oh, asheville

Asheville, there's no place quite like it.  There's a buzz to the city that enlivens and kind of makes you feel like you're always on vacation.  It's filled with vegan dive spots, a delicious chocolate lounge that's open late, so many amazing breakfast places, and a huge art scene.  I love it there.  I didn't realize how much I'd missed it until I went back. 

I went swimming with old friends, did a lot of porch lounging, and spent some solo time in the botanical gardens that were once my favorite retreat spot.

And as for this past week, I've started early, early morning bread classes.  It's nice to be back working with dough, but I forgot what it's like to begin going to sleep before the sun has set, and waking up when it's still dark outside.  Anyway, I'll get used to it.  In this class we're developing our own bread recip, so, I've had all sorts of fun experimenting with creating my very own natural sourdough starters for the final product!

summer.

 

Summer in Vermont means my dear friend Melissa lives only an hour away from me and we have all the time in the world to do the things we love - stream swimming, ice-cream eating, and laughing at silly faces/ everything else.  And since it's Vermont there are magical-looking streams everywhere and ice-cream stands include things like maple syrup soft serve (!!).  It's only been a couple of weeks but my apartment and this little town is already starting to feel like home.

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camping.

I'm back in Providence now, but what I miss most about the trip is all the camping that happened.  Waking up with the sun and hearing all the birds chirping from a few feet away is so nice.  It seems to make the rest of the day so much sweeter.   And camping in the mountains means being able to wash your face in a stream in the morning.

baby ducks.

I actually took about 75 photos of these ducks - they were just so cute.  Upon arriving to Asheville we spent the time in a stream at the botanical gardens and watched these fluffy things look for food.  Life's not so bad sometimes.

finally, asheville.

I feel like I'm back where I supposed to be. Asheville holds a lot of my best memories.  I've been able to catch up with old friends and mainly spend a lot of time reading and writing on a rock in the middle of a stream.  I wish I could just live this life forever.

rivers & bridges.

With two busy days of work and a muddled head I really needed to get out of the city.  Luckily, a week ago I promised my grandmother I would finally make a trip up to see her, even if it were only for a couple of nights.  To make it even better Melissa met me here too.  We had the best (sunniest) day with breakfast on the porch and a drive along the river. We stopped in thrift stores along the road and found silly dresses that we had to change into right away.  All the mountains and streams, the comfort of my grandmothers house, and the presence of my two really wonderful people and I feel so much better.  Makes me think I should move here or something.