Walking Adventure: Go Speed Racer!

So I still live in a dinky apartment, despite getting married. It's a fairly good location. Behind us is a laundry mat, a Domino's Pizza, and a Panera Bread, which is great for lunches.

Our little corner of the world.

If you were to look around the immediate area, our neighborhood doesn't look like much. You'd find an assload of apartment complexes, some rundown houses split into apartments, etc. It's obviously a section that's geared towards student housing. 

However, not even two blocks away from where we are, you'll find the prettiest most, well kept upper-middle class homes in Springfield. 

I swear I saw this house on the Disney Channel once...

I have to admit, despite the racist classist issues these kind of neighborhoods represent, I just love walking around them. At first, I walked around because I like the aesthetics, because we're talking about people who have enough time to garden.

Although some have rather interesting tastes.
Or they forgot they live in Missouri.
Whichever.

But after you've walked the wide quiet streets, you begin to notice tiny things that you would usually ignore. Like the fact that Speed Racer lives a couple blocks from me.

Does that mean I get to see Chim Chim?

Or that some people are so invested into color coordination, they match their mums to their porch.

Or that some people consider their cars to be fashion statements.

Or that you can't believe it's pumpkin season already.

Although they're gonna have a hard time keeping those pumpkins with this little guy skulking around.

I guess despite what these neighborhoods represent politically, they still deviate somewhat and express their personalities in little ways.  And if you're willing to look for them, it makes the walk worthwhile. 

Flower.

Why Take Walks

For those of you who share the agony of being an unemployed millennial with two degrees that don't amount to squat, it becomes rather easy to become holed up in front of your computer with your browser tabs split between job search engines, social media, and YouTube. As you click between the uploading your resume for the bajillionth time and re-watching surprise kitten, it's hard to get motivated. I speak from experience. After a while, going outside becomes really, really, hard and it's easy to think that there's nothing outside that can help you, so what's the point, right?

The side effect of this line of thinking, at least for me, is that I become horribly depressed. Not going outside soon becomes, not getting dressed, which then becomes not taking a shower, which then becomes not getting out of bed because what's the point, right?  It's a toxic slippery slope for me and it's one I have to fight often. Staying inside is a lot easier. But the truth is, going outside doesn't take a lot either. In fact, it's a lot more fun than social media or YouTube. All you have to do is find the right setting and music and you can find interesting items from people's everyday lives.  It's like having an adventure in the surrounding neighborhood and it's so much fun.

So one of my little things is taking walks. I highly recommend it.

Update: Revamping the Blog Edition

So...it's been a while. I'm sorry for that. See, there's thing that happened in my life which kind of absorbed the past couple of months.

Nothing big, I promise!

During that time, I've been blogging over at my personal/survivor blog. The whole thing got me thinking about what I want this blog to be. The truth is, while I would love to dismantle the problems with New Domesticity, I simply don't have the money to make it happen. After all, one meal cost $60!!! I can get a substantial amount of groceries for that amount of cash.

So, in the interest of financial stability, I've shelved the New Domesticity project for now. I would eventually like to go back to it and show how it's still a movement for rich white hipsters (I mean, who are we kidding), but until then. I want to focus on....The Little Things.

The Little Things is exactly what it sounds like: observing and appreciating the little things in life--sharing a meal, going for a walk, petting a kitten, smelling the flowers--you name it!

Some of my posts will be the random paraphernalia I find on my walks. Some of them will be a meal I prepared and shared. They are just little things, but they make my life worth while. As a result, I want to share them with others and hopefully they can notice the little things in their life that makes their life worth while too.