Sometimes you just have to say yes and figure out the rest! That is how I decided to go all the way to New York City to attend the Blogger Block Party given by HGTV Magazine – A blogger adventure!
Can I just tell you how lively, invigorating, colorful and fun it was? I honestly had no real idea what it would be like, but had complete faith that HGTV does everything right, so this (free) event would be no exception.
This past Thursday, we finally moved back in to the fixer upper. Ten months later we are attempting “the new normal”.
Sometime last year I wrote a pretty popular Huffington post about the inevitability of change. How life throws us twists and turns and we need to learn to adjust. This is especially apparent when you become an empty nester.
Your life is so vastly different when you no longer have the day-to-day activities, as well as the interruptions of having kids in the house. You are proud of their accomplishments, but now they are living away at college, trying to detach themselves, learning to be independent and more mature.
Furthermore, we as parents are experiencing similar emotions. Trying to learn how to turn the focus BACK on to us and learning to live without our children in tow.
Initially it can be fairly emotional and sad, but ever so slowly we begin to realize that we can still be exceptional parents and have a great deal of fun as well.
Phew – it has been a busy time at the fixer upper. One month ago was the last time I reported to you the changes in the renovation and although they may not seem that monumental, they really do to me. Our little Spanish señorita is starting to look like a real house again! No …
Although the house kind of looks like a war zone, we have made significant progress! The exterior walls have been sandblasted and that is why they look so damaged. I can honestly say that this fixer upper adventure has not worried me a bit. We stumbled upon some rotted wood, weak plumbing and old insulation …
Oh my goodness this Empty Nest downsize and house renovation have been quite a ride. Just last summer we put our house in Laguna Niguel, CA (Orange County) on the market and this adventure began. We sold the house for the first time in late September, it fell out of escrow and then we sold it for the second time in December. We moved in to our fixer upper in Pasadena on January 5th, 2015. I have written several detailed posts that will help fill in the gaps for you:
We were only able to cram just about one third of our belongings into our little house in Pasadena. The balance of which is in storage and we know perfectly well that most of the rest of this “stuff” will never make it into the house. There is just not enough room and it will be time to purge when we move back in…which is actually a very good plan.
There are restrictions by the city as to how many square feet we may add based upon the size of the lot and the possibility of encroaching on our neighbors. We settled on adding a small master bath and walk-in master closet. The current closet was so small that we were forced to place a chrome hanging bar at the foot of our bed to hang the balance of our clothes. Very chic.
Our newest Empty Nester Adventure! Great news! It seems that empty nesters are quite popular and in demand. I was contacted by a Toronto production company to see if I was interested in testing and working with a product that would be a great fit with the lifestyle of an empty nester. As you may know, …
Get updates on new podcast episodes, blog posts, and travel news that I'm excited to share with you!
