Priorities for Home Arrival

Tonight I've been contemplating going home August 30th and getting excited for all of the things I'm going to do upon my return. Gotta get all of my priorities in line.

In no particular order:

• Hitting up Florida beaches, oh how I long for the sound, smell, heat. 
• Getting my hair did. Next month will be a year since my last cut.
• Texting friends.
• Driving and jamming to Katy Perry.
• Eating at Cracker Barrel and, well, I really shouldn't begin listing places.
• Not having my accent made fun of. (Yes, that's a priority.)
• Getting lost in Target and emerging delusional with 10 bags.
• Complaining about gas prices. 
• Re-opening all of our wedding gifts.

(Obviously, hugging family and friend's is at the top. Didn't even need to list it.)

(And all of these thoughts follow previous sad thoughts about saying goodbye to England and the friends we've come to love.)

Michaela Rae

Embracing Wimbledon

I've accepted that there's no way I'll know London like the back of my hand before our time's up. So instead, I've made it my goal to at least know Wimbledon. Perhaps with kiddos in tow someday, I'll point out all the places we sipped coffee, ate dinner and bought groceries. I love the idea of coming back and revisiting all of my favorite places.

We've experienced fish and chips at the family owned diner around the corner, breakfast at Mica Cafe, explored enormous stacks of books at Copperfield's Secondhand Book Shop, bought fruit and veggies at the stand by the Library, had coffee dates at Costa and Caffe Nero, tried all the teas at Pret a Manger and felt sick after eating curry at Ahmed Tandoori.

And there's still so much to see and do. We have yet to catch a show at the Wimbledon Theatre and have Thai at a restaurant I've been eyeing. Today though, I decided to just walk the streets and take it all in - the smells, red roofs and chimneys and city sounds. This is home for me right now and I want to embrace it. I "popped in"(my new British expression) a few stores, bought flowers and sat at my new favorite cafe, Kaldi Coffee. From their cozy upstairs seating I could look across the street at Starbucks. I liked it. Not giving Starbucks business puts a grin on my face. Starbucks is like Fox Books; I prefer the Shop Around the Corner. (You've Got Mail lovers will understand that analogy.)

Wherever we end up, I hope I make as much of an effort to embrace it as I have here. I'm sure it'll become more challenging as life goes on, with work, kids, functions and everything else, but I think it's important. Living like this has made such a difference in how I view time spent. I'm reminded that it's limited and there's much to enjoy and people worth loving, everywhere. It's not just about how many destinations I get to, it's about enjoying what God's put before me.

Michaela Rae

Hospitality

"Home" is often used to refer to the place where we live or grew up - whether house, city or country. But today when I began to reflect on what "home" means to me, I realized it's also much greater than simply that. Home is where I belong, not temporarily, but permanently. And when I think of home in that light, it changes everything, especially my idea of hospitality.

Christians often talk about helping bring God's Kingdom, that place where we belong, on earth. And although hospitality is a new endeavor for me, I think my home is a good place to start.

The idea of being hospitable can be pretty intimidating. My gut instinct is to go into perfectionist mode - cleaning, baking, fluffing pillows! But that's not what hospitality is about (although, it's certainly part). Hospitality's about creating a physical place and atmosphere that resembles our eternal home. A place of friends, safety and rest. It's definitely not a place created by fake perfection. Rather, authenticity, vulnerability and worthiness help establish and maintain it. I don't know about you, but I definitely want those things to resinate in my home.

My most cherished memories are of feeling at home with brothers and sisters. Those times in college when we talked on comfy couches late into the night about any and everything. Conversations where we didn't hold back. We put ourselves, along with our deepest questions and concerns, on the table. We were honest and felt safe in it. We also weren't consumed with how often our glass was being filled or when the ceiling fan was last dusted (although those things are nice).

And isn't real fellowship one of the things that makes Christianity most appealing? That we could be fully known and still loved? Isn't it the desire we all share down deep? Isn't it the reason we blog, go to church or invite people over to begin with? And if not, isn't it what we want our reason to be?

Hospitality is at the core of Christianity. And it's not just for married women. It's for all of us, single or married, male or female, rich or poor, fancy home or tiny flat. Why? Because God's Kingdom was created for all of us and should be ushered in by us.

