IN LIGHT OF OUR 2 YEAR AK LIVING ANNIVERSARY

"Over the last two years, we have learned to depend on this great land, with its wondrous vistas and challenging terrain, to inspire us and remind us of what matters most to us."

on a recent hike to see Bear Glacier
(📷: Carolyn Orloff)

I believe that the micro ecosystems that surround us, whether they be city skyscrapers, suburban sprawl, pure wilderness, or something in between, play a critical role in shaping who we are and how we evolve as individuals, couples, communities, and as a species. I love these recent images of my husband and me, because they capture the essence of Alaska’s influence on us.

on a recent hike on the Caines Head Alpine Trail
(📷: Adam Bauer)

As the saying goes, “Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward in the same direction.” Our lifestyle in Alaska encourages and challenges us to live up to that saying on a daily basis, both individually and as a couple. It is not always easy, and sometimes it takes a lot of hard work and time to find our way back to the same trail, so that we can continue to walk together in the same direction. Over the last two years, we have learned to depend on this great land, with its wondrous vistas and challenging terrain, to inspire us and remind us of what matters most to us.

My wish for all of us is to take the time to discover and deeply experience different environments, and then make conscious choices to surround ourselves with the ecosystem that puts us at ease and motivates us to act in the interest of our authentic selves. This in turn will benefit our loved ones, communities, and the planet. We're all connected in this one great macro ecosystem!

In joy,

~Tamara

WORKING TO LIVE

B enjoying the view of Resurrection Bay in Seward, AK.

We did it. We moved across the country to follow our bliss. A dream to live in a place where nature trumps development and wo/man's presence. We will live in Seward, Alaska for at least a year or through September 2017. After that, who knows. For now, we are happy to have made this possible for ourselves and our relationship.

We are fortunate enough to be able to keep our jobs on the East Coast, while living out here. I believe that this arrangement is the future of knowledge work or the knowledge economy; to be able to work from anywhere and thus, live anywhere. This is a shift from our industrial economy wherein one's job location decided one's home location and lifestyle. I already have a number of friends and colleagues who are embarking on this journey of working from where they want to live. Because in the global knowledge economy, all you need is an Internet connection and a computer to get your work done and earn a living.

And then, with a little bit of forethought, self-control, and luck, one should be able to save enough and invest in the right things, in order to eventually have the flexibility to become a consultant/free agent and truly take control of one's time and effort.

It's harrowing how our 21st century, "civilized" lives are set-up in structured phases. We get to play and frolic while young, then we get socialized by the school system. After that we enter college, where we get to explore a variety of interests and organize our time freely. Next, we enter the workforce, where we get even more socialized and out of touch with our natural cycles and range of abilities. And throughout this phase we yearn for the day when we get to retire and have the freedom to be intentional with our time and effort.

I understand that this structure is thought necessary for the calm and organized progression of the masses. However it is time to rethink this paradigm and move it in the direction of inclusive well-being for all life on earth, not just the government and the economy. With all the scientific and technological innovations that have taken place over the last two centuries, we are more knowledgeable and aware of what makes for a healthy lifestyle that is inclusive of the entire ecosystem.

My fiance and I have been working toward this lifestyle for almost 5 years now, or basically since the start of our relationship. It is an ongoing process for us, figuring out what our vision is, how to achieve it, and who and what to spend our time on. However, it's naive to think that we're the "judge and jury" in our lives. There is that entire "ecosystem" of people and places that affect who we are and what we do. That said, we are super excited to see how Sewardites and this magical environment affect our individual and combined outlook on and experience of what matters most in life.

Happy "working to live"!
~Modern Akhmatova

A YEAR IN!

At this time last year, we had instituted for the first time our annual "No Spending November" activity for the month. We had just started experimenting with our new-found lifestyle ideas: spending less and saving more; driving less and biking more; running around less and prioritizing quality time with each other and our  loved ones; and eating home-cooked food instead of processed and restaurant food. Here we are a year later in another "No Spending November" month and it's exciting to look back at how much we've done over the past year to turn our dreams into reality.

