For every halfway decent picture of James and I on here or on Instagram, there are at least 10 that look more like this:
Because James, as you might remember from here and here, hates over-documentation. He is always asking me to put down the camera, put away the phone, and just let life happen. Obviously, I have a little bit of a hard time listening, which subsequently leads to lots of blog posts.
But over the past month, the real camera has stayed in the closet a lot more. We have been so busy, so tired, so overextended, that even though I had the best intentions of documenting fall’s arrival in the district, family dinners, fun visitors,and other exciting happenings, I just couldn’t bring myself to lug down the camera as much and opted instead to phone it in and do posts with lame iPhone pics.
And you know what? The course of the world was not changed one bit by my not photographing it. Life happened, and it was all that it normally is rich, full, transient.
Here are some of the things that you don’t see on this blog, little moments of normal existence that aren’t taking up space on the Internet but still filling up space in my days.
- Stephen and Leslie got married last weekend and it was perfect. I broke it down pretty hard on that dance floor. At one point my shoes were off (as is sure to happen at any wedding because women can’r manage to actually pick comfy footwear), and I jammed my foot into a chair resulting in a toe so badly mangled and bruised that I thought it was broken. Now that I’m sure it’s not, I am just eerily fascinated by the changing colors and sometimes I text James disturbing toe pictures during the day.
- Every time I opened my Tupperware cabinet this week, everything fell out. The logical thing would be to take everything out and reorganize it, but I, being like every human on the planet, have just resorted to opening it and grabbing something really fast and then slamming it shut to keep the beasts at bay.
- Last night James and I went to see Jim Gaffigan and it was awesome. Being in a huge crowd of laughing people is good for the soul. Plus, he just makes everyday life so funny. AND, before the performance we got Chick-Fil-A, making it the best night in awhile.
- I’m in a wedding right after Thanksgiving, but I bought my dress well over a year ago, which of course means it no longer fits, and will most assuredly fit less when donned after I gorge myself on turkey and pie. This prompted a total breakdown this summer and the onset of the James and Hannah Health Initiative. But today I am taking it for a fitting and I found out that they can just let all the seams out so I am all like ICE CREAM FOR DINNER Y’ALL, which is exciting.
- I’ve worn the mature primaries (maroon, navy, mustard) twice this week. My students better feel blessed to be instructed by a Gryffindor.
- Life is finally calming down at our house after work craziness of the past month and James actually made it home for dinner almost every night this week. One night we were so excited about having no plans that we ate homemade pizza from the cast iron skillet while we watched 30 Rock, because I am a little obsessed. Is there a Tracy Jordan daily quote app, and if not, WHY???
- Fall is so here, but with a cold smack in the face. I am kind of excited, though nervous that we skipped cute blazers and went straight to coats. But we did make the switch from the summer sheets to the cozy fall ones (don’t worry people — I don’t mean we only change our sheets once a season… I am not a college student), and it is amazing. As if I needed another reason to not get out of bed.
These little moments, aren’t they really what make up life? And so often we don’t actually notice them because we are trying to document other moments, bigger moments, prettier moments, moments worth blogging about, moments that get comments and likes and reposts. These are the things you don’t see, but these are the things I see and love every day. 
Happy weekend. Put down the cameras and let it happen.
The Art in Life 
I love Jim Gaffigan!!! He and Brian Regan are my favs.
Way to live life! Keep it up. I’m trying to do the same myself.
He is soooooo funny! There was also this opener named Julien Mccollough (or something similar) who was HYSTERICAL.
Yep, I am on a similar kick of letting life happen and not being (as) compulsive about taking pictures. But there is a part of Future Me that will miss having the time immortalized.
Because I am so short, opening cabinets and having things fall on me incites INSTANT RAGE. So, yeah, I would totally reorganize that, if only to prevent me flying into a rage and throwing things about in a fit.
Also, I had a 30 Rock daily tear-off calendar one year, and it was the funniest ever. I had to physically restrain myself from LOLing in my cubicle often. Sometimes, I had to hide the calendar because its contents were NSFW. Best ever. I would buy it again for sure.
Please come organize my tupperware!!! : )
And I seriously have to find that calendar… or just make James recite a different quote to me every day.
Thank you for this entry Hannah. Even your words paint brilliant pictures for us to see.
And I really enjoyed being taken back to the other entries from before I ‘knew’ you 🙂 I am sure we need to see some pictures of your toe before the colors disappear 😉
It looks a lot like the nasty pictures of my foot from when I sprained it a couple months before our wedding ( yes, I did do a whole post on my purple foot). : )
“My students better feel blessed to be instructed by a Gryffindor.”—-I just cracked up laughing. I love your humor. Even when posted sporadically your entries make my day lol. Have a good weekend!
I’m so glad! I for real was disturbed that none of them commented on my Gryffindorness today…
Very cute and Go Gryffindor! I’m also glad I’m not the only one who has to be told to put the phone down and just live. 🙂
I think I need someone to yell it at me once every ten minutes. : )
Haha!!!
Excellent post. I attended my mom’s wedding last weekend and forgot my camera, but it turned out nicely because I got to be more involved to enjoy the ceremony and reception. I ended up having some good conversation with my brother and a couple family friends. Then I still got a few pictures on my iPhone too.
Sometimes forgetting the camera is the very best ever!!! Especially because weddings have actually people paid to take lots of good pictures!
Have we ever talked about winter sheets before?! We have a set of plush (possibly micro-fiberish) tan sheets and they are a GAME CHANGER when it comes to surviving winter in the midwest. They become the butt of lots of strange jokes because it seems so exotic to have fancy sheets… Anyway. Between October and March, we always wash and replace them in the same day because sleeping on the regular cotton ones is not going to happen if it’s cold out.
Also. We use an electric blanket under our quilt and one of us has to turn it on 30 minutes before bed. It’s too hot to use all night, but it warms the cozy sheets up enough to make it easier to crawl in. This is real life in winter. And no, I will not take pictures of them.
I do that too!!!! Because once you go cozy, you can’t go back!
Hooray for mature primaries!! I’m so gonna start calling them that now.
Do it! I feel it is a totally legit description!
I find myself fighting the battle of enjoying life with my own eyes rather than through a lens…but still wanting documentation. But, that’s what memories are for–to remember with my mind’s eye.
Today’s culture- with our me- ness and validation of images everywhere– doesn’t help, but it is still a noble battle to fight!