Caroline and I spent our morning living the classy side of life, breakfasting at the “Behind the Bookstore” cafe here in Edgartown. I think I could definitely do the cafe thing – you know, where you have that one cafe in your neighborhood that you go to in the morning to sip your hot chocolate and check on the internet world and get a nice and easy start to the day. It sounds like a pleasant way to do mornings, right? When I live in New York, the cafe morning is going to happen. Caroline and I also decided this morning that we’re going to open a cafe in Provo with hot chocolate and steamers and oatmeal and baked goods and simple, gourmet sandwiches, so that’s a pretty good plan too.
This morning I sat and ate my breakfast BLT (bacon, lettuce that looks like it’s from my dad’s garden, quality fresh tomato, fried egg, and some sort of sauce, all on toasted sourdough, drizzled with olive oil…I felt all sorts or French or gourmet or something and it was great) and Caroline ate her corn cakes with fresh fruit and honey butter, and I finally bought a plane ticket home and did some online shopping and then we ordered a plate of beignets to share, with fresh apricot jam and homemade whipped cream on the side, and it was lovely. For reals, what kind of life am I living?!? It’s all so, so, so surreal. I’m so grateful for the chance to be here and live out pretty much all the Anne Shirley romantic daydreams I could ever come up with.
Also, online shopping…such a problem. Old Navy and Piper and Scoot and I’m still in search of the perfect striped t-shirt and don’t you dare remind me about bringing all this stuff back on a plane to Utah.
And for the people in my life that are probably dying for more photos of my life {sorry parents…and sorry to everyone else who doesn’t care about seeing more photos of my island adventure}, here are some photos from life lately.
^^^a little quiet section of beach I discovered on my run this morning. I’m a fan of the water and the sky being the exact same color. Thanks, morning.
^^^my view yesterday from the shaded wharf while I tried to escape the heat and do some journal-writing for a while before work.
^^^the typical forest view from my run on Saturday. The whole island looks like this and it’s gorgeous.
^^^I discovered a farm yesterday, also on my run.
^^^on the way to State Beach…also on a run
^^^Sengekontacket Pond, across the road from State Beach
^^^the Edgartown lighthouse on Sunday evening when the weather was foggy. This is a ten-minute walk from my apartment (!!!).
^^^a nice breather on the beach after work
That’s about it for the update for now. {Yay, I’m keeping up with blogging again!} Also, the NYC trip, yeah it’s most definitely happening now!!! Not next week, but the week after that. Be prepared for excessive photo-dumping here and on Instagram, and since it’s New York City, I have absolutely no shame in bombarding the world with my excitement. New York, I’ve missed ya, and you better be ready for me again in a couple weeks.
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Other places to find me (a.k.a. let’s be friends!):
Right now I’m sitting in my little four-person bedroom with bright pink walls, and pink bedspreads, and a couple more pink touches, so basically it’s an unreal amount of pink, with about fifty thousand fresh books tucked on the ground below me, under my bed, wearing a skirt and maybe some slight remnants of bright lipstick, and I’m in a reflecting mood. And Pandora’s killing it, so that’s pretty great too.
This evening, Caroline and I put on nice clothes for once and took a stroll around Edgartown in search of great photo spots, and really every time I step outside I have to pinch myself, but tonight was especially good. I’m living on a gorgeous island, with some amazing people, and that only scratches the surface. Blessings, goodness they’re everywhere! Lately we’ve all been talking a lot about random chains of events – things that seem so inconsequential at first but turn out to be something spectacular. This experience wasn’t anywhere close to my radar a year ago {heck, I didn’t even know that Martha’s Vineyard was a thing thanks to my limited world knowledge from growing up in Idaho}, and now I’m having the most incredible summer adventure I could have imagined with people that I hadn’t even met a year ago either. It’s quite something to see the pieces fit together. And I absolutely love being overwhelmed with a sense of rightness in the world.
And yet, I still find room to complain, which is ridiculous amidst all the blessings. I’ve added “COMPLAIN LESS” to my “Let’s Try to Be a Better Person” list because it’s so easy to let the negative pieces overshadow the breathtaking ones. In a way, I think all the writing I do here is part of that effort to counterbalance the negative. Here in the blog-world I just talk about all the wonderful bits of life – I just wholeheartedly gush about everything mostly out of awe and amazement and I have to let it out somewhere. But every life has rough patches, and sometimes those rough patches are more than patches, and I for 100% sure have plenty of all that. The complaining doesn’t quite make it here, because who wants to read {or write} negativity?! There’s enough negativity in the world as it is, I’m pretty sure. And for me, writing is a pretty decent wake-up call to help me realize the beauty when things get foggy on occasion.
