i always get nostalgic for idaho at the start of the holiday season. sometimes i miss it with everything i've got. i always knew that i would, but i still find a way to be surprised by it. human nature, you weird old thing.
brandon and i sometimes talk about moving back to moscow. someday when debts are paid off and the kids are all grown. i like to think we'll luck out and that little dream boat of a house on d street will go on the market, maybe those old horses will be around too, and i'll finally get myself a little hen named bossy.
it's a real nice dream.
i was browsing through some old old old photos yesterday and thought i'd share a few that made me smile. i call it "what i miss most about our little old ida-home" (after the jump!)
i miss the snow and our back yard! i miss frequenting tiny sandwich shops that would probably go out of business in six months because all restaurants went out of business in six months in moscow, that's just how moscow works. and i miss my little house at christmas time, and my pretty white christmas tree, and my house at ALL of the times, it had ALL THE BEDROOMS. three bedrooms! that is so many bedrooms from where i'm sitting right now.
i miss all of my things that are still shut up tight in storage. especially all those antlers. looking at those pictures i'm starting to believe brandon when he used to tell me "natalie, you have enough antlers."
i miss trying to be outdoorsy. i'm not really outdoorsy but sometimes it was fun to try!
look at how dashing our young holbs is! we look like middleschoolers.
i really miss moscow in the fall, the fall was a gorgeous time to be in moscow.
i'll buy this house someday, oh yes i will!
i miss downtown, too. all three blocks of it. and mikeys gyros, i really miss mikeys gyros.
i even sometimes tell myself i miss making onesies and selling them on etsy...
(even though i really don't.)
most especially, i miss these turkeys.
i miss that goofy little family of four so so much.
we had us some good times.
and now, a lovely parting shot:
hah!
I totally get the little house and horses and chickens thing. I love being in Boston where I can get pad thai, Korean, and the most awesome indian food whenever I want. I get to go to awesome events at delightfully decorated resturants. I don't want to have to worry about getting good food, even bagels. (Bagels from a chain just are not the same). But at them same time I can't wait to have a little chicken coop and some dogs.
ReplyDeleteIdaho looks beautiful.
i love these photographs. they just exude happy! and i say, bring on winter, baby, i am ready to play in the snow with my pup and little lady!
ReplyDeletexo, amanda
http://mamawatters.blogspot.com
i think inside every girl is a city girl and a country girl. i really do, and i think people can be happy with either, but we'll always wonder what things could be like elsewhere. :) beautiful pictures!
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely pictures. I feel cold just looking at all that snow though. You guys seem to have lived some very different lives together. It's like a movie collage-Love story maybe? Without the tragic ending obvs.
ReplyDeleteOh I love this post. You're a wonderful soul. I'm living through one of those times that I sometimes feel nostalgic for even while it's happening. Do you get those? I mean, it is by no means at all perfect but it's.... it's something I know I'll miss.
ReplyDeleteWe only left Pullman a few months ago but a small part of me misses it already. I do, however, LOVE having a target closer than an hour and a half away and restaurants but that Palouse sure has it's charm.
ReplyDeleteNatalie, I remember the day the post came up on my dashboard about the changes for your pups. Oh, how I cried and I still cry when I think about it, it was so beautifully written (and I understood)
ReplyDeleteThe funny things about blogs is, you feel like you know the people you read about and their lives. I felt like I knew Pete and Barney. I have a westie (Charles) the same age as Pete so I understand when you wrote about those pesky terriers of yours. The silly the thing is, I still think about them. Yes this is a ramble and I think the bottom line is I'm happy that you think fondly of your old life and it was just refreshing to see you post about the early days of Nat The Fat Rat.
And yes, I'm crying now as I look through those photos and as I'm typing this.
XO
MLP
http://beautifullysimmmple.blogspot.com/
We recently bought an old yellow farmhouse in Idaho with a big red barn out back (where we are boarding horses for a while), fruit trees, chicken coop and a garden with a brick path and stone fountain in the middle, big maple trees (two with tree swings) See - I'm trying to talk you into moving here. It is the. best. ever. Come be my neighbor ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd now you've sold this born-and-bred city girl on Moscow, Idaho. I must visit! Gorgeous. And that house of yours was gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI have a good compromise for you. Come live with my little family of 3 for a bit in Buffalo, NY and be my interior designer! LOVING your antlers (because you can never have "enough") and we have 4 bedrooms for you to work your magic in! Plus, SNOW, SNOW, and more SNOW (well... not yet... but hopefully soon!) And although we don't have any puppies, we do have a pretty stinkin' cute 10 week old little girl that you can snuggle! Sound good? Good. We pay in hot cocoa and "puppy chow" chex mix, and all the Christmas music and candy canes you can handle! ;)
ReplyDeleteThis post is such a heart crusher Natalie! I'm a relatively new follower of your blog (about 6 months now), and I recognize there is a whole lot of history on this blog I wasn't around for. But looking through these photos and reading about you reminiscing about a chapter in your life... it's beautiful! I totally know the feeling. I wouldn't trade my life right now for anything, and yet, it's totally possible to still miss (in that achy and heart tugging kind of way) a previous chapter of your life and all the joy it held. You've inspired me to sift through my old photos and start documenting more of our life before 'right now'. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, this makes me miss Idaho Natalie!
