Light

Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. ~Benjamin Franklin

Oh goodness, life seems to keep throwing us challenge after challenge lately and I am not sure how much more I can take!!! My head hurts, my heart hearts and the days seem to just be blending together.  I cannot wait for this chapter to be over with, to move past the transition, to have stability back, answers to the looming questions and my hope restored.   In the midst of challenge, I must say I have even more appreciation for my supportive and amazing family and am so thankful for such a wonderful husband. On the lighter side of things, we installed this lovely chandelier in what will be our new dining room- it makes me feel a little brighter.

Amidst the Chaos

So amidst the chaos of remodeling (found termites yesterday- just great!) I have actually managed to finally finish and send a custom tote that I have been working on for a while- it is about time!! I think I will officially be putting custom orders on hold until moving day or at least after we eradicate the termites!!

DIY

I am afraid that I am turning into a construction worker (except much better dressed)- Here I am eating fast food for dinner on the brand new freshly hand painted white wood floor, gobbling as much as I can so I can get changed into my disgustingly dirty work clothes and back to work- so far I have blisters on the palms of my hands, blue paint that won’t come off of my toenail, had paint splatter into my eyeball, wallpaper paste all over my arms, crackle medium on my flip flops, used a bucket for the restroom (since the bathroom is gutted) and the list goes on and on and on. But I must say that I am growing more and more fond of all this DIY work- in fact I am getting a little obsessed with our renovation but cannot wait for it to be over with!

Much Work

So much work..the weekend was spent working, working, working and my whole body hurts!

Day One of Cleaning

The bulk of our evening was spent cleaning up after the workers who scraped the horrid popcorn ceilings at our new place which quickly progressed into some crazy cleaning of the hardwood floors- though they are hardwood, they are pretty icky and we will be painting them a bright white- I can't wait!! 

Design Time

It is design time...YIKES! I have been spending the last few evenings putting together sketches, hunting through colors, ideas and trying to understand my husband's personal design taste (still can't figure it out) all in preparation for the huge task of overhauling our new place. Though I love design and my world tends to revolve around it- this is all so overwhelming not to mention potentially expensive! Though I have a number of creative things to prepare for with the book and classes and other fun stuff- the next month will be spent trying to get everything done and my blog will be the place that I document all of this!!

This Chapter

I am happy to say that we are officially first time home owners of a great little townhouse in San Diego . I am still in shock that we were actually able to buy a place in Southern California without going into extreme debt or poverty- and I never in a million years thought we would decide to stay in San Diego but the ease of everything that has been happening lately brought us to a place of being open to embrace the path that we are on and thankful for the life we created in California. Though my heart is often in Oregon and I have HUGE dreams of owning land and an actual house- I have (strangely) found peace in knowing that this is just the beginning and nothing is set in stone. Opportunities (as I have learned over this last year) can present themselves when least expecting it and life can quickly change!! So this chapter in the story is about renovating and moving into our first place. Though we have a home with an amazing view, more space then we have now, a garage that will be converted into my studio- we do have LOTS of stuff to do before moving in. After receiving the keys last week, we spent a great deal of the weekend airing out (why people don’t clean up after their pets is totally a mystery to me!!), cleaning and beginning the first of our DIY projects. The next few weeks will be spent ripping out flooring, painting, laying new flooring, adding unique finishes and of course my favorite part decorating and then finally moving….sigh…this is going to be a long couple of months. But thankfully we will be settled just in time for the release of my book and all of the amazing opportunities that will come next!