WEEKEND EXPLOITS || WHAT LIFE IS LACKING :: SHELL EDITION

I spent a lot of this weekend thinking about blessings and how lucky my husband and I have been since moving to this strange, faraway rock. mitch is working extremely hard and making respectable grades while in medical school. we have both been safe and healthy and well-fed. we have people that love us and I know that god is looking out for us on a daily basis. rarely do I look at my life and feel like it's lacking anything really important. and I didn't know it was until I was talking to a friend of mine who has been to every single beach while on the island ( which is quite a feat ) collecting some of the most beautiful shells I have ever seen! no joke. she has a huge, whole conch; a whole sand dollar; a starfish; several sea urchins; and a bunch of shells I don't even know the names of. that's when it dawned on me that I have become such a creature of habit in such a short period of time. after a short seven months, I had already adopted the philosophy, "oh, how nice. another beach." I guess you could say that I sort of stalled in the exploring department. my life has been lacking a little adventure. and shells. so consider this my midyear resolution to become more adventurous. more into collecting shells than living inside one.

embarrassingly enough, the beginning of our hunt was not very promising. we drove around aimlessly searching for a beach we had never been to and came across one behind a fairly swanky hotel. after watching a very skittish crab and attempting to catch him throwing sand at us on my camera roll, I started my search. at first, it looked completely fruitless shell-less. and it was. walking further into the water only reaffirmed this previous realization. for a second, I thought the blurred, dark, crunchy things under my toes might be just what I was looking for, but no. they were large chunks of volcanic rock. oh well, I'll get 'em next time. we did, however, visit a new beach. and honestly, it was fun just driving around with mitch talking about life and exploring new territory. very pioneerish of us, if you ask me. 

the rest of the weekend was spent watching netflix, reading harry potter, and messing around in the kitchen. I get in these moods where I just can't seem to bake and cook enough. and now, it's monday. and like most weeks, I have set so many mundane life-laundry goals and hopefully, unlike most weeks, I will actually knock all of them out. actual laundry accompanied by cleaning the home, running everyday, and filling out lots of permanent resident paperwork that I've been putting off. it is a little daunting. all while trying to get a little more brown before our holidaying in a couple of weeks. how are you guys spending your monday? hope all is well!

love, arielle