1. The Mountains
After a very cold winter in the tiny former mining town of Silver Plume, Colorado, the weather finally cleared up enough for Dram Apothecary to open up their patio on a mid-March Saturday.
On Instagram, they post shots of their rustic bakery-turned-cocktail-tasting-room or of things they make – teas, cocktails, syrups – or of founder Shae Whitney foraging for wild herb ingredients. They are near a place called Snowdrift Gulch, which was especially fitting the months that their photos were of white streets, foggy gray skies, and flurries outside the windows.
Then, one weekend, they posted a photo of their (finally) sunny patio and announced they’d planned a party, complete with a DJ spinning super old school tracks from the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s.
A lot of people thought that sounded like fun (it did!), but one comment jumped out at me: “I want this life.”
It made me wonder what the commenter’s life was like.
So I clicked over to her Instagram feed.
2. The Beach
The want-your-life commenter is somewhere in Southern California. The previous week her car thermometer had said 92 degrees – while snow was still falling on Dram Apothecary.
She posts amusing photos of dogs, she bakes, and she makes really cool-looking cocktails. She posted a photo of a guy on a beach with a surfboard hashtagged something like #myhusbandishotterthanyours.
It doesn’t seem like a bad life.
In fact, in response to one silly shot, where she is pretending to eat an apple right off the tree, someone commented “life crush.”
In other words, this person has a crush on the life of the woman that wants the life of Shae at Dram Apothecary.
So I clicked over to the life crush-er’s feed.
3. The Campground
It was a private account. But there was a link to a photo blog.
There are lots of photos of friends goofing off on camping trips. Lots of campfires and lakes, woods and desert. There is one of a guy with a marshmallow-toasting stick between his teeth. Another one is this big white, fluffy dog laying in the grass.
Her bio lists her location as Los Angeles, but one post is titled “my home is Colorado”.
So these photos have taken us from Colorado to Southern California and back.
4. Where You Live
Each of the women we’ve visited have scenery around them that is beautiful in its own way, time to have fun, and people to share it all with.
I bet you do too. Try imagining you’re a different person in a different place with a different set of ups and downs in your life.
Then flip through your photos, look at the views, the celebrations, the things that made you laugh, the people you love. And get a little jealous of yourself.
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Note: All the photos in this post are mine. I haven’t included any from the people I mention or linked to the commenters, because my intention is not to single them out or say they should have a different attitude, but to show how we all have those grass-is-greener moments, even if we have it pretty good.
In case you’re curious, here’s where the photos above were taken – 1: Nederland, CO 2: Ridgway, CO 3: San Diego, CA 4: Tempe, AZ 5+6: Sierra Vista, AZ 7: Four Corners area 8: Scottsdale, AZ