Who loves “The Sound of Music”?  I can’t be the only one who walks around the house belting out the soundtrack.  Right?  Right?  Anyway, I think it’s good advice to think about the things that make you happy whenever you’re in a funk.  Here’s my list:

1.  A long hike on a perfectly crisp October day in Virginia.

2.  Couch time with hubby – me reading, him watching BBC America.

3.  Perfectly brewed loose tea at my desk on a Thursday.

4.  The National Symphony Orchestra.

5.  Stepping off the beaten path to explore remote places in Europe.

6.  Kayaking with hubby in a beautiful nature preserve.

7.  Fresh farmers market veg.

8.  My library card.

9.  A handmade ceramic mug.

10.  Paintings by the sweet and talented Lane Palmisano.

11.  The Buffalo Sabres.

12.  The smell of plain soap.

13.  Surprise blooming in my garden.

14.  Biking along the Potomac River on Blue, my roadie.

15.  Fruit salad.

16.  The Musee de l’Orangerie in Paris.

17.  Fireflies in the backyard.

18.  Wines from the Russian River Valley, Burgundy and the Cotes du Rhone.

19.  Northern Virginia.

20.  Hubby.

I could keep going, but I’ll stop at 20!  What about you – what are some of your favorite things?

Hi, kids.  It’s been awhile.  Where do I start?

Sorry for disappearing.  To be honest, I’ve been in a bit of a rut because of some personal stress and it’s put me off my cooking just a bit.  I haven’t made much of anything blog-worthy in awhile.  Well, there was one soupe au pistou that hubs thought belonged on the blog, but I didn’t think it was quite perfect or photogenic enough to show you guys.  Other than that, I’ve mostly been letting hubs cook for me.  (What, you say?  We have a grill.)  Between not being in the mood to cook anyway, a major project at work, and the hot summer weather I’m just not into cranking up the oven these days.  I’ve been going for whatever’s quick and easy, and preferably doesn’t involve heat.  And baking?  Fuggeddaboutit.

So how’ve I been spending my time, if not cooking and baking?  I’ve actually been keeping myself quite busy:

–Reading… Hubby and I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows together to get all up to speed for the movie, plus I’ve got several books going at all times.  I’m in the middle of I, Claudius in paperback and Anna Karenina on the Nook.  I just recently ripped through All The King’s Men, The Painted Veil, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and Beowulf on the Beach.  My library card is exhausted.

–Research… It’s that time of year again – time for hubby and I to make vacation plans.  This year is special because whatever trip we do go on will include my 30th birthday.  We have several ideas, all involving Europe.  There is a clear frontrunner but it’s not a done deal yet.  Details to come when we choose an itinerary.

–Girl Time… My college BFF is in town for an extended training period for a new job before departing for a far-away location and I’m soaking up as much time with her as I possibly can before she leaves.  Blogging has taken a backseat to hiking, shopping, and laying by the pool chatting about boys. 

–Travel… Last weekend hubby and his dad met at Yankee Stadium to see Jeter’s 3,000th hit and I tagged along on the train ride to NYC and spent a lovely day with myself – morning at the Met, lunch at Angelica Kitchen, wandering around the Village and shopping at the Strand.  I’m such good company.  We have a few more little trips planned this summer, including a trip to Ithaca for a family wedding (and a few hours at our alma mater during wedding downtime!), a visit to New England to see my brother, and possibly a romantic anniversary weekend.  I was blissfully camera-free in New York, but I’ll try to tote the camera for some of the other trips and share pics with y’all.

Being such a busy bee, you might be thinking that I had forgotten about you.  I haven’t.  I’ve actually been thinking alot about the blog and wishing I could share more of these thoughts and adventures with you.  Having a cooking blog, or even a “food and wine” blog, can be limiting.  If you’re not cooking, do you really have anything to say?  I don’t want to stop blogging just because I don’t have much kitchen-related stuff to chat about at any given time, so I’ve been thinking about revising my concept for this space.  I still plan to post recipes and wine notes whenever I am inspired, but I’m not going to restrict myself to just talking about food and wine, as entertaining as that subject is.  I still want to write, even when I’m not cooking much.  And I want to share other things with you, too, like…

–Home and decorating posts!  Hubby and I are starting to work on isolating our personal style and making some changes to our house to make it more “us.”  We’ve already done a couple of things but we have projects in mind and I want to share them with you.

–Travel adventures – and not just the food and wine-related stuff.  I held back on posting some of my favorite parts of our France trip, and I don’t want to do that anymore.

–Finding joy in everyday things – this is something I’ve been working hard on for the past month.

–Books!  I’ve always loved to read.  And to talk and write about books.  I review almost every book I read on Goodreads, but I’d like to share some book talk here too.  And of course, you can follow me on Goodreads if you’re interested in seeing my reviews there.

I hope you’ll keep reading as I branch out a little bit on what I’m talking about here.  I’ll still be sharing recipes, chatting about wine, and telling you about cookbooks and kitchen adventures whenever I have something worthwhile to share on those topics, which I hope will be often.  But I’m also going to give myself permission to be a little more creative in my blogging, and I hope you’ll join me in talking about some fun topics that I haven’t lingered on before!

What do you want to see here on Covered In Flour?