Tuesday Tea Time!

Greetings, and Happy Tuesday Tea Time!

I’m happy to be sharing this tea time with you, filling in for my friend Julia again. To reintroduce myself, I’m Timothy, and I most often blog here. Last week I introduced myself with a bit more detail to you and told you a little about my wife Allison's and my story. I also told you about how I love questions. 

This week in the spirit of Tuesday Tea Time, as a place to take a few moments to sit and reflect while sipping on your favorite tea or hot beverage of choice, here’s your question:

Where do you dream about traveling and visiting?

I love to travel. I also love to take some time to dream and imagine. Maybe there's no better time to do this than when taking a moment to be still and relax with your favorite hot beverage. 

In thinking about traveling, Allison and I have been married just over five years and have not yet gone on a honeymoon. That's probably what I have been dreaming and imagining most about lately, at least when it comes to travel. 

I imagine there would probably be a nice warm beach, lots of sunshine (something there's less and less around this time of year with the end of daylight saving's time and the shorter days of fall), and just a good chance for Allison and I to explore a new place, to experience some new culture and cuisine, and to be on a new and exciting adventure together. 

Where are you dreaming about today? 

Thanks again to Britta Gene's art for the beautiful picture, and to Julia for letting me fill in for her on the blog. 

Friday Favorites!

It's Friday & here's a Favorite!

Yes, rocks, big giant rocks. They're not just any big, giant rocks though. They're Michigan big, giant rocks.

Growing up going camping in MI you knew when you saw big, giant rocks - some may call them boulders - you were deeper into the mitten state & further away from home. According to my mom, it isn't vacation if it's closer than 4 hours to home.

I'm not sure she'd say that any longer, but that's what classified a family vacation for my childhood. We didn't often go too much further than 4 hours away either, which is why it was safe for my mom to say that made a vacation.

These rocks strike me today as one of the few things in life that seems to withstand time. While no doubt these rocks have changed season by season with the Northern Michigan weather & regular visitors climbing on them despite the neighboring signs that say "stay off the rocks." They still seem quite large & untouched.

I post these giant, untouchable, Michigan rocks in memory of my Uncle Ted. Uncle Ted was man who had a story for every adventure & had an adventure for every part of life. Uncle Ted loved Michigan, it's lakes, mushroom hunting, & miniature schnauzers. While there's so much more one could say about Uncle Ted, the stories are what keep the spirit alive, so we'll save the others for another day.

Sunday Snippets: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: A few days away with the sights of Northern MI in the Spring is good for the soul. The cherry trees have yet to blossom, but there's beauty in the promise of their blooms in the coming weeks. Here you see this beauty on the peninsula looking out onto the West Bay in Traverse City. The West Bay was far from being unfrozen, yet the East Bay seemed ice free to the eye & ear. It was also fun to hear & see the buzz of the locals preparing for the tourist season. There were many painting, repairing, & patching jobs going on around the city. As a former vacationer to the area, I highly appreciate all this work that goes to making the place a romantic piece of Northern MI. Here in Traverse City you can spend your days on the beach or shopping down town & evenings around the camp fire at the local state park. There's miles of trails to hike, ride bikes, roller skate or whatever you desire to do for fun or to equal out all the goodies that you're sure to try while you're shopping. A perfect place for a girl like me & I didn't even mention the dozens of delicious cherry delicacies that one can find here. I was given a taste of the award winning Moomers ice cream, but of course they have SO many options I don't remember which kind of cherry ice cream it actually was. I'm pretty sure you can't go too wrong with ice cream.

BAD: Taking a week off only to realize it's been almost a year, if not a year, since you last took a full week off. This is not good self care, but we're working on that.

AWESOME: Playing princess & king on a train to see Michi with our niece via FaceTime. 

WORD: Today we read that the risen Lord Jesus eats fish. What's that all about? See Luke 24:36-48

coming up: A little of this, that, & a whole lot of Life, Spirit, & Sparkle as we blaze into the end of April.

Friday Favorites!

Oh my goodness, it's Friday & I have lots of Favorites this week!

I narrowed it down to this one photo that captures a piece of this week's adventures.

This week Z & I enjoyed a bit of a staycation. Being so work oriented it was a challenge for us to take time to do the things that you always want to do, but end up doing some more work related things instead.

I'm really good at busying myself with cleaning projects as well. On today's list is a bit of financial awareness work. Fun, not so fun!

We didn't simply take the week to stay at home, but ventured out for just a 2 night stay a few hours away. And what a difference it makes in one's daily pattern to step out of the normal & away from the work & projects! We've been told time & time again that to make life happen living in a more rural part of the country, the best way to keep a piece of sanity, at times, is to go on adventures, big & small. No matter the size of the trip, count it as an adventure.

