A New Year

Happy new year!!!  I hope your holidays were special & that you got lots of time in with loved ones!!  We lost heat/hot water again (old
house/boiler system) at our new place so headed out a bit early to our family’s lake house and totally relaxed over Christmas.

{we found our tree on the property & his guy cut it down himself}

{It ended up being my absolute favorite Christmas tree ever.}

I’m not sure I’ve ever felt like I’ve needed more of a break so it was amazing.  We were sick pretty much the entire time but just thankful to be
able to do NOTHING. And to be in a clean finished house.

{the other side of the lake house great room with our Charlie Brown tree}

2016 was honestly a blur for me and I’m ready to for a change of pace. (I’m not sure that slowing down is quite something that David & I will probably
ever really do but we’ve made some changes to our business structure that we’re excited about.) As our business has grown & changed, it’s been
a constant challenge navigating our path and deciding what to say yet to and what to say no to.

We can only do so much and we’re constantly
trying to determine which paths to take and what size of a company is best for our family. 2017 looks like it will be the craziest year
yet for us with lots of change and I’ve been trying to wrap my head around it all, but our new place almost demands a different pace of life &
I’m excited about that. As things get potentially nuttier in the business, I feel the house and the property demanding we slow down. I feel like
it’s our escape. When I go home, I feel like I’m in arriving at another world, another place…

{Our house… It was designed in the ’70s by an incredibly talented & creative family who wanted build an authentic Alsatian country house. (And
they absolutely did, bringing in many of the elements & materials from France.) We hang out in the front yard a lot and are planning on building
some sort of stone firepit eventually. Moving to a house like this has been so different for us because we feel almost like we have inherited something…
in other houses, we just sort of moved in and lived here… in this house, we feel like we’re only just getting to know it and can sense so much
of the original family in the house, in all of the thoughtful details and personal choices. And I always forget it was built in the 70s because
it was designed to look so much older and has so much history. }

This house is incredibly special to me- it’s like it has a soul- and makes me feel like a kid again.

We came home to lots of progress (yay!!!) mainly in the form of DRYWALL.  The drywalling phase of any renovation is one of the most exciting for me…
It’s when all of the decisions you made come to life and it starts to feel like a house again!!  We’re sleeping at the house today (fingers
crossed!) after we go to town cleaning it today.  We’ve still got a loooong way to go (kitchen, bathrooms, attic, basement, etc.) BUT all of the
“ugh” part is done- plumbing, HVAC, the electrical wiring, so it feels like we’re really moving along.

{The new opening from the kitchen to the living room…. It’s now mostly drywalled!!! I’m obsessed with the French casement windows with cremone bolts.
When we open them up, it feels like the whole wall is opened up to the outside!! }

{A future bedroom for the kids created out of unfinished upstairs storage space.  We moved the old kitchen window in here.}

{The library is the one room we’ve been sort of living in throughout the process…  the boxes are pretty much everywhere still.}

I’m hoping we can install our washer & dryer today and get to some sort of functioning “normal.”   Hardwood floors will go into our kitchen &
other rooms asap and as soon as we have that.

We’ve been mostly hanging outside (below) but as it’s gotten colder, that’s been harder to do, so I’m thrilled to be getting more available “inside”
space. (And DYING to get everything organized & put away!!)

{Gisele loves hanging on the “seats” we made from a dad tree we cut down.}

Anyway, I’m off to clean up drywall dust but cheers to 2017 & all that it brings!! Wishing you all good things!!