Seeking Peace

So, I'm back home for the holidays and just about a week before I'll be heading back to Boston, things have finally started to return to the way they were before I left home. 

Because things have been a bit hectic, I thought I'd pop out for a bit with our dog and head over to Natirar. 

Natirar is a gorgeous, 404 acre estate-turned-park filled with beautiful bridges, fields, and greenery. The Ladd mansion still stands (it now houses a restaurant, spa, and culinary school of sorts), but the real magic lies in the property. It is one of my absolute favorite places--the sort that reminds you how small you are in comparison to the rest of the world. It's also a well-kept secret (so shhh!).

So, without further ado, Welcome to Natirar!

 We got a lot of snow this past week, so we weren't the only ones taking advantage of the park. There were a lot of families out sledding (a capital idea on their parts) and quite a few people out cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.

 
I was really pleased to finally be able to bring my camera out to shoot again--it seems I'm almost always too busy in Boston. 

   Here's our adorable Portuguese Water Dog, Sofia. While I can't promise she'll be a regular fixture on the blog, she will be making some guest appearances.

      
   
And here's the Ladd Mansion. The ca. 1912 40-room Tudor Revival was, at one point, home to the King of Morocco. I haven't made it up to the mansion yet, but I imagine the interior is just as gorgeous as the exterior!

     Unfortunately the walk was a tedious one, as Sofia stopped every few feet and either laid down or sat on a bench. As I soon discovered, the poor thing had ice stuck in her paws!

Returning to Natirar made me realize how little I appreciated it when I lived at home full-time. 

It's an absolutely perfect place. As you've seen, it's lovely in the winter, and, in my experience, it's even lovelier in the summer. As much as I love the Public Garden, the Common, and the Esplanade, I'll miss this when I return to Boston. 

Happy 2014!!

Hello Everyone, and Happy 2014!

It's a new year and, as part of my very long list of New Year's Resolutions, I have decided to document my life and my adventures with a new blog.

Aside from actually creating this blog, I have a few resolutions that I'd like to share. While these are by no means completely universal, I hope that my resolutions may be of inspiration to you, or that, at the very least, putting them out there will help me to stick to them. 

Anyway, here they are...

1) Stop worrying about the past and future, and start really enjoying the present. This is a really, really big one. As a bit of a perfectionist, I'm often tempted to pick apart things I've done in the past, and as a chronic planner, I have a habit of planning out nearly every little detail of the life I want to lead in the near future. In 2013, I learned that both plans and people change. After the college application process had a different outcome than I had expected, I was quite bummed, but I soon learned that sometimes the hand fate deals you suits you better than that which you would have chosen for yourself. I also learned that, in worrying about what you're going to do in the future or that relatively small mistake you made in the past, you often miss out on the wonderful things that are going on around you. This year, I want to enjoy every moment, and I plan to take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself to me. 

2) Lead a more balanced life. It's notoriously very difficult for university students to balance work and play, at least at the start of this stage of our academic careers. My problem has stemmed not from partying too much, but from allowing myself to become so bogged down in work that I'm always stressing about it. So, for 2014, I'll still be devoting a lot of time to work, but I'll also be making a conscious effort to get out more... Yes, I need to spend more time at the gym, and I also need to see the city and  spend more time with my friends. Besides, I don't know where the future will take me--I might as well take advantage of all that Boston has to offer while I can!

3) Indulge a little. The final months of 2013 saw me make a big change to my personal habits--after nearly seven years on the pescetarian/vegetarian/vegan spectrum, I started eating meat again. I can attribute this partly to the repetitive and highly-processed nature of the options in my dining hall, and partly to a decision that I should take advantage of the many great foods available to me. I am no less health-conscious than I was before, but I am going to try to enjoy everything in moderation. Additionally, as I don't really have a kitchen when I'm at school (as I'm sure you know, microwave gourmet gets very old very quickly), I'm going to take advantage of the one I have at home and cook as much as I can while on breaks.

4) Become a better communicator. Since I moved up to Boston, I have grown more accustomed to speaking my mind, and less inclined to keep quiet about the things which trouble me. It's a work in progress, but, to continue making progress in 2014, if something's bothering me, I won't let it stew... Rather, I will address the issue promptly and directly.

5) Keep in touch. So far, I've been pretty good about keeping in touch with my immediate family--I call my parents and brothers to say hello fairly regularly, and try to remain at least somewhat present in their lives. However, I should probably arrange to meet up more often with old friends, and I should definitely keep in contact with my extended family.

6) Travel more. Though, at this point, I can't afford to travel around the world on a regular basis, I can make more of an effort to travel when opportunities to do so present themselves. As a major part of my list of resolutions for this year, I plan to spend more time visiting family friends and exploring the suburbs of Boston so that I can get to know the area I live in a little better (a blog post will most likely be up next week detailing the first of these trips--a return to Salem!). While I hope I'll have a lot of international adventures and meet a lot of interesting people very soon, I'm going to look for adventures right in my city for now.

Most of all, however, I'm going to try to seize every opportunity I'm presented with, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem.

So, Happy New Year to you all, and may today be the start of a wonderful year of firsts!

Xx Caroline

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