if it's the beaches

Although we may make resolutions for the new year, most of us don't keep them. We mean well, but we're creatures of habit and change is hard. I like to think about setting intentions for the year. I guess that's what resolutions really are - intentions. My intentions for this year? Some of them are important and serious, some of them not (growing my hair out -  I have serious hair envy from this 2010 pic). The author of a blog I read often, nat the fat rat, said that all she wants is for her life to be beautiful. What an amazingly simple concept. If we all lived with that in mind - to be always looking for ways to create beauty in our lives - our world would probably be a much more peaceful place. I'm going to try to live more beautifully this year.

Luckily, we now live in a place with physical, tangible beauty that I can see everyday when I walk outside. My brother Josh said the other day that we underestimate the impact of the aesthetics of our everyday surroundings. It's something he notices when he goes home to Missouri. I've been listening to a song by the Avett Brothers that always makes me think of what Jason and I did, or what he did for me. It speaks to the bittersweet and brave act of leaving the familiar, seeking out more. He's a pretty wonderful man, that husband of mine.

If it's the beaches
If it's the beaches' sands you want
Then you will have them
If it's the mountains' bending rivers
Then you will have them
If it's the wish to run away
Then I will grant it
Take whatever you think of
While I go gas up the truck
Pack the old love letters up
We will read them when
we forget why we left here

By the way, did you know he's famous now? We recently became the proud owners of a 1962 Corvair Greenbrier that came with stories and pictures of its original owners who, like us, were young and in search of adventure. We feel a kinship with our new-old car. You can read Jason's car blog and the recent mention of our project on the popular car site Bring a Trailer.