first mother's day

Very slowly we're starting to realize how drastically different our lives are going to be in just a few short months.  Beginning an MBA program is one thing, but starting that program at the same time as welcoming your first baby to the world is something else entirely.  Two will become three and one on one time will be a scarce commodity.

With that in mind, Mr. F and I went on a staycation for Mother's Day this year.  Taking advantage of one of the few free weekends we have left before the baby comes, we hightailed it to Lake Lanier for a few hours of sun, floating, and togetherness.

It reminded me so much of some of our adventures in Cyprus.  Whenever we had a free Saturday, we would hop in our trusty little Mazda Familia and drive all over the island until we found a place that suited us.  My belly has been limiting distance and ramblings, but we still found a perfect spot for the day.  We talked, Mr. F napped and read.  Me?  I floated.  For hours I floated in a chilly lake, embracing the fleeting sensation of weightlessness and an ache free body.

This will sound very, very cheesy, but the best part of the day was just being with Mr. F.  We know our time is limited now and seem to be savouring it more than ever.  To have a day to just be was bliss.  To leisurely find moments for conversation, to laugh over things only we find funny, to feed a mutual hankering for Mexican food.  To do what we wanted and do it together was such a sweet, wonderful gift.

candler lake

At the very last minute, Mr. F and I ended up with a Sunday free. No visitors.  No welcome weekends at school.  No work.  We were finally able to visit our new church congregation (it changed with the move) and for an oft desired but seldom possible Sunday afternoon walk.

Mr. F has been going for walks in the evenings after work, exploring routes to and around his new campus.  One such adventure took him to the trails around Candler Lake, a trek he had been eager to share with me.  

I say this often, but one of my favorite aspects of life in Atlanta is how nature is everywhere.  My love affair with trees is constantly nourished in this area.  The forestation is so thick, the hills so rolling, that very often you forget you are in the heart of the city.  The tall trunks and hillsides absorb all sound other than rustling leaves and the chirping of birds.  I knew this about Atlanta before our Sunday jaunt but was still surprised by the wilderness I was presented with.  

There is a trail around the lake itself, but shooting off from it are the most enticing, Robert Frostian paths to discover.  I lamented my diminishing bladder and energy reserves, as I normally would have spent the day trying to learn my way through those woods.  

All in all, it was a very Anne-like day.  Mr. F presented me with my very own Lake of Shining Waters here in the city.  I made friends with new trees and wildflowers.  We daydreamed of picnics on the grassy glens with our little girl when she comes.  

Now it's Monday and real life is calling.  Deadlines and to-do lists loom menacingly.  But behind all the gloom of Monday are the tickles of a chilly spring Sunday afternoon, giggling by the shores of a lake with my best friend when worries didn't touch us for a few blissful hours.

sawnee mountain

To begin this, you need to know that we are not outdoorsy people.  Do we love nature? Yes.  Do we joke about going camping? Yes.  Do we go camping?  No.  We walk to McDonald's and get a $1 ice cream cone.  We're urban creatures that like trees surrounding us.

That said, with summer in full swing, we've both been craving some extracurriculars that don't involve the GMAT, planning our future, doctors, work, or the GMAT.  Mainly the GMAT.  That sucker takes up a lot of free time, man!  Anyway, before I got back from Florida, I asked my cute husband if we could go hiking over the weekend, to which he nearly screamed in my ear (we were on the phone..), "YES!"  A few google searches on his part, a plane ride, and a quick car trip to Forsyth County, and we found ourselves at Sawnee Mountain.  It was morning.  The sun was shining, the trees were thick, the birds singing.  It was idyllic.

Until we realized that our "hike" was a few walking sticks and rock climbs away from being a bonafide lost-in-nature hiking experience.  Guys!  It was intense!  The round trip to the top of the mountain was maybe four miles.  Not terribly long.  I can do four miles pretty easily.  But this?  This was the most hardcore four miles I've done since I was training for rugby and kept running for fear of brutal tackles.  It was all sunshine and daisies (or shade and moss, given our forested surroundings..) until the path started winding at a steep grade up the side of the hill.  I'm pretty sure everyone else knew secret paths or something, because no one was sweating like we were.  No one.  We checked everyone that passed us for heavy breathing and sweat stains.  We were the only culprits.  So that really could say more about us being out of shape than the intensity of the trail....

