Photographed in various places, southern Iceland..
Kindly equipped with Ilse Jacobsen rainwear.
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Adventure is out there. It's in exploring places you haven't been to, yet and in finding new beauty at those you've visited a hundred times. It's in smiling at a stranger and getting an honest smile back. It's in the miracle of being pregnant and giving birth to a new human. It's in moving into your first own apartment or settling down in the one you consider to be your forever home. It's in a new love or in falling in love with the same person, over and over again. It's in shielding your eyes from bright sunlight, in dancing snowflakes, in the first sip of freshly brewed coffee every morning. It's in the little things and in the great challenges. It's in new discoveries and beloved old habits. It's in friends and family, in laughing and in every breath you take. It's in the fact that our brains are wired in a complexity we can hardly understand, that music makes the brightest day even brighter and gloomy weather beautifully melancholic, that we are able to dance. It's in every single day. 

Take our daily walk, for example. It's the exact same route, day in and out. The only change is between going clockwise or counter-clockwise. Other than that you could say it's forever the same old, same old. Except it's not. The sky ALWAYS looks different. Sometimes it's low tide, sometimes high. Sometimes the ocean is completely smooth, sometimes the waves crash violently against the shore and massive tubes roll over the sea. On this one simple walk we've witnessed the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets of probably our entire lives. We fought against storm and hail but also danced through sunshine and under a bright blue sky. Every single time (and it must have been hundreds by now) we saw something we hadn't seen before. Every single time we mention at least once "how beautiful it is out here". It of course is a great place to go for a daily stroll but in the end it doesn't really matter where you live. If it's in the mountains, at the sea, near a lake or deep in the city - beauty is everywhere. It's in how the waves crash, how the birds sing, it's in snow, in rain, in how the sun peeks over snowy peaks. It's in happy faces, in twinkling city lights. It's in the smell of freshly baked bread or witnessing love in any form. Elderly people holding hands, a mother solacing her child, strangers smiling at each other, friends hugging and lovers kissing. If you open your eyes, look up from you cellphone for once - you'll see it all. All the beauty. All the life.

Sometimes living begins when you do things that feel a little strange in the first place. Probably because they don't match the concept our society has in mind when it comes to everyday life and what a struggle it has to be. 'Stay in when it rains, be careful what people might think of you, you're too old for this and too young for that' and all the other things that we feel restrict us in our personal freedom. Stepping out of this big picture that we only see because that's what everybody sees can be so relieving. All those Tumblr quotes people save to their desktop are being saved because they are true: 'Dance like nobody is watching' 'Climb that goddamn mountain.' 'You only live once' 'Make it count' 'Do more than just exist' and hundreds more. They are NOT annoying and pathetic - they sum up what it means to truly live. 

It's like with those staged pictures on Instagram - we all tell each other not to be influenced by them because that's not real life… but what if it could be? We can have those picnics outdoors. We can arrange our breakfast beautifully if it makes us even more happy. We can sleep under the stars, we can camp in the most breathtaking spots. We can drink our coffee outside and we can climb those mountains. We can swim in the lakes in summer and if we feel that an inflatable unicorn adds the finishing touch to our contentment - then so be it. It's not wrong to go out there and do things that fulfill you. We drink our coffee outdoors a lot. We do light campfires and we actually roast marshmallows in said fires. Because it's fun. Because it makes us feel alive. Some weeks ago the four of us packed the car with blankets, coffee and doughnuts and drove to one of our absolute favorite places, Kleifarvatn. The lake was frozen and the sunrise magnificent. We sat down on the hood of 'Suzie' (yes, the car has a name) and did nothing but enjoy the view. The play of colors lasted for about half an hour then snow set in. It's been the best breakfast in quite a while and surely an unforgettable morning. You don't need to live in Iceland or Hawaii or the Seychelles to experience such mornings. You just need to not sleep in for one Sunday, to not complain about a possible change in weather (or the weather in general), to not end up in front of Netflix (even though that can be a damn good Sunday morning, as well especially if you throw in some hot cocoa) - just pack your backpack and make your way to the town lake or the forest or whatever nature surrounds you and have a little picnic there. No matter if it is winter and people might think you are somewhat crazy. 'You only live once!' ;)

Allow yourself to have wild dreams. We personally dream of a cabin in the woods, of an RV to drive through the country with. Of a canoe to explore all those beautiful rivers and a board to paddle on in summer. We don't care if that sounds like such a cliché - we rather believe that it became a cliché because it is indeed an amazing way of life. Dreams like this make living even more fun. It's goals you can work towards to. And it doesn't matter what your personal goals may be as long as you have them. In the end that's all there is... You can decide between routine and dreaming. You can always try, at least. You can seek beauty in the little things or complain about how dull everything is. You can accept living as one great adventure. Not everything is possible but a lot of things are and some even are for free.

So the biggest adventure is to live. To the fullest. Take it all in.

Wearing Ilse Jacobsen 3/4 Rain Boots in soft pink and dark gray, also the padded black coat Caro is wearing and Linda's green rain jacket are by Ilse Jacobsen. Since we get asked over and over, again what we recommend for wearing in Iceland in winter: those boots!! They are padded and have thick soles so they are perfect for the ongoing mix of ice, snow, hail and rain. We will publish a 'what to wear in winter' soon, though - to give you all our personal tips and hacks for the far north during the cold days.