This is a very frequent view in our lives right now. Reheating beans.

This is the air conditioning unit that sits above us when we eat.

This is our latest morning walk – to buy veges. But you’ll notice, as colorful and amazing as this looks, the actual lack of veges in sight. In fact, I can only see carrots, some green beans and some corn. The rest is just amazingly sweet and delicious fruit.

Mika rides in her car.

Oh hi there! This is Mika, hanging out in the door to the office.

Her latest trick!! She stands and she dances! Well, dancing is a stretch. But she’s pretty excited Look at those strong legs!!!

I’m shooting a wedding tomorrow, then we’ll be in full ‘getting ready to leave’ mode, which means getting rid of a few things still, planning any last minute beach trips, having lunch with family and spending as much time together as possible (not hard, considering we spend all day in a small house together ).

I’m actually starting to feel a bit sad about leaving Mexico…but just sad enough to really appreciate everything about right now. Not sad enough to not be crazy excited about Seattle!!

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Since packing up our lives in Vancouver, Ivan and I have been very aware of how many things we own. We’ve packed up our lives 3 times now in the last 2 years or so and each time we try to manage with less and less.

We left New Zealand with 3 very full (and overweight) suitcases. Apart from a couple small boxes with baby clothes and ‘important things’ (notes/love letters/cards etc) that we left at my parent’s home, and a box of nice pots and pans that we had left with my grandma in Vancouver, this was our life. 3 suitcases, a stroller, a ukulele, a diaper bag and a laptop bag.

Now we are packing up our lives again and heading to Seattle and I have been thinking more and more about striving towards a minimalist lifestyle. It doesn’t mean that we are instantly going to renounce all possessions and go live in the bush, but rather that we are going to be proactive in making little changes in our lives and our mindsets to ensure that we never become owned by our stuff.

I’ll accept that because we are traveling this is almost like forced minimalism. By moving so much we are forced to keep trying to lighten our bags for the sake of our sanity (and our backs). But even if you aren’t moving anytime soon, what is the minimum you can survive with and still be happy? That’s the question that we are asking ourselves a lot right now. How can we get by with less? Where can we trim the fat?

I’ve been intrigued in the past by things like the 100 Thing Challenge, which would be a great tool to start minimizing the amount of stuff in your life. I haven’t actually counted the things we own, but I prefer to be guided by this statement from Leo Babauta:

A minimalist is simply one who questions the necessity of things, and who tries to live with what’s necessary, rather than with consumerism.

If this kind of thing interests you, the ultimate resource and best place to start is on one of Leo’s many blogs, here.

I dunno bout you, but this stuff makes me feel so damn good.

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Where are you visiting from? They ask me. At least once a day I have to answer this question. And I say we’ve come from Mexico, but before that NZ. And they ask so is new zealand home? and I say, no, not really anymore and then they wait for me to say something else but I don’t and so it is a little awkward for a bit. Then I say we want Seattle to be our home, we’re hoping to move here for good and that makes them very happy and they smile and say encouraging things like good luck and all that.

Today I met a man who was from Mexico and he asked me where in Mexico we were living and I told him Obregon and he nodded and said ah yes, ciudad obregon it’s so beautiful there and I wondered if he really knew where I was talking about and then he said some more things and I realised he did know where I was talking about and so then I thought he must just be being nice. I asked him how long he’d been in Seattle, he said 7 years and I said it’s beautiful here eh and he shrugged and said i suppose, but not really and I was gobsmacked. Who was this man? How could he not love this city? What with the ocean and the trees and the big houses and the parks and the coffee and the markets! How could he just shrug? People are funny like that, everyone sees different things I suppose. His son still lives in Mexico so maybe he misses him. He probably does.

I really don’t want to go back to Mexico. We’ve been flown here for an interview and have kindly been put up for 2 weeks so we can check the place out good and proper, even though we’ve been here many times as tourists. And I’m in love.

Visas and passports and all that are a funny thing really. I have the right to live in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the UK and the entire EU. Ivan has the right to live in Mexico. And just because he’s Mexican, it’s hard for him to go anywhere without a whole lot of paperwork and fingerprints. Adele is living in London right now but in a couple years she’ll have to leave because her visa will be ‘up’ and that’ll be it. I feel like there should just be some sort of interview process for citizenship. Not too many rules, but just like if you’re intelligent, educated and nice with no criminal record then they should welcome you in. And likewise if you aren’t contributing to your country then they should kick you out. They could have an island dedicated to the non-contributors and criminals and they can rehabilitate to try and reapply for citizenship. Meh, but yeah ok.

