Olive Noodles

This past summer I set the intention to spend less time on social media. There was a lot happening in my world and I didn't want it to go by with my head in front of a screen.  While there is nothing wrong with being online, and I do enjoy the instant connection, I found that I was wasting a lot of time on my phone/computer. We all 24 hours in a day. At least eight of mine are dedicated to sleep. That means I've got 16 hours to enjoy the people I love, take care of responsibilities, tackle to-do's, make things happen, exercise, create and/or travel. To hit targets, I had to look at how I was spending my time, personally and professionally. I didn't think I was that addicted to my phone. I did notice that I had a habit of reaching for it first thing and the am scroll began. I observed my patterns, asked how I wanted to feel?  Strong. Healthy. Focused. Energized. Excited. Grabbing my phone upon awakening didn't make the list. I won't say that it was an easy ...

Home for me has become wherever my backpack lands. Five years ago I started using travel as a way to heal, focus and begin a new path. Travel allowed me to get out of my head and into nature, where I am always able to think more clearly. I've always loved being on the go, seeing and experiencing new and favorite locations. One of the interesting traits, (and I'll even go so far as to call it a talent,) is that I have a propensity to create organization, flow and comfort in whatever spaces I occupy. Like hair color, and eye color, I was born with this, I didn't ask for it. {Just for the record, if I could ask for a talent I would have picked something totally different!) In fact, this talent is so very........well, easy, that I had completely dismissed it. It was just something that I did and it required very little effort or work on my part. I had to go way back in my experiences and thinking to remember when I first became aware of the tendency to put things in order. ...

I have a bit of an addiction. Or at least that is what I have called it. It isn't "clinically" an addiction and it typically doesn't cause much of an issue, unless we calculate the amount of dollars that have been needlessly spent. It's not drugs, drinks or food. It's not necessarily even unhealthy (some addictions are not so bad... if I could just be addicted to healthy food.....) Anyway, this addiction is one that I've run up against before and continually butted heads with in my quest to downsize. I've proven that I can live with far fewer items that what is in my space. In fact, I'll be doing another closet purge this fall because the summer has shown that I wear less than 20 different pieces of clothing continually. I do a detox/clutter release about every three months. There are two realms where I get pretty hung up on the purging. Again, if I HAD to evaluate what to keep and what to let go of, say in the event that our ideal camper unit co...

I do not love to mow the lawn. I enjoy the look of a freshly mowed space, but it is not an activity that I look forward to. Like laundry, dishes and cleaning it is a necessary chore. No one makes me mow the lawn and I could certainly choose to forgo the activity, but every time I'd look at the overgrowth, I would be frustrated. I can only put up with a dirty, cluttered floor or space for so long. Then I am ready to go to work. I used to fight against tasks I didn't enjoy. I've used procrastination as a tactic so avoid doing what needed to be done. I've also bitched, bawled, complained and been really grumpy because I felt I "had" to                                 {fill in the blank}. In the past I often experienced feeling burdened, put-upon, angry, frustrated and resentful {Why meeeeeeee?} Of course NONE of these helped me get the job done any faster, nor did feeling sorry for myself make...

What a weird name for a blog, right?! Years ago, when I first started using Facebook, I took a quiz that generated "What your blog name should be." I couldn't resist this of course, and so I clicked away. The result.... “Olive Noodles.” It certainly gave me a chuckle! I wrote it down in a journal and kept it in the back of my mind for...someday. Looks like "someday" has arrived.  My 2018 Word of the Year is GROWTH. That has certainly been the theme, especially in the past three months. In June, I married the love of my life. We took a few days off to go hiking and camping and then settled into as newlyweds. The transition has been very easy. We were great friends long before we were romantic partners. We've traveled thousands of miles together and have had conversations about everything under the sun. We laid out a clear, solid foundation and as a result, married life is awesome! I'm grateful for our communication skills, dedication to each other...