Homely Category
I lived in the house my parents built until I was 18 years old. Since then, on average I’ve moved at least once a year. Below, you can read all about my housing shuffles, apartments, househunting, and cozy homemaking. The summary since I started this blog in late 2000: Olympia, New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, Seattle. Spring of 2005, Andreas and I bought our first house in Seattle’s Rainier Beach neighborhood.
It’s one of those gorgeous days out today. The sky is a brilliant shade of blue (deep, not pale) and the sunlight is filtering through the boughs of cedars and maple trees around my house. Birds are in full chorus, and earlier I think I heard a squirrel get its clock cleaned by a raccoon. It’s warm out. The ferns are uncurling and are at their greenest. It’s my favorite time of year, in my favorite place.
It’s moments like these when I wonder why I would ever leave this gorgeous area. I mean, really: I live in an amazing house in a beautiful forest…Why would I ever want to leave?
(Oh, did I forget to mention that Andreas and I will be giving up the house when I leave for NYC? We will. Then I’ll be New York until early August, back long enough to pack my shit and go for a couple hikes, and then it’ll be off to LA, SF, or NYC for work. Dre will stay here to finish his last year of school.)
Then I have to remind myself that I want to do more than sit in a beautiful place. I want to bring inspiration to the masses, and to do that I need to spend some time working (whoring?) my magic in a place where there’s a higher ratio of people to trees than we have here in Olympia, WA. It’s not that I don’t appreciate this place. Every morning I wake up and drink in the forest sounds, every night I enjoy the complete darkness and silence (I’m the girl who had to move out of a loft last year in part because I was convinced that the evil orange streetlights outside my window ate my soul while I was sleeping). I love it here.
But I’ve got the curse of being acutely aware of my purpose, and it’s to publish: bringing the inspired words of geniuses to the appreciative public (how’s that for industry idealism?). I might eventually be able to do that from a place as beautiful and verdant as where I live now, but I’ve got to put in some urban time.
That’s why, in one month, I’ll leave behind my house, my forest, my family, my boyfriend, and my security. It’s all very exciting, but (and?) some days I feel only terror.
- 0 Comments
- Tags: fear, new york city, olympia
What a dazzling morning! I made myself some rolls and tea and sat outside in the treezeebo (a gazebo-esque structure outside our backdoor that is built into four trees), and listened to the birds sing and enjoyed the sunlight crisscrossing through the forest. I saw a Pileated woodpecker work its way down and then back up a tree trunk, and listened to what could have been frogs or might have been crows croaking down the hill. It was fantastic.
To counter this lovely forest morning, I think I’m going to finalize my CPC application. Got to keep a little urban in there with the forest.
It’s another beautifully sunny day
12
Feb
2001
In: Homely
It’s another beautifully sunny day in Olympia. The birds are singing already, and the Indian Plum are uncurling their leaves. While it’s nice and all, I can’t help but comment on how creepy this winter has been.
I was up at an
2
Dec
2000
In: Homely
I was up at an ungodly early hour again this morning…out of bed by 7am, and I (get this!) cleaned until noon or so. What a weird thing! Granted, I’m not a very FAST cleaner, but still–I cleaned for a long ass time.
Other than that, a quiet day. Dre was up in Seattle last night and I enjoyed having the house to myself.
- 0 Comments
- Tags: housekeeping
It’s one of those gorgeous days out today. The sky is a brilliant shade of blue (deep, not pale) and the sunlight is filtering through the boughs of cedars and maple trees around my house. Birds are in full chorus, and earlier I think I heard a squirrel get its clock cleaned by a raccoon. It’s warm out. The ferns are uncurling and are at their greenest. It’s my favorite time of year, in my favorite place.
It’s moments like these when I wonder why I would ever leave this gorgeous area. I mean, really: I live in an amazing house in a beautiful forest…Why would I ever want to leave?
(Oh, did I forget to mention that Andreas and I will be giving up the house when I leave for NYC? We will. Then I’ll be New York until early August, back long enough to pack my shit and go for a couple hikes, and then it’ll be off to LA, SF, or NYC for work. Dre will stay here to finish his last year of school.)
Then I have to remind myself that I want to do more than sit in a beautiful place. I want to bring inspiration to the masses, and to do that I need to spend some time working (whoring?) my magic in a place where there’s a higher ratio of people to trees than we have here in Olympia, WA. It’s not that I don’t appreciate this place. Every morning I wake up and drink in the forest sounds, every night I enjoy the complete darkness and silence (I’m the girl who had to move out of a loft last year in part because I was convinced that the evil orange streetlights outside my window ate my soul while I was sleeping). I love it here.
But I’ve got the curse of being acutely aware of my purpose, and it’s to publish: bringing the inspired words of geniuses to the appreciative public (how’s that for industry idealism?). I might eventually be able to do that from a place as beautiful and verdant as where I live now, but I’ve got to put in some urban time.
That’s why, in one month, I’ll leave behind my house, my forest, my family, my boyfriend, and my security. It’s all very exciting, but (and?) some days I feel only terror.
- 0 Comments
- Tags: fear, new york city, olympia
What a dazzling morning! I made myself some rolls and tea and sat outside in the treezeebo (a gazebo-esque structure outside our backdoor that is built into four trees), and listened to the birds sing and enjoyed the sunlight crisscrossing through the forest. I saw a Pileated woodpecker work its way down and then back up a tree trunk, and listened to what could have been frogs or might have been crows croaking down the hill. It was fantastic.
To counter this lovely forest morning, I think I’m going to finalize my CPC application. Got to keep a little urban in there with the forest.
It’s another beautifully sunny day
12 Feb 2001 In: HomelyIt’s another beautifully sunny day in Olympia. The birds are singing already, and the Indian Plum are uncurling their leaves. While it’s nice and all, I can’t help but comment on how creepy this winter has been.
I was up at an
2 Dec 2000 In: HomelyI was up at an ungodly early hour again this morning…out of bed by 7am, and I (get this!) cleaned until noon or so. What a weird thing! Granted, I’m not a very FAST cleaner, but still–I cleaned for a long ass time.
Other than that, a quiet day. Dre was up in Seattle last night and I enjoyed having the house to myself.
- 0 Comments
- Tags: housekeeping
Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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