Dots On A Map

If you're looking for this week's Hodgepodge questions, you'll find them one post down. Keep scrolling. 

I wish I had more time to write. I know that day is coming, but that day is not today. Blogging helps maintain my everyday equilibrium, and also helps maintain hubs everyday equilibrium because when I have too many words and no time to blog, well...I still have all those words that need to go somewhere. Hi hubs!

I don't think writing is ever a waste of time, but when there are beds to be made for company, boxes to unpack, and Thanksgiving dinner to plan-shop-cook for then blogging is downgraded to the middle of my to-do list and happens when it happens.

Also, I'm a little overwhelmed by all I could blog about. My daughter said I should do room by room posts, but y'all these rooms are not ready for public consumption. She pointed out that if I wait for everything to be in it's place I will likely never do a room by room tour. I'm sure that's not a commentary on my housekeeping? I know it's not. It's just a really true fact of life from someone who knows me well and knows my tendency to wait for a perfect that never comes. She's got the same DNA. Solidarity my daughters.

Of course lake living is nothing if not relaxed so I will let go of my need for perfection. Mostly. I do want to at least hang a few pictures and figure out what in the world to do with these last few boxes of 'why did we move this?' 'do I want this?' and 'what in the world is this?' before I post too many pics.

I decided to share one tiny little thing I love today and that's a start.

It's not actually tiny, and it's not something in the house, but rather something outside the house. I might as well state for the record I'm obsessed with the out of doors here so what better place to begin a home tour than out of doors?

Early in the build hubs had this idea that we should have a sign. I can't remember exactly what inspired the notion, but we've lived a lot of places in our life and times and I think maybe that was it. We've planted ourselves by choice in a quiet cozy corner of rural America, but the route that brought us here was filled with miles and years, some unexpected twists and turns, treks through big cities, surburbia, and even for a time a village across the sea. We feel great affection for the places we've lived because they built us.

So hubs had an idea and I told him I knew just the place to make it a reality. ETSY- aka the land of if you've got a clever idea somebody has the skills to make it come to life. Our somebody was Kristin at The Trashy Side, but don't let her shop name fool you...she uses all reclaimed wood, hence the 'trash'.  Apparently we were not the first people to have this idea, because she'd done a few others, each one personalized to the buyer.

Here's our sign-

It feels like the chapter headings to the story of us.

We grew into the people we are today in these place names on a map, and our lives were made richer by the people and experiences we encountered in every new city we called home. Sometimes I meet people who've spent their whole lives living in the same town, and I feel a twinge of envy. And sometimes I meet people who've moved ten times more than we have and I feel a twinge of longing to see more of this world.

There is beauty in both I think.

I sent Kristin the city names and mileage, we emailed a couple of times about how it would work, and then two short weeks later the sign was on our doorstep, ready to assemble. Easy peasy. I asked Kristin about embellishments as I'd seen them on some of her other pieces, and she recommended adding something to just a few of the cities as opposed to every location. We told her we wanted the British flag, a crab, a bear and the Big Orange T and she ran with it.

We couldn't be happier with the finished product!

You can find Kristin's ETSY shop by clicking here-The Trashy Side 

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