The Month Of Change: Early Retirement Month 6 (March 2021)

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Early Retirement, Early Retirement Updates, Film, Food, Hobbies, Keto, Net Worth Update
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Well, somehow March is already over. I must admit I was holding my breath after the hellscape that was March 2020, but am happy to report that March 2021 was lightyears better. Let’s get into how ๐Ÿ™‚ !

What Did I Do In March?

I Got The COVID Vaccine!

A year after we started quarantine in Seattle, I got my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine! I’m still remaining vigilant, wearing my mask and keeping my distance from people, but I must admit that even the first dose of this vaccine did alleviate some of my anxiety around the virus. I noticed that I have less of a panic attack when I see someone coming down the street towards me, so: Progress ๐Ÿ™‚ !

Anyway, how I got the vaccine was (of course) a saga. I heard from my Mom that Georgia was expanding eligibility on March 15 to include several conditions I have. So I tried to get an appointment and was told that they were all booked up. I then of course posted on Twitter to vent my frustrations (and make fun of my millennial nature ๐Ÿ™‚ ):

Luckily, a wonderful benefit of me complaining on the internet is the wonderful people that provide suggestions I wouldn’t have thought of. A commenter said I should try Walgreens because they had success getting a vaccine appointment there. Up until that point, I had only tried to go through the multiple and confusing Georgia state websites.

So I popped over to the Walgreens website on the Monday morning I became eligible, and was shocked to see that there were a ton of openings starting the next day. I tried to schedule one for later in the week that was a 15 minute drive from our place, but when I clicked it, I was told it was no longer available. I didn’t hesitate when I found the next closest location 25 minutes away and scheduled my appointment.

Besides how easy the process was to sign up, it was also awesome that Walgreens scheduled dose 1 and 2 at the same time. I’ve heard stories of others having to go through the whole process of trying to hunt down the shot for dose 2 with added stress since there’s a window it needs to be done within. Not the case here! So on that Thursday, I headed out on an adventure and was able to get my first shot:

My second dose is scheduled for April 15th and I will be fully vaccinated before we leave Georgia on a jet plane! Next I need to see if we can get my partner fully vaccinated before we leave as well. Every adult is now eligible in Georgia so it’s going to be another saga to see if we can get that done in time – never a dull moment in retirement ๐Ÿ™‚ . Seriously though, I do feel very grateful that my entire ‘job’ right now can be looking for vaccine appointments for me and the people I love. Most rewarding job ever!

Also during this month I came across a lot of great information and resources that I wanted to share in one place. If you’re interested in how the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines work, here’s a hilarious video:

And if you’re confused about the efficacy/effectiveness of vaccines (as I was), check this out. The TL;DR is that you can’t compare 1 to 1 with the vaccines we have. This video explains why:

And finally, if you’re in the US and having trouble getting an appointment, here are 2 helpful sites:

Let’s get vaccinated people!

We Embarked On Nomad Life

I did not plan it this way, but we are accidentally taking the same approach we did while moving out of Seattle: inchworming our way away and dipping our toes into nomad life more and more. In Seattle, we left our apartment and moved to an Airbnb across the river for a month and then to a farther Airbnb and THEN we flew across the country to Georgia.

Similarly, after leaving our tiny house in March we got an Airbnb in the same city, in April, we have an Airbnb in Atlanta and THEN are high tailing it to Maine. I imagine that these kinds of baby steps will help us with the transition, but I’ll keep you posted if that’s not the case ๐Ÿ™‚ . In the meantime, it’s allowing us to still hang out with our commune bubble and then will allow me to be near my Mom when she returns from Connecticut before we take on the Northeastern US.

I Culled My Belongings (Again)

Originally to get ready for nomad life, we got rid of almost everything we owned and ended up checking a total of 3 bags when moving from Seattle to Georgia. However, I wanted to see if I could do even better and ideally live out of a 40L backpack, so I further culled down my stuff to do so.

I left a few items at my Mom’s house and gave some other stuff away to get it down to a manageable level. It was easier this time since there was a lot less to get rid of and because I observed what I actually use in a pandemic retirement and it’s not most of my nicer clothes let me tell you ๐Ÿ˜‰ . As a result, I’m planning to only bring carry on bags when we move to Maine in a month.

