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January Joy Box

I love a good Advent calendar – even if the chocolates are dodgy, even if there are no chocolates, opening that little door each day is such a perfect, simple pleasure. For Advent 2022 a friend gave Chris and me a coffee advent calendar, with a different K-Cup coffee each day. Two years ago I got Sam a Moomin advent calendar – each door revealing a tiny, plastic Moomin figure. That year we decorated our Yule Log cake with meringue mushrooms and Moomins. 

The January Joy Box is like an Advent calendar — but a perfume advent calendar meant to be opened in January. When you think about it, it’s a brilliant idea; January can be such a dismal month. The only good thing I can say about January is that it is on the right side of Winter Solstice – I have actually printed out a list of sunrise/sunset times so that I can see how far we’ve come since the solstice. 

If you read my post about my “23 for 2023” list, you saw both  “Find a signature scent” and “January Joy Box.” They are related endeavors. In addition to 2023 being a year of Focus, Order, Serenity, and Joy, it will be my “Year of Scent.” I will read about scent/perfume, try many different scents, and learn as much as I can about perfume, perfume ingredients, and the history of perfume. January Joy Box sort of jump starts this entire project. 

January Joy Box is the invention of independent perfumer Sarah McCartney. Sarah has had one of those circuitous life paths that seems random until it reaches a point where all of the experiences and skills learned coalesce into an “of course she ended up here” destination – perfumer and founder of the independent perfume company, 4160 Tuesdays (website here).  A maths and science major in university, head writer for 14 years at Lush – a company whose marketing was so creative, playful, and unique at the time it burst upon the scene that it spawned many imitators. Sarah embodies the word “creative” – it just seems to be how she lives her life, from the moment her feet hit the bedroom floor each morning. I so admire true creatives like that. 

Anyway – January Joy Box. There are fifteen little tester bottles, each one labeled and wrapped in colorful tissue. Every two days in January you pick the scent for that day and fully experience it for 48 hours before moving on to the next one (and if you are like me, making notes so that you remember which ones you loved most and why). Everything about the January Joy Box truly brings me joy – the colorful wrappers, the scents themselves (even when I decide one isn’t “me”), and the names. Oh my goodness, the names: Evil Max, Be Careful What You Wish For, Fruits of the Tree of Knowledge, Burnt Cedar Rainbow Doves, Clouds Illusion – I know that cheeky product names have been a “thing” for several years, but somehow Sarah elevates even that to a more creative level. 

There is a catch (for me) – in order to fully jump into the experience you really need to participate in the 4160 Tuesdays News Group on Facebook. That’s where people discuss that day’s fragrance. As you know, dear Reader, I quit all social media in 2019. Dipped my toes gingerly back into Instagram in early September 2022 and three months later dumped it again. I was not eager to enter the kingdom of Zuckerberg again. But I wanted to be a part of this group, so I created a pretty anonymous account on FB and will delete it on the first day of February. The 4160 Tuesdays group fascinates me – I love to read all of the discussions about the different scents – it’s like being in a room full of wine experts describing different vintages, using a language I sort of understand but sort of don’t. I still couldn’t identify a “mossy” note all on its own versus an “amber” note. I assume that comes from lots of experience and experimentation with different scents, so that eventually I will be able to conjure up an impression of an “amber” scent as easily as I can conjure up a feeling for citrus, or vanilla. I’m a life-long learner. If I could get paid to go to school every day for the rest of my life, I would jump at the chance – so I am enjoying this January journey and these teachers so much. I am soaking up as much as I can, because on February first I will be deleting my account. 🙂

The January Joy Box is the beginning of my “year of scent” and my search for a scent which fills me with joy and which I will want to wear always. I recently read in someone’s review of a perfume that it surrounded them in “a bubble of delight.” Sign me up for traveling through the rest of my life in a bubble of delight. 

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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23 for 2023

Today I went for a walk in a part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park that is known for eagle sightings. One of my 23 for 2023 goals is to see an eagle and photograph it. It wasn’t easy, but I found a nest! It was across the Cuyahoga river from the path I was on – it actually wasn’t visible from the main path; I had to follow a horse trail to the river. But now that I know where it is I will keep returning until I see an eagle – they re-use old nests, so this will be a good place to hopefully catch a glimpse.

Without further ado, the following is my 23 for 2023 list – a list of 23 things I want to accomplish or experience this year. Some of them are already completed or underway, which I think helps get the momentum going for such a project. The idea for this list comes from a favorite podcast, “Happier with Gretchen Rubin.” If you want to learn more about this type of list, here is a link to Gretchen’s most recent podcast, where she and her sister Elizabeth reveal and discuss their own 23 for 2023 lists.

