minimalism for the adventurous heart
I wish healthy, clean eating were possible for everyone. What I think most people don’t realize, though, is that it actually might be possible for them.
Eating organic does not have to mean purchasing hundreds of dollars of groceries every week. Simple, all-organic homemade meals can cost as little as $50 a week per person (or less with more people!), so if you have that much to spend, it’s time to start!
I’ve been aching to get out into the world again. These past few weeks have been laden with our apartment move, recovering from sickness, unsuccessful meal planning, full schedules and general tiredness. I suppose that’s one of the big lessons of adulthood: no responsible life is one constant thrill. An occasional victory among mundane routines is more like it.
Anyway, I’ve been so excited to share with you our travel plans for the summer. One reason why I’m grateful for my freelance job and my husband’s academic calendar is that we still (get to pretend we) have summer vacation! That means we can explore, wander, serve others, and push ourselves in ways outside of our everyday work.
Our summer is two-part. Two international destinations in late June and July before buckling down back to work and school in August….Continue Reading
If you’re like me, then you’re just now realizing that we are nearing the end of April. If you’re a lot like me, then you’re wondering where a third of this year has gone.
The worst part is, we can look around and see other people who know exactly where this year has gone: they’ve finished projects, learned a new skill, garnered recognition, lost weight, or otherwise done something awesome. Somehow, they’ve left the rest of us in the dust.
So much for comparison. The truth is, I have done several significant things this year, and so have you, probably. But what are some ways that we can really make progress on the goals we have? How can we overcome those doubts that paralyze us, to take even just one step closer to where we want to be?
It comes down to several simple, fool-proof principles. Regardless your goals, there are ways to make them more of a reality, and there’s NO excuse not to start today!
During my lifetime, the world has seen several devastating earthquakes. The deadliest of these felled up to hundreds of thousands of people: Japan in 2011, Haiti in 2010, China in 2008, Indonesia in 2004.
Nepal’s recent earthquake has taken over 3000 lives, and counting.
But the death toll is really only the beginning. There’s so much more to be endured by survivors. From finding food and shelter to having access to clean water, to rebuilding lives destroyed by disaster, there is immense work to be done.
Thankfully, there are people already committed to that work: volunteer medics, rescue teams, food distribution centers, childcare facilitators, and more. Within just a few days of the earthquake, volunteers are already on the scene, partnering with survivors to provide short-term relief, and long-term recovery.
Among the Impressionist painters, Claude Monet was a relatively stable one. And why wouldn’t he be– he curated a thriving garden that continued to inspire him until he died at the ripe old age of 86.
Giverny in France, just west of Paris, is where tourists can still discover the late painter’s oasis. And because it’s just a short train ride away via Eurostar, there’s no excuse not to spend a day lingering among the lush lilies and bridges that remain.
Visiting the gardens was a reminder to me that Monsieur Monet was, in a way, still very much alive. Even an art history novice like me can hardly ignore his legacy– the tranquility of his work, the captivating nature of his brushstrokes, the ubiquity of his style. I don’t know how many American refrigerators are bedecked with a small magnetic image of his iconic lilies, but there is something about his canvases that makes us want to enter in….Continue Reading
I love slow travel. Even in my earlier days when overachieving was an attractive endeavor, I rarely enjoyed vacations that were just go, go, go.
The “Go Slow” movement has already been around for years now. Alistair Sawday popularized slow travel with his picturesque descriptions of Europe taken at the pace it deserves.
When we were planning our trip to France years ago, I remember stumbling upon the “go slow” movement, and selecting a bed-and-breakfast to stay in during our time in Provence. Not only did our rooms include meals, but we also got to know Michael, a sweet British francophile who started his own B&B decades ago….Continue Reading
I don’t tend to talk about money on this blog. I prefer to write about ideas over numbers: minimalism, travel, and a handful of other passions. For whatever reason, sharing cold, hard numbers on a blog is scary to me, and I admire those who do. As a proponent of minimalism, however, I hope to convince you that it does achieve results.
Many people turn to minimalism in order to save money, to break poor habits, or simply to refocus their lives on non-material pursuits. And they should, because it works.
There are bloggers who have blogging down to the numbers. They’ve figured out where their readers live, what their readers click on, and even how old their readers are. Thanks to trusty Google Analytics and the occasional reader survey, lots of these figures are accessible to an online writer.
But what about opinions? Personalities, experiences, and interests? How will a blogger know who you really are– apart from your demographic and the links you like?
Only if you comment.
A question people sometimes ask me is, Why do you like to travel so much? To be honest, it never really occurred to me that travel was a preference; I always considered it a luxury and opportunity that everyone would take if given the choice.
As it turns out, I do have a hard time staying in one place. Growing up, my family spent a lot of time traveling, whether locally or overseas, and it taught me that a big part of experiencing life to the fullest meant spending it in different communities.
Still, I understand that not everyone loves travel. In fact, my own father is a bit of a homebody, traveling only for work and rarely, nowadays, for pleasure. In his free time, he’s content strolling through a garden, working on his paintings, reading and napping. Not bad, I admit.
So I have to ask myself what, if anything, helped cultivate that desire to get out into the world. And more importantly, I’ve thought about what I learned from traveling as a child, and why I think it’s important for other children to travel too.
I’ve been really enjoying digging up old travel photos and sharing them here on the blog! Last week I posted a few snapshots from a winter 2011 trip to Yunnan Province in China. This week I’ll be starting to share about my summer 2011 trip to France!
