One Year Later

It is nearly one year since that last post. Ten days after I wrote it, I found the man who I was meant to spend my life with. His name is Andy Long. He is a musician, a hard-worker, a partner, he has a tender heart and yet he is strong and stable. We met putting together a music project and we ended up falling in love. In June he moved into my house with me and we have been house-hunting all summer. Many of the homes in this area are bank owned (repos) and it was actually creepy walking thru these houses. Some of them have been vandalized by the owners before they left. Others, you can just feel the anger and sadness of the people who had lived there and were forced to leave. In fact, we made an offer on a house that was a short-sale and the owner made demented phone calls to us, trying to discourage us from purchasing so she could live there a little longer (without paying her house payment probably). So, after awhile I told Andy we should probably stop trying so hard...the right house will come to US when the time was right. He proposed a few weeks after that and then...lo and behold...the perfect house DID come to us.

Both of us have had a dream of owning some property...perhaps do some farming, have some horses...and ultimately we would like to grow grapes and learn how to make wine and build a family business. Andy's real estate agent e-mailed me a listing (without knowing our dream) of a property that would be perfect for that.

The house is a little smaller than we would like, and Andy does not care for the color or the decor AT ALL. So, I have been assigned to put together the design project for the interior, exterior and the landscaping. All VERY exciting. We would like to have our wedding there on the property in about 6 months. (GOOD LUCK, RIGHT?) hahaha

Anyway, escrow will open this week and it will probably close by Thanksgiving. Once we start doing a few of the initial remodeling projects we will get a feel for how long it will take us to be ready for the wedding.

Over the next few weeks I will post "before" pictures and my vision for what I would like to accomplish before March of next year. Then the following posts will be the renovation in progess...YAY! Exciting!