Day 19: Summer/Fall Nights

Tonight we hung out on the porch for a little while and it was the perfect end to a relaxing, rainy day.

We brought the speaker outside and turned out Bossa Nova radio because you know our feelings about that music. The humidity was low, the heat just didn't show up tonight, and the sun was going down. There’s a cool breeze in the air that’s so refreshing in the middle of summer. It almost feels like fall again tonight, but you can still hear the crickets doing their thing. It's a nice and surprising mix of mother nature and it creates an intoxicating atmosphere of being completely content for this exact moment in our life. Do you know what we mean?

If we could bottle this feeling and sell it, no, GIVE it away for free, we would send you a bottle tomorrow. Summer nights that feel like fall are suddenly our favorite kind of nights. 

See you tomorrow, friend. xx

Day 18: Quick Land Trip With The Girls

And not our little dogs. Nope! 

We brought our big girls out to our land Monday night to let them swim and run around. We posted it on our story and, as usual, received a lot of messages from folks either saying they didn't know we had other dogs besides out little ones, or asking why we never post about them.

In any event, we take them out to the land every once in a while to let them stretch their legs and they love it. The grass is really high out there right now, so it makes it a little challenging to really enjoy it to the fullest, but it's going to be mowed one more time this year (maybe in August?) and then it'll be back to cleaning it up and getting ready to build. 

When we left the land, we drove around downtown looking at a couple of the buildings that are for sale and began to daydream by listing off what we would do with each one if we were ever to buy them. Our downtown is filled with pretty brick buildings that are dying to be renovated and restored to their former glory, so who knows? Maybe one day....

Hope your Monday was a good one, friends. And if it wasn't, there's six more days in the week to try again. xx

PS- we relaxed on the back porch last night for the first time in what feels like forever (it's been too hot!!) and it was nice. Do you spot anyone familiar in the bottom left corner? Look hard :).

Day 17: Cool Summer Day

From the minute we stepped outside to walk the girls on Sunday morning, to relaxing on the front porch later that evening, it felt like fall almost all day.

Granted, by "felt like fall" we mean that it was very cool in the morning, still very hot all day (but only a high of 88 degrees!) and pretty cool at night. We'll take what we can get, though! Have we ever told you that fall is our favorite season? The leaves, the drinks, the clothes, the smell in the air. If we could move to Stars Hollow, where it appears to be perpetually fall, we would.

Because of the slight chill in the air (and seemingly less humidity), we decided to start Castle Rock on Hulu. Have you seen it? It's a mix of a bunch of things from Steven King's universe, so of course it's set in Maine and is equally mysterious and spooky. It's set in a cute little town, too, and you know how we feel about small town living. :)

In the same vein, we also FINALLY washed all of our slipcovers on our couches. We can't tell you how badly they needed it, y'all. The arms were almost completely brown (!!!) because we hadn't washed the entire cover (we usually just wash the cushions) since we moved in, so they were long overdue. We may be reaching, but this also reminds us of fall in the way that cleaning the outside of your house feels like spring. We can't say it enough, but it really is the little things in life that make the days extraordinary.

We woke up before the sun today and the birds are starting to chirp, so we're off! We hope you had a break from the heat wherever you are, too. xx

PS: Thomas' shirt is from here.

Day 16: River Saturday

(Alyster pretending to be a statue in the living room yesterday)

Saturday saw us having such beautiful weather that it was hard not to have a good day. 

Do you ever have days like that? Where even if you were trying, the weather is keeping you from being in a bad mood? For whatever reason, it wasn't very humid all day, and while it was still really hot, it didn't ever feel smothering like it usually does. When we were hot, we'd hop in the river and cool off. 

Taylor (Thomas' brother) lives about 30 minutes away in a house he built a few years ago on the river. We've spent the majority of our family holidays at his place since it's big enough to accommodate everyone. He's the best host, and opens his house to anyone who enters. 

We spent most of the day on the boat with the family and our good friend Golden. He had never been pulled on a tube behind a boat before, so it was so fun to see him experience something for the first time and actually enjoy it. 

Chicken salad made a popular appearance, too.

When we got back to Taylor's, he grilled some bratwursts with peppers and onions for a late, late lunch. We ate and laughed and relaxed for a bit, then packed up the car and headed home. 

Any day that we can spend outside with family is a win in our book. Feeling grateful for days like Saturday where we have no real obligations but to be with the people in front of us. To soak up the sun and share experiences with each other. How about you? Did you have a good day, too? xx

P.S.: obligatory cute morning pictures of Alyster because he was being such a ham yesterday morning. What did we do before him?

Day 15: TGIF Again

Here we are, halfway into our 30 day challenge! Are you keeping track of the most beautiful part of your day, too?

It's tax free weekend here in Tennessee so while we were in Chattanooga showing houses, we hopped on over to Best Buy and bought a new computer! And not just any new computer. A desktop. Do you remember those? We haven't had a desktop since we were kids! We've just relied on our laptops for the last 10+ years so the thought of actually having a home base to go to and work each day is exciting to us. We went with the iMac. Do you have one?

