Less is More October 18, 2008

I love our new home. It’s a lovely rental in an entirely different neighborhood than we were living in before, a neighborhood which I love.  We are so close to a really great park, really close to Trader Joe’s, which I frequent, and super close to El Gitano, best mexican food in town.  The streets around here are lined with trees and adorable, well kept little old homes.  We have a backyard now, which is so nice.  Now instead of looking out onto the traffic, Elena looks out into the backyard and watches for the neighbor’s kitty and says hello to all the squirrels that flock to the compost bin, which is adorable if you ask me.  

Favorite part about our new place?  Surprisingly, it is the smallness.  When we first started looking for a new place, smaller was a priority for me.  We have roughly half the square footage of our last place, which wasn’t necessarily excessive anyway.  But now, I spend my days in roughly 650 sq. ft.  and I love it.  Do dishes and watch elena play in the living room?  yes please.  Always know where she is just by peering over my shoulder?  yes, thankyouverymuch.  In our last place, I was constantly following her from one end of the house to the other.  Now, I only feel like I’m chasing her when she runs away and says “bye”, which is my cue to come get her and say “boo!”  It’s her favorite thing.  Guaranteed to lighten even the worst of moods.

I love that just having dinner cooking warms the whole house.  no joke!  I love that in my kitchen everything is conveniently located within my reach.  In our old kitchen I felt like I was always running in circles.  No more!  Not only is our place small, so is our oven and refrigerator, which has also turned out great. It’s more energy efficient, since I’m usually only cooking for two and a half people and there’s no more feeling like things get lost in the abyss of the fridge.  It forces you to keep things neat and organized, which is quite nice.  And speaking of keeping things neat and organized, this place is so much easier to keep neat and clean!  Since I can almost always see Elena, I am able to get so much more done and it doesn’t hurt that there’s less to clean, what with less space and all.  Less space equals less dirty counters, dirty floors, etc.  and the smallness makes it obvious when something is out of place.  I may not be the most organized person by nature, but an organized and clean space makes me really happy.

Overall conclusion: less is more. 

It’s another case of happier people, happier planet.  Less space to heat, less space to clean, and more simple happy life. 

here are some photos of the space before we moved in, I’ll post some of it with our stuff all moved in as soon as I take some.

Corners of Our Previous Home: A Farewell Tribute October 2, 2008

Dear little House on the corner of Ellis and Lakeway,

I will miss you.  So fresh and brightly painted, with your lovely chocolate brown moldings… you made me happy.  You brought me within walking distance to my favorite coffee shop and the loveliness that is downtown.  I loved watching the traffic out the front windows and watching Elena say hello to all the trucks and buses that she loves so.  Thank you for all the memories.  Here is a random sampling of my favorite corners of our home when you were ours:

P.S.  I will not miss the noisy upstairs neighbors, the parking lot next door, the huge heating bill or the lack of bathtub or backyard.  Oh, and i won’t miss the mouse we left behind that we couldn’t seem to catch!  Shhh… don’t tell the new tenants.

Beginning Again October 3, 2007

it’s a pretty crazy thing we’re doing – we moved here without brian having a job and without a place to live – just a place to stay and a friendly face to pick elena and i up from the airport. so, in the midst of this craziness, fortunately we have still been able to enjoy the beauty that encompasses this city. i can’t stop talking about the weather. it’s so amazing to experience a true fall: complete with the changing colors of the leaves, sweater-worthy temperatures and soup and hot tea in the afternoon. in california we would still be wearing our shorts and tank tops and praying for cooler weather that would arrive mid-november. i am so thankful to not be in that state and also for all of the small joys we have experienced since we arrived here. i am so excited about church. i haven’t felt excited about church in a long time. it is so refreshing. i feel like this place fits me or i fit it, whatever. we are staying in a house around the corner from beautiful whatcom lake and whatcom falls. we took elena there and she quacked at the ducks. ducks are her favorite. “duck” is her official first word. coffee tastes wonderful every place i have ordered it. mmm… what could be better? elena is right at the age where she is taking everything in. i can almost see the wheels turning in her little mind. she has started pointing. it’s so cute. all the parks here are clean and in beautiful areas. we took her to fairhaven park and she got on her first park swing. she is doing and seeing so many things she can hardly sleep. literally. oh and have i mentioned the focus on sustainability here? amazing. go to a restaraunt downtown and they are liable to offer something local, vegetarian, free-range, organic blah blah blah… it’s so GREAT! i actually ordered breakfast last weekend that was vegan!!! this is so shocking to me as there is nothing like this where i come from. every store abounds with signs speaking of local, natural type things. i can’t get enough. we went to the farmer’s market today – more local organic goodness all around. YES! (and the garbage cans in this town are smaller than the recycling bins!) So, while i am absolutely loving this time we’ve had – i can’t wait until we are planted here. beginning again by uprooting ourselves is going to be good for us. i know it. but, it’s going to be hard. i miss friends… i will always miss them, even after we meet people here. no one can take the place of certain people in my life. that is surely the hardest thing about moving. still, i am glad for a new beginning. i am happy to know that i will be raising my daughter in a culture like this, a community like this, a church like this. so, while people think we are crazy, i know, we are also making something happen that we otherwise would have regretted later in life. we are beginning again, taking a risk and daring to believe that life can be different. and it is good, i think.

