Home again

We're back from our great Canadian adventure! I hinted about a big trip, but never explicitly stated where we were going. Granted, I'm still literally and figuratively processing the trip, and I'm planning a few (probably three) posts about it soon, but it was oh so wonderful. As for now, we're settling back into "home" for us—our space, our kitchen, food made by me, not dehydrated food or restaurant food. As much as both have their virtues, I'm glad for a break from both. Since we've been back, I've been:

• unpacking in a flurry (the sooner that task is done, the better!)
• meal planning, and getting excited about it for the first time in a long time. I want all the fresh food.
• grocery shopping
• making the best chicken tacos (fajitas?) with cilantro rice and homemade guac. As a few friends mentioned on Instagram, it probably seemed like the best meal ever because I actually made sides. For those of you who don't know, I'm all for one bowl meals and side dishes are not my forte. But after not cooking for so long, preparing multiple recipes was really enjoyable.
• starting a batch of homemade yogurt
• putting makeup on for the first time in a week and a half
• baking brownies at 9pm, because why not
• having fika with a dear friend
• brainstorming inexpensive, timeless, fall crafts that won't clutter up our home (if you have any suggestions, let me know!)
• staying up way too late to finish knitting a pair of mittens
• daydreaming about sweater knitting (still)
• processing the loads of pictures and videos I took
• enjoying sleeping on our sheets and using our towels and having the diffuser going full strength with peppermint oil

It's not that we're particularly attached to our stuff. I've written about that before in this post about our take on minimalism. Rather, home has it's own familiar intrigue in a way that even the most beautiful of places (looking at you, Alberta and British Columbia!) don't account for.

There is beauty in the familiar and the friendly.

Even as I type that, I realize that I need a break from the familiar and the friendly in order to see the beauty of it. Seeing beauty in one place changes my awareness of beauty. Those Canadian Rockies were incredible, and although Austin, Texas is nothing like them, perhaps they better trained my eyes to look for beauty wherever I am right now. And right now, it's the familiar, friendly scenery and routine of home.

P.S.—expect trip pictures/a post later  this week!