I (Virtually) Hung Out

I was successful in cutting down my social obligations for this month! I continued to have weekly movie night with my suitemates from college. This month I watched the below films:

  1. Shutter Island – my review here
  2. 12 Hour Shiftย – my review here
  3. Raya And The Last Dragon – my review here
  4. Boss Level

I also had weekly video chats with my ex-college roommate who lives in Argentina, have continued watching Catfish with my Mom weekly while she’s still in Connecticut, had a few video chats with my step-brother and had general hangouts with my commune. It felt good to cut back a bit, but still maintain some social connections.

I Improved My Hair Cutting Skills

We’re so frugal ๐Ÿ˜‰ ! I mentioned in an earlier post that during the pandemic, I learned how to give my partner a professional haircut and we’ve been keeping up that tradition despite barber shops now being open. And my skills are improving! I’m learning new techniques and getting more confident in my skills. Basically I feel like Edward Scissorhands over here. Killing it ๐Ÿ˜‰ !

I Read 5 Non-Fiction Books

This month I read:

  1. Wait, What?: And Life’s Other Essential Questions
  2. The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
  3. Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History
  4. The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity
  5. Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map To Financial Independence And A Rich, Free Life

#5 was a re-read, but the other 4 count towards my goal to read 52 non-fiction books in the 52 weeks of 2021. Shockingly, this goal is still going well despite the pace being way faster than I’ve ever been able to keep up with before. I guess retirement is good for something ๐Ÿ˜‰ . However, I am curious to see if I can keep up this pace when we’re nomads exploring new locations instead of when I’m a bum sitting in the backyard watching birds and turning pages all day – we shall see ๐Ÿ™‚ .

If you’re curious about what I’m reading and my ratings of these books, I have a Goodreads account you can check out here.

I Got Paid To Write!

The wonderful ladies from the new Women’s Personal Finance blog reached out about paying me to write a post for them. I’ve never thought of myself as someone that could be a paid writer, but here I am ๐Ÿ™‚ . It was an interesting experience that obviously was a little different from what I do here (aka write whatever I want with no rules or parameters ๐Ÿ˜‰ ) and it was cool to try something new. I think this will be my only paid writing gig for the foreseeable future though. It still felt a little too close to work than I would like ๐Ÿ˜‰ . Anyway, here’s the post I wrote: How I Used Financial Independence to Opt Out of Sexist and Racist Corporate Culture.

I Wrote 4 Posts Here

In case you missed it, I published the below posts in March:

  1. How Being Lazy Helped Me Retire At 30
  2. The Month Of Birds: Early Retirement Month 5 (February 2021)
  3. How We Moved Across The Country For $3,045
  4. Credit Karma Tax Review: A Free & Awesome Filing Service

And one of those posts already saved a reader over a hundred dollars, which made me so happy!!

I was also surprised to see that I was featured in a Business Insider article about the 7 Best Personal Finance Blogs That Will Teach You To Retire Early. Cool!

The Finance Community Continued To Awe Me

Another new opportunity was offered to me this month: I was asked to speak at a FI conference. I turned it down because it’s an in-person event in April, which I’m not comfortable attending because of COVID, but it was an honor to be asked and made me wonder: Could I be speaker?

I joke that I write a blog instead of speak for a reason and as a result had assumed that speaking wasn’t something I should pursue, but getting this offer made me think about it. I’m not sure that’s something I would do in the future since public speaking is scary…but maybe I should try because it’s scary? I’m not sure, but it’s something interesting to think about.

Here’s something else wild that happened this month:

I devoured that post immediately and left a long comment only to have my mind blown later that night:

I continue to be amazed at the opportunities and connections that this personal finance community provides. I never would have dreamed that a blogger who I admire so much would have read the words that I wrote – words that I was partially inspired to write because of their journey, but here we are. My heart is so full ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Physical

Sleep

Sleep was weird at some points this month, specifically when we moved into an Airbnb and I tried sleeping without my partner for a night. Then I realized that both are changes from what I’m used to and specifically when us moving was a big change because I had acclimated to our tiny house for the last several months so it makes sense that my brain would wake up randomly thinking “Where am I?!” I just felt lucky that the next day I could nap as much as I wanted ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

Other than those two outliers though, my sleep continues to improve month to month and has become pretty magical. I think I’m finally getting the hang of this sleeping thing after 3 decades ๐Ÿ˜‰ and just need to be patient and kind with myself as I acclimate to a new location or situation. Sounds fair!

