Thanks for all your cards and letters. We love hearing from you! Here is a quick update of this past year in our family.
Real estate was the big topic this year for both Jena and for Jeremey and me. We have been extremely happy at our home in Beaufort with lovely pond views and a wonderful community with many amenities, but no matter how hard we tried, we could not figure out how to add an elevator to our existing home and age in place. We have always renovated but never built a custom home for ourselves before, and decided we were up for the challenge. Two years ago we stumbled across a beautiful lot for sale with a stunning marsh view in the neighboring town of Port Royal and put an offer on it. We really did not think we would be lucky enough to actually buy it, but we closed on it this past August. It will probably take us another two years to actually start to build our house on it, as well as subdivide it (it is 3.4 acres!). It previously was a mobile home park and the only stucture still there now is the dilapited cinder block building pictured above. We hope to build with hempcrete now that the Farm Bill has passed and it can now be grown legally in all 50 states. I have always been interested in building green and helping the environment, so this was perfect timing. I wish everyone that is considering building a new home would look into it. You can learn more about it here.
We spent most of the summer in Chicago cleaning out our building in hopes of selling it soon. Jeremey also spent lots of time working with contractors on Jena’s new house. It is so much more convenient for my father to visit with easier parking and less steps!
We bought a small 2005 Mazda utility truck this year and am making up for lost time. It’s great for hauling furniture “finds” and I made friends with some neighbors nearby with 3 horses and if I bring carrots and apples for Lizzie, Daisy and Brownie they let me scoop up all the horse manure I want! I am hauling it to our new property and hope to have great soil in another year or so.
I am still working at my graphic design business. Plus I run an airbnb at a little 2 bedroom house in Port Royal that we bought and fixed up. It didn’t have much of a garden 4 years ago and that has been a fun challenge. Keeping really busy helps me not dwell too much on the horrible political climate. The welcome sign is out…especially for y’all up north! Please come down and visit…you may like it as much as we do and decide to make a permanent move (and help me turn this state blue!)
Jena
Jena (36) bought an adorable brick house (from my good friend Shellie!) in the historic Roscoe Village neighborhood of Chicago and is loving her new digs! She has a fenced in yard for her dogs (Augie is on loan to her for a while to help Jaxon with the transition since he has separation anxiety). But they hate the cold weather and unless someone is willing to toss the toys around, they are very spoiled and prefer to be couch potatoes.
She still works long hours at Foley & Lardner in the trust department and is on the board of directors for the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, but on the weekends does a fun side business on Poshmark, selling brand name clothing and accessories that she finds at estate sales and thrift stores.