In related news, we came home from Chattanooga to find a little note on our door that informed us we'd missed our package delivery- don't you hate when that happens?!? So we went to UPS a couple hours later and picked up.......our new camera!  What's crazy is this camera has been sold out EVERYWHERE. For weeks. But PJ found this website that suddenly got a big shipment of them in on Wednesday so we jumped on it and they told us it would be shipped in a minimum of 4 weeks, which like, cool, that's fine, we can wait a little longer. Then, we got an email saying it would be here Friday (!!!) and suddenly our week was made.

This has been a long time coming because we've mainly be using our iPhones to record vlogs and take pictures with. The cameras are obviously great, but we've been looking for something a little more professional for a while, and thanks to our friends Justin & Nick, we were pointed in the right direction for an affordable, good camera. 

We spent the night tinkering with it and figuring it out, drinking wine and listening to Bossa Nova, which you know is our favorite way to spend a Friday night around here. Chill. Relaxed. At home with our fur babies. 

Saturday we're going out on the boat with family and it's one of the only times we've done that this summer, which is crazy because it seemed like we were on the river all summer last year.

Hope you had a lovely Friday, wherever you are. xx

Day 14: Dinner at Lauren’s

Alternate title of this post: We Didn't Have to Make Dinner Last Night!

But we also got to see some family that we just don't see enough. We went to dinner at our cousin Lauren's house to eat with her husband and two precious little girls. Lauren and PJ were best friends growing up, being first cousins and in the same grade, they were more like siblings, and have been through everything together.

She made us this delicious creamy pasta that we've been preparing for by eating well all week so that we could splurge last night. It's all about balance, right? She also made these rich and decadent chocolate cupcakes and again, balance. :)

Lauren and her family live in her and PJ's grandma's old house, set on this HUGE lot/farm with all of these cute little trails and areas to enjoy, like this one which used to be a pond with a little waterfall where all the ivy is pouring out of:

 It was fun hearing PJ recollect where stuff used to be on the land, how his grandma used to be, and how much stuff she grew in her garden back in the day to feed the whole family. Learning about each other's families never gets old, and after 8 years we're finding there's still so much to learn, and maybe that's what it's all about and we'll forever be learning new things about each other. 

That's kind of exciting to think about, isn't it? xx

Day 13: Hardworking Husbands

Hi, Thomas here today.

I just want to take a moment to appreciate all of the hardworking husbands out there. The ones who never give up, never stop doing their best, and never stop working as hard as they can. I have a husband like that and I'm proud of him. 

I came home yesterday to a loud and obnoxious noise coming from outside. I go out on the back deck and find PJ tilling up the dirt in our side yard. Enclosed by the fence he built earlier this year. Do you see where I’m going with this? How. Does. He. Do. It. Sometimes I get tired just looking at him. 

When PJ gets an idea in his mind, he wants to start it immediately, and doesn't stop until it's finished. When people ask me what I love most about PJ, I always say it's how hard he works and how much effort he puts into things. I look up to him so much in that respect and find myself, in certain situations, asking "what would PJ do in this instance?" I know it's cheesy, but I'm a cheesy person and way too sentimental, and I like talking about my husband (if you haven't noticed) so here we are. How did I get so lucky? 

He's always working on something. Always. If he's not, he feels like he should be. It's just how he is. Today I am feeling thankful for a husband who works hard to make this house a home. He's not perfect, and we disagree/argue just like the next couple, but to me, he is perfect. With all his flaws and quirks, I feel confident I married the perfect man for me. Someone who inspires me to work harder and be the best version of myself everyday.

PJ McKay, what would I do without you?

-T

Day 12: One of Those Days

Admittantly, nothing extremely interesting or exciting happened on day 12 of our 30 day challenge.

We were waiting (sadly) for a day like this, where it’s just a boring old normal day. We feel somewhat disappointed in ourselves for not being able to single out the most beautiful thing that happened. We went to the grocery store, stopped by the farmer’s market, went to the office, uploaded some pictures for a listing PJ just got, took Alyster to the vet (finally), made dinner, and watched a movie. And that was it.

Should we have tried harder to make the day more beautiful or extraordinary? On the other hand, if we did try harder, would it have only been because of this challenge and the fact that we’re writing it for people to see, and not just because we wanted to for us? At the same time, the point of this whole challenge is to find the beautiful in the normal, mundane, everyday. So, in the end, maybe we should have just looked a little harder.

In any event, we did make dinner and watch a movie together, which was nice enough to mention here. The movie was so good. The dinner? Not so much. We made vegan Alfredo sauce, well, tried to make it is more accurate. We followed the recipe exactly but it just wasn’t good for some reason. Maybe we’ll just bite the bullet and make our regular, tons of fat and calories Alfredo sauce from now on and only have it once a month, as opposed to once a week 😊.

You know, after writing this blog post today, we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s okay to not always have good days, at least good enough to write in a 30 day challenge. It’s okay to not always find the bright and beautiful in each day, otherwise we might not appreciate them so much. It’s okay if you’re not happy with the way the day went, just as long as you promise yourself that tomorrow will be better, whatever that may mean to you. Life isn’t wonderful and great all the time. And that’s okay. We’ll all make it through together. 

We hope you had a good day yesterday, and if you didn’t, we hope you have the strength to make today extraordinary.

xx