Alright, so it probably wasn't that bad.  I told you we weren't outdoorsy people!  Thing is, we loved it.  The whole two hours that felt like Day 1 in the Arena in the Hunger Games.  (I swear we heard cannons announcing deaths...) It was beautiful and such a good experience for us.  No phone calls, no texting, hardly any photos because I had to focus on not tripping on rocks.  We had great conversation and kept one another going.  By the end, we smelled horrific, but were smiling and feeling like woodsmen.   We now have a goal to find a new trail around here every other week or so.  GMAT, be darned! We will make the most of this summer, steep hills and all!

on the water

{shirt: goodwill, shorts: j. crew factory (on sale for 19.99!!), glasses: nordstrom, baubles: gifts and garage sales, hairstyle: mother nature}

So it was Sunday.  And we'd had enough napping and decided to go to the beach for a walk.  And I had a new haircut and a decent outfit and was feeling pretty cute.  So we brought the phone to take pictures.  But we had to get to a part of the beach with fewer people, which took awhile.  Because it was Sunday and a nice day and everyone and their dog was at the beach.  So we walked.  And walked.  Which was fun!  Eventually we got to a clearing.  I started "posing" while Mr. F took out the phone.  Truly, two pictures in, the heavens opened.  Rain.  RAIN! See that last set of pictures, how the sky is so different?  Happy blue versus muddled blue?  Yeah.  Clouds.  Rain clouds to be exact.  So we took a few more pictures and I gave up the hope of my new haircut looking cute.  Mr. F stuffed the phone back in his pocket so it didn't drown in the rain that was suddenly getting harder.  It took us about two seconds to realize how far away from the car we were and to just give in.  We sauntered merrily up the beach through a high tide while surfers and loungers scurried under cover. That walk was awesome   AWESOME!  I may have sung, "If you like piña coladas, and getting caught in the rain..." repeatedly.  And then a few times more.  To top it all off, we got to eat birthday cake that night when we got home.  That rain felt so blissful in the late summer heat and giggling with Mr. F was even better.

treetops

I've been trying to go for walkruns three to four times a week recently.  For the most part, I've been going strong on this for almost a month.  Can I get a "WHOOP! WHOOP!"?  There's a park near the house I like to walk to with a pondish lake encircled by a walking path.  For me, this is perfect.  I do so much better exercising when I can be surrounded by nature rather than houses, or worse yet, skyscrapers.  I pass elderly neighbors and their dogs, listen to NPR and the BBC on my phone, and build up one massive sweat. A little bit of me time surrounded by trees I can't even begin to name before heading home to work.  I have always had an infatuation with trees, but I find myself increasingly more distracted by these foreign breeds.  The contrast between the crisp green hues and the violently blue Floridian skies.  The pines with boughs shaped like snakes and palms that climb inexplicably closer to the heavens.  And then, there is always the refreshing shade they offer as I awkwardly jog past, perfect for a summer workout.

paradise

One of those sunsets where Mother Nature knew I had no idea how to use a camera and produced a display so glorious it didn't matter.  Not editing, no tweaking, just pure, unadulterated gloriousness. 

 On this particular day, I had been painting all day, trying to catch up on work and get new ideas out of my head before I lost them.  I scarcely left my table, determined to get a lot done.  As the sun was going down, I happened to look up and noticed the golden pink hues of the evening sky.  It was the perfect break I needed, to run out to the patio with my camera in hand to watch the show I never grow tired of.  Everywhere we end up, twilight draws me out of doors and out of myself for a few minutes.  Sunsets are most definitely Nature's gift...

cypriot sun

I may or may not be a borderline hermit.  The thing is, I like being home.  When I'm away from it, I miss it.  And with as hot as it has been this summer, I've found myself hunkering down at home more than usual save for trips to the grocery store and the occasional coffee morning (where I discovered iced hot chocolate!) with friends.  But this last week I was stripped from home with a babysitting job.  Since we only have one car, and I'm not so good with buses (I'll explain another day...), I took Mr. F to work every day and then picked him up in the evenings when I was done working.

Those drives were my favorite part of the days.

Mr. F works a little way out of the city, far enough out to breathe in the contented sigh of open space.  I could see the Troodos mountains, the whole valley, and wide, clear skies.  And if Mr. F worked late enough, I got to see the tinge of sunset.  I have probably seen thousands of sunsets and sunrises in my life but they still get me every time.  The world absolutely changes as the sun nears the horizon, especially here.  Here the sun is blistering and stifling during the day.  But as it flirts with the edge of the world, it's a playful chum, a giggling golden muse sprinkling life and joy and color.  It makes Cyprus glow.

I might be a hermit, but after this last week, I am appreciating the merits of getting out of the house more often.  Open space, sunsets, and mountains.

trees

You know that line from The Sound of Music, "I go to the hills, when my heart is lonely."  Well, it's starting to make sense to me.  Not that I've necessarily been lonely, but just needing escape.  Life happens fast sometimes.  A day turns into a week turns into a month and suddenly time has flown past and you're still just focusing on making it through the day.  I've been feeling like that more and more as the days have grown hotter.  Everyday it is a minimum of 100 degrees here and no matter how much I heat proof the apartment, it's just hot and it's still too expensive to turn on the AC.  I used to love going to the beach to cool down but I'm moving in favor of the mountains.  The sun isn't as strong, there's more clouds, the temperature is at least 20 degrees cooler, and there are donkeys.  But really, I think I go there because of the trees.