We continue to be committed to this lifestyle and we're finding out what works best for us and our preferences. There is a lot of information out there about "alternative/green/sustainable/etc." lifestyles. This is great, but every person, couple, and family has to figure out what works best for them, because you won't be able to do everything that you come across, that you like, that everyone else is doing, and in the same way that they're doing it.

What is more, most of the blogs and books we've read about this suggest that lifestyle changes, as with anything really, work best when you embark on the journey in a gradual and experimental sort of way. After all, there is a lot of self-inquiry that has to take place in order to change one's habits for the long term, and this takes time, energy, and commitment. Thus, prioritizing too many great ideas at any one time is probably not going to work out in the long run.

And so here we are, a year into our "lifestyle-change" journey and I'm delighted and proud to say that we've done a lot to align our daily life with the four aspirations I listed at the beginning of this blog:

Saving is the key to financial success.

We've achieved a 75% savings rate, primarily because we've been brutally honest with each other about our spending habits. Using the Mint software and Google spreadsheets, we sit down at the end of each month to review, discuss and analyze our spending and savings activities during the past month.  During these discussions we figure out whether there is anything that can be cut out in the future and plan for upcoming expenses that are unusual in nature. This has been a very powerful and revealing exercise for us over the past year.

Our bikes and trailer in front
of our old apartment.

Biking, walking, trains, and metro are our main forms of transportation. Seven months into our experiment, we sold my car (for more details check out this blog post). At that point we had already moved closer to my SO's work, so he could bike to work, and I negotiated with my company to work from home full-time. Then, nine months into our experiment we sold my SO's truck, and are now left with a Volkswagen Golf that we only use on special occasions or when we need to go somewhere that we can't get to easily with our bikes or public transportation. We see ourselves getting rid of this car too, once we decide where we want to settle down.

SO and my nephew playing music
in a Baltimore park.

Prioritizing quality time and experiences over things is our daily mantra. One of the primary reasons we embarked on this lifestyle exploration is that we were fed up with the constant accumulation of stuff and the way consumerism wreaks havoc on people's sense of presence and joy within everyday life. We observed people around us and ourselves running around in cars from one thing to the next, constantly busy and stressed out, and shopping without end. So we decided to STOP and SLOW DOWN.

• Nowadays, we don't plan to do anything after work during the work week that requires us to drive anywhere. We also try to have at least one or two weekends at home in any given month. When we do make plans to go somewhere for the weekend, we try to have only one engagement per day. 
• When it comes to holidays and any sort of gift-giving tradition, we either make a gift ourselves (i.e., arts and crafts, food, etc.) or arrange for an outing/meaningful experience with the person.  We apply these rules to our own relationship, as well, and it's been wonderful each and every day.

We cook 99% of our food and compost almost all of our food waste. Both SO and I care a lot about our health, because we can't imagine living without being physically and mentally active pretty much all the time. In addition to wanting to make sure we ate nutritious and delicious food, we realized over the last year that we needed to get smart about buying food, because organic and locally-sourced can be pretty expensive (ever tried shopping at a farmer's market, Whole Foods or MOM's Organic Market?). The more we researched this the more we realized that our food consumption habits directly impacted our environment. As a result, we've tried to buy as much food as possible in bulk and unpackaged, and then whatever food waste we do have has gone into our compost tumbler (for details check out earlier blog posts on composting, landfill waste, and grocery tracking).

It's really inspiring to look back and realize how much we've been able to accomplish in just one year. I'm excited for all that we'll discover and do over the next year as we continue to experiment with our crazy lifestyle.

Happy Living!

~Modern Akhmatova

THE BLOG THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Source

When my SO and I started living together over a year ago, we didn't know that we were embarking on a lifestyle change. As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, getting bikes and using them regularly, is what started us down the path of healthy living. The more we biked and observed our lives from that vantage point, the more we became interested in living our life in a way that would not only benefit our bodies, but our wallets and planet earth too. It became an intoxicating idea.