Michaela Rae
P.S. Last week I added Kurt and my love story here. Just incase you're in a sappy mood. ;)

Beating Homesickness {even Christmas week}

Perhaps you're in my situation, you're thousands of miles away from the place you call home this week of Christmas. If you're feeling a bit blue, even amidst the music, lights, food and laughter around you, hear you these tips. These things are helping me stay in the Christmas spirit this year; I hope they help you too. :-)

Handwritten Letters
One of my favorite ways to feel close to the ones I love is to write them. Not only does writing help ease the homesickness, it'll also bring joy to someone else. Even Christmas cards do the trick. It's equally as great when you get them in return. When I see a letter waiting for me with a familiar American stamp my day is permanently brightened.

Familiar Food
Baking my family's favorite Mommy's Cookies recipe, or my mom's creamy Chicken Pot Pie, puts me right at home (when I don't want to cook Papa John's does too). To make it extra awesome, I like to bake a favorite and then share it with my new friends here. That way I have an excuse to tell them about my family and hear about theirs.

Explore
Exploring is one of the absolute best ways to get out of a homesick funk. "I need a scenery change," is all I have to say,and Kurt knows exactly what I mean. Going somewhere new, even if that means catching the tube to a borough a few stops away, helps me live in the now and remember how blessed I am to be here. This week Kurt and I went to Winter Wonderland, perhaps the single most crowded place in London, with oodles of screaming children and wonderful smells of mulled wine and smoked chorizo, all enjoyed while freezing our limbs numb. We also experienced Carols by Candlelight, a beautiful concert at the Royal Albert Hall (Kurt's favorite event of the season). Works wonders I tell you!

Be Honest
Be honest with yourself and with others about your homesickness - chances are you're not alone. Even if you are "alone," sharing will help you feel understood. When I've been honest about what I'm experiencing everyone's responded with lots of love and support. Not only that, but just admitting to myself that I'm missing familiarity helps me accept my situation and move on.

Do you have any tips to add? If you're spending the holidays away from home, I'd love to hear about where you are and why. You're not alone!

Michaela Rae

Ways to Make a Temporary Place Feel Like Home

Growing up I shared a room and throughout my college years I always lived with other girls (at one point 7!), so it's been pretty exciting the last couple of months to finally make a home with the hubz. Knowing we're only in London temporarily though has made it a bit of a challenge. Especially given the reality that we're far from anywhere we've ever considered home. I've wondered if it's that important to spend the time, money and energy toward making a little Wimbledon flat like ours feel like home. I decided yes it is! And I've found some easy and most cost-efficient ways to help make the space ours.

The first thing I did was add some colorful couch pillows to our flat. Pillows can help set a quick color theme and feel to any space. Although it's a small step, you'll be surprised what a difference it makes. Our flat was one boring beige blob when we moved in. Beige walls, beige curtains, beige couches - it was ridiculous. Adding a few teal pillows helped break up the beige and gave me a starting point for the rest of my decorating.

I love the cozy feel that candles and string lighting bring. They're a quick and fairly inexpensive way to dramatically change the mood of a room. We have solar powered string lights draped on our living room windows, but sadly we need a new type, we've learned that trying to use solar power here in London doesn't work out too well (no wonder they were on sale). ;) I found the right image on Pinterest.

Flowers add so much life to a room. Sometimes it can seem kind of silly to buy flowers knowing that they'll only last for a week. But if you appreciate flowers, I think it's a worthwhile gift to yourself and makes your space feel so much more homey. I love what Max from Apartment Therapy has to say about flowers in the home, you can watch here.

Going all out with decor when you're living somewhere temporarily doesn't make much sense, but displaying any DIY piece or special things you're given are definitely worth it. We brought two favorite things with us from the US: a quilt made by a dear friend as a wedding gift, which was then signed by everyone at our wedding, and the adventure sign I made for our engagement and wedding photos. The quilt reminds us of loved ones, and the sign that, no matter where we are or what we're doing, it's all part of a bigger picture and one grand adventure.

I love snooping around in friend's books and photos whenever I visit them. To me they say a lot about a person and give character to a home. Unfortunately, we're only allowed to hang things on the few nails that were already in our walls, but we've still managed to find places to set some up (like the hearth). We couldn't bring many books over either, but with a library membership I quickly filled our small shelf. 

Finally, I've decided to call our flat home. Even though it's temporary, we've found that calling it home helps us embrace our space and living situation all the more. At the end of the day, our flat is home. It's the place we lay our heads, have dinner parties, spend time together and just unwind and refuel. Instead of dwelling on the past or over-focusing on the future, calling it home helps me live in the present.

What makes your space feel like home?

Michaela Rae