Or It's Quiet

Maxi dress: Target * Cashmere sweater: thrifted * Boots: c/o Sperry Top Sider * Black and purple scarf: UO * Grey scarf: c/o Affordable Scarves * Ring: Christmas gift

One of the reasons I love going to see Joe every weekend is this. Right out his front (and back!) door(s), there are seemingly endless woods and hills to walk through. And with each season, they become more and more magical to me. In summer, the lush greenery was overwhelming and intoxicating, and as the leaves browned and fell, I felt supremely cozy among the barren trees and rich, enveloping autumn colors. And now, with the snow and low northern winter sun, the woods have turned into a frozen landscape, alive but suspended in cold crystal flakes. In short, Joe lives in Narnia, and I have the distinct pleasure of getting to go through the wardrobe every week (plus, bonus: no witches!).

As rough as it has been to be so sick for so long (I'm not used to, nor do I appreciate, 6-day colds), it has given me (and by given I mean forced) the opportunity to just stop. We ran a single errand over the course of the weekend, and it involved stocking up on Sleepytime tea. I had plenty of time to think, and relax, and push aside my stresses, anxieties, and to-do lists for awhile, and actually start working on diminishing them altogether. We played cribbage, ate chicken noodle soup, slept, went through two boxes of tissues, watched Battlestar Galactica, the entire Matrix trilogy, and Food, Inc., and managed to entirely unplug from the world for a few days.

I'm getting ready to leave Joe's house this morning, and am heading back to the city. Every time I go between these two places, I feel like I'm moving between worlds. The claustrophobic activity of Chicago, it's magnificent (pun intended) energy and breathtaking skyline, are so drastically different than the calm, quiet world that I move into every weekend. There's no skyline here, and the energy is slower, more relaxed, content to just get through each week, without needing to be or do or have anything in particular. It's an energy that I feel like I'm striving for. I find it interestingly appropriate that right at a moment when I'm trying to slow myself down, find a rhythm and a center, is the exact moment that I'm transitioning from one, fast-paced, somewhat manic city, to another city, slower and more deliberate. Maybe in 2011 I'll leave Chicago in more ways than one.

I'm so appreciative, and so grateful, for all of your kind comments about my recent sentiments about simplification and living life with intention (of course, for those of you who aren't already big fans, you should probably be reading Jess's site too). I've found, in writing and thinking about it so much in the past few weeks, that one of the keys, for me, is to be constantly trying to remind myself of my goals. If those things are important to me, then it's important that I don't forget about them. So while I was standing out here in the snow, taking my pictures, I thought about the sun shining on me, and the magical Narnian world I was a part of, and lived entirely in the wonderful (albeit cold) wintry moment. The real challenge, I think, will be to take that attitude, and focus that energy, when I'm at my desk, or doing dishes, or folding laundry. I want to make the mundane marvelous. Too big a goal? Probably, but it's worth a shot, no?

Title song: Nat King Cole, "But Beautiful" (thank you, Katie, and the Interrobangs, for this breathtaking post. I listened to each of these while writing, and they have started my day in the best possible way.)