The Little Things No. 36

The little things really do add up, which is why every Friday I end the week on a positive note with appreciation for the little things in my life that make up a greater sense of joy. I hope you join me today in appreciating the good, no matter how small. It is my hope that these posts will inspire you to look at the world around you with more gratitude and that they may even be useful in other ways. Sometimes I share products that I am really using in my life. It is a small look into my weekly life behind the scenes. I will also be sharing links from time to time about things that are inspirational, funny, beautiful, or important.

Because this is about appreciation rather than perfection, I’m not only including my professional quality photos, but some cellphone snaps as well. You can expect to see a more candid look into my life every week with my The Little Things blog posts every Friday.

Dear Friends,

I hope you have had a lovely holiday season and New Year.

I’ve been absent from my weekly round ups of “The Little Things” since the end of October. I went away for a short trip and came back with a severe allergic reaction to the juniper ashe trees that made me miss nearly two weeks of work. After that (and with the holidays) I just couldn’t muster up the energy or the motivation to continue my weekly posts. I really do like these little things posts where I share my week with you and some simple and behind the scenes moments. Life isn’t always inspirational, exciting, or photogenic, but it is real and it is beautiful. I like giving you a more authentic look because there is so much more in between the photo shoots and planned content. I am going to be continuing my The Little Things posts this year, but instead of every single Friday I will be saving them for the last Friday of every month as I am planning on blogging more this year about numerous topics.

At the beginning of the month we moved into our new apartment. We are still settling I, which is why I have been a little quiet on the blog and social media. Unpacking has been much slower than I have anticipated, especially with Matthew being so busy. However, we did accomplish putting away all of our. books in the library and Matthew put his desk together last night. The past few weeks we have been adjusting to our new home and exploring the local area. The social media break has been good for us to recharge.

Without further ado, here are the little things:

The best thing about our move besides the natural sunlight in our new home is that we’re right down the road from a gorgeous state park. (Three of them actually, but this one pictured here with the boardwalk begins on our street!)

Thankfully Madeleine, our cat, has been adjusting to her new home. We were worried about how she would do as this was her first move as a single cat and also our first move in three years. It took her a couple days to realize that we weren’t going back, but she loves it so much. There is much more floor space for her to run and play, so many windows to look out of, a lot of natural light, the house stays warmer, and she has her pick of the furnace radiators to lay on! She still sticks to me like glue, but she appears very happy in her new home.

I made curtains for our bathroom! For the past few years I have not had room in our studio apartment to sew with my sewing machine. It felt really good to take it out of the storage basket and use it again! I was a little rusty and had some bobbin trouble, but it all came back to me pretty fast. I am feeling more creative than I have in a very long time.

Today it was one degree Fahrenheit! Most of January has been fairly mild for this time of year. Yesterday I pulled out my favorite floral sweater and wool skirt for work. It felt good to dress nice for work for once. Today I’m back in leggings and an oversized sweater.

I restored these old family photographs. This one is of my great-great grandparents (man to the left, woman to the far right) and my great-great-great grandparents (the couple in the middle) , and my great-great-great-great grandfather (the dapper gentleman with the long white beard)! The photo under that one is my great grand mother, great-great grandmother, and my great aunts and uncles as kids with some family friends. The original copies have tears, missing edges, scratches, and handwriting all over them.

More winter walks. Admitably, we have gone on more walks than we have done unpacking in our new place. It has just been so beautiful out and we cannot wait to explore more of our new home. We have 4,000 acres in this one park to explore.

And I just had to share another cute picture of Madeleine from the other night. She loves the warm furnace radiators!

And this is the Canfield Corner Pharmacy, which has been a working pharmacy in Woodbury Connecticut since the 1700s! It is close to where I work and I love how it has remained the same over hundreds of years. Even more amazing is that it was a favorite local spot for Marilyn Monroe when she lived closeby in Roxbury. She used to visit the soda fountain counter for soda or ice cream (and the counter is still operational today).

What little things are you appreciating this month?