How we got where we are…

I have been obsessed with design far longer than I have known what that is. I used to swipe the Sears catalogue and design entire houses to then decorate from the vast selection at Sears.

At the time I also thought that all adult men looked like my father, his friend, or the news anchor; and there was no way I was ever going to be attracted to any of them. The scope of my worldliness at age 6 is evident in both examples. Luckily, I discovered that there are far better looking men (sorry dad), and way more attractive bras and home decor items than the Sears catalogue had to offer.

Clothing design was my other love and the only reason I ever managed to step foot in a post-secondary institute at all. My two years in fashion design school is one of the major highlights of my 35+ years on earth (probably only passed by the birth of each of my three children and my wedding day). Unfortunately, I bailed on my design dreams to move back to my home town and a certain, not at all ready to settle down, boyfriend (eventually husband). I took two years of arts courses majoring in calculus and economics before moving to a degree in business majoring in accounting. I graduated 8 months pregnant with my first child at age 28. At 30, with a second infant at home, I started my professional accounting certification. I wrote my last exam November 29, 2011. My third child was born February 12 the following year. I never stopped working but also vacationed and travelled as much as we could afford.

When my first was born my husband was in the middle of building a house for resale with a friend. Even though I was passionate about design, his friend would not allow me any say in the build. If I wanted a feature light, we would have pot  lights. We had a lot of pot lights. Shortly after my daughter’s birth, the housing market crashed and we were forced to move into the house and pay the mortgage. I was “stuck” with a brand new house that was nothing I wanted. After 5.5 years we were able to sell the house for a minor $100k loss. Eek.

We were then at a loss for what to buy. New builds were all very far out of town and our kids were too little to spend our time commuting. I was thrilled to renovate an older home but my husband is passionate about yards and very few fit his requirements. And I did NOT want to pay a premium for someone else’s renovations. In the end we bought the exact house we said we wouldn’t, directly behind my husband’s childhood home, 2 blocks from his sister’s family and 5 blocks from his parents.

After a bathroom and kitchen reno we moved into our 3 bedroom home. My husband, me, three kids, nanny, black lab, and cat. And this is where our current situation began…