Food

I continued to eat keto and intermittent fast during 3/4 weeks of this month. During that time I lost another 2 lbs and ate some of this deliciousness:

For one week, I did a victory lap of sorts with the commune and ate all of our favorite takeout around this city before we move on to the next one. Doing so made me feel less than ideal and quite bloated so I was happy to get back to my keto and IF ways at the end of the month. I’m curious how this will go when we’re moving more often and I’m trying to balance keto with trying new things. It’s a work in progress.

Walking

In our Seattle apartment, we had a goal to “go outside” daily because it was no longer something we had to do by necessity during the pandemic, so we had to add it to the to do list. Well, when living in the tiny house, I basically lived outside in that I walked from our house to the main house multiple times a day and sat in the yard whenever the weather permitted. I felt like I was in nature constantly and didn’t feel the need to venture much farther. We were also in a pretty industrial type area so walking around meant I encountered less nature than what was present in my backyard.

Well that’s changed! We are in a new location and I’m so happy that it’s in a residential area that’s still a quick walk to downtown and has multiple parks and trails on either side of it. As a result, we’ve been exploring those trails and enjoying local nature even more once again. I’m excited for this to ramp up further when my Mom returns from Connecticut in April – she prefers to walk daily and I love going with her and we both have the time to do so instead of working around job schedules #Blessed ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

Singing

I think I’ve found my new karaoke song (when we’re allowed to do that again ๐Ÿ™‚ )! I’ve been practicing and think I sound pretty good:

Nail Painting

This has been interesting this month. I originally bought 2 Holo Taco polishes in November and was confused to discover that this month, one of them was “goopy” and hard to work with. I looked into it and apparently, when there’s less polish in the bottle, it can get this way and people use nail polish thinner to combat it…which is something I’ve never heard of before ๐Ÿ™‚ .

I hadn’t encountered this problem with my cheap polishes in the past since they’re not as thick as this one and I didn’t feel like buying another thing so I gave the polish a few days to think about what it had done ๐Ÿ˜‰ and miraculously it decided to cooperate with me that time.

Mental

Internal Rhythm

I’ve talked in previous posts about aligning my life’s rhythm to the nature around me, but I realized this month that I hadn’t fully accepted my own internal rhythm. We’re about to set sail and have a lot of things to do, explore and eat. Also more people to see. So I wanted to rest up and chill until then, but my brain had other ideas.

I was telling it to rest and lounge in the sun, but it wanted to write and read non-fiction and generally do things that are the opposite of quiet contemplation. After trying to fight my brain because it didn’t fit into my prep for a nomad life plan, I realized that I need to integrate my natural mental rhythm into my life as well and listen to it.

So I wrote a post a day for a few days and devoured non-fiction books. I got ahead on digital and real life organization goals. I was a productive machine. And then like clockwork, I felt like retreating into my chill hermit hole again and filled my days with sunbathing, fiction and a lack of productive activities. I learned to go with the flow of my own brain.

Do Not Disturb

I’ve discovered something amazing. Previously I’ve talked about the “Do Not Disturb” feature on my Moto G Stylus Phone and how it’s my new obsession. Well I realized that the only reason I would turn off that feature would be to make sure I don’t miss a text from my partner when he goes to the grocery store (for example) or from my mom.

Well this month I poked around and discovered that I can edit my settings to get texts from only those two people and all other notifications are paused. AMAZING!!!!

