friday i'm in love....

January 12, 2024 Arlene Giddings

I debated getting outside
for a Friday adventure today
but
I am still trying to do
No Spend January
and I knew if if I left home
there was a strong chance
I would spend money
I don’t need to spend.

So I stayed home and
forced myself to start
decluttering
which the big orange house
desperately
needs and it’s starting to wear
on my mental health
so I know it’s time.

But it’s so overwhelming.

Baby steps.
That’s all I am doing.
Bite size chunks.
Til it all gets done.

FRIDAY I’M IN LOVE
♥ speaking of not spending money…heh…I bought tickets for this
I HAD to….Noah Kahan is coming!!!!! and yeahhhhh…I know, I know…no spend January….but this is in SEPTEMBER so…kinda doesn’t count (also I am very good at justification…heh) (plus….#glee)
♥ I skipped to the end to watch this but still my heart was racing for this kid who BEAT TETRIS. also it made me miss playing tetris. which also made me think about dad…and the family sessions of tetris we would have after supper (though the first after supper competition was asteroids. heh.)
♥ I am loving this series. Like….loving with all my heart. It’s so clever and sweet and interesting and has made me laugh out loud.
♥ an unexpected supper with a best friend last night where we laughed belligerently and guffawed and held back tears a little bit and left feeling both belly AND heart full. And yes, I know I said this was a no spend month but I consider filling your social gas tank to be a bit of a necessity.

happy, happy friday to you.
I hope it was out of this world. ♥

friday adventures {part one - old rainbow valley}

August 15, 2017 Arlene Giddings

a couple of weeks ago
i got up and nabbed the car
before my 17 year old son
was even rubbing the sleep
out of his eyes
(it's about the only way i get the car now)

i packed it with my camera,
my phone and bullet journals,
my pencil case,
a can of diet coke and a can of bug spray
and a bag of swedish berries.

i ended up at the old rainbow valley site
in cavendish...
now called cavendish grove
but in my heart
it will always be "where rainbow valley used to be"...

the last time i was there
the trails were just babies...
not developed at all...
i wouldn't even call them a trail,
i would have called them a path...
and a small overgrown path at that.

but now...
now there are real trails.
i did a fairly short one
(um...because partway through the 17 year old
woke up and started texting wondering
when the car would be back...haha)

i am in love with these trails.
you can get right down to cavendish beach!
which, to someone as spatially challenged as me
seemed like complete and utter MAGIC
because i cannot put the beach in relation to
old rainbow valley and in my head
i can't make sense of how i WALKED there...and so fast.

don't try to explain to me...
i prefer to believe the trail are magic.

i came across a little building
that looked like it might have been a church
or related to a church at one time...
and dunes & flowers that are probably really weeds
but still so pretty...

there is a little forest of tall, tall trees...
there was an explanation of what the trees were
but i didn't take a photo of it
and now i forget...
but i was glad i followed the path
into this little clearing...
i can't explain why
but it just felt so quiet and peaceful
and the light was so pretty...
and i could not capture it with my camera,
not the way it felt to me.

i am definitely planning to come back here
when i have more time
(and have fortified myself with something
more than swedish berries & diet coke)
to do the longer trail.
i am pretty sure it said 8.5 kms for that one.

when i left here,
i had full intentions of going straight home
but ended up in north rustico
but that's a post for another day...
even you even made it to the end of this long post!
:) :) :)
TO BE CONTINUED...

those little moments...

July 27, 2017 Arlene Giddings

when your 17 year old says
"i'll come with you"
unexpectedly for a drive you thought you would be making alone
and what was
going to be
a quick trip out to deliver some
photos & little cards/paintings to
Muddy Crick Market
(and let's be honest,
you were a little nervous about
bringing that stuff out there,
it feels a little out of your comfort zone
and a lot of "who do you think you are, why do you think
any one will buy the stuff you make")
you say yes.

and then,
the whole night changes.

we stopped at my parents and hung out for a bit...
drove up the road to see the very sweet & talented jenna
at Muddy Crick Market (blog post to come soon about this place!)
and then went for ice cream at
richmond dairy bar
(meaning one more dairy bar to cross off my summer bucket list)
(and i also have to add that the girl that waited on us
was seriously adorable and quirky...to the point
that i felt it necessary to comment on it here...she
made us laugh the whole time we ordered.)

AND then we
stopped for a walk on my most favorite beach in the world
union corner

and he lets you tell him stories of growing up in the country
and who lived where
and that person used to babysit me
and the bookmobile used to stop at this house...

and even lets you take selfies with him...
:)

well...that's my favorite kind of night.

SIDENOTE: and you know...i have been blogging for so long
that he is not only ok with fact that i blogged this
but he expects it...they know me so well.
he'll often say...oh yeah...that'll be on the blog later.
it's funny that it's the "norm" here...
but i guess...i have been doing this since he was 5...
12 years.
that's kind of mind boggling all on it's own, hahahaha.

SIDENOTE #2: i forgot my camera so all photos were taken with my phone...
which is not great quality...(I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NOTE 8!!!!!!)(dual camera!!!!)

SIDENOTE #3: one of my favorite bloggers, saltwater princess, wrote about MY SUMMER BUCKET LIST on her blog!!! I am telling you...I will never get used the idea that someone beside myself reads this damn thing. Everytime i get a comment or a like or a mention (!!) i react with the same level of excitement/stunned bewilderment...thinking...what...someone else actually READ this. Like...the whole blog post? :) :) :) And then i clap my hands and do a little happy dance around my living room. I am totally not kidding.

And also...Chris Bohjalian is now following me on twitter...like...as in the author of the book that i posted about Monday...(i am so glad that i was nicer about this one than i was about drew barrymore...)

summer bucket list - 2017

July 22, 2017 Arlene Giddings

i know we are already far into july...
and i don't know about you
but i am now hitting that panicky
summer is fleeting...
it's going too fast,
i have to do more
or it's going to be gone feeling.

you know...
you get that sudden sick anxious feeling...

that
winter is coming
feeling...

i made myself a summer bucket list
at the beginning of this summer
because...well...no weddings...
means i can actually DO some things this summer.

i just realized there are already some more to
get checked off the list
as of this weekend...
and there will probably be more
that i will add to it
but for now, that's the list...
and t-minus roughly a month & one week
to get it done! (& cue panicky feeling again)
(although some of these will bleed over into fall...like tree-go & maybe cabot trail)

and (although it's been proven unwise
for me to ask this in the past,
i am always open to suggestions as well..
whatcha got on YOUR summer bucket list?)
(everyone DOES make one, right?
it's not just me...)

and a pretty flower picture....just...because...it's a pretty flower.