniture pieces. It's a slow process but we've found a few gems that fill a need and add some extra character to the house. The house was built in 1939 so we're working on a mixture of pieces that fit the time period of the home, as well as mixing in a few more modern aspects. We are far from expert designers, but its fun to pretend & give it our best shot.

I love that our house is already a gathering place for friends and family. Last night, our living room was full of friends catching up and listening to some music, truly one of my favorite things! I'm looking forward to more get-togethers in this house and continuing to explore the neighborhood.

Pictures coming soon!