I’ve been so much better about not being on social media all the time in retirement and this life has been even more amazing because I don’t have to worry I’m missing something from my main people AND I don’t have to get constant pings if I don’t want to. I continue to get better at being fully present in my life and giving my focused attention to the things I’m doing and people I’m with. I’m loving it ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Language Skills

I’ve discovered that my language skills from high school and college are still rattling around in my brain somewhere. The commune loves crossword puzzles, which they do while I read in the corner (I’m so social ๐Ÿ˜‰ ). During almost all of them, they’re asking about a random French or Italian word and I am able to provide the answer without thinking. I didn’t believe my brain retained any of those languages, but I stand corrected – it’s in there! There’s hope for me yet!

Learning

It’s time for my favorite segment: Fun Facts Nobody Asked For!ย Here’s what I learned and explored this month:

  • I continued identifying the flora in our tiny house yard before we left and discovered Birds Eye Speedwell in our yard. I took a picture of it after it flowered in the late morning and identified it with my iNaturalist App. It’s originally from Eurasia and was introduced to North America in 1825!

  • I also identified Dandelions, Daffodils and the awesomely named Red Deadnettle nearby:

  • And then a saga began ๐Ÿ™‚ . I took a picture of a tree with white blooms when I woke up and then noticed it looked totally different around noon that same day. I looked into it and it turns out that some flowers on trees open more and more throughout the day so that they look completely different. I guess I’d never really thought about what flowers on trees might do throughout the day or that they close up at night ๐Ÿ™‚ . Apparently they react to light or temperature changes and this behavior is called Nyctinasty. Some species remain open all day and night and others might only open during warmer parts of the day. Once again, nature is a tricky bastard and likes to make it harder for me to easily identify things because they keep changing ๐Ÿ˜‰ !

  • Anyway, I identified this white tree and with the help of my internet friends made some shocking discoveries. Apparently it’s called a Bradford Pear tree. It’s natural to China and Vietnam and is now found widely throughout the US and is an invasive species that people hate because they mess up the local ecology – UH OH! I let my commune know what was up and they have added that tree to their list of ones to cut down. Also a fun and TMI fact: these trees smell like semen. They are also known as “Semen Trees” – here’s a Business Insider article all about it. You’re welcome ๐Ÿ™‚ .
  • On a few walks around the neighborhood, I wore my flip flops because it was 75 degrees and instantly regretted it because my feet kept being stabbed by these small, spikey ground balls. I remembered them from my childhood growing up in Georgia and decided to investigate. It turns out that these little bastards are from Sweet-Gum Trees. What a deceptively kind name they have! Also on these walks, I came across completely circular, small acorns and remembered that a few months ago, I learned that only Oak Trees have acorns. With that helping to narrow it down, we learned that these adorable acorns are from Water Oak Trees. My Mom also taught me that one of the trees in our Airbnb’s yard is a Dogwood and my commune pointed out that the gorgeous pink trees I was seeing all over Georgia were Redbuds!

  • In addition to this tree bonanza, the iNaturalist app also helped me identify these plants while we were about town: Oregon Grapes, Onion Grass, Phloxes, and Moses-In-The Cradle. So many things I’ve never heard of before!
  • On the bird front, I saw all the usual suspects this month in addition to a few new friends! With the help of the free Audubon App and BirdNET App, I identified a Grasshopper Sparrow, Song Sparrows, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Eastern Bluebirds and a Brown Thrasher. I also learned that Brown-headed Cowbirds kick other birds’ eggs out of their nest and replace it with one of their own – that’s fucked up. They’re raising the spawn of their child’s murderer…Nature is dark. Anyway, on a lighter note, Brown-headed Cowbirdsย also make a call that sounds like water droplets, which is weird to hear. Before I realized it was a bird, I was like “Did a creek appear nearby?!”
  • Also this month, I discovered that marketing continues to be misleading. I bought new birdseed that claimed to be specifically for Southern Birds and discovered…they hated it! They just picked out the sunflower seeds and left the rest ๐Ÿ™‚ . My last bag was all Sunflower seeds (called Cardinal Blend) and they gobbled it up so I’m going to stick to that while we’re still around Georgia. I was lied to. This is what I get for trying new things ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

