I'm home!

I was really happy to be back in California. The environment of Chicago, compared to my new “house on the hill” was like night and day. Up here it was quiet, scenic … and very, very removed. Even the closest grocery store was about 35 min. away. No more walking around the corner to Starbucks or to grab a burrito. In my 33 yrs. of life I had lived at the beach, in the city, and now, in the mountains. This was different for me and it took some time to adjust. BUT, it was a new chapter. Now it was all about making a serene and peaceful new life with my fiancé. And I was very excited to be doing that. It was almost exactly a month before I started working. I spent that time blissfully moving into my new home, planning our wedding and putting a bit of a “woman’s touch” into this bachelor pad.

View from the backyard looking east

In Feb. 05 I started a job at a residential Interior Design firm. It was a small company and although they had a lot of private clients, a big part of the cash flow came from doing model homes for local builders. It was lots of fun to have the freedom of choosing interiors for these models. There was no real client to answer to and we were able to pick and choose what we liked, with the bosses approval of course. The company was made up of about 9 women so there was drama but it was also lots of fun to put all my schooling into practice.

Everything was going really well with John. We were so happy together and everything felt perfectly right. It took time for me to get used to John’s summer schedule. He would leave for a fire at the drop of a hat and sometimes I wouldn’t see him again for 2 weeks. It was tough, it still is. I miss him when he’s gone because he is so great when he’s here. But I kept busy planning my future. My family was now just a few hours away so I got to see them a lot more too. I was a much different woman than when I left; but California, I'm home!

Self portrait after a dusting of snow on the mountains