I can't explain it, but sitting in my car has given me new insight on leaving this place.

Earl Grey + Lemon Shortbread Cookies and Cucumber Noodle Salad

Well happy weekend friends! I’m just sending out a quick love letter to you before I have to leave for an open house…again. It’s been almost 2 months since we listed our house for sale and we’ve had no viable offers yet (a weird one but that’s bound to happen I guess).

Because we have had so many people through here I’ve been spending a crazy amount of time sitting in my car with the dog and The Mr. We have to leave during house showings and take Suri with us because, although she is a beautiful pup, she’s also highly anxious which can mostly look like she wants to bite your face off.

That doesn’t quite give off the loving country home vibe we’re going for.

Anyways, I’ve been reflecting on these car sits and although my house hasn’t sold they’ve had some positive impacts that I couldn’t have predicted beforehand.

My husband and I used to go for Sunday drives all the time. When the kids were in their teens sometimes we just needed a brief respite from a house full of not so tiny humans who wanted nothing to do with us. Having to be out of the house again for extended periods of time has kind of forced us to do those drives again and I’m not mad about it.

Also, over the winter we stopped our daily walks with Suri and lately we’ve been using house showing times as an opportunity to take her out again. A few times we’ve headed into the city to walk with her because, as you know, when we make the move Suri will become a city girl which will be a big adjustment for her (for me too). She is a country dog through and through and I’m not entirely sure how this will go.

When she comes in muddy and full of burrs I’ve been saying Suri you’re going to be a city girl soon and you’ve got to stay out of the mud!

Last week I bought myself a large tea and sat in a parking lot for over an hour knitting and listening to podcasts. I highly recommend this. I may continue to do this even when I don’t have showings.

I’ve used the time to also meet up with my dad for coffee, a friend for lunch and just yesterday we made a stop at a new local micro brewery. I mean, you’ve gotta pass the time somehow right?

It’s funny how preparing to leave this house has, in a weird way, brought us back to all of those things we used to do before we were knee deep in renos and such. There has always been so much to do here that we ended up making a trade off for things we used to enjoy.

When I was struggling with the idea of whether to sell this place I would walk around outside and repeatedly ask The Universe to show me which path was right for me. Do I stay here in this space that I dreamed of for most of my life or move to a new chapter and focus on all the things I wanted to do in my later years?

Without any clear cut offers here I was beginning to think that The Universe wasn’t hearing me. But now I’m pretty sure the path is becoming more clear one car sit at a time.

Have a great week friends.

Renee xo

Earl Grey + Lemon Shortbread Cookies

During one of our drives a few years ago we stopped in to a bakery in a small town. I bought several of their shortbread cookies, my favourite, and an Earl Grey flavour was in the bunch. I’ve dreamed of that cookie many times since. It was so tender, thickly cut and literally melted in my mouth. Oddly, I’ve never really attempted that cookie until this past week. Must be those rainy spring days that make me want to turn my oven on and get lost in the kitchen for a while. These were so so good. The Earl Grey and lemon combination is literally perfect.