Sometimes life is weird. And crazy confusing. Actually, lately it’s been quite confusing, although I think in the last week or so I’ve stumbled on some peace and clarity that I’ve been in search of for a while, and for that I’m grateful. It’s hard when you want something so bad and you have to learn that it’s just not meant to be, but I’ve been learning a lesson in humility and gratitude and trust in timing for the past year or so. Sometimes I’m still very stubborn, but I hope I’m getting better at giving my complete trust to my Father in Heaven in all things. All things. Because I know for a fact that He has everything under control, and He has a greater plan that is more spectacular than anything I could possibly imagine myself. And I’m finding that complete trust leads to complete peace.
Today I’m grateful for new friends, and old friends, a loving Heavenly Father, and a testimony that keeps me grounded, and this beautiful world that we all get to live in, and for all the tiny, magical details of this crazy life. I’m grateful for dreams of the future, and talks of New York City, and for ice cream every single day. I’m grateful for books, and cozy stores, and lipstick, and Taylor Swift, and sleep, and the ocean, and yogurt. And fruit and frozen lemonade and ice water. And air conditioning. Also, an organized freezer is pretty nice, along with a freshly mopped ice cream parlor floor.
I’ll just be a shameless broken record forever, but life is so beautiful.
And on the less-deep-side of the world, here are some more photos from our excursion around town!
And we went on a boat last week, so that was fun! I could do the sailboat life, I think.
It’s a fun world we live in. Peace out until the next time I find myself in the library again.
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Other places to find me (a.k.a. let’s be friends!):
Hey there internet world! It’s been a while! I’m currently on an island {like, literally} and the wifi situation has been lacking for most of the time that I’ve been here. But I finally got myself to the library and my laptop is drinking up this wonderful wifi and hallelujah the real world is back at my fingertips.
{Quick side-note/update for anyone who hasn’t talked to me lately} At the moment I’m spending the summer on Martha’s Vineyard working and having a complete party. My current job description is something along the lines of “Super Ice Cream Scooper / Barista / Pizza Server,” meaning that my boss owns an ice cream shop, a cafe, and a pizza place, so all of us here get to have fun switching it up working in the three different places. We get to live right above the shops, so a 30-second commute every day is pretty great. And we’re on an ISLAND, and basically it’s the best set-up ever. Also, I’m with some of my best friends, so you better believe we have a good time. I have silent-freak-out-moments on the daily when I get hit with the realization that this is reality. I’M LIVING ON AN ISLAND, also, I get to eat lots of delicious cafe food and TONS of ice cream and pizza. And making money. Also, having never had a job before where I earn tips, tips are now my second-best friend. Currently my best friend is this library with its wifi, but tips will probably go back to first place when I leave.
Okay, there’s the quick rundown. Basically, I’m living a dream. Dang coolest summer job ever. My apologies to anyone who follows me on Instagram, because you’re gonna get real sick of gorgeous island pictures by the end of the summer. If you’re not sick of it already, ha. Also, for people who aren’t sick of it yet, stay tuned for the end of this post where I’m actually including real live photographs, which is a big deal because photos are not my thing. I like words forever, but remembering that sometimes a visual is good is a tricky thing.
Actually, I have no idea where I’m going with this post. I’m just a little bit giddy at the moment because of said current wifi situation. And lately I’ve been having the itch to blog. Maybe it’s all the time that I’ve had to sit out by the ocean and contemplate life and all that jazz. Yeah, maybe something like that. So anyway, here I am. And I guess I’m going to ramble, because WIFI, and BLOGGING AGAIN, and getting random sounds fun. So here are some thoughts on life lately…
The lower-maintenance life is a good one. I’ve gotten good at washing my hair every other day instead of every day, which is much better for my hair anyway, plus it makes getting ready a lot faster. Greasy hair? Throw in a little dry shampoo and so what if it still looks greasy, because JUST PUT A HAT ON IT! Baseball caps…I’ve fallen in love with them. Also, my hair absolutely loves humidity. And that’s not sarcasm. Many tears will be shed when I have to go back to the dry west and try to do exciting things with this head of thin hair.
