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Simple Living

Ryan and Hannah Corson, Herbal Tea Collection

Herbal Tea, Yoga, Essential Oils, & Juice

That sounds like the start to a yuppies dream day.

Yikes.

Well, its been the glorious start to mine for the past month.

I realize right off the bat that this blog post is like every other blog post I have seen lately about, well… the exact same things. Essential oils and yoga.

:sigh:

It’s kind of my pet peeve when I’m following the trends of the rest of my peers.

BUT MY MORNINGS ARE AMAZING SO I DON’T CARE.

Seriously. I’ve been trying to find some kind of morning routine since moving back to the city, and I think I may have found it.

6:00 – wake up. drag myself out of bed. used to be a morning person. marriage makes me wanna stay in bed. go figure.

6:05 – shower. typically still not feeling super jazzed about the day.

6:20 – yoga & oils enter the picture. I took some classes at Bella Yoga in Brighton and learned a ton there. Now, that knowledge combined with a sweet app (Yoga Studio) that someone referred me to, and a couple of oils normally rubbed on my feet, chest, and arms (with carrier oil of course) and 15 minutes of stretching and I feel much more awake, energized, and even focused.

6:45ish – cleaning frenzy. I know that with normal people, its dreaded. But I’m a freak and cleaning is strangely therapeutic. And given my husbands cleaning habits, I’m thankful that I ended up being that kind of freak rather than the other kind (that pile things on until it feels like there’s a monster living by our front door). Just a couple of minutes of laundry, dishes, {sometimes} making the bed, and I’m a brand new woman. And so is our apartment.

6:55 – Breakfast. I got a free juicer a few months ago with my lil bro at a church garage sale that was packing up for the weekend. I have no idea what brand it is, but I love it. It feels really nice to have fresh juice be the first thing that my stomach deals with in the mornings. But I’m probably going to turn orange very soon from the mounds of carrots I keep juicing. I have to remind myself to add some celery so that this doesn’t actually happen. If it does, I’ll post pics. {Also, ginger is yummy in carrot juice}

7:10 – Start boiling water for some tea. Throw on some clothes for work. Make herbal tea. I’m not sure if you knew or not, but we (::cough:: I) recently started becoming slightly obsessed with loose leaf tea. Some mornings I’ll make a lil something with caffeine* and some mornings I just stick to herbal for the health benefits.

*** Picture credit

7:15 – Sit down with my tea, granola, and a book. What I’ve been reading lately:

– Country Matters

– Genesis

– The Secret Life of Bees

– The Jade Peony

7:30ish – out the door, ready for some NPR on the way to work and a hopefully smooth commute and lovely day.

Hipster side note: I’m growing a baby. It’s like a week old. Cute huh?**

OK. All you oil experts and fellow aspiring naturalists. Feedback needed:

– I am still an oil baby. Haven’t been using them very long. Tell me what has worked for you for: sore throats, fatigue, sore muscles, anxiety….etc. ALSO: favorite delivery method?

– Juicing. I’ve pretty much stuck to carrots, celery, ginger, apples, and beets. What else works for you here? Any specific remedies you’ve found? Or other flavors to make yummy juices (or not so yummy juices)?

– Kombucha. Haven’t even finished growing the child yet, but I need some direction. I am not a huge fan of the taste of kombucha, haven’t quite cultivated those taste buds yet… SO what are some things I can do to make it more “Hannah friendly”? I feel like adding juice of somekind would be tasty, but just need some direction.

Thanks for enduring my first post of city life. Maybe the next post Ryan will tell you all about the oil field and fracking. #contradictions? #tuneinnexttime

* did I mention I definitely drink coffee once I get to work? necessary…

** why the heck is this nasty thing called a baby?

*** Thanks Eliza. You good.

September 12, 2014

Wedding & Tiny House Update

Hello & Happy Summer from the Corsons!

Yes, its true- we did get married! 4 months have passed, so we figured it was about time to update the blog…

Wedding Update

Now, I know you’re all wondering, “well, DID you have a ‘simple wedding??'” Especially all you brides out there a couple of months after your big day. I can just hear you, “ooohhhh yess… that funny girl who thought her wedding was going to be ‘simple’ and then she invited 400 people. HAH! She’s cute.” Well, was it simple?…

Kind of.

We definitely did stay true to our original vision of keeping this wedding as simple as possible for the sake of focusing on the things we care about. We quickly found out that the things we really care about are people. We both loved looking around the room at the rehearsal dinner, ceremony, and potluck reception and seeing how many different people were here to celebrate with us. We also realized that weddings, no matter how much you try to weed out stress- just ARE stressful. Yes we kept things simple, yes we look back and love everything that happened, and yes we were super stressed the week of the wedding- trying to work out details or organizing people, spending time with people, and spending time with each other. It’s a huge week in the life of any human making a lifetime commitment like marriage to another. Add in other humans who you both love and want to spend time with and you’ve created something more complex than just having a few conversations with out of town guests. Also, we had the help of SO many people in actually pulling this thing off…could NOT have happened without these friends.

