In All the World My Nest is Best

art table for painting, collages, ceramic work etc. My sewing table is on the opposite side of the room

{As a review and reference point for this post, I have been "naming" my year since 2012. I named 2013 my "Nesting Year".}

Views of my living room:





Bathroom wall and one corner of the kitchen:


When I remember 2013, it will be filled with light, color, fun, relaxation, and lots of time with friends. Not only was it a delight to settle into my apartment with all of my belongings out of storage and decorate the space as much as I was able, but I enjoyed settling into the rhythm of my neighborhood and the new diversions and challenges of each season centered around life in my apartment. Because I moved closer to work and no longer had to endure three hours a day on public transportation, I had more time and energy to do things like meet up with friends for a picnic on Art Hill for their Friday movie nights. We went on hikes and visited the new wing of the art museum, celebrated birthdays galore together, and watched fireworks downtown under the arch. I painted at my art table, was paid to hem pants on my sewing machine, and was even paid to sing for a wedding and then play cello for another wedding. With all my new-found time, I started to take Pilates regularly at the downtown YMCA. These classes vastly improved injuries from a horseback riding accident in 2009 which had continued to plague me. Once I felt sufficiently rested and settled into my apartment by the end of the summer, I joined my church choir again after a year's hiatus, and was able to sing and play cello in more variety of situations throughout the Fall.



Vintage Street Fair 2013 Old North St. Louis

Part of my nesting year success has been centered around building a niche in my new neighborhood, making new friends and attending many of the events held throughout the year. Some of my neighbors, including my landlord, have been living in Old North for thirty years with the intention of being a consistent presence in the area and helping to revitalize the shops and homes. One family who lives in the neighborhood opened the local coffeehouse, another friend's husband works as a manager in Crown Candy- a historic mainstay of the area, the friendly podiatrist whose shop is on the main street lives around the block from me. In living here alongside these stalwart folks, I have been able to see and experience for myself the benefits of choosing to stay in a place and nesting down to make it home. Old North is a neighborhood on the north edge of downtown St. Louis with interesting history, resident artists, and a lot of potential. During 2013 in my neighborhood, I enjoyed going on a house tour, perusing a vintage fair, shopping for presents at a holiday crafts market, and attending art openings at our beloved La Mancha Coffeehouse . Over the warmer months of the year, Old North has a weekly farmers' market and demonstrations at the community garden. I attended a neighborhood night out party in the community garden and ate homemade sauerkraut and bounced for the first time in my life in a bouncy castle with some neighborhood girls. They seemed quite delighted to jump around with this strange 29 year old. Their stamina for jumping far surpassed mine, but it was a blast while I lasted.

By nesting into my apartment and my neighborhood in 2013, I developed a peace about my tangible circumstances that I haven't experienced in a long time. I felt rested in daily appreciating the colors and decor of my abode and the sense of safety that familiarity of surroundings can engender. I came home in the evenings to light pouring into my kitchen windows and woke up in the morning to sunlight making my bravely-painted-orange living room walls luminescent. My apartment was a place of rest for some friends who visited me to stop for a chat, drink tea or munch on some food, or to sleep over. I felt at ease knowing I was surrounded by many neighbors who took care of each other and cared enough about their surroundings to make the neighborhood a happy, art-filled, renewed place to live for everyone. Because I felt sufficiently nested in my surroundings, I felt I had more to give to others and more time and space to devote to the priorities of my life. My Nesting Year was invaluable in creating a safe place for healing to occur in many areas and it taught me that my dream to make St. Louis my home is one worth pursuing.

This is my one and only "roommate" Saffron whose tiny Christmas stocking hangs on the mantle in the previous photo.