Chambray: Target (similar); Pants: New Balance (similar save; similar spend); Shoes: Adidas
I can count the things I truly and completely love to do my two hands, and they'd probably fit on just one. Most of life, to me, is a stepping stone to the next moment, adventure, year. I don't often sit and appreciate the seconds for what they are - just seconds in and of themselves. I am always waiting for them to pass, to skip ahead, to fast forward so that I can find out and enjoy what all those seconds mean put together. I don't live in the moment often enough.
Of that handful of things that I am content enjoying in their very own space in time - bird-watching in local wetlands is one. I'd go so far as to say it's Ben and I's thing. That thing we do when the day is unaffected by agenda, when the sun shines light or cool, when we need a moment to stare beyond our four walls and out across long flat expanses of water.
There's something so serene about a preserved wetlands. No one is in a rush. It's not a place to jog. Or to walk a dog. It's not a place to hike hurriedly. It's no place to yell or jump or startle. And it's full of the tiniest little creatures and birds and budding flowers than can be missed if you don't step just right, or catch a glint of something bright green behind a leaf.
Wetlands are full of people carrying cameras and binoculars. Of folks standing quietly at an overlook whispering about a bird. It's a place to peer into branches and very quietly approach a songbird, inquisitively peeking through. Berries seem to grow abundant, spiders wander lazy along paths, bees don't bother with people but busy themselves with blooming wildflowers. It's all just awfully, perfectly lovely.
We spent the day birdwatching out in Hillsboro at the Jackson Bottom Wetlands this weekend and capped it off with some IPA at a local brewery. The perfect lazy weekend day spent out among the fresh air and flowers. :)