An Easy Weekend

i'm always grabbing molly like this and kissing her on the face. i love how she reacts when her whiskers get tickled!

This weekend was a lazy weekend. Michael worked on Saturday so I spent the day watching chick-flicks, eating candy, and just being lazy! Sometimes I have such a difficult time relaxing, I'll often feel like there's something I should be doing. I'm sure that says a lot about me but I'm only human, right? :)

Sunday we spent time with one of Michael's oldest friends. It was a blast. His friends area always such crack ups and they are some of the kindest and most sincere people I've ever met. We went down to the beach and grabbed some lunch. I had a delicious bison burger and amazing curly fries. Yum!

While we were with Michael's friend I really got a bit of a wake-up call. He kept marveling at what a beautiful day it was and how great it is that we live so close to the beach. He couldn't stop admiring the day.

It got me thinking about how fortunate we really are to live here. I'm always saying that I'm not much of a beach person, I'd much rather live in the desert or the mountains. That beach town atmosphere just isn't my thing. But it is nice that we get to enjoy such lovely weather and just such a nice area. I mean, we are less than ten minutes away from a great area to watch the sunset, every night if we wanted to.

I know there are so many other people living in worse conditions or just in really unsafe neighborhoods. We are so blessed to live where we do.

This week don't have a whole lot coming up, just work and more work (and some more posts)! Thankfully this weekend we'll get to spend some time with Michael's family as we celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary!

A Hike to the Grotto

Yesterday, Michael and I woke up really early to hike out to a little spot in the Santa Monica Mountains, called the Grotto. It started out as a pretty easy hike down to the small grotto at the end of the trail. There were some beautiful views of the mountains and we were in a pretty secluded area, save for the occasional cliff top mansion (it is the city of Malibu after all).

Since the trail was all down hill from the beginning, we quickly realized the hike back to the car was going to be pretty exhausting. It definitely was! Once we got to the actual grotto area we had to do quite a bit of bouldering to get down to the water. I was a little shaky at first but it ended up being a lot of fun, and not too difficult.

Even though we got pretty winded coming back up (it also started to get very hot), it just made us realize how much we want to get back into shape for even tougher and longer hikes. We've been slowly accumulating the right gear for longer backpacking trips (it's expensive!), and we're pretty excited to go out on some amazing adventures soon.

I love hiking and backpacking to exercise so much more than running (or any other type of exercise, really). I guess swimming would be my next favorite, but I've never really enjoyed running. If we lived in the mountains somewhere, I would want to go hiking just about every morning. It's so much fun that I don't even realize I'm exercising until I get home and I want to fall asleep forever!

The only part of hiking or backpacking that I have a difficult time with is the sleeping in the tent part. Seriously! I never get good sleep when I'm in a tent. Not to mention, the tents that are made specifically for backpacking (they're smaller and really lightweight) are so tiny, it feels like you're sleeping under a homemade fort. I end up spending the whole night listening for bears, mountain lions, coyotes, snakes, spiders, the bogey man, etc!

Luckily, Michael's always there to calm me down and remind me we're safe. :)

Our Trip to Illinois

a few weeks ago Michael and I took a trip out to Illinois to visit his family. it was my first time to the midwest and I really enjoyed it. it was definitely nice to escape to a slower pace of life, few buildings, more cornfields. :)

while we were in Illinois, we got to visit Springfield. for those of you who aren't history buffs, Springfield is the town where Abraham Lincoln lived with his family as an adult. he practiced law at the court building there and ran for a number of governmental positions while living there.

the picture of me standing in front of the house with the green shutters (looking really awkward, lol)was his home! it was so great to see where a president who was so admired, lived. we even got the opportunity to walk through the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. it was just so amazing to see what a tragic and yet successful, life he led.

my favorite part of the whole experience was learning how many times Lincoln ran for government office and lost, but ran again during the next election. he tried and tried until he won. Michael's grandpa put it perfectly, "He never let failure define him". and neither should I.

Life Lately Through Instagram

a day at the beach

a trip to palm springs

visiting family in Illinois and Abraham Lincoln's home.

some very friendly pet goats!

the sky on fire.

sun-bathing in the afternoon.

our cute bathroom. 

watching the sun disappear.

enjoying a weekend away.

A few Instagram photos to hold you over while I make a few improvements to the site. I've got some updates and a few changes coming! I'll also be back to posting more regularly after a nice little summer vacation. 

*follow me on Instagram @thelavenderfield

I've Been a Little Under the Weather

I got a bad cold the day Michael and I got back from visiting his family in the midwest, so I've been spending the past week getting better. I'll be back soon with a new post and some photos!

Thanks for stopping by and check back soon!

The two photos above are from my Instagram feed. Follow me! @thelavenderfield

I'm More of a Cotton Sundress Girl

A few months ago when Michael and I started talking about moving, I decided that was the time to begin going through our stuff and slowly removing things from our home that we no longer wanted to keep.

