Ramblings of a Thirty-Something

I was going to write this post about the fact that January is Tea Month {yay!}, but I decided to go a slightly different route. It still involves tea {and other warm drinks}, but that isn't exactly the focus. Have you heard of hygge ?  It's been a very "in thing" for the past few years. In the winter especially, I cannot scroll through Pinterest without seeing at least one link relating to the hygge lifestyle. Basically, this concept created by the Danes {and also practiced in Norway, although the Norwegians take credit for creating the concept. I have no stake in it, and I really don't mind giving credit to whomever--I'm just glad they came up with it} is all about celebrating coziness and togetherness. It isn't something you can buy {although you can buy some of the things you need to have a hygge lifestyle}. It's about spending time with people - meaningful time, not just being the same room and everyone being on their phones. It's abo

Welcome back, friends! Readers! Facebook acquaintances! You've made it to part 2 of this mini-series on travel. If you missed part 1, you can read that here . In this post, I am going to talk about the various ways I plan my trips, specifically focusing on last spring break and my upcoming spring break. Since my last post, I have booked my airfare, my accommodations, and have a massive  list going of things I want to do/see. I know. It's pretty exciting. Throughout my life, I have planned trips in different ways. Some were hypothetical trips my siblings and I planned while looking at a road atlas and taking note of the special locations marked {that's how we ended up at Neil Armstrong's house, by the way}. When I was in college preparing for my student teaching abroad and the various trips that came with it, I consulted travel guides. I still love perusing those in book stores... But nowadays, I go to the internet. Just like everybody else. But maybe not like

This post is the first of a pair that I have been wanting to write for quite some time. Like a mini-series, but with only two editions. Or one of those episodes with the TO BE CONTINUED at the bottom of the final scene. For a *tiny* bit of background {I swear, I'm going to try to keep this brief}, last year on Spring Break, I took a trip to Massachusetts. My grad school break and my 4th-grade-teacher break were the same week. I had always wanted to go to Boston, and when I started doing some random pinning on Pinterest, I found out some interesting things I hadn't known. Lexington and Concord are not that far from Boston {which I think I knew from history class and also a random episode of Liberty's Kids , but the distance between the two locations never clicked until I actually looked at a map}. Salem is not that far from Boston. Plymouth is...a little far, but definitely doable {said the Midwesterner}. I'll dig more into that part in the second post. And on a whim,

My first post of 2020! A totally blank canvas {or blog page}! So many ideas! So many possibilities! So much pressure.... We will start this month out easy by doing one of my *new favorite* posts:  my monthly list. I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but I am quite disappointed in Past Kaitlin. My Current Book In case you have not gotten on this bandwagon, the fifth season of Outlander  premieres on February 16. #droughtlanderendsin38days The books are amazing...and amazingly long, which is why I always strive to have the book the season is based on finished before the season starts. I am about 1/5 of the way through The Fiery Cross  {still have 1,110 pages to go}, but my goal is to have it finished by the end of January. Fingers crossed. My Current Show I don't know that I have one as of today, but the adaptation of Sanditon  premieres on PBS on Sunday. I'm pretty excited to see what they do with an unfinished novel. I also had several shows re