Someone who took my reader survey (hi, whoever you are!) requested a post about my hobbies and it got me thinking…do I have any?? Practically all of my free time is spent with Dave and Charlie or working on my business or this blog, and the miscellaneous things I love doing often feed right into the blog (writing, outfit planning, curating our house, etc.). In a nutshell, blogging is definitely my biggest hobby, but since you already know by now (hopefully!) that I love blogging, I wanted to stretch myself and try to come up with some other answers. I’m often tempted to feel like it’s indulgent, and maybe even a little selfish, to want to do something that’s just for me and doesn’t have a “purpose,” but in reality, I know that a person’s hobbies are one of the many things that make someone interesting and compelling. I love talking to/reading about the unique interests my friends have (like Rachel‘s passion for cooking, Maghon‘s love for supporting UNC sports, and Morgan’s talent for painting, to name a few) so I hope reading about a few of my other hobbies in today’s post is fun…and I’d love to hear some of yours in the comments!
Traveling: Growing up abroad, travel has been part of my family’s culture for as long as I can remember. Everything from planning and researching a trip, to packing, to the adventure itself is so life-giving to me, and I hope that never changes! My absolute favorite weekend activity is exploring the area where we live–drop me off in a neighborhood I’ve never explored before and hand me an iced coffee and I’d be content to wander around all afternoon. In a sense, I feel like that can fall under the “traveling” cap too, because it’s essentially the same thing we love doing when on trips to new places.
Reading: I can’t tell you how glad I am that reading has become part of my daily routine again after a few years-long hiatus. It was, hands down, my favorite hobby as a kid, and picking up a book or wandering through the library never fails to bring back that childlike joy. (In case you’re interested, my favorite book of all time is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which I’ve re-read every summer since I was 13!)
Planning parties: This hobby is well-documented :) I have so much fun taking advantage of opportunities to host people and show them how much we love and value them through a thoughtfully planned gathering. Don’t get me wrong, I keep it REALLY simple compared to what I see all the time on the internet, but I love coming up with just a few sweet details to include when we have people over. Take a peek at a few of my favorite past parties here: Charlie’s baptism party, Dave’s Irish birthday dinner, and my 23rd birthday cocktail party (#throwback!).
Watching classic movies: I mentioned this in a “five facts” Instagram Story a few weeks ago and it elicited some fun messages, so I thought it would be worth mentioning here too! I am annoyingly picky about movies–I can’t handle anything scary or too sad, and I don’t like watching anything remotely raunchy. Since that doesn’t leave too terribly many movies to choose from that both Dave and I will enjoy watching together, our go-to has become classic movies and we LOVE them! It is so much fun to discover gems together and there are so many on our list that we want to see. A few of our shared favorites: Roman Holiday, Sabrina, How to Steal a Million (really, anything with Audrey Hepburn–we love her!), Casablanca, and The Sound of Music.
I hope this post isn’t too boring, because I doubt any of these are very surprising to longtime readers! In an effort to share something you actually may not know, Dave’s hobbies include skiing (both snow and water), camping, golfing, and playing beach volleyball, and Charlie’s include swinging, dancing, and going to the library :) Now I want to hear some of yours!
My favourite part of this is Charlie’s list of hobbies. Too cute.
Glad you liked it! :)
Well I was going to give you my hobbies but then as I scrolled through yours saw that ours are the same so I’ll just say ‘ditto.’ Instead of classical movies though for me it would be hunting down and watching all Jane Austen adaptations.
Ha, why am I not surprised!?
As a teenager I loved the question “what are your hobbies” because it was so easy to answer: reading, playing tennis, doing gymnastics, hanging out with friends… Today I feel like it is a difficult question because many things I love to do in my free time I don’t necessarily consider a hobby. But trying to answer the question anyway ;-) I LOVE spending my afternoons in coffee shops enjoying a good cappuccino either with company or by myself. Reading is definitely still a favorite past time even though I don’t make enough time for it. And lastly I would say making my apartment a home has become a favorite hobby over the last couple of years as well. I’m an introvert and spend a lot of time at home so making it extra cozy and reflecting of my character is very important to me and a lot of fun as well.
Love that Sabrina is on your list of favorite movies – I have seen it so many times and it always reminds me of my Mom because it is one of her favorites as well.
I totally agree–it was such an easy question as a kid/teenager! I’m going to ditto you and say that going to coffee shops is one of my favorite hobbies too. Sabrina is Dave’s favorite–it’s such a good one! We’re planning to watch the remake with Harrison Ford at some point but I know it’s not going to be nearly as good without Audrey :)
You should watch the remake with Harrison Ford! That was actually the one I saw first and I love it just as much as the one with Audrey ;-)
I think my biggest hobby is reading! There are few things that make me feel as content as curling up with a good book. But since it’s so heavily tied with my career of writing fiction, something that’s out of the way that I love to do is cook! When I try a new recipe, it feels like I’m taking on a challenge with a sweet reward at the end :)
That is a great hobby! I think I could only consider cooking a hobby of mine if I specify “cooking with Dave,” because I don’t like chopping things, but I like the rest of cooking, while he always welcomes the excuse to get out his fancy chef’s knife!
I love sitting down and writing some snail mail! Also this facilitated a really fun conversation with Brady about how we can explore new things we are interested in
I love that, Marisa! I wish I was better about writing snail mail because I love receiving it, but writing it always gets pushed to the bottom of my to-do list. I need to work on that!
blogging of course! and most recently I’ve been listening to lots of podcasts- my favorite right now is Super Soul Sunday by Oprah. I would like to start consistently reading again but I’ve been having a hard time finding books that I can fall in love with and end up not finishing them. May need to take you up on your suggestion above!
I love podcasts! I always listen to them when I’m driving, so it sometimes takes a few trips to get through an episode, but oh well–I wish I had discovered them when I was still commuting! PLEASE read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn–it is truly wonderful!
I think I have the same hobbies as Charlie, and I believe we also both like hanging out with dogs?
Oh, most definitely! Next time you see him, you can do all your favorite things together :)
Mom always told me I need a hobby…so I guess that means I never had any :(
Trying new restaurants, yoga, floating the river/tanning, and reading during the summer are probably my hobbies! I wish I baked more, but baked goods are not good to make when you only have one roommate.
I think you have gotten better about your hobbies! I agree–baking is fun, but too dangerous :P