Good morning!!  It is a blustery -13 degrees here in Ohio this very early morning!!  Why is it always on the days you have to be up and going it is always freezing out?  Makes it so hard to get out of bed, let alone go outside.  Brrrrr!

During some errands this morning Sydney and I stopped at Coffee Expressions (this really helped to make up for going outside this morning).   What a cozy, little coffee house on the edge of the Wittenberg University Campus, in Springfield, OH.  The barista that waited on us was so nice and helpful with recommendations.  After some pondering I went with the Mocha Cappuccino with whipped topping and chocolate syrup.  Absolutely amazing!!  I would definitely recommend this menu item.  Sydney is more of a tea drinker and had hot tea (she so did not get this from me).

I was offered whole, 2%, or skim milk.  She informed me they also had soy and almond milk options for the lactose intolerant.  Loved this!!  It is so great that coffee shops are having more options that are dairy free.

My favorite part of the coffee shop was the little corner with the two love seats.  So cozy and inviting to sit, visit with friends, and drink coffee.  We definitely will be visiting again.  It was pretty quiet there this morning, which was nice because the barista had extra time to talk with us and not rush. She was full of information and extremely helpful.  We really enjoyed talking with her.

In yesterday’s post I talked about organization as something I was going to do to help me live more simply.  Today, I am going to talk about another way to live more simply – slowing down!

I am not a “slow down and take it easy person” by nature.  I am a “grab the bull by the horn and let’s get this done” kind of person.  My idea of running errands is making a list and checking it off and not stopping along the way for things that were not on the list.

I have always envied people who “fly by the seat of their pants!”  These people don’t hurry here and there or stress about stopping along the way.  I don’t think I will ever fly by the seat of my pants (if you knew me you would laughing right now) but I do think I can find a happy medium between that and sticking to the schedule no matter what.

So this morning, while we were running errands, we stopped at Coffee Expressions and not only went in and got a hot drink but sat down and enjoyed our drinks for almost an hour!  It was so relaxing and nice to just sit and talk.  If I would have ever considered stopping and getting something to drink/eat unplanned it almost always would have been “to go.”

There is so much to be missed when you are always in a hurry.  You miss meeting new people, miss trying new restaurants or going to a new store because it wasn’t on the list or on the way.  There are more positives for living a slower life than there are negatives.

I am going to start stopping at least once when I am out at somewhere unplanned.  Also going to take different roads to get places.  How better to find new places than by going on new roads!

Photography is a hobby of mine, but as you can imagine I would never stop when I saw something really neat because “I didn’t have time.”  Moving forward, I am going to carry my camera with me and when I have opportunities for some really cool photography I am going to make the time to capture the photos.

For me, I guess I have always been a “get the work done and then you can relax and do something fun” kind of person.  Work first and then play.  While this completely goes against my grain, I believe people who “go with the flow” are happier and healthier.  They have less stress and are more relaxed.  They definitely are more fun to be around and easy to get along with!

Change is good and this is a change I am looking forward to making.  I have ready many times that it takes 21 days to make a habit.  Hopefully, 21 unplanned stops makes a habit of stopping and enjoying the detour!  We will see.

I mentioned yesterday about the lady who “blitzes” for 15 minutes a day.  Today I blitzed our canned and packaged food cabinet.  In 15 minutes I had cleaned out the old foods, washed the shelves and cabinet and reorganized the whole area.  It was amazing what I got done in 15 minuets.  Have to figure out what I am going to blitz tomorrow.

So here is to 2018 and slowing down to enjoy a happier, healthier, and simpler way of life!