  • I also had encounters with other kinds of fauna this month. We had some squirrel drama. A squirrel my partner named Esteban, kept hanging upside down to steal my bird seed so I went full stereotypical old woman and started some days by yelling at a squirrel to get away from my bird babies’ food! Anyway, I learned that Esteban is an Eastern Grey Squirrel and that there are different kinds of squirrels including a jet black squirrel in Georgia that I want to try and see before I leave! I was born and raised here and have never noticed one. We’ll see if it pays to be present in retirement ๐Ÿ˜‰ .
  • From the Coyote America book I mentioned reading above, I learned that Coyotes have 1000x the number of scent receptors that humans do and can hear 25% higher frequencies than dogs – cool! Their vision is also good as ours, but their peripheral vision is better.
  • I accidentally also got into insects this month out of necessity. They seem to be popping up with more frequency now that it’s spring. I thought I was about to be stung by a bee, but then looked it up and discovered: it was a Hoverfly, not a bee! Despite looking just like one with black and yellow stripes, this little guy is harmless so I put my panic away for a moment. That moment was short-lived however because I was then chased by a Red Paper Wasp, which is a thing of nightmares. My tanning was cut short after that encounter.
  • On a less terrifying note, at our new Airbnb, there are a bunch of fluffy, round Bumblebees that don’t appear to have stingers. They were all over a bush at the front of our house, which was awesome because I liked watching their fluffy bodies while I washed the dishes in the kitchen. I looked into it and the bush they love is Chinese Holly and apparently holly is a great source of pollen and nectar for bees – who knew! I also saw my first Butterfly in a while and wondered where they went…until I remembered about the whole caterpillar/butterfly thing – Oops ๐Ÿ™‚ .
  • I did less stargazing this month and I’m not sure why. Perhaps it was because it was cloudy for parts of the month. Anyway, I need to get back on it because I doubt the lights of Atlanta or Portland, ME will allow me to see my celestial beauties! I was able to see my beloved Mars throughout the month and found myself saying “Hi Perseverance!” whenever I did, which is new. I’ve never had the urge to say hi to the rovers of Mars before, but I guess I’ve also not watched any of the landings live before…so it seems like I have a parasocial relationship with a robot – cool ๐Ÿ™‚ ! Now to see if I can ever spell perseverance correctly on the first try…that’s an ongoing struggle.
  • I also enjoyed the Full Moon this month, which is hilariously called The Worm Moon because in the northern hemisphere temperatures are starting to warm, which makes the ground soften and earthworms to appear above the soil…and then the birds start to get them. Once again, nature is dark…
  • Anyway, the Spring Equinox happened this month! The equinox is the moment whenย the Sun crosses the celestial equator and the length of night and day is almost equal. On that day, the Sun rises due east and sets due west no matter where you are!
  • As for two random things I learned: Apparently in Scotland, there is a “right to roam” compared to having property lines. You can walk wherever you want (no private property signs), BUT you don’t have the “right to hunt” because the animals belong to the land. Interesting how different countries view these things. I also learned that this pretty looking thing below is called Macrame and is made out of knots. New hobby perhaps?

Creativity

Creativity continues to crank! As I mentioned, my brain decided to go-go-go during part of this month and as a result, I got a lot done including posts, movie reviews like the below and generally jotting down my thoughts. I’m happy to see this trend of having a lot more creative energy after I quit working, continue.

Emotional

Lack Of Panic

I realized something has been missing from my life since I quit: I have no “Oh shit I overslept!” feeling upon awakening. Even if it wasn’t the case, I would often jerk awake while working thinking I had slept through a 6am conference call (sadly I’m not joking) or missing an important deadline.

Since I don’t need to be anywhere or get up at a certain time these days, I can sleep in and wake up slowly. Doing so made me realize that I haven’t had that panic upon waking that I did while working. I haven’t been worried that I slept through my alarm. I assume this feeling will return when I start traveling again and have to wake up early for Airbnb check out or earlier flights, but for now I don’t want to miss it ๐Ÿ™‚ and that’s awesome.

Music

So, I absolutely love music. It helps elevate and regulate my emotions. I listen to it almost constantly and I tend to find some bangers that really speak to me and then listen to their albums over and over each year. Well, I’ve been trying to make an effort to go outside my comfort zone and in doing so have found even more wonderful music I enjoy.

I have a Spotify Premium subscription and have been using their Discover Weekly and Daily Mixes they create based on my music preferences and as a result, the list of new music I enjoy is growing faster than ever.