  1. January Joy Box
  2. Get a pair of high quality walking/hiking shoes
  3. Meatless February
  4. Send Valentines cards
  5. Baking lesson with Howard and Beth
  6. Trip to New Zealand
  7. See my mom
  8. Buy a new, super-duper camera lens
  9. Photograph the entire nesting season of the great blue herons
  10. Visit 12 different parts of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (or other local park or nature preserve)
  11. Use up the last of my massage gift cards
  12. Find a way to celebrate my 60th birthday in a special way
  13. Spend a day at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge
  14. Go thrifting
  15. Find a signature scent
  16. Plant hummingbird friendly plants in the garden
  17. Go eagle watching until I actually see and can photograph an eagle
  18. Read 23 novels
  19. Compile a list of simple joys/delights
  20. Celebrate Summer Solstice
  21. Trip to NYC and Washington DC with Chloe
  22. Ruthlessly edit the basement, the loft, my wardrobe, and my desk
  23. Review my 23 for 2023 list on the 23rd of each month

I realise that some of these entries are rather cryptic, so I will be explaining them as they arise. One that is already underway is the January Joy Box, and I will write about that in my next blog post.

Love,

Michelle xoxox

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Isn’t (S)he Lovely?

This post was supposed to be about my “23 for 2023” (that will come tomorrow) but I just had to devote a post to this beautiful mourning dove. I searched birding sites online to see if I could identify it as male or female, but there seem to be very few differences between the two. I *think* it’s a female because the males are supposed to have a slightly iridescent patch of feathers on their necks that this one doesn’t seem to have.

Anyway, I came home for lunch one day to find this beauty perching nonchalantly on top of my bird feeder. We do get doves in our backyard – being so large, they tend to scrounge around the fallen seeds under the feeder. Seeing one just hanging out ON the feeder was surprising, and as she didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave I was able to snap several photos.

I’ve never been too excited about doves. I do love the call of the mourning dove — for many years I thought they were called “morning doves” because that’s when I tended to hear their calls. Doves have always reminded me of pigeons, though – like a slightly more refined relative of the pigeon. And pigeons have never really done it for me.

Having these photos now, though, I am head over heels in love. The subtle browns/tans/grays and the random black spots – gorgeous. But what really gets me is the turquoise around the eyes. I can’t stop looking at these photos and at the “pop” of that turquoise against the more subdued shades. That Mother Nature – she really knows how to accessorize.

Love,

Michelle xoxo

p.s. I know those first two pictures are nearly identical, but to me they are different and I couldn’t choose between the two!

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My Theme(s) for 2023

I’ve been choosing a word of the year since 2020. My words so far have been Create (2020), Tend (2021), and Joy (2022). The idea behind choosing a theme is to focus your attention on one area of your life you would like to change or enhance in some way. So, if someone wanted to improve their fitness they might choose the word Strength. There are many, many articles online regarding the practice of choosing a yearly theme. I was introduced to the concept through a podcast I enjoy, Happier with Gretchen Rubin. 

I have spent the last couple of weeks in a period of discernment, looking back on my 2022 and imagining how I want my 2023 to look and feel.

2022 felt like a very scattered year –  like I had a lot of good intentions and not enough follow through. I don’t think I sent out one birthday card to friends and family. No Christmas cards. I fell down on my correspondence with dear friends. 

I’m very hard on myself, so it’s very easy to pick out the places where I fell down in 2022. I did struggle with time seeming to fly by (oops, I missed that birthday; oops I missed the best time to photograph the herons nesting; oops, I’m late in renewing the registration for my car) and with life seeming to be more something that happened to me rather than something I made happen. 

Of course, many aspects of life are not ours to plan or choose. They do just happen. Catastrophic weather. Health problems large and small. Getting older. The decisions/moods/happiness of other people. Some of these things we realize we have no control over. Others we (I) somehow tend to think we can influence to a greater extent than is realistic. I know that part of the work I still need to do within myself is to be better at categorizing things into what I can control and what I cannot control.

Which brings me to my word(s) for 2023 – working on some of the things that are under my control.

In 2023 I want to make my life feel more intentional. When I think back on 2022 it’s like I was driving a car and only looking at the road directly in front of the car, not seeing the road work or the slow-down a mile ahead. I was reacting more than acting. As you can imagine, this can and did lead to a lot of unnecessary stress. 

I picked four words for 2023 instead of one. My words are: FOCUS, ORDER, SERENITY, and JOY. 

Focus and Order will inspire and remind me to be more strategic in my life. To plan, to record that plan, to refer to the plan often, and to carry out the plan in a calm manner. I will be using an old-fashioned paper-and-pen planner into which I will faithfully record doctor’s appointments, birthdays, oil changes, registration renewals. The one I have chosen (this one from Amazon) starts with a broad overview of the year and then drills down to the nitty gritty day to day. I’ve used paper-and-pen planners before and they have worked well for me, so I am realistically optimistic that this tool will help me this year.