Have you ever noticed how friendly trees are?  Maybe it's because I'm from the Midwest, but a home doesn't feel like a home without trees.  In the city, I feel so detached from nature.  There's too much cement and the noise of racing motorcycles drowns out the gentle tinkle of leaves as the wind moves between branches.  In the mountains, I get to hear the breeze coming and going.  I hear it move in over the distant ridge then glide through pine needles and skirt along fallen brush.  I feel it dance across my skin and get a chill as it touches the back of my neck.  I get to lay under the trees and trace their shape.  We talk together, trying to learn one another's language so we can share our stories.  We are  so foreign to each other, the trees and I, but so familiar.

I now feel my heart aching for those trees, wishing to smell the pine in the air.  Hopefully when Saturday comes, we'll be together again.  

glorious, glorious sunlight

For some reason I didn't have my journal with me when I took these pictures.  Or a pen.  Luckily I had my camera.  I wanted so desperately to capture the feeling of these few wonderful moments before they disappeared.

It was twilight and I was waiting for Mr. F to finish up for the day.  Parked outside of his office, I listened to a local classical music radio station and clicked away at the shutter of my point-and-shoot.  Everything looked perfect.  The Troodos mountains in the distance, the clouds that separated enough between rain storms to let the last rays of sun for the day weave their way through the clouds and blades of grass.  After so much rain, the yellow was intoxicating.  The world glowed with relief and joy.  As I listened to the music on the radio, I felt myself beaming like one of those rays of sun.  It was a beautiful day and somehow I was lucky enough to be a part of it.

hi! my name is...

This is Mortimer.  He's my Christmas cactus.  He lives in Florida.  I couldn't figure out how to transport him then properly declare him through customs.

When we moved to Florida back in April, this little guy was an eighth of the size he is now.  Two scraggly, exhausted, desperate for Florida sunshine stubs of foliage peeked out from the dirt.

This is Mortimer yesterday.  He's enormously huge and would you check out those blossoms?  They're so vibrant and wonderfully Christmas-like!

I've been searching for a Cypriot Mortimer since we moved here but to no avail.  I'll just have to settle for photos from Momma F from time to time to get my fix.

Way to grow little Mortimer!

brown sugar

Amid all of the lists of things to do (get Florida driver's license with new name, find moving companies, eat lots of chicken nuggets and tacos) I've been compiling a list of things we need to buy before we leave for Cyprus.  Mr. F is in desperate need of a new suit, outlet adapters, and deodorant are pretty high on the list.  But since we're still in Germany, I have also been contemplating what sort of food items I need to stock up on in the U.S. before becoming a bona fide expat.  Luckily there are quite a few things that are staples in our diet that you can find just about anywhere, like pasta and rice.  (We're low maintenance, okay?)  Peanut butter is definitely on the "to buy" list, but I've been surprised to learn that brown sugar, baking soda, and vanilla are also on the list.  After a conversation with the family we're living with, I think we're tagging on mac and cheese, ramen noodles, taco seasoning, chocolate chips, and as many packets of Knorr sauces I can stuff into our bags.

What about you?  Have you ever lived abroad?  What were things you missed?  Or, what are things you can't imagine doing without in your daily diet?

On a different note, I have a goal to take a picture a day of the sunset over the next week.  The fall sunsets here are just wonderful, but I'm also wanting to document in a simple way the changes that are coming in the next few weeks.  What are all of the different landscapes going to look like?

With that, I have more phone calls to make.  Happy Monday everyone!

happy things

Sitting on the hill with Mr. F, imagining our future, eating döner kebab and watching the sunset.

Sunsets over freshly tilled fields.

Laughing.

Emails from Church members in Cyprus saying, "We can't wait to meet you!"

Realizing how much debt Mr. F and I have been able to pay off since we've been married.

Realizing that we were able to make such a huge dent whilst unemployed.

 

Döner kebab.  It's cheap. It's yummy.  It's replaced chicken nuggets in my life.

 

  

Dribbles of Greek yoghurt on Mr. F's sleepy face as he tries to eat döner kebab.

 

Harvest moons.

The need for sweaters and scarves now that the seasons have morphed.

Talking for hours about how good things are.

Mr. F playing music as he left for work this morning.

Knowing that we'll be with family again in eight days.

Knowing there's a 32 ounce fountain coke from Macadocious waiting for me in Amrika.

Dinner plans with friends.

  

 

 

Feeling like we're gonna be more than fine in Cyprus.