July 13, 2012

smooth sailing ~ COMPLETE!









I have to rewind a little and show off the custom order quilt I completed before we moved. It was a joy to work on and I felt a lot of grace while working on it. Even with limited time, space, and the surrounding environment being packed up around me I found quite a bit of time to work on it during the evenings and at little bits during the day. It turned out great! It is a quilt for a little boy who just arrived in the world and the colors match his nursery. The colors are a little more sophisticated (dark blue, lime green, soft yellow, aqua and white) than traditional baby quilt pastels, and my intention is that the quilt (and the colors) will grow with him as he grows, maybe even laying in his dorm room someday. My hope is that the sweet boy who owns this quilt enjoys it for years to come.

July 5, 2012

a HOME!



I haven't been here in awhile. I am the kind of gal that focuses on one thing at a time and I had to take some time off from the blog to focus on buying a house, that's right, Cutie and I are homeowners! It took all of our energy. Honestly I haven't quite processed the experience yet, although I am going to try to write about it. I find I have to process an experience before writing about it, as a means of understanding and formulating thoughts, but this experience, our home, is really out of the realm of understanding, for me, as of yet.

You see, it began long ago as a farfetched dream. We started with a few hundred dollars and a savings account that we planned to deposit into every payday. Months passed and small deposits were made. Months passed and, sometimes, no deposits were made. Sometimes large deposits were made, but generally we tried to get some amount saved every payday. Then, years passed and the savings began to grow. 3 years of saving, altogether, thereabouts.

There were times in those years where the dream felt so far off. It conjured feelings of woe. Our rental home was not ideal but priced so reasonably that, if we moved to another rental, we would surly be paying more and might lose our ability to save. So we hunkered down and the seasons passed.

Back in February we signed up for a first time home buyer class and learned we could buy a home this year, we had enough money saved, we could do it, we were ready. And so it began: we visited homes with our agent, we inspected, we crunched numbers, we imagined, and then, on a regular Tuesday at the end of April, our home was listed. Cutie was the first one to view it and from there we fought like gangbusters...and we got it. There were 4 other offers besides ours. The house was listed on Tuesday and they stopped taking offers on Friday evening. Cutie called his dear cousin, Jon (a contractor, whom I want to dedicate a shrine to) who did an unofficial inspection for us on short notice. His inspection allowed us to waive an official inspection for the sellers. This made our offer extra special, so special they picked our offer.

Neither Cutie or I have ever had a home of our own. Our families also rented when we were growing up so buying a home is a completely new experience for us. This home will be in our family and it will be something we can pass onto our kids. It feels incredible to have dreamed and saved and struggled, which makes our home, our reward for years of hard work, so much sweeter.

And personally this home has been very healing for me, a cure for aimless years of wanderlost (not lust - there was a time when I moved 10 times in 10 years). I have been lucky to see many beautiful places in the world - British Columbia, The San Juan Islands, Ireland, France, Italy, Austria, many places in Europe, and many beautiful places in the US including Hawaii - and my home is by far, in my opinion, just as beautiful as any of those places. I never would have thought I would end up in a place where I would want to live for the rest of my life. I feel a peace and contentment here that I have never felt before.

I imagine as the months and years pass the magnitude of this experience will sink in and make sense. Right now, I'm adjusting to a new community, refinishing much furniture, and slowly moving in. I am appreciative of our local community center, the nearby grocery store, and the amazing swimming beach which is about 15 minutes away. I am loving our new neighbors and the walk to the mailbox. I breathe in the quite. I am enjoying morning coffee on the deck, watching the kids run at "top speed" through the big yard, gardening and future garden planning, marveling at Dogwood trees, Doug Firs, Cherry trees with actual cherries, an extensive herb garden, the granite in the kitchen, the bathroom skylights, and the slow process of making this home my home.