Bringing Vacation into Everyday Life

by Lawyerish

I recently spent a week at the beach with my family, and since we got back I have been having some...trouble readjusting to days that do not involve long, leisurely bike rides; hours reading on a soft green lawn; and copious amounts of ice cream. I also wander around my apartment feeling uninspired by our decor, especially our living room, which is done in respectable, yet seemingly drab, shades of taupe and brown. Where are the airy ceilings, the beadboard accents, and the anchor-print throw pillows of our rental house?

Here are a few things that I think I might do to breathe a little beachy life into our workaday, city lives:

Buy a hydrangea plant.

(A small, potted one, to be precise.) I am certain that I will kill it within moments, but at least for a little while I can pretend that I have a yard with perfectly blue-blue flowers in it.

Re-accessorize our living room.

sofa with throw pillows

(Not so much with the zebra print, but you get the idea.)

Really, I'd love to redo our whole living room and have a bunch of bright-white built-in cabinetry installed instead of the heavy dark wood stuff we have now, but I will settle for an airier couch and some summery pillows and throw blankets. For now.

Rent a bike.

I felt so alive riding a bike on vacation, and within blocks of my home there are at least two places to rent a bike. I don't have to do it every day, but now and then I need that rush of wind over my face and that sense of soaring that only a bike can provide.

Spend time near the water.

I live within less than a five-minute walk to one smallish reservoir, and about a 20-minute jog to the Hudson River. Neither is a beach, which would be much more ideal, but they're both water, after all, and just seeing open sky reflecting on a glassy surface and hearing the rhythmic lap of waves (however small) is head-clearing.

Take a walk.

I tend to spend my entire workday indoors, because I bring my lunch, and I prize efficiency over nearly everything else. I tell myself I don't have time to go outside. As if a ten or fifteen-minute walk is going to kill my productivity for the day? No. At least twice a week, I'm going to force myself to go outside. I don't have to go get coffee or do anything else -- I just need to go outside and breath non-air-conditioned air and look up at the sky.

How about you? How do you bring the spirit of vacation into your daily life?

{Photo credits: mine, except living room from countryliving.com}