ReplyDeletei'm new to following your blog, but enjoyed this trip down memory lane. a home can hold so many memories. you may not be in idaho anymore, but you have all those special moments to cherish for a lifetime.
ReplyDeletewow...lovely pictures, now i must think about all the past...so so cute memories=)
ReplyDeletei wish i had known barney and peter pan. :)
ReplyDeleteoh my goodness you had a scottttttiiiieee! I know of NO ONE else who owns scotties. My husby is 1st generation scottish-american and so we MUST have a scottie....I am pretty sure we are the ONLY scottie owners in Nevada.
ReplyDelete...and this post is funny to me in another way. I have been absolutely CRAVING moving to NYC for years...my sister-in-law lives there so we visit and I never want to leave. I have been day dreaming about putting my snowing little house (we live in No, Nv- near Lake Tahoe) up for sale to move to the big city. The opposite of you, basically. So THANK YOU for this post which helps me to appreciate what I have a little more, and to realize that all of my crazy collections would have to go into storage should we ever make the move. Nooooo my amazing glass bottles!!!!!
*snowy, that is. I'm sure you got that though.
DeleteIt can be hard having a completely different former life. I moved to Sydney, Australia with my husband but we had to come back to England, and oh the heartache I often get for our little studio apartment and never being more than about 100 metres from the sea.
ReplyDeleteIdaho misses you! But, you know? We have no lovely snow yet. At least in Southern Idaho.
ReplyDeleteWe got 7 inches in Moscow earlier this week! But...it melted. :(
Deleteoh my goodness - that last photo - you and your husband are hilarious - now you just need to add huck as baby jesus :)
ReplyDeleteSuddenly City
i feel like this sometimes when i think of our life before we moved back to london. but like you i wouldn't trade what i have now for the world but the rose tinted spectacles make the past seem like it was all good times :)
ReplyDeleteThat made ME nostalgic for your Idaho days! That's when I found your blog and fell in love with it. I'm still trying to talk my husband into a white Christmas tree so I can copy you!
ReplyDeletesuch a beautiful home. and a beautiful story.
ReplyDeleteGasp, I have never heard of such a thing as too many antlers!!! It looked great :)
ReplyDeleteI loooooved your Moscow living room and your plate wall and how snarky you were : )
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to get out of my poky ole prairie town...but I know some part of me will always miss it. It's that same stubborn part of me that insists on craving mac and cheese every two years and thinks I should give rollerblading another chance. You can tell yourself to never look back but...
ReplyDeletebearded man + a sweater ... you got that right! yum. "natalie...you have enough antlers" hahaha! i had to scroll back through the pictures - too funny! sounds like a fun adventure back then :) your house in idaho was so stylish too (like it is now:)! i totally understand the city/country girl thing. that's me. happy hump day! xo
ReplyDeleteBeards and sweaters are amazing! I'm in the same mindset as you (although, I'm in the country right now). I love being a country kid...but have this part of me that yearns for the hussle of a city... I think I need to experience it once...
ReplyDeleteThis was lovely.
ReplyDeletei love all these simple pictures of how life was for you in idaho! totally have me inspired to just take normal time photos of temporary life in nebraska!
ReplyDeleteahh i love all these pictures, and your captions. peter pan! so cute..it made me nostalgic too!
ReplyDeleteI started reading your blog when you were still in Idaho, you know. And although your NYC life whisks me away to bigger places (I still live in Idaho--the southeast corner), I really loved your Idaho posts. I sometimes go back to your Idaho posts to remind myself why ID is lovely (even though your corner of ID was lovelier and more quaint than mine). AND: although I'm super glad you love your fantastic, urban New York City (with that stellar Huckleberry of yours!), it warms my heart to know you miss rural Idaho, too.
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays, very soon!
Aw... I'm in Idaho. Boise, actually. This makes me miss McCall! What a wonderful place to be.
ReplyDeletelove this!