Once we started to explore this online, we were gratified to find out how many people out there were trying to do the same thing in their own way. Actually, it was my SO who first started reading blogs about alternative lifestyles. I started to appreciate blogs much later on, when I realized how inspiring and comforting it is to know that what you are trying to learn about and act upon is part of a collective effort to make this world a better place.

But as with anything, there was a pivotal point that sparked our imagination and made us believe that indeed, we could live a more mindful, sustainable, and fulfilling life in the midst of the consumerist, stressed-out, polluted, and disconnected society that surrounded us. The moment came when my SO discovered Mr. Money Mustache's (MMM) blog in October, 2013. In short, this blog is about how to take control of your finances, so that you can live a meaningful, creative, and healthy life, free from society's constraints and status quo pressures. The idea being that if you can figure out what you're spending your money on, what you'd like to have money for, and what you can afford, then you can proactively manage your finances in order to create the life you want.

MMM doesn't just discuss the idea in abstract. He is a living proof of the idea itself, and uses his blog to share his family's experiences, useful tools and tips on how to achieve an authentic lifestyle through financial freedom. So much has happened and changed since we started discussing and trying out some of MMM's suggestions a little less than year ago:

• We started tracking all of our expenses using MINT.com and scheduling financial check-ins at the beginning of every month. 
• SO fixed up and outfitted two bikes that we bought for cheap on Craig's List. I immediately started riding to work, while he worked from home. We did all of our errands by bike, including shopping at COSTCO and riding 90 lbs. worth of groceries back home in our "child" trailer. 
• We decided that at least one of us would always be within biking distance from work. 
• I biked to work and back, 12 miles a day, throughout all of winter season. It was one of the hardest and most exhilarating experiences I've had thus far in my life.
• We gave "homemade" gifts to all of our loved ones for Christmas. Not one shopping trip at the mall or any (online) store, other than the grocery store, during the entire Christmas season!
• We started tracking all of our grocery spending.
• We moved closer to SO's work, so that he could bike to work and back (18.5 miles/day), while I started to work from home. 
• We sold my car and are down to one car (see earlier post on this) now! 

All of the above happened in large part because my SO discovered the MMM blog. There are many other blogs and resources we discovered along the way that I will share in a future post. For now though, I just wanted to express how this wonderful journey of ours started and the power of blogging.  

Happy beginnings!

~Modern Akhmatova

BIKE LOVE

One of a few wall decorations in our place.
Here are our bikes.

A little over a year ago, in May 2013, is when all of this began...our "alternative lifestyle." The first step in our journey, and what I believe was the most important one and one that we stumbled upon fortuitously was deciding to own bikes. The transition from car-commuting to biking was ripe for the doing, given that we moved into a place that was about two miles from my workplace and my partner was working from home at the time. Suddenly, I could choose whether to walk or bike to work. Most people I work with, know, or can imagine living in today's US cannot even begin to fathom this choice. This is unfortunate, given all the benefits that come with working close to home and vice versa.

When we were deciding to get a place near my work that I could walk or bike to, we were unaware of the extent to which this decision would make us realize how little independence we had in today's consumerist society and thus, force us to examine our lifestyle choices and their impact on our environment. Either way, with that decision the floodgates opened and our outlook on efficient living and priorities shifted drastically. It also helped that we moved into a pretty urban area, because everything we needed, except most of our family, was within biking distance.

