Hello Hello!

 

We are officially in Santa Fe, New Mexico as of the 1st of September, whew! My online shop has officially reopened to all products, including physical ones. Thanks for your patience on that.

 

 

Our move from Seattle, Washington was pretty smooth, considering that we are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. We figure it out along the way, right? We do the best we can.

 

 

I’ve gotten some questions from friends regarding our relocation- why did we do it? why did we choose New Mexico? And why now? Right in the middle of a pandemic? I thought I’d give a little insight for anyone who finds themselves in our situation.

 

 

Why did we choose New Mexico?

 

To some, this move seemed to come suddenly, out of the blue. Actually, it was something we’d been rolling around in our minds for a couple of years. Not knowing when it would happen, or how exactly, but just weighing the idea of making a change as empty nesters. It was never our plan to stay permanently in Seattle. Even when we moved there 22 years ago, it was never considered a permanent stop.  But we had kids, make friends, and before you know it, 22 years have passed.

 

We weren’t entirely sure where we would end up when it came time to think of a change. But we have planned for this move for a long time. We do have family in New Mexico, and have visited Santa Fe and Albuquerque over the years. We thought that maybe we would end up here after both kids went away to college, but who knew if and when that would be? One thing I’ve always been struck by is the caliber of creativity that comes from the Southwest. So many creative people live here and are inspired by their life here. And, why wouldn’t they, just look at the view out the windows of our new house (above).

 

 

Why move now? During a pandemic?

 

When things started to go into lockdown across the country, including our local area/state, we said, ok, let’s wait this out. Let’s see what happens and do our part to stop the spread of all this. Our kids both were home, and my husband began working remotely. (My business has always been located in my home.) As we waited it out, we had lots of time, and conversations as a family to discuss what would happen next. I think it was a coping mechanism for us- to think that one day (soon) COVID would be a thing of the past and we could resume thinking about our long-term plan.

 

So far, that hasn’t happened.

 

When Peter got the go ahead to work remotely from anywhere outside of Seattle, we met with our realtor to get a feel for the local market. You may have read, Seattle has had a tremendous growth spurt in the past several years (huge!). With large tech companies like Amazon setting up state of the art headquarters in the area, the growth has happened at a speed that has left the city scrambling to accommodate the population. Simply put, there are not enough houses for the number of people who want to move into the area. The quintessential  seller’s market at this moment. In other words, if we were willing to put our house on the market right now, regardless of a pandemic, it would sell quickly.

 

We asked ourselves if we were ready for this? If there were safety practices put in place during the selling of a home that would keep us and other safe? There was. And after realizing that there is no real end date in sight for this pandemic- Were we willing to wait it out?

 

The answer was no.

 

 

We laid out a rough plan to be able to sell our house, and relocate to another state as safely as possible. And get out kids off to college as safely as possible. And realize that they could come back home at some point if their campuses shut down. We were going to make it all work, and felt ready to take on the challenge of shaking things up.

 

So, we are now here, currently in quarantine, in our new little house. Meaning sticking to our bubble and only venturing out when necessary, being careful with masks and hand washing, etc. But so far we feel that we are able to exhale here in the Southwest, and are super excited to explore and look around our new city when it opens up.

 

For now, I am setting up my studio and can’t wait to get back to work. (I LOVE routines and get grumpy when I’m without them for too long.) I have some new things planned, more on that soon! In the meantime, stay well friends.