Home.

While I was home for the weekend, in Crystal Lake, IL I took my pup Haley for an early morning walk.

I started to notice the the smells, the flowers, the old houses, the lake, everything beautiful about my hometown.

I don't know what it was, but I became grateful and nostalgic.

 

How did I get so lucky to grow up here? And more importantly....why didn't I realize what a perfect pocket my hometown is, when I was living here? 

My neighborhood, Lakewood, consists of about 10 blocks of tree lined streets.

Where even the street signs are sweet.

Lakewood backs right up to private beaches where our boat sleeps and where I spent almost everyday when I was a kid. 

During the summers we would tube, jet ski, swim, play king of the raft, and drink Capri Sun's all day long.

If you stayed at the lake past sundown you would be attacked by the  mosquitoes...and no matter what time  time, whenever you were done swimming you had to run home to shower in order to avoid swimmer's itch. 

But, you could run barefoot down the streets.

 We really had the life. 

The houses in Lakewood are pretty cool too. One of my favorites is the Gingerbread House.

Pretty crazy, right?

This house is one of my favorites too. They did an absolute amazing job with their landscaping and it reminds me of a house that you might see on the cover of Home & Garden.

Since these houeses sit right on the lake, the back is much more impressive than the front, but it still isn't too shabby.

I love the over-sized pots that welcome you into their driveway

I feel so lucky that I can drive an hour out of the city (well, 2.5 if you leave on a Friday....) and come home.  

Home to this bubble of paradise. 

I don't think I'll ever move back to Crystal Lake....I want to find my own bubble of paradise, but I know that for the rest of my life, when I think of home, I'll think of this.

 

Cue Michael Buble.