As my partner was learning the best ways to fix and maintain our bikes, he began to stumble upon all kinds of blogs about biking, existential philosophy, and the unique lifestyle it offered. The more he read, the more he discovered how much of what he and I were talking about in terms of health, finances, and generosity, aligned with what these people were describing. With time and a virtual community to learn from, we started to experiment with our daily choices and actions:

• We planned our errands around biking and spent time looking up maps for safe routes. 
• We discussed and tracked our spending, which led to many an important conversation that all couples need to have on a regular basis (we have them at the beginning of each month). 
• We started to look at what we ate, where we bought our food, and how we prepared it. 
• We reviewed our daily activities and decided on what we really wanted to be doing with our time.
• We discussed, developed and recorded 3-month, 1-year, 5-year, and 10-year goals. 
• The more we explored, discussed, and decided on a plan of action, the more we found ourselves committed to a low-waste and low-stress lifestyle that comes with knowing "what is ENOUGH." 

The catalyst for all of this was the bike. The power of disconnecting our lives from the car in today's day and age is infinite. The source of this power is a sense of liberation and connection that one gets from being able to engage with all that is in our world in a mindful and direct way. Bikes benefit our well-being in myriad ways, from physical health, to lowering our financial expenditures and environmental impact. While cars deplete our sense of humanity and wonder, bikes restore it by fostering our connection to physical space, and thus the living beings in it, as well. 

It's also hell of a lot more fun than driving a car!

Happy biking!
~Modern Akhmatova

Resurrect, reconstruct, redefine...

"At this moment, let us calm down, with grateful, merciful and uneasy mood to embrace the past, present and future." - Chinese proverb

Neckar river, Tuebingen

During my junior year of college, I decided to study abroad in Germany. Those six months changed me in ways I continue to discover. Living in Berlin for the first month, I fell in love with a well-designed and connected city that was reasonably priced and full of green spaces. Germans respect the old and embrace the new, with a great deal of collective reflection and awareness.

During the remaining five months I was in a small college town outside of Stuttgart in southern Germany. I arrived in Tuebingen in January, crying my way through the first night at the local hostel. I felt alone, scared, and upset about where I had come - a sleepy place that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere compared to the eclectic and energetic spirit of Berlin (it didn't help that it rained the first day too!). With time however, I learned to adapt and get comfortable with the town. However, I never fell in love with it. Throughout my visit, I counted the months, weeks, and days until I would get to see my family again. 

It was only after I returned to the US that I began to realize how much Tuebingen had changed me. Once back in the US -

• I remember getting furious that I couldn't recycle all of the trash properly in six different containers. 
• I remember being depressed that I had to drive everywhere all of a sudden.
• I remember wanting quiet more than anything, so much so that I would drive an hour to the closest mountain trail to hike and be silent among nature.
• I remember being early to all of my appointments all of a sudden and not wanting to rush to places. 
• I remember wanting more daily discipline and planning out my daily schedule.

Suddenly I began realizing how deeply living in Tuebingen had affected me. I don't know how that happened exactly, but it did, and I continue to shape my life in ways that align with the values I absorbed and experienced during my time in Germany. 

Since last year, my partner and I have been committed to biking everywhere as much as we can; working towards owning a single car; buying and consuming less (i.e., food, clothes, technology, electricity, etc.); spending more time in nature - camping, hiking, and hanging out; cooking at home; learning new skills and how to make our own stuff; and being kind to our universe and the life in it. 

I say all this so that you know where the source of inspiration comes from to write this blog. It is a blog about how two people, my partner and I, are creating and experiencing a lifestyle that suits our emotional, physical, social, environmental, occupational, spiritual and intellectual values. As such, I (and sometimes he - I hope :)) will discuss the evolution of our journey to date and what we are doing to continuously optimize our lives for the good of ourselves, our loved ones, and our universe!

I also hope that I will get to learn from the readers who leave comments and that this will become a collaborative learning space full of stories, successes, trials and errors. Above all, I intend for this blog to be a positive and useful read for people that come across it. Apart from that, it will be a useful and fun way for my beloved and me to record our beautiful and curious journey together. 

And because I love quotations, here is one from Bob Dylan to close this post off:

"There’s enough songs... Unless someone’s gonna come along with a pure heart and has something to say. That’s a different story." - Bob Dylan (posted on Brain Pickings)