This week's piece of adventure was watching, listening, & taking in the sights, sounds, & smells of the cracking of the thin layers of ice coming into the bay in the morning. This was just a piece of life that is preparing the town for Summer visitors.

Happy adventures - big & small!

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome!

Family at Epcot

GOOD: Thank you for being my trusty readers! Last Sunday I had intended to edit my blog while traveling & neither device I had along to do this task allowed me to edit. The cool & crazy thing is last Sunday Snippits had over 50 hits. Then it wasn't till Wednesday afternoon that I realized I had actually not finished my Tuesday Tea Time for yall. And really, to be completely honest, for me. I love sharing Tuesday Tea Time. So this past week was a bit off, but hopefully I'm back on track now for a little while anyway. No doubt I'll fall off the grid again. It happens to the best of us! We enjoyed the time away & are thankful to be home now to do all we can to enjoy the end of Winter in Northern MI. I'm really hoping that Easter marks the end of Winter this year, if not sooner.

BAD: The unbelievable bashing & negativity that many of us experienced & possibly heard this past week. I'm referring to many a things, but there seemed to be something in the air. Just before coming here today I was looking at an article regarding Ash Wednesday & while I'm noticing that the only tradition lifted up is Catholic - from around the world - others are writing about how horrible all humans are & that it's not up to one group, but up to individuals to make it a better place. It's so easy to let our heads swim with such negativity of all that isn't right in the world.

AWESOME: I really simply love the little surprises that come each week. This week we received 2 Valentine's cards from different family members & one had included tea stickers on the envelope. Then a few days later while in a bit of a huff from allowing things to stress me out, I notice a large envelope on the couch addressed to me. Inside was a total surprise of a print from Jessica Mingo Designs. A bright colored owl telling me "you're my cup of tea!" Thankfully I recognized the artist's names as she & her husband were both in my cousins wedding 2&1/2 years ago. I called my cousin & we had a wonderful unexpected phone date.

WORD: Since returning home from vacation I attempted to start reading Stitches by Anne Lamott, but the night I tried I faded quickly & none of the words seemed to make sense. SO we'll try again this week & that leads us to...

coming up: LOTS of work related life & love & sparkle

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome

GOOD: Hello Sunday! The alarms went off all too early this morning, but at least they went off so that we weren't late for work. This past week was a great mix of work & relaxation. We baked our first turkey with simple ingredients, made a mess of the kitchen, & enjoyed the Thanksgiving meal & all of it's left overs several times. In fact we're still enjoying pieces of it today. Just like we're still enjoying pieces of our trip to Paris back in the Spring. 2014 has seemed to be the year of fly-by days. You blink & a whole month or two has gone by! The other fun piece of this week putting away the Fall decorations & pulling out the boxes of Christmas/Winter decorations. We're getting our tree today, or at least that's the plan!

BAD: My friend TS blogs about "leadership" amongst other topics & so I've been thinking a bit about leadership. What kind of leader am I? What kind of leader are you? While I've been told I am a "natural born leader," I think those words can only go so far. Let's be real, there a lot of people we read about in the news that we deem to be poor leaders. What is it about them that makes you say this? The really saddening aftermath of something they led? Or what they stand for? As a glass half full sorta thinker, I have to try & believe that the saddening aftermath of events is usually what was hoped for by the leader. However, things never go quite as we expect now do they?

AWESOME: This past week I e-mailed, text, & talked with many friends & family (especially on Thanksgiving day) but one of the best messages was an e-mail from my SIL saying that our niece was "talking with me" on her phone. It's warms the heart to know she knows me across the miles to let her little imagination soar to wide depths of the world to walk around & say, "Hi Aunt Julia!"

WORD: Yes, still working on finishing that book I started back in September (I am Malala) & looking forward to reading a few good pieces from my friend's blogs such as TS & MBR.

coming up: Advent season is upon us & thus Holiday festivities are in full power now! Decorating, Christmas cards, present bought, & special shopping nights in town.

Friday Favorites!

It's Friday! Thursdays I try to stay off of computers & phone because it's Z's day off & so I treat it as my day off. (But if SFC is reading this, I didn't ignore your call, I genuinely believe we are in a game of phone tag!)

This week appears to be a week of little photography. Honestly I generally review my Facebook newsfeed to pick my Friday Favorites. Today nothing caught my eye that wouldn't have been too repetitive.

So today I searched on Google one of the places we visited on our day off yesterday. This picture is an aerial view of the former state hospital in Traverse City now known as The Village. In attempt to preserve the buildings, the city has refurbished the different floors for boutiques, restaurants, law offices, yoga studios, condos, vacation rentals, & more.

As somebody who loves to see historical places being put to use today & thriving in community, this was quite the little piece of adventure in my week.

Now who wants to looks into renting a space for a few days of vacation with me?!