You may already know about how I feel about clutter and unwanted items, but if you don't here's the long and short of it: I can't stand it. If there is something sitting around my home that I don't plan on using or don't even like, it MUST go.

So when the possibility of moving showed up in our radar, we sat down one Saturday afternoon and started going through our things. We began by going through each of our own wardrobes. Well, since Michael only has about 5 shirts total and maybe 5 pairs of shorts, he was done right away.

He came over to my side of the closet and began to help me out. He was amazed, to say the least. I had a LOT of clothes. I still do have a lot of clothes. Yes, I know most people aren't amazed to hear that a woman my age would possess a small mountain of clothing, but it was shocking for us.

You see, we rarely go anywhere fancy. I really don't wear heals or expensive clothing on a daily basis. Most days if I'm not wearing jeans and a comfy top, I'm wearing jean shorts and a comfy top. What can I say? I like to be comfortable. On top of that, the only things I do that require special clothing are hiking and spending time in the snow at the cabin. Southern CA really isn't known for its wide variety of weather, so we get away with wearing generally the same types of clothes year round.

My abundance of unnecessary clothing got me thinking, "Why do I have so much clothes, and yet I often feel like I have nothing to wear?" Is it just normal for women to feel like they have nothing to wear even though they have a walk in closet larger than my college dorm?

What was MY deal? I truly had a lot of clothes that I never wore, that I thought were ugly, or that I just never had an occasion in which to wear them.

Sitting in my bedroom going through my drawers and pulling out the unwanted items, I was able to recall almost every moment I had purchased the items I was holding. I realized that for each piece of clothing that I didn't want anymore, I had purchased it for someone/something else. Not for me.

Every time I bought a piece of clothing that I thought would make me more like someone who I thought was more beautiful, sexy, thin, attractive, or smarter than me, I ended up not being happy with the purchase and quickly lost interest.

You see, when I was younger (middle school-ish) I had a lot of people tell me that I should stop wearing such plain clothing and should start wearing cuter clothes (I know they meant it in a loving way). The thing is, I don't think I dress very plain. I think I dress comfortably and cute. I've never been one of those girls who can wear stilettos all day and make it look like her toes don't feel like they've spontaneously caught on fire.

why am i suddenly wishing i had put on foundation this morning?

Yes, I enjoy wearing skirts and dresses and looking stylish, but I'm more of a cotton sundress with wedges girl than a polyester blend dress with spike heels. That's just not Rhiannon.

The most common argument I get from people trying to get me to "branch out" from what I normally wear is that I have a nice figure, and I should take advantage of it. But I don't think I need to wear skin tight clothing on a Sunday afternoon when I'm trying to relax, to take advantage of my figure! I think I need to wear what I like and what I think looks nice on ME. After all, I feel more confident when I'm wearing something I'm comfortable in, and isn't confidence the best accessory??

So, I've resolved to dress like myself (what a revelation, huh?). I donated everything I ever bought because I thought it would make me more like someone else I admired. Or anything I ever bought because I thought it's what I SHOULD be wearing. Once that was through, I decided not to buy any more clothes. Not for a while. Not that buying clothes is wrong, or the main issue here. I just need to focus on what I already have.

Not to mention, getting rid of the clothes I didn't even like, has forced me to explore new ways to wear the clothing I already own. I often felt uncomfortable or just grumpy all day when I was wearing something that I didn't really like. I was just forcing myself to wear the clothes because I felt guilty owning them and not wearing them. By not buying new clothes for a while I've rediscovered some pieces I really love and that are really comfy and flattering.

Going on a clothes buying "fast" (I'm coming up on almost 3 months!) has really been a small victory for me. I used to buy at least one item of clothing a month in the past. That's a lot when more often than not, I was buying multiple items of clothing. I'm pretty proud of myself! It's also been a nice break for my wallet. :)

Traveling North

This weekend Michael and I traveled up to northern California for a wedding. Two very good friends of ours were getting married in the Redwood National Forest. It was a gorgeous and really heartwarming wedding. I was definitely in tears at one point!

In the days leading up to the ceremony, we did a bit of exploring around the forest and the surrounding area. I don't have many pictures of our time in the forest since I really wanted to enjoy the scenery, and just take it all in.

When I have my camera I tend to constantly be scanning my surroundings trying to see what my next shot will be. Not to mention, my current camera bag isn't the most comfortable--it tends to pull my hair--so it gets a bit annoying to carry around. I really want to save up for something like this. I would prefer something that looks more like a purse, and not a backpack. Gotta save up for that one, though!

It was such a beautiful trip with just amazing views. The last few photos are from our day trip to Shelter Cove. This is a magnificent area that remains fairly undisturbed. If you're familiar with California beaches, you know that it is pretty difficult to find a beach that is empty, not full of shops, restaurants, or other businesses.

Shelter Cove is actually known as the Lost Coast. Instead of running along the edge of the coast, the Pacific Coast Highway came inland at this point since the terrain along this beach was so difficult to build on.

It was really peaceful and breathtaking. We had a blast on our trip, but it's definitely nice to be home.