Serenity, my third word, is hopefully a state of mind I will reach by keeping all of the minutiae of my life under control. It will also remind me of the Serenity Prayer, which states, “God, grant me the serenity to accept  the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” That wisdom to know the difference, man. That is the hard one.

I’m keeping Joy as one of my themes for this year. I loved having it as my theme last year, and I want to keep the notion of being joyful at the forefront. A dear friend of mine focused on Joy as well, and she would send me texts telling me what brought her joy on any given day (not every day, but on a regular basis). I derived so much joy just seeing what brought her joy. 

Speaking of joy – today I went for a walk in the Cuyahoga National Forest with Sam and Pokey. We saw two herons, one of which was so close and so unconcerned with our presence that I was able to get some pretty nice photos. Even Pokey’s barking didn’t scare it away. Those moments of being in the presence of such beautiful creatures in such close proximity absolutely filled me with joy. 

Happy New Year, everyone. My next post will be my “23 for 2023” – 23 things I plan to experience during this year. 

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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The Big Chill

Like much of the United States, Ohio is currently being visited by a pretty extreme weather system. We have been under a winter storm warning and wind chill warning since early Friday morning. As I write this at 6:43 am on Saturday morning, the temperature is negative 2 degrees Fahrenheit, with high winds making it feel like negative 24 degrees Fahrenheit. We have been hunkering down here, venturing outside briefly only to shovel the small amount of snow in the driveway (Chris) or refill the bird feeder (me).

Have you ever wondered how birds stay warm in frigid temperatures? I found this article fascinating, but if you don’t want to click on the link the photos here will show you the main way they stay warm: by fluffing up their feathers. They trap pockets of air around their bodies this way – their very own “down jacket”, literally.

The birds were at the feeder all day long yesterday. I added some handfuls of high energy feed (a mixture with raisins and peanuts) to a couple of flat surfaces on our patio. On a normal day I notice a lot of feeding activity in the morning and then not again until later in the afternoon. Yesterday was constant.

Today is Christmas Eve. We have a very quiet evening planned: Sam and Pokey will sleep over and we will eat cheese fondue (with this homemade bread) and watch Paddington. Tomorrow morning we will have a breakfast of various homemade baked goods (almond croissants, ham and cheese croissants, sausage rolls) and, a blast from my childhood and a necessary fixture at all celebratory mornings, Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. Sam will meet up with his dad later on Christmas morning and Chris and I will have a quiet Christmas meal of New York strip steaks, mushroom sauce, and homemade oven-baked, parmesan-coated French fries.

To be honest I have not been in a very Christmas-y mood this year. Possibly because I contracted Covid from my workplace a couple of weeks ago. Ten other colleagues in our rather small workplace also came down with it within the space of one week, and the entire office was subsequently told to work from home until after Christmas. I was lucky in that I had nearly no symptoms, but the process of isolating myself in the house (thankfully Chris did not get it) and suspending my walking practice out of an abundance of caution sort of threw me for a loop.

One thing I have been doing is thinking about what my one-word theme for 2023 will be. I love the process of deciding what my theme will be – it makes me really consider these types of questions: What do I need? What needs to go? What needs to be done in me and through me?

That last question sounds a bit religious, and I’m not a religious person. But I do believe in positive energy (which makes me sound New-Age-y, which I’m not, either). I think that energy is highly contagious, whether it be positive or negative. Think of how you feel after a wonderful visit with a friend, versus how you feel after listening to a coworker’s gossip or rant. Or, heaven forbid, Fox News or MSNBC. I do want to, in some way, contribute to the positive side of things, and that’s what I will be contemplating over the next week.

I will share my 2023 theme, as well as my “23 for 2023” list next weekend. Until then, stay warm. Merry Christmas to those who observe/celebrate the holiday!

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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Solstice

Today being the Winter Solstice, I set out with the intention to photograph both the sunrise and the sunset.
I’ve been starting work early these days, so I actually took my lunch hour (very) early and set out at 7:30 to catch the sunrise.
The last several days have been completely overcast, so I felt so lucky that the skies were partially clear.
The clouds were amazing!
After work, I set out for my favorite sunset-watching spot, anticipating a crowd, it being Solstice and all.
There was only one other dedicated sunset-watcher there (not just drifting by to take a selfie and then moving on).
I said to this woman, “I’m so surprised there aren’t more people here for the Solstice!”
She answered, “Yeah, Summer Solstice gets all the love.”
Well, I love you, dear Winter Solstice. I love you with all my heart. Welcome back, dear Sun.

Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver

Hello, sun in my face.

Hello, you who make the morning

and spread it over the fields

and into the faces of the tulips

and the nodding morning glories,

and into the windows of, even, the

miserable and the crotchety —

best preacher that ever was,

dear star, that just happens

to be where you are in the universe

to keep us from ever-darkness,

to ease us with warm touching,

to hold us in the great hands of light —

good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.

