Summertime

Summer has officially arrived. Can you believe it's July already? With great weather and longer days it's a challenge to force myself to get on the computer and do anything. I push myself to enjoy the light and being outside and then I plan to get on the computer at night. But it never fails, once the sun is down I'm ready for bed.

What have you been up to so far this summer? Back in May, not officially summer yet, we took a trip down to the south and experienced the most breathtaking sunset.

Trust me it gets better, I still haven't gone through those pictures yet and have taken hundreds more various pictures in between that trip and now that I still need to go through.

Since May we've celebrated 3 birthdays and an Anniversary. We went on a tour of a tile factory outside of Philly that makes tiles using historical methods. Swam with a view of the New York city skyline and experienced the Jersey Shore for the first time.

I've also been busy throwing pottery again. I took this video hoping to share it on Instagram. Have you seen that you can share 15 second videos now? I didn't realize until after the fact that you have to actually take the video through Instagram. It's a pretty fun feature. I thought it would be interesting to show the trimming of a pot, which is very hard to do with one hand by the way.

I've felt so blessed to be throwing pottery again, but at the same time heartbroken. I long for my own space so desperately. I can't even describe how complete I feel when I'm throwing pottery. The place I found is actually in someone's garage and it's about a 30 minute drive. So I'm really trying to determine if it's worth it. Is it worth the gas? Is it worth the fee I have to pay? If you know anything about pottery you know there are many steps involved with the process, not being able to check on my pieces everyday, trying to estimate how fast they will dry is difficult. It's also very lonely except for the resident curious cats, which I'm very allergic to by the way.

These cats are so sweet and really are a lot of fun to watch. I think they enjoy watching me too.

Throwing pottery in this space is actually lonely. I was really hoping to find a community to learn from like I had when I lived in Omaha, but there's really no one ever around when I'm there. Sometimes it's really nice and relaxing to be alone with your art. But I feel so lonely in all other areas of my life and so empty.

I long for friendships and connections, which we can't seem to make very easily here. I think it must be our age... We have visited so many churches in our area hoping to find a place to belong, a family. Very rarely is there anyone around our age to connect with and if there is they have children. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against children but I feel like it's harder to build friendships and connect with people who have kids. I also get the impression that people find it so strange I've been married for 6 years and don't have children yet. I find myself desperately searching everywhere I go for someone, anyone who I can relate to and connect with.

On a more positive note these orange flowers have been popping up all over the place around here.

There have been mounds of them lining the roads and I always want to stop and take a picture but there's never a good place to get out. They are Daylilies! It amazes me that such an ornate flower is growing up everywhere like a wildflower would. It reminds me of something you would buy at the store but they are sprouting up so organically around here.

I've been working on quite a few projects that I'm looking forward to sharing with y'all. Also I've been trying lots of new foods and recipes. I'm in love with celery these days, which is weird because I always hated celery. I recently did a lifestyle change to help with my energy and pain. I'm working really hard on eating no dairy or gluten. I really believe it's making a difference. I'm even running regularly now, I'm training for a half marathon in the fall. This is a huge undertaking for me, considering I've had 3 surgeries in the last 3 years.

Looking forward to catching up with you all. Let me know how your summer is going. Take care!