Money

This basically says it all:

This month I hit another new net worth high, which was shocking to me in the context of where we were last March:

As for my thoughts on money – they remain unchanged. I’m still in Fuck It Mode ๐Ÿ˜‰ :

We’ll see if this blasรฉ approach continues as we start traveling and actually leaving our house ๐Ÿ™‚ .

Conclusion

And that’s what I got up to in March! Every month I think this is going to be a quick update because I felt like I didn’t do much and a novel later, I stand corrected ๐Ÿ™‚ . Next month we’ll be exploring Atlanta, GA and the month after that we head to Portland, ME and begin our nomad life in the Northeastern US! I’ll keep you posted on how that goes ๐Ÿ™‚ . And if you have any recommendations for things to eat or do in those cities let me know!

If you’re interested in the other weekly and monthly retirement updates I’ve written, they’re all here:

Weekly

  1. Early Retirement Week 1: The Freak Out
  2. Early Retirement Week 2: The Vacation
  3. Early Retirement Week 3: The Whiplash
  4. Early Retirement Week 4: The Heartbeat
  5. Early Retirement Week 5: The Election
  6. Early Retirement Week 6: The Trophy
  7. Early Retirement Week 7: The Train
  8. Early Retirement Week 8: The Challenge
  9. Early Retirement Week 9: The Question
  10. Early Retirement Week 10: The Game
  11. Early Retirement Week 11: The Recharge
  12. Early Retirement Week 12: The Holiday

Monthly

  1. The Month Of Rest: Early Retirement Month 4 (January 2021)
  2. The Month Of Birds: Early Retirement Month 5 (February 2021)

How was your month?

22 thoughts on “The Month Of Change: Early Retirement Month 6 (March 2021)”

  1. I also just learned to identify Birds Eye Speedwell!! I also learned lesser celandine with the help of inaturalist, which is also… An invasive species. Most of the 10ish new plants I’ve learned to identify in the past month and a half are non-native ๐Ÿ˜ญ

    On the bird front also saw my first Eastern Bluebird last week! I learned our backyard has FOUR kinds of woodpeckers – Downy, Red-Bellied, the Northern Flicker, and the Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. I also saw two Pileated Woodpeckers on a hike. A Red-Tailed Hawk perched in our oak tree for about 20 minutes one day ๐Ÿ˜ฎ I can now confidently identify the Carolina wren, song sparrow, and dark-eyed Junco by sound in addition to many others. And!! I saw a BALD EAGLE on a hike!! Birding so so much fun, thank you AGAIN for introducing these apps & this hobby to my life!

    Reply

    1. That’s awesome!! I didn’t know lesser celandine myself. And oh noooo so many invasive species. And yay birds – I saw an Eastern Bluebird yesterday! They’re so cute. And that’s quite a collection of woodpeckers – we had a pileated that lived near us and I was so sad I never saw them! I need to keep my eyes peeled haha. You’re doing so well with the identification – especially sounds! I need to sit down and memorize each of their calls because despite doing this for months I still get confused ๐Ÿ™‚ . And a bald eagle?!? Wow – that’s so cool! And of course – it warms my heart you’re loving it as much as I am!

      Reply

  2. Sounds like early retirement is working beautifully for you. Itโ€™s exciting youโ€™ll be hitting the road soon. Portland, Mane is a wonderful city or at least it was when I last spent time there In the early 90s.

    Tim and I are on a dog sit in the Washington DC area only 30 minutes from my parents. Weโ€™re hosting them for Easter this Sunday which is a Covid silver lining since weโ€™re supposed to be across the world. We get our first vaccine doses this week and see international travel resuming in our nomadic lives sometime soon! A dog sit in Spain is planned for June/July. ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ™ Hope they let us in!

    Weโ€™ll overlap again At some point!! Be well!
    Amy

    Reply

    1. Haha – thanks for showing me how it’s done ๐Ÿ˜‰ . That sounds like an awesome dog sit! Also love trying to find the silver linings in this wild time. Enjoy! And woohoo vaccines! My fingers are crossed for you for Spain. I’m getting cautiously optomistic that I can go to Argentina in November like I was supposed to do last year. We shall see! I look forward to our paths crossing again ๐Ÿ™‚ .