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Technical Difficulties

Hello friends! I’m back! I have been dealing with some very frustrating technical difficulties over the last few weeks. Out of the blue WordPress was not letting me edit or begin a post. I got a pop-up error message that I tried to resolve using all the advice out in Google Land, as well as the (really crap) technical support provided by Bluehost, my hosting service. All to no avail. Finally, Chris asked if it might be worthwhile trying his old laptop. Et voila, here I am. I think perhaps the problem was that the latest updates to WordPress and Bluehost finally rendered the operating system in my laptop (which has reached its own iOS update limit) incompatible. The plan is to get me a new laptop at some point, but until that time I’m so happy to have a pretty convenient workaround.

It’s funny – before these technical difficulties I would sometimes feel self imposed pressure to get on here and crank out a blog post. Once I was unable to do so, I missed the blog so much!

Okay, so, my bird photos – I’m quite pleased with my new setup. I’ve put up my seed feeder right outside my kitchen window – about three feet away from the window. That’s not new. What is new is a large-ish branch that I’ve stuck into the ground about three feet from the feeder. When things get really busy at the feeder birds will use this branch as a pit stop before or after feeding. That’s when I get my photos. It provides a more natural background for my photos than a green plastic feeder.

Life is good here. My exercise routine is still going well. I ate too much this long Thanksgiving weekend. We got a milk steamer/frother which is so much fun. We’re almost all caught up with Doc Martin. I just finished a super busy time at work and am about to begin another super busy time at work. I am loving the newest Taylor Swift album (never thought of myself as a Swiftie but here I am).

I am SO glad to be back on here, excited to be photographing the winter birds, and really looking forward to sharing more photos with you.

I hope you are doing well!

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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October’s End

Hi, friends! I’ve been settling back into normal life after our visit to the UK.

One thing that I’m tweaking at the moment is my workout schedule. About three quarters of the way through the six-week-long workplace exercise challenge I realized something: my anxiety levels had gone way, way down. As you can imagine, this made me very happy/excited – but I also knew that getting out and walking two-and-a-half to three hours a day would just not be sustainable for me, even if it did have this amazing effect on my anxiety. So, I’ve been messing around with the intensity of my workouts. Instead of just walking, I’ve been adding a 20-30 minute workout on the stair-climber machine at our gym. Two things I like about using this machine – 1) it pairs with my Apple Watch so I can see my heart rate on the monitor screen, and 2) I can therefore easily make these sessions into HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts by increasing and decreasing the speed of the steps over the course of the workout. I’m also continuing to walk, but the overall time I’ve been spending on my entire exercise session is about 1hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Something I can definitely fit into my day (I’m also back to three days a week strength training, which I am able quickly accomplish after work on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays).

So far this decrease in time while increasing intensity seems to be working. However, I am finding that if I want the results to be apparent every day, I need to work out every day. No days off. Which is a bit of a bummer, but definitely worth it to me.

All of the photos in today’s post were taken with my new iPhone. I’m still getting used to the new phone (I’m definitely a creature of habit and not a huge fan of change) and have had to adjust some of the settings in order to have the photos transfer to my laptop full size, but I’m looking forward to figuring it out some more.

Happy Halloween, and I’ll see you back here soon!

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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Cotswolds Day Three

The first two photos of this post are actually from our dinner on day two of our Cotswolds visit but I forgot to include them in yesterday’s post. Including them today because no travelogue of the UK is complete without some fish and chips with mushy peas!

On day three we decided to visit several small villages, traveling northeast along A429 (for those following along with a map, lol) visiting Bourton on the Water, Upper and Lower Slaughter, and Stow on the Wold. We then drove southeast to Oxford to spend the night before heading to Heathrow early the next morning.

Phew! I love travel, and I love coming back home. I hope you enjoyed my photos; I love sharing them with you.

Chris and I got our new phones last week (iPhone 14 pro max – replacing our old iPhone 8 phones that had severely degraded battery capacity and were generally on their last legs) and I’ve been learning how to navigate the fancy-schmancy camera in my phone. The fall colors are at their peak right now, and I’m looking forward to sharing some photos in my next post.

Have a wonderful week, friends!

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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Cotswolds Day Two: Bath

Our second day in the Cotswolds was spent taking a day trip into Bath, which was about an hour’s drive (taking a scenic route) from Ewen. Our B&B host Neil highly recommended that we take the Park and Ride into Bath, which turned out to be perfect advice, there being very little parking of any kind (public or pay) in the city of Bath. Another gorgeous day weather-wise. We decided not to visit the Roman Baths (not fancying either the crowds or the 20 pound entrance fee per person).

Tomorrow will be my final post about our UK trip – Upper and Lower Slaughter and Stow on the Wold!

Michelle xoxo