Reflections on home

Well, dear readers - it's been awhile. (Or should I say reader...Hi Mom!)

I took a bit of a blog hiatus this spring, as you may have already guessed. It was a busy and stressful time -- in March, my fella and I moved back to our hometown into an apartment that's pretty rough around the edges in a not-so-great neighbourhood. It was a particularly tough move because we left behind a beautiful, well-cared-for apartment in a quiet Toronto neighbourhood. We chose this route because it has allowed us to save a TON of cash to buy a place of our own (which we hope to be able to do by the end of the year).

But even though our new place will benefit us in the long run, it has taken awhile for me to feel comfortable and settled. I like to have a home that provides a bit of sanctuary (which is probably one of the reasons why I put so much care and effort into making our living space as homey and beautiful as I can). Moving into a place with a crummy bathroom and zero counterspace and a thousand little flaws just gave me this icky, mopey feeling -- like I had no refuge from the big, bad world.

Now that a few months have passed, I'm starting to feel more relaxed. We've painted, cleaned, and disguised as many imperfections as we can. This will never be my dream apartment and I will be happy to move into a place of our own as soon as we can -- but at least I finally feel like we can be comfortable here over the next few months.

My fella and I just got back from our first vacation since moving into our new apartment -- a wonderful camping trip in northern Ontario. We spent four blissful days reading, hiking, swimming and sitting on the beach. It was just the escape we both needed. But on the way back, I was surprised at how much I was looking forward to being home -- even a home with a crummy bathroom and zero counter space.

I'll leave you with a few snaps of our trip. Isn't Ontario beautiful in the summer?