      Reply

  3. Great update! I read every last word of livingafi’s blog because of your post on Twitter. Ok, ok, I read it three times..

    The early retirement life has been just going swimmingly for you! Your blog has opened doors that isn’t really available to people who haven’t taken the leap of faith and started their own blogs.

    Keep these updates coming, I read every word!

    Reply

    1. Wow – you’ve been busy haha! If you want to dive into basically a novel I would recommend his other post series as well. They are riveting! And yeah retirement is going surprisingly well (I expected more challenges honestly haha). And yeah who knew throwing words into the blogosphere could do all this! It’s wild. And will do – thank you so much for reading and commenting!

      Reply

  4. Hi in Finland we have a set of rules called ‘Everymans’ right ‘ which is very similar to scotland’ s right to roam. You can walk in any forrest freely, even camp for short-term and forage berries and mushrooms. Feels weird this is not just common practice every where!

    Reply

    1. That sounds so cool! And yeah we’re strangely obsessed with “mine” and property in the US…despite having taken all of this land from other people…

      Reply

  5. I’ve never spent any time figuring out the plants and animals around us because I’m always too much in a hurry or preoccupied with other things but your discoveries here are like contagious fun. You’ve piqued my curiosity now.

    I love leaning into mental rhythms. For the most part, I let my internal urges lead the way on work and home chores which makes most of it feel like a natural flow instead of a fight and drain on my willpower. I get so much more done that way, too, which is a happy side effect.

    Reply

    1. Yep – that was exactly me while I was still working. I literally didn’t even see this stuff. It was all just “nature” to me. I’m so happy I’ve piqued your curiosity!! And that sounds like an awesome way to handle mental rhythms – I’m still getting the hang of it, but should probably lean a lot more into cleaning since it’s still a fight in my mind ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

      Reply

  6. So much to congratulate you on this month but a special big congrats on the vaccine! I’m probably still months away from it here in Canada but hopefully it comes sooner.
    Also thanks for introducing me to livingafi. Just spent quite some time reading his update and have bookmarked it to read it again later.

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much! My fingers are crossed for you. And of course on LivingAFI – his storytelling is so amazing.

      Reply

    1. I have – they’re amazing!! I have yet to try and recreate their sounds though lol – I guess that’s my next step ๐Ÿ˜‰ .

      Reply

  8. Wow! You’re super busy!
    We are not eligible for the vaccine yet in Oregon. Maybe in May? Ugh!
    School will open next week so I’m thankful for that. Our son has been home for a whole year. Pretty crazy.
    Enjoy your nomadic lifestyle. It sounds great. I’m gonna do that someday.

    Reply

    1. Haha if you say so! I feel like I barely left my bed this week, but I guess this list disagrees with me. May is only a month again – you’ve got this! I hear Europe is way, way behind our timelines so I’m trying to see the positives ๐Ÿ˜‰ . And WOW a year of home school is hardcore. Exciting he’s going back! And sweet – I’m excited for you to join us on the road – it’s awesome over here ๐Ÿ™‚ .

      Reply

  9. That is a pretty eventful month! I was shocked for a second to find Simple Path on your reading list until I realized it was a re-read. That is my go to rec as well, as I’m sure is the case with many others! Great update, and congrats on the vax!

    Reply

    1. Haha yeah it looks like something on paper despite feeling like just chillin’ in real time ๐Ÿ™‚ . And I’m glad I could surprise you – yeah it was like my 10th re-read or something along those lines. Thanks so much!!

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  10. I like these catch-ups, seeing as how you’re a couple of months ahead of me on the retirement trail.
    I’m finding that my sleep is slowly getting better and I’m not needing a nap every single day anymore.
    I just booked Antarctica for December – let’s see if I’ll actually be able to go!

    Reply

    1. I’m so glad you’re enjoying them and that your sleep is getting better! And woohoo that sounds like a baller trip – my fingers are crossed for you.

      Reply

  11. Love your post and hearing about all the little things you have time to notice and do. You have a great life.

    Reply

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