A visitor among us

I generally find people pretty fascinating, and bloggers particularly so.  Individuals who maintain an active blog often do so with wonderful creativity and good-natured humor.  From the gal who sees a cow every day to the guy who makes fun Lego-man scenes, from the woman who set out on a quest to meet all of her Facebook friends in-person to the new college grad who celebrated a holiday every single day of the year, the energy, enthusiasm, wit, and wisdom that is shared for fun and for free in the online domains of a blogger’s world delights me.

Last year I stumbled across a blogger who committed to getting rid of one item from her home every day, to “spare [her] kids from renting a gigantic dumpster later”.  As I adore clutter-free spaces, I began following this woman’s blog and reading about her daily experiences; and over the course of a month or two she and I became online friends.  Her “Keep or Pitch” blog is finished, but this year she started a new adventure, “Cardboard Me”.  “Cardboard Me” (aka Flat Ruthie) is a spin off of Flat Stanley, so while this blog concept isn’t 100% original, it’s fun nonetheless.  Ruth (the author of “Cardboard Me”) asked me (Stef) if I would host Flat Ruthie for a day and write a post for her blog space.  I’m usually game for fun and/or silly adventures, so I said “Sure! Send the flat gal my way.”  So this is a very long introduction to how I found myself snapping pictures amid a variety of settings on a cold winter day, turning heads and provoking grins among strangers.  Here’s a summary of what Flat Ruthie and I did during our time together:

Often you can find me in the yoga studio…but Ruthie isn’t so flexible, so she stood by as I got into Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward-facing dog).

(Yes, this is me.)

Life is a balance of play and work, so after the yoga class I went to the grocery/discount story for the weekly food/supply stock-up trip.  Ruthie got to ride in the cart.

(“Pardon me, small shopper coming through…”)

Returning home, Ruthie got to hang out with the puppies while they relaxed in their bed – and she quite enjoyed their company.

(Fortunately Ruthie isn’t allergic to pets. {If you squint, you can see Jojo’s head off the left side of the pet bed.})

Ruthie has seen some pretty amazing sights in her first few months of travel, so her visit to my home wasn’t particularly spectacular from a scenery point-of-view; but spending time with a friend is sometimes the best vacation of all.

Ruthie, good luck to you as you continue your journeys!  Safe travels.

Stef