Casa da Nuvea: part vii, the future kitchen

It's Saturday morning, and I'm browsing airfares for my upcoming trip to Portugal.

And so the daydreaming of what will be done on my little olive farm begins anew...Which means it's time for another update on the progress of the renovations.

This, dear readers, is what will one day be the kitchen.

 

This is what it looked like before we pulled out all the brambles and weeds.



Ta-Da! Would you just look at the progress?? It will be finished in no time.

Really.



I'm not quite sure what these gigantic rocks will be used for...they look like some sort of sculptural element, so I'd like to build around them but not sure what that will look like... I'm thinking a glass wall of some kind, with shutters to protect during inclement weather, or simple French doors, running the length of the room, to throw open on warm days and let in the scent of  wild rosemary from the garden. And a skylight, perhaps, to brighten the dark, winter days. There will definitely be a long, wooden farm table and a "rustic" chandelier...



The best part was dicovering...this. The beautiful, original bread oven. I can't wait to bake my first loaf of pao caseiro, the traditional country-style bread of Portugal.

Spring Showers

Loved the morning mist in the garden from the spring showers we had…wish it would really rain, though.

Maybe tomorrow.



The sun came out for a minute... making all the silvery green leaves on the olive tree shimmer in the light.

Making 2014 Count

We've all seen those photos of planet Earth floating in space, just a tiny dot in a vast universe.  It looks so small and makes you feel so insignificant. There's nothing like it to put everything in perspective. Looking at those photos makes me feel…free. It makes me feel like all those little things we fuss and fret over, get anxiety attacks over, they're all unimportant in the grand scheme of things. I came across one of those NASA photos on their Instagram feed recently (yes, my inner nerd follows NASA) and it inspired me to start a new tradition that I wanted to share with you... of spending New Year's Day at the beach. Because staring out at the ocean makes me feel the same way. Free. Like anything is possible. I always come away from the sea refreshed and excited to start new adventures with confidence. I feel a sense of responsibility to be really good at doing what I love in order to live life to its fullest potential because our existence on this blue planet goes by in the blink of an eye and we owe it to ourselves to make our one and only life count.

I always wake up with a ton of new ideas and projects to start and get so frustrated when there isn't enough time or energy to make them all happen. One of my strategies this year is to live more in the present by doing things when I'm inspired  to do them and not set them aside for later when I think I'l have more time, because let's face it, we're all super busy and if we wait until we have more time, well, things just won't happen. Of course there will be times when this just won't be possible, but I'm going to try!



Reading through everyone's posts about the new year - I think I'm the only one who's a little sad to see 2013 go. It's my favorite number, after all. Don't laugh, but I feel like 2013 was the year I made my own little personal come back - coming back to doing what I love, even if it wasn't in as grand a way as I would have liked. Coming back to what really matters to me.  I feel like I finally got started and even accomplished many of the goals I set out to do. Now I'm looking to build on what I started and really challenge myself to grow my tiny little photography business, to challenge myself with new riding goals, and to make Casa da Nuvea live up to my dream. Adventure awaits!

I had originally meant to share my new tradition with you on New Year's Day but caught a terrible stomach bug and spent the whole time in bed with fever and chills. Not a very auspicious way to start a new year. Ugh. One of my favorite bloggers, Kelli Murray, did a blog post on Making 2014 Count which I really wanted to participate in, but because my stomach flu kept me in bed for much of the first week of 2014,  I missed writing about this in time to link up to the prompt. I want to share it with you anyway because I hope some of the posts will inspire you to make 2014 count!

http://www.kellimurray.com/2014/01/03/2014-breathe/

So how about you? Did you start any new traditions this holiday season or plan one for the new year? I'd love to hear what some of you are planning for 2014! What are you going to do to make 2014 count, to get one step closer to living the life you dream of?

And because I don't believe anyone should ask for more blessings from the universe without expressing gratitude for that which you already have...thank you so much for stopping by this little blog of mine. I'm always amazed when anyone takes the time from their busy lives to read anything I write. Thank you.

Casa da Nuvea part I: first look

About five years ago I decided I was ready to go after my lifelong dream of having a little stone cottage in Portugal. Since I was (and still am) living full-time here in the U.S., I assigned my lovely Tia A. with the daunting task of finding just the right little dwelling for me. It had to be within close enough driving distance of Lisbon (should I want to go into the city for the weekend) and close enough for a day trip to the coast. It had to be in a pretty, quiet, off-the-beaten path spot, where I could keep a few sheep, goats, rabbits and a couple burros. I also wanted an olive grove, so I could press my own olive oil. It had to be dilapidated enough to be affordable, but still intact enough to be somewhat livable without too much of an initial investment. We looked all over the central part of Portugal the north being too damp and cold for me and the south too expensive) but in a perfect example of life coming full circle, she found the idyllic little spot in my family's village. The same place I had been coming to for years and had spent most of childhood. I bought it sigh unseen, from a local farmer who had known my grandfather.
Here are the first photos she sent me, my first look at Casa da Nuvea.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting some more photos of the house and the surrounding lands, and some of the improvements which are finally underway, after much saving of pennies.

 

My Little Stone Cottage in Portugal

It occurred to me today that I have not yet shared any photos of my little stone cottage in Portugal! I can explain...while I have a shoebox full of pictures of it, I have yet to scan them into my photo stream to show you. This was before I had my trusty digital camera and iPhone, of course. Other priorities have taken center stage recently, but this winter the hard work shall begin to restore it to it's former glory as a simple but functional farm house. So for now, here is a little sneak peak of the cottage, from the backside. I promise there will be more to show, soon.