Our conclusion? Weddings are stressful. And worth it to us because, with the help of friends, we were able to create space to celebrate and set aside time designated as a very important event with very important people. If you ACTUALLY want something simple and stress-free… we suggest you elope :)

Tiny House Update

There has been SO many changes in this area since the last blog post!

(1) We found a trailer

(2) We have been collecting materials

(3) and building and designing… (let’s be honest, Ryan designs everything)

(4) AAAAAAND…… we moved in!!

While it is SO exciting to get out of the renting cycle and to actually be living in what will soon be our completed home, this adventure has been so much different that I (Hannah) pictured. I have always really admired and looked up to pioneer families who rode in a wagon across months of unknown territory and adventure to their picturesque cottages and babbling brooks. Of course it was a hard life, but didn’t they realize that they were starting something new and that the challenges were totally worth it, even in that moment?

Whew.

Shoot dang those folks were amazing.

Now, don’t worry – I feel almost completely silly at comparing what we are doing to the pioneer families (except we don’t have running water or electricity). And I don’t exactly think that Tiny Houses are going to be the next “thing” (um hello, homeschool families like my own would have to have a train of these things) – of course I could be wrong ;-) But here’s what I see the value for us right now:

we can do it.

Financially. Physically. Mentally (some days better than others).

It may take us longer than we initially expected, but we will finish. And have a HOME that is paid for and fully functional!

But honestly, living without things that I (still Hannah here) am used to having (like running water and electricity) has been so much harder than I thought it would be! I thought that I was ready to be camping out in a partially finished home, working long hours, learning as much as I can about construction…

Yup. I definitely admire those pioneers.

But I AM learning so much. I am thankful for a husband who is patient (most days) with me to teach me what he knows about construction and perseverance. I am thankful for Zella Cameron, the kind woman who is letting us build this monster in her front yard. I am also thankful for her bathroom and kitchen (which she recently offered to let us use until ours is complete). I am thankful for friends and family who have given their time and muscles to help us do a little bit at a time. I am thankful (most days :) ) for the ways that this project is challenging me. To do something I’ve never done and honestly, am really not good at. I’m thankful that we are building a home and will have no debt.

That’s pretty cool.

That’s about it for now… Thanks for reading! You can keep up with more current updates if you’re on Instagram, look up hannahcorson and follow her, she has updates more frequently there regarding the Tiny House construction! You can also keep up with us at gofundme.com/restoringsimple . Thanks!!

August 17, 2013

Simple Living

A Simple Wedding

You know how people always talk about having a “simple wedding?” No stress, just enjoying each other and the special people you’ve invited to spend your special day with? And then, that week and day comes, and it just IS stressful and NOT simple?

How does one keep a wedding simple? Is this even possible? Everyone I talk to says that they have tried this, but because of one thing or another, it always ends up being stressful and not so simple.

I (Hannah) quickly realized this within the first week of being engaged. I was at Hobby Lobby (because where else do you go to start planning a wedding?) and was looking into the possibility of making our invitations. I found cute & kitschy paper, stamps, ribbons, stickers, and envelopes. Of course, it might take us 2 weeks to make them, but our invitations would be so pinterest perfect, all the 15 year-olds would save them for inspiration for their own weddings. After 45 minutes of strategizing in the aisles of the mecca of the craft world: this stamp with that paper with that ribbon, with that paper laid on top of this one, I had two thoughts.

(1) “Crap. This was not going to be a simple wedding.”

And then after a moment of sitting in the defeat and sensing my stress levels rising already:

(2) “Wait a minute. What if I just said NO to trying to make this day perfect? What if I just realized my goal of this day (to have people I love in one place, celebrating me and my man) could be reached in MUCH easier ways than my culture tells me?”

Our wedding website says that we have 179 “to dos” and we are behind on 89 of them. We haven’t sent out invitations, gone dress shopping, figured out colors, or even talked to the wedding party yet. We HAVE had a conversation about whether we want the wedding in the evening or in the afternoon (no decision yet…). We don’t have a budget (well, we do- its somewhere between $0-$50 depending on how much utilities are in March). We aren’t having a cake or big reception. We may or may not be including a dog in the ceremony. We had no idea what an “A” or “B” list was before yesterday. We know that we want candles and Christmas lights (well, I [Hannah] do at least). We DO have someone to marry us and we DO have the church booked! We also have amazing friends who have offered to help. We consider these things fairly significant steps.

We have just realized (Ryan probably faster than me) that we desire to keep Simplicity as the highest value in planning this day, because when we say NO to things that honestly, don’t matter, it can free us to say yes to the things that really do.

Well, this is our plan at least. We’ll see how it goes :-)

February 2, 2013

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