On the low-maintenance track, who has the time and effort for real pants? I’ve sunk to a low place, friends, especially for Tessa Kohler, who lives for dressing up. But when you’re running around crazy for 7 hours a day scooping ice cream, who wants to wear anything but workout pants? Plus, that makes wearing jeans feel more fancy. At least that’s what I tell myself. But I’ve completely accepted the nice-shirt-on-top-and-stretchy-pants-on-the-bottom look when I feel like halfway trying. Yeah, I don’t fit in with any of the high society people on this island, but I’ve decided I don’t even care about trying to fit in with them anymore. When we first got here and had a week to explore before starting work, I tried the dressing nice thing, but life is too short to stress over fitting in with the upper class, right?
Books. I’m in a phase, and I hope it doesn’t go away. I’ve always wanted a personal library of some sort in my house someday, but I always figured the library was good enough for now and I’d start buying books later. But no, I have the itch to buy all. the. books. right. this. very. minute. The phase was triggered by my first trip to my boss’s father-in-law’s store {that’s a fun connection to explain in short terms} right downstairs from us, which is probably one of my favorite places on this whole island. It’s full of books and little random curios and found objects and I don’t even know how to describe the rest of it, but it’s paradise. Also, the music that he plays in there is Steve Tyrell and Michael Buble and Frank Sinatra and so I die partially because of that also. I’ve spent way too much time in there. Also, ha, I forgot to mention that it is chock full of unique books about New York City, so that’s probably most of the reason why I’ve gone crazy about it. And with an employee discount, I’m about ready to buy everything in there. I’ve already bought a decent armful of books and don’t you dare ask me how I’m going to get it all home in my two suitcases that were already packed full on the way here because they are beautiful books and I’ll handle that small issue when we get to the end of August. For now, my book piles will stay tucked under my bed for me to enjoy now and deal with later.
Guys, I am closer to New York City now than I’ve been in over three years and it’s killing me. There are five of us BYU kids here that pretty much spend all day every day together and we’re trying to plan a trip to the city. Holy Hannah, if we can actually swing this trip, I will literally die. I don’t think I’ll even be able to handle myself in the city. I’ll probably just sit myself down on the curb {which is kind of a nasty idea, when you think about it} and not be able to move because I’ll be so excited. It doesn’t help that I’ve been reading a plethora of books about NYC for the past month. Stay tuned for more updates on my potential trip to the best city in the world. Or maybe if it happens I’ll just die and then you’ll never hear from me again. That could very well happen too.
That’s about it for random thoughts at the moment. Actually, I could keep going on, but I’d better refrain because for most everything, you just kind of have to be here. Caroline and I are back to being roommates again, so hopefully her photography skills will rub off on me sometime soon and I’ll have some more pictures. Really, life is great. I’m on an island where everything is literally perfect. I’m sitting in a little library wearing lipstick, and I live across the street from the ocean, and we’re also a ten-minute walk from a sandy beach, and I can get $2 frozen lemonade every day, and I eat breakfast by the water on the regular, and I’m living with great people, and it’s so green here, and I have a stack of New York books under my bed, and I’m surrounded by classy people, and I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to be here. There are definitely downsides to being here, but above all that I am learning so much. Outside of learning how to work in an ice cream shop and a cafe and a pizza place, I’m having a grand time rediscovering aspects of myself that have gotten a little lost in the midst of the past year of my crazy life.
Life is awesome, y’all. We are all so blessed. And even though my pictures don’t do it half justice, in case you’d like to see what my current life is like, here’s a photo party for general enjoyment. Peace out, I’ll be back soon.
Promise I actually took this, it’s not just from the internet.Day one in paradise.The Valentine House and I match.It take me about 30 seconds to walk here. My favorite breakfast spot is on top of that pavilion thing on the left.Ocean.Taken on a Sunday walk with Caroline. It was misty and everything looked so green and I don’t know how to pose for photos so I’m pretending that this is an action shot and not just an I-can’t-do-anything-except-be-weird shot that Caroline happened to catch.Lonely beaches on cloudy days are the best.
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Other places to find me (a.k.a. let’s be friends!):
T E S S 