Oh, Nice (pronounced like “niece” in English). No throng of tacky tourists can stop me from raving about the beauty of this southern-French getaway. Nice is on the Mediterranean, which lends the city a gorgeous blue hue, excellent seafood, and plenty of beach bums.
If you’re going to spend considerable time in France, then there’s no excuse to skip Nice. It has everything from Impressionist museums to proverbial cafes to warm summer sand. As is the rest of Southern France, Nice’s vibe is more laid-back and casual than Paris’. The only thing taken too seriously is sunshine; everyone is chasing it.
The best thing about Nice is that it is so easy to explore. Wander through its alleyways, check out its menus du jour, and be sure to spend plenty of time on a balcony, drinking wine and enjoying the ocean’s stunning azure….Continue Reading
I have never been a roll-out-of-bed-and-look-fabulous kind of person. I’ve always needed my morning time. Almost every day, I eat a full breakfast, drink hot coffee, get myself ready, check my email, plan my day, and chat with my husband. Somehow if I don’t do all these things, then the whole day feels off— is anyone else like this or is it just me?
Despite how important it is for me to take my time in the morning to mentally prepare, I’ve also been working on cutting down my getting-ready time. I like being spontaneous, and I hate having to hold up an impromptu gathering or outing by half an hour because I have to “get ready.”
Confession: it used to take me more than half an hour to get fully ready. It’s true that I took my time and didn’t bother to move very quickly, but for the most part I was just obsessing over every detail of my outfit and makeup.
Yup that was me– before I discovered minimalism and realized how much I really wanted to focus on other things.
Anyway, the good thing that resulted from that is that I tried on a lot of beauty products. I still have a dwindling stash of items I’m now slowly using up, but I thought I’d share about my favorites. And how I now get ready in 10 minutes or less….Continue Reading
It’s so easy for me to think that I need all the perfect conditions in order to thrive. I have often told myself that if one aspect of my life were improved, then I would excel, be content, or achieve everything that I wanted to.
But the truth is, conditions are rarely perfect. Our lives are filled with difficult compromises and attachments that keep us from that pure sense of “freedom”–an elusive concept that, at least for me, really means a universe at which I am at the center.
Lately I have had a difficult time with desiring to do things that are just not possible for me right now. I’ve said to myself, if only I could… then I’ll be happy. Then things will be perfect.
The fact is, however, that we are planted in our circumstances without having to be enslaved to them. While circumstances can change, we are placed in our current location, given our current means, and we must thrive in that. We can choose to thrive in that. Our circumstances may dictate certain aspects of our daily lives, but they definitely do not dictate all aspects.
I was so encouraged to come upon these wildflowers (pictured above) during our hike in Utah. Their brilliant purple was an astonishing hue against the dusty reds and soft greens of the desert landscape. Despite harsh conditions, they bloomed where they were planted.
This week I am determined to look for ways in which I can thrive in my circumstances. True freedom, as I’m learning, lies in the decision not to be hindered by those things we cannot change.
Happy Monday, everyone!
There is something terribly dangerous about resting. That state of absence where we are not obliging our bodies or minds to any activity can mean relinquishing any opportunities that might come our way. Resting means we give up control– if but for a day or a few hours– and we allow the world to continue as it wills.
I need rest, badly. This week was incredibly busy, and I have not felt this spent for months. Exhaustion can sometimes only be described as a state where the gears in our brains don’t seem to be turning, no matter how hard we try to crank them. We feel that loss of life within our hearts and spirits, drained and unable to pour out as much as we would like.
Resting takes courage. Resting says, “I am okay with what I’m missing. I’m okay with what I can’t do. I recognize my limits. I submit to my own needs.”
We are not a culture that likes to rest. In fact, those of us all too familiar with the work-hard-play-hard mentality understand that life can only be measured by intensity. We are comfortable on either end of the spectrum– intense work or intense play– but there is an ominous gap in the middle that we find terrifying. The place where neither work nor play happen. The place of rest….Continue Reading
I’ve not blogged for that long, but I have traveled, and I want to start sharing some special photos and stories from the pre-Simplicity Relished days. There probably aren’t enough photos to turn this into a series, but I hope you enjoy!
It’s hard to characterize China with a single word. It is such a dynamic, diverse, challenging, and ancient place, which is also rapidly developing in seemingly unhindered ways. When we visited China back in the winter of 2011/2012, we were unsure of what to expect. Flying straight into Yunnan Province, in the southwest region that borders Myanmar and Laos, we knew we would have a very focused, intimate experience. But we were not prepared for the stunning natural beauty of the entire region. It was awe-inspiring.
Yunnan is a place of myth. Lijiang is a romantic old city that has, thankfully, been restored and maintained for visitors to enjoy. It is every poet’s dream to live and write in this region, or so I’ve been told, because it is somehow reminiscent of a golden age– an era that preceded the Revolution and the rapid industrialization of what we now know as China….Continue Reading
There is nothing that says SPRING better than the ability to start dining al fresco. Granted, here in SoCal good weather occurs almost year-round, but outdoor dining is still something we tend to save for spring and summer. And now that we’re officially in April, it’s time to start hosting gatherings outside.
I used to think that the food I prepared for parties had to be extraordinary. But now I’ve realized that I would much prefer to do simple gatherings often rather than fancy gatherings never.
I’ve reduced so much stress by creating simple dishes that are fun and nourishing; and this makes it more likely that I’ll host more often. While not everything is picture-perfect, the important thing is that our guests have a great time.
So what’s on our spring BBQ menu? Nothing that can’t be purchased for $20 or less, and we fed six!…Continue Reading
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