I took a road trip around the East Coast looking for antiques for my forest cottage. After making my way through New York and Connecticut, I had one last stop before heading home… New Jersey. By this point I had been through more antique stores than I can count, stopped at Costco along the way for gas + more of my @drinkmudwtr travel sticks, and somehow had to figure out how I was going to get everything I found back to my little Forest Cottage in Washington. When I lived in my van full time, I used to collect little things everywhere I traveled. Some of those pieces are actually in my 1982 RV now, and this trip reminded me that I want to keep building my Forest Cottage the same way… not just decorating it, but collecting pieces of the places I’ve been. I didn’t buy nearly as much as I thought I would because I splurged on this old painting of the Scottish Highlands. 😂 I love Scotland and have so many memories from the time I spent there, so the second I saw it I knew it was coming home with me. My beautiful old English bowl, however, did NOT make the journey in one piece! I’m determined to fix her though. I talked a little in this video about my dad and dementia and why nostalgia has become so important to me. Losing him changed the way I look at memories and the things we surround ourselves with. I think that’s part of why I’m so drawn to old things now. I don’t really want my home to feel decorated. I want it to feel collected. And now I’m back where this whole little adventure started… home at my Forest Cottage. Finding places for everything I brought back, making my @drinkmudwtr in the mornings and sitting outside in the forest. There’s something really special about traveling somewhere new and then coming home with little reminders of where you’ve been. Thank you @drinkmudwtr for giving me a reason to slow down while I travel, wander around three states with no real plan, and come home with a few more stories for this little place I’m building. 🤎 #ad #drinkmudwtr #CostcoFinds #VanLife