We’ve eaten kale every day since we got here. I cooked red lentils last night and I’ve eaten so many lemons and yams! We bought some dark chocolate and some kidney beans and mushrooms and so many beautiful vegetables I am slightly overwhelmed by it all. Overwhelmed by happiness of course. And today it was sunny so Mika and I played in the lush green grass and stared out at the ocean and it was cool and crisp and sunny.

At the bottom of our road is a climbing gym and the ocean. Around the corner is a vegan bakery and a vegetarian thai restaurant and many many amazing coffee shops. There is a bike shop and a trader joes and a swimming pool and a yoga studio and beautiful thrift stores and book stores and record stores and comic book stores all within walking distance of where we are staying. People of Seattle, you are very lucky people.

There are more stories to tell, but for now this is all. I want to buy a home here and have another baby. I love this place like I love Vancouver except here is cheaper to live and there is better coffee and there are more work opportunities and there is more happening and the mindsets of people in general seem a little more progressive.

Dear America, please let us live here, we’re very nice people and we have a lot to offer you. Sincerely, Pamela. P.S look how wonderful this little girl is:

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We spent all of Friday packing our bags. Well, I spent the entire Friday packing, Ivan spent the day running around tying up loose ends with paying bills and organising things and Mika spent the day climbing through boxes and swimming in her paddling pool under the watch of her abuelita (grandma). It’s fair to say that things worked out well for Mika while Ivan and I felt just a bit miserable that we couldn’t be playing with her all day.

To cut a long story into 24 words, we were told (on Friday) that instead of leaving our house on Sunday like we had planned, we had to get out on Friday.

Strange, yes, but we had no choice. So after a very long day, a very long night and a few tears, we set up camp at Ivan’s mum’s home.

Today we just found out that we are flying to Seattle on Wednesday and I am impossibly excited whilst at the same time feeling a bit annoyed at myself for also feeling a little exhausted. Traveling is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but on little to no sleep, with working full time at the moment and with a 1 year old, sometimes just the thought of a 3 hour bus, 2 plane rides and around 12 hours in transit is just overwhelming! But I’m just being silly really, because I find the airport ridiculously exciting and I love being in new places and I am so excited to be in such a beautiful city. I’m just exhausted right now and it’s after midnight and I’ve been working on a silly problem for a website we’re building and it’s driving me nuts.

I was debating about posting some of my favourite links or just some photos of Mika and her favourite people. The favourite people won.

With her 2 godmamas doing crosswords

Being fed by Oma

Playing trains with my friend cousin Jack

Hangin out with godpapa Red (we’re still working on those names)

My Uncle Vinny

Uncle Pablo

Aunty Anita

Reading with Grandpa

Oh OK and here are some fun links I’ve collected over the week:

The ultimate roof-top garden (my hero!)

Hilarious tips for single women in 1938. (Found via Courtney’s blog)

An awesome DIY chalkboard tutorial.

Eating red meat increases chances of death.

Never fly with your bags again!

These wedding dresses

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Sometimes I feel as though I live too much in my head. I think about upcoming events and I play them out in my brain and I visualise them as though they are happening over there and in the future and then all of a sudden I’m actually in the moment that I’d been thinking about for so long and it never feels as momentous as I feel it should. Then it’s over so quickly and I’m left with a curious feeling of disappointment.

I know that this is a very common experience, not just for myself. It’s why people always say things like ‘live in the moment’ and other things like that. I know this, I really do. But the moments when it hits me, the moments when I realise that this is my life and I’m living it right now, are really glorious moments for me.

I often see my life panning out in my head. I think about where I want to go and what I want to do and I think about what my stories are going to be when people ask what I’ve done with my life. I think about the stories my parents told me, about living in Africa and traveling and moving to New Zealand and I think about how exciting and adventurous it sounds and how I want to sound exciting and adventurous to Mika too. And then I realise that the moments we are living right now are the stories we will tell her. And then I realise that these moments are just like the moments for my mum and dad when I was a 1 year old and I realise that it must not have felt so glamourous at the time for them either. And so then I realise that there is no point living in my head and planning the future because at some point I will be enjoying telling the stories of the past and I will wonder if I really loved them at the time I was living them. Mika will say ‘how exciting!’ and I will wonder if I thought the same at the time, because in hindsight everything will seem exciting.

This is the process I take to live in the moment. Sometimes it is much faster than that and I don’t need to think about it. But sometimes I get caught in the future and I need to keep pulling myself back to the moment and realise how exciting and adventurous it is to be young with the world at our feet.

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