moving to the country...

We bought a farm.

Seriously.

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to live on a farm.

But not be a farmer.

To live on a beautiful plot of land, with space, and quiet, and beautiful views all around.

But close enough to drive into the city so as not to feel completely isolated.

And now my dream is quite literally coming true.

Glen and I just bought 8.7 acres in Abbotsford (a relatively small city about an hour east of Vancouver).

A small hobby farm with a giant shop and 8 stall horse barn.

Ya, a horse barn.

And it all feels very surreal.

It has all happened incredibly quickly. 

We weren't even looking.

I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I was never going to live on a farm.

But, we went for a drive in the country one weekend and happened to see the 'for sale' sign on this property.

For some reason, I decided to look up the price.

Why?

I have no idea. 

Not something I normally do.

And suddenly, just like that, my dream seemed attainable. 

So, after a whole lot of scrambling to try to get our finances in order, we went to court to put in our bid. 

There were two other people bidding on the property and it was all done as a blind bid.

So we had no way of knowing what the others were offering and just had to figure out what our maximum bid was.

What were we willing to pay for the property and still be able to manage the mortgage payments and like eat and stuff?

After much calculation and recalculation, we determined our number and went for it. 

We all handed our offers, in sealed envelopes, to the judge.

He opened them right then and there. 

And declared ours to be the winning bid.

Unbelievable.

We were physically shaking.

And absolutely ecstatic.

So very many pieces had to fall into place to make this happen.

And so far they all have.

We close on August 15...the day after our 14th anniversary.

And then, we're moving to the country.

How is this my life right now?

Crazy.

project365 week 52 + 53...

1. Glen practicing! He has his Bachelor in Trumpet Performance but I haven't heard him play in

    about 15 years. Crazy. He played for my family on Christmas Eve (O Holy Night) and it

    brought me back to 1997. I wish he still played.

2. My niece organized a ping-pong and foosball tournament on Christmas Eve. Here's my dad

    playing for the first time since 1964! It was really nice to see him having so much fun.

3. Brown paper packages tied up with string all ready to go.

4. Glen got a boat. He traded a bunch of old motorcycle parts that he didn't want anymore. So we

    got a free boat and got rid of a bunch of crap. Pretty good deal. It need a bit of work (what boat

    doesn't?) but not too much. He's looking forward to spring.

5. Glen got a couple of tattoos. Here they are in progress. I'll post photos of the tattoos when

    they're healed up and his arm hair has grown back. 

6. I needed help with my right hand. Missy was pretty interested in what was going on.

7. I love my new kindle. The best part is the built in dictionary! Just touch the word for a couple

    of seconds and the definition pops up. So great. 

1. There's a cat sleeping on my feet. So of course I couldn't get up to make lunch. 

2. The very last photo of 2012's project365. And how fitting. My new year's resolution is to knit

    a sweater using this gorgeous yarn from brooklyn tweed. The sample skein and shade card

    arrived in the mail today. Perfect.

Well, that's it. I did it. 

One photo every day for a year. 

They weren't always the most beautiful photos but I really enjoyed this. 

It's really nice to be able to scroll back through and remember the little things that are so easily forgotten. 

I think I'll make a blurb book too. 

Maybe a week per page. 

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it again this year, but when I woke up this morning and realized I didn't 'have' to take a photo today, I felt a bit sad. 

So...project365 2013...here we go. 

project365 week 51...

1. The finished wreath. I got lazy and only wrapped the yarn around once. So if you look closely,

    you can see the white styrofoam peeking through. Oh well. Don't look closely.

2. Waiting in the border lineup to pick up my kindle in Blaine. The one I wanted isn't available in

    Canada. Dumb. 

3. It snowed. A lot. 

4. More snow. I shovelled the walk and stairs 4 times! After the mail came, I just let it snow.

5. I love her giant paws.

6. Crafting some gifts for my mom(s) and sisters. I've wanted to do this since I saw this diy and

    just never got around to it. They looked pretty good I think. 

7. Glen and I made snow globes last year. I emptied the water before storing them and decided I

    liked it without the water.  

project365 week 50...

1. Glen made me breakfast. Yum.

2. Christmas crafting.

3. My beautiful new pouch from izola. 

4. There's just something about red nails. My favourite.

5. Sending out the last shipment of the year. Thanks to everyone that kept me busy knitting all

    year. Time for a little break to enjoy the holidays.

6. Actually did my hair. Not something I do often. Figured I should take a photo.

7. The cards I made this year.  

project365 week 49...

1. Glen putting the Christmas lights on the house. He was a bit grumpy.

2. All lit up.

3. Our Christmas tree again this year. (copied this).

4. Finally bought the Hudson's Bay fleece throw. Not sure why it took me so long. I love it.

5. Pile of goodies headed to Bird on a Wire.

6. That's me (and the Steveston Cowl) in the WestEnder thanks to Lut Boutique.

7. Christmas cards plan B. Plan A proved to be way to labour intensive. 

project365 week 48...

1. A present for my niece's 10th birthday.

2. Frosty morning.

3. Wild and Heart featured lucky14 handmade on their beautiful blog. Much thanks to Diane for the

    lovely visit.

4. She just has to touch the yarn. It's like her security blanket.

5. I bought these beautiful wood postcards with pop out seagulls from here. 

6. Christmas cards plan A. 

7. We have 3 small throw rugs in our entire house and the cat managed to puke on two of them.

    On the same day. Super.

project365 week 47...

1. Sunday knitting.

2. Babysitting this super sweet boy for a couple hours. 

3. Just leaving my office. I turned around to make sure my computer was sleeping and I caught

    this just in time (our anniversary date).

4. Orders all ready for shipping.

5. Found a place for my little lamb from here.

6. In my office.

7. Missy found a really comfortable spot to hang out. She's actually holding herself up with her

    right paw. Weirdo.