aaaaaahh! August 14, 2007

ok, so i never get stressed and i’m stressed. so many things to sort through and pack and the house is a MESS! i want to get rid of things/give them away, but it’s harder than i thought. i find myself rationalizing. on top of that, everything is up in the air and probably will be for months. now that this house is a mess and the boxes are piling up, i am really feeling it. it’s CRAZY! we have a lot of things we need to leave behind and i’m not so sure we’ll be able to find people that will want to buy/take them as we have less than 2 weeks to have everything packed up and in storage. anyone want anything?! help! as previiously mentioned, we have:
a refridgerator (in great working condition, but definitely not brand new – we haven’t had any problems with it)
a burgundy leather recliner (it’s been loved, but it’s not ancient or falling apart – very comfy)
love seat with pull-out bed
king size mattress (old)
2 twin box springs
children’s dresser (needs painting)
clothes clothes clothes!
2 t.v.s
t.v. cart
VCR

move August 7, 2007

If you haven’t heard already, we’re moving!!! it’s the opposite of staying, being or feeling stuck, complacent or sedentary. it means change – BIG change. we’re excited and a little nervous. we feel that God is calling us to move on, to believe He will take care of us in the midst of this crazy-ness and to dare to dream that life could be different. We’re moving to Bellingham, Washington. Ever since we visited the first time – almost three years ago – we’ve talked and dreamt of living there. from everything we know, we’re really excited to become a part of a church plant there called Mosaic (not the same as the one in so cal though). we’re really excited to join them and what they’re about. check them out here.
other things i love and look forward to:

• the weather – it doesn’t get any better than cloudy and rainy for me – doesn’t depress me at all. it makes me happy!
• it’s absolutely gorgeous, right on the water, green with clear skies (as far as smog goes)
• better air quality (i like this advantage for elena too)
• beautiful downtown and old-town areas. fun for walking.
• lakes in town as well as being on the bay.
• close to seattle and vancouver, b.c.
• safer. i like the idea of taking elena to parks that i know are clean and being able to let her ride her bike in the neighborhood, etc.
• bellingham has ordinances about chain stores and corporations. they have maintained more small shops and locally owned businesses – yay!
• BEAUTIFUL parks
• change – i LOVE change, even though it’s hard sometimes
• new surroundings and inputs into our lives.
• walkability – they have some great trails and there are so many gorgeous places there that it just makes me want to be outside!!
• affordability – it has all these benefits and rent is cheaper than modesto!!
• farmer’s market – they have a big one
• added bonus: my sister lives there!
• more liberal as a culture – i like that. i like that they are mindful of buying locally and recycling, etc.

i think it will be good for us, for our little family and for our marriage as we journey through this together. we look forward to staying with different people as we are in limbo and brian is looking for a job. although this will be challenging i’m sure, i look forward to the sense of community. i look forward to how it will change me. going through external change tends to foster internal change, ya know? although this has been something we have joked about and dreamt about, we had almost dropped it when we both felt like the lord was bringing it back up – like it was time. i know that might sound weird, but it’s true – i really felt like i had let it go when all of the sudden it just seemed right. i think that is God, but i know that “God speaking” means different things to different people. anyway, both brian and i have always felt like we didn’t want to stay in modesto forever or raise our family here necessarily, so if we are going to go (which we are!) it’ll be good to go while elena is little and not in school or anything yet. so, anyway – let us know if you want any of our stuff (well, maybe not anything) but we are trying to sell a couch, a recliner, a tv cart, a refridgerator and possibly a king-size bed. wish us well! brian leaves on Sept. 19th with the u-haul and elena and i fly out on the 20th. oh and that amazing picture at the top is from last year’s trip there. we took it while sitting at the park on the 4th of July, waiting for the fireworks to start.