This weekend Cordie and I sat down to discuss & plan the next six months to nine months… which at first may sound crazy or unrealistic but when we both have jobs that require some travel… we also already have dates set of friends and family’s weddings…we are thoroughly excited for each of our upcoming trips and for fall to arrive…however..

…as we move into the Autumn season here in Florida the weather may not change as drastically as other places but we have both been inspired to re-organize, re-arrange and de-clutter our two bedroom/two bathroom apartment… which you would think would not have very much space to store ‘things’ and ‘stuff’ but it feels like there are more things coming in than going out… then a friend of ours posted a link to this blog: http://www.becomingminimalist.com/decluttering-principles/ which gave us fuel to try and instill some of these principles as we do some ‘fall cleaning’ and plan for our dates we will be on the ‘road’ and eventually moving to another location…

#7 in her post:

Gifts Do Not Have to be Material. There are so many ways to honor loved ones without giving gifts that end up as clutter. Encourage people to follow this concept when buying gifts for you. Some alternative gifts are gifts of experience or adventure, even cash gifts are appropriate in some instances.

Which brings me to the title of my post… how do you express to people to stop sending you ‘stuff’ or in some cases their ‘junk’ that they are trying to de-clutter and simply think without asking we would want it or EVEN have a place to put it… then realistically you can’t just throw it away(re-gift it) because the individual (s) WILL ask you about the items etc… the above blog post excerpt says to “encourage people to follow this concept when buying/giving gifts…”

HOW would YOU do this without sounding completely ungrateful for more gifts of random odds and ends that have no real value or importance… staying in the mindset of ‘well it’s the thought that counts’ or do you move out of it?

(above is where we spent some of FALL 2014)

Yes, it is only September but the next couple of months we both will be celebrating a couple occasions then its the holidays and with wanting to keep grateful hearts we both have already started discussing HOW can WE communicate we don’t WANT or NEED more THINGS!?

What we REALLY want is to travel… to see new places… to eat new foods… experience an unknown culture to us… breathe in the remote air of the vast Australian Outback… or take a tour of the North/South Korean Border… stay in a bungalow over the ocean… walk the streets of LA for a day or sit in a hot tub over looking the Rocky Mountains… the gift of adventure is a gift we both hope to be able to give to each other and hopefully in the future our own children or family and friends.

 

 

Above: Where we hope to spending a few days this December.

Disclaimer: Don't get me wrong... I LOVE to give gifts... and if you have recently given us gifts we are very thankful for them... we are just working on 'changing' our ways. :) 

 

We went to MN towards the end of May for a work conference for myself, Cordie set up lots of work meetings while we were there and we hung out with friends and family… Enjoy the photos below for a glimpse of some of the people we saw and things we did

My girl Jordan and I went to Canvas & Chardonnay in downtown Rochester one night and had a BLAST! I am not much of an artist but the atmosphere was a lot of fun, great instructions from the teacher and Jordan is always the BEST company! Love her friendship.

One night we went out to Thursday’s on First for Izzy’s BDAY celebration..for good food, live music and lots of laughs.

Cordie and the Cass ladies doing a little landscaping… My job was to hangout with the girls while Christy and Cordie picked out all the plants and did the labor.

 

 

Love Zakiyah’s face when she is running and Zion above really enjoyed the fishys in the little pond at Sargents.

    

 

 

Got to see my dear friend Andrea in St. Paul and her roomie Mali.
Christy made us her famous “Cass Cakes” on the day after our arrival and the morning we left town.. was such a special treat and we thoroughly enjoy our time with her, Andy and the girls.

This is Sophia and Lila, I worked for their mother Jody for two years before moving south and will always love her and her beautiful family…

 

Its not summer with out pool time and lots of ice cream…

  

We also had the opportunity to go see Zion, Lila and Sophia’s ballet recitals..so precious to see these little girls grow up and slowly become young ladies.

 

After the recital… Kiyah likes to ‘close her eyes’ and loves my mom and dad and its great for them since they do not have any grandkids yet.

To say Cordie and I love these girls is an understatement… we had the BEST time with the CASS family… our goodbyes are below.

 

On our way back to Florida we stopped in St. Louis for two nights for a visit. Below is Cordie’s Aunt & Uncle and their grandson Jake. Such a nice and loving couple and their daughters are very sweet too.

We enjoyed a nice lunch with Cordie’s Grandparents and Mom one day then went to a fun butterfly house.