Today I woke up early. And it was even earlier because of "fall backwards." But I decided to just get up and get going. One thing that helped was that our fire alarm was needing a new battery and the beep... beep... was starting to drive my puppy nuts, "bark... bark... bark...". So I got up, got dressed, got my puppy's leash and headed out. We stopped at Starbucks first for a double tall skinny vanilla latte. Then off to the river for a pleasant morning stroll.
It was such a lovely morning. The crisp November air pinched my cheeks and Misha (my pom) couldn't be happier. So we walked, and walked, and said "Good Morning" to the joggers. But it was funny that no one else was out just enjoying the stroll. They were all "exercising." I also love jogging and working out to some extent, but sometimes I feel we are all so focused on being "productive" that we fail to enjoy being "active." In other words, we're always being active for a result, instead of simply being active for the joys of being active. Enjoying the outdoors, the weather, your surroundings, new sights... I know I'm a dreamer so even if I'm running or working out, if I catch a beautiful sunset I have to stop and soak it in. Life is short, you have stop and enjoy the sunsets.
Anyways, after our wonderful walk, we headed to the store to grab some new batteries and then back to the house we went. After clumsily replacing the battery (J+ is out of town) -- I settled in to watch something on Netflix... something... I browsed and browsed and finally a movie caught my eye. I think Netflix is learning that I love sappy romantic comedies, but Netflix doesn't judge. This time I watched, "Nesting" with Todd Grinnell and Alli HIllis, director John Chuldenko. Here's the synopsis from Netflix, "Feeling like they've become boring, two thritysomethings take a trip down memory lane by breaking into the apartment they shared in their twenties."
Nesting actually ended up having a pretty great story line. So the woman is pretty wrapped up in renovating a new house they've bought and the husband starts to feel a restlessness, that things are changing too quickly, that his wife isn't the woman he married, and that they were becoming too obsessed with stuff.
Now being soon-to-be married myself, I sat up a little in seat. I couldn't help but relate to the women's obsession over the colors, and the swatches, and the gorgeous kitchen they had, etc. But as I watched I saw these two begin to see their own history with rose colored glasses. He reminds her of the reckless self she once was and how much fun she was. And she even begins to think she should be that girl again also. They reminisce about the "good ol' days" and they seem to rekindle a spark that had begun to fade.
But alas, they get too caught up in their fantasy world and soon it all begins to crash down around them. They have a big mess to clean up and are reminded of why they became so focused on creating a new life in the first place: it's hard to struggle. Bills piling up isn't fun, it's stressful.
So thankfully they are more or less able to clean up their mess, although in a fairly unrealistic way. Regardless, it ends with them realizing that they need less, and they need to pay attention to, and love, each other more.
Pretty sure I didn't give away anything too telling if you think you might want to watch it some time. But after watching it, I just got to thinking. I rolled up my sleeves to do some dishes in the kitchen and as I cleaned, my my mind got to working...
Why do we think we need more? When we have less we focus more on what we do have. Why do we need the best of everything? One of my favorite lines by Neil, the husband character in the movie, is when he says something like... "why do we need the nicest fridge? if we just had a nice fridge we could have backpacked across Europe with the money we saved..." and its true. What do you want? Money? or Experiences? and once we spend so much investing in the best of everything, you have to keep spending more money to keep it up... it is a neverending cycle. So what do you do? I think its a lesson we've heard before, you have to be thankful for everything and in everything give thanks. But there is no reason to kill yourself for more stuff. We live in a world now that is overrun with stuff. What is really important is the memories you make and the relationships you build.
It was such a lovely morning. The crisp November air pinched my cheeks and Misha (my pom) couldn't be happier. So we walked, and walked, and said "Good Morning" to the joggers. But it was funny that no one else was out just enjoying the stroll. They were all "exercising." I also love jogging and working out to some extent, but sometimes I feel we are all so focused on being "productive" that we fail to enjoy being "active." In other words, we're always being active for a result, instead of simply being active for the joys of being active. Enjoying the outdoors, the weather, your surroundings, new sights... I know I'm a dreamer so even if I'm running or working out, if I catch a beautiful sunset I have to stop and soak it in. Life is short, you have stop and enjoy the sunsets.
Anyways, after our wonderful walk, we headed to the store to grab some new batteries and then back to the house we went. After clumsily replacing the battery (J+ is out of town) -- I settled in to watch something on Netflix... something... I browsed and browsed and finally a movie caught my eye. I think Netflix is learning that I love sappy romantic comedies, but Netflix doesn't judge. This time I watched, "Nesting" with Todd Grinnell and Alli HIllis, director John Chuldenko. Here's the synopsis from Netflix, "Feeling like they've become boring, two thritysomethings take a trip down memory lane by breaking into the apartment they shared in their twenties."
Nesting actually ended up having a pretty great story line. So the woman is pretty wrapped up in renovating a new house they've bought and the husband starts to feel a restlessness, that things are changing too quickly, that his wife isn't the woman he married, and that they were becoming too obsessed with stuff.
Now being soon-to-be married myself, I sat up a little in seat. I couldn't help but relate to the women's obsession over the colors, and the swatches, and the gorgeous kitchen they had, etc. But as I watched I saw these two begin to see their own history with rose colored glasses. He reminds her of the reckless self she once was and how much fun she was. And she even begins to think she should be that girl again also. They reminisce about the "good ol' days" and they seem to rekindle a spark that had begun to fade.
But alas, they get too caught up in their fantasy world and soon it all begins to crash down around them. They have a big mess to clean up and are reminded of why they became so focused on creating a new life in the first place: it's hard to struggle. Bills piling up isn't fun, it's stressful.
So thankfully they are more or less able to clean up their mess, although in a fairly unrealistic way. Regardless, it ends with them realizing that they need less, and they need to pay attention to, and love, each other more.
Pretty sure I didn't give away anything too telling if you think you might want to watch it some time. But after watching it, I just got to thinking. I rolled up my sleeves to do some dishes in the kitchen and as I cleaned, my my mind got to working...
Why do we think we need more? When we have less we focus more on what we do have. Why do we need the best of everything? One of my favorite lines by Neil, the husband character in the movie, is when he says something like... "why do we need the nicest fridge? if we just had a nice fridge we could have backpacked across Europe with the money we saved..." and its true. What do you want? Money? or Experiences? and once we spend so much investing in the best of everything, you have to keep spending more money to keep it up... it is a neverending cycle. So what do you do? I think its a lesson we've heard before, you have to be thankful for everything and in everything give thanks. But there is no reason to kill yourself for more stuff. We live in a world now that is overrun with stuff. What is really important is the memories you make and the relationships you build.
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