ReplyDeletelove, rach.
www.so--hi.blogspot.com
I love all those pics of your Idaho house. They are exactly how I'd decorate my home if I had oodles of cash and could convince Karl that it's okay to buy furniture. I love our new house in Utah, but it's wall-to-wall beige and, with three weeks til baby girl #3 arrives and a husband super stressed at work, no painting will be happening at this house. Nooo, sir. The girls' room has this hideous pale pink paint on the lower half of the walls that makes my heart hurt every time I go in there, but will anyone do anything about it? Nope. No amount of nesting instincts will make that color change into something decent. I hold no sway here. :)
ReplyDeleteawww so sweet. I know the feeling, too! I get nostalgic for the first apartment my husband and I shared when we got married. Something about the early days are so special and magical! Hope you get your dream home soon :)
ReplyDeletehey darling i loved loved loved this post. the pictures are amazing, and the snow is breathtaking. i read this article about josh (him and his family are amazing) and he mormon, married, and gay, and he is incredible. i immediately thought of you after i read it. if you havent read it yet i hope you will enjoy it as much as i did... xoxo
ReplyDeletehttp://www.joshweed.com/2012/06/club-unicorn-in-which-i-come-out-of.html
Natalie, I cannot tell you how happy this post made me! I started reading your blog a couple of weeks ago (at the advice of a friend who I'd asked to help me decide how to spend my wardrobe replacement money). My husband and I met in Moscow and spent our first married year there. We live in the D.C. area now. I think I was in urban shock when we first got here, but 1.5 years later, I'm constantly debating whether I want to stay or go back west. Anyway, it's so fun to come across another urban mom who knows about Mikey's Gyros!
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, I could see why you would want to move into that home when you're older. So beautiful! And so many fabulous memories to remember and look back on ;)
ReplyDeletexo TJ
This makes me nostalgic for Idaho Natalie and all her lovely ramblings. But if you went back to that, would wouldn't have lovely NYC Natalie, and that would just be tragic wouldn't it? I know I'm just a silly reader, but I miss those dogs too. Little Peter Pan's complicated and serious attitude was the best. What a lovely journey you have been on! How awesome that its all recorded right here!
ReplyDeleteYou look great with black hair! Thanks for inspiring my lil 'ole blog every day!!!
ReplyDeleteKelley - kdiaries.com
What lovely photos documenting your history. Your photos remind me of Provo!
ReplyDeleteThese photos make me wish for snow! My Blog
ReplyDeleteI found you years ago in Moscow, not literally, because well, I'm no stalker. But I found your blog. Loved you then, love you now.
ReplyDeleteI think it's safe to say, Moscow misses Natalie right back.
ReplyDeleteLove that last picture! Hilarious! Such pretty photos of your house! I would miss it, too!
ReplyDeleteTheresa
http://bomamma.blogspot.com
it's so hard to imagine you guys living there now! i'm sure huck would have loved it and look at that snow!!!! cute little house too :)
ReplyDeleteLove your decorating and your cute little house and dogs and life. But I miss Huck too much in these pictures. :) Your writing is just getting so good. Photography too.
ReplyDeleteI loved Idaho Natalie! Of course, I still love NYC Natalie, but Idaho Natalie has been helping me out a lot the past few weeks. I just got married and moved to a tiiiny town in northern New Mexico, where there is nothing. I read your old posts from when I first started reading (it's been almost 4 years!) and think to myself, "If Natalie can do Idaho, I can do New Mexico."
ReplyDeleteHahaha i love the last photo! U should frame it up, its really cute and funny ;)
ReplyDeleteL O V E.
ReplyDeleteI loved your Idaho days. I suspect NYC is more fun but it does look lovely there...and oh the snow!!! And oh the dogs.
ReplyDeleteCan you re-show that hilarious one of you in your bikini in the snow? That was my best ever Nat photo.
Awe!! Idaho looked beautiful! You do a beautiful job decorating!! Thanks for sharing, Natalie!
ReplyDeletexo
Rachel
These were the days when I first discovered you and your beautiful life that you made beautiful. I love this post. So. Much.
ReplyDeleteSeriously?! I HEAR you about the sandwich shops closing down after six months. I lived in a tiny town that, I swear, part of the bi-annual news was announcing the new restaurant names because something always closed down and reopened as something else. What is that?
ReplyDeleteOh, I love this post. Thanks for sharing those lovely pictures and your well written, prosaic nostalgia! (sniffle)
ReplyDeleteLooks like a wonderful place!
ReplyDeleteyou know...i actually like the black hair! this and your other post (your history) was awesome. i'm glad you indulged yourself. it made for a fun read for a long time reader.
ReplyDeleteI loved getting a glimpse into your past :) and your house was decorated SO cute!!! xo
ReplyDelete1. that house is perfect
ReplyDelete2. that gold tie necklace you have, i have that exact one. i found it in my grandma's jewelry box and i kinda love it. funny coincidence.
3. youre bomb
I'm from Moscow. Well I lived there for 8 years and being from a military family, that is basically HOME! Didn't you love the golden wheat fields? I miss the rolling hills the most.
ReplyDeleteThe last shot is the best. The absolute best.
ReplyDeleteThis post is a 100 years old but I came across is on Pinterest and I'm wondering where you got the bed?
ReplyDelete