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Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

• Ten simple things to make you happier at home.
• Clever wallpaper
• New to me food blog:  Sweetapolita  Love the photography (although she had me with the Twinkie Bundt cake….) 
• I need a new phone case
• Shop ❤

Happy Friday everyone!  Can you believe that Christmas is less than three weeks away! Yikes!  I am so not ready.  I haven't focused at all.  Okay great – now I'm just panicking myself. 

We have another day trip planned for this weekend.  Heading North this time.  We are actually going to look at the house I mentioned earlier in the week.  It had an offer already this week but it fell though (again!  I'm starting to think it's a sign…) so we are going to look at it in person along with another house just around the corner from it.

Have a wonderful weekend!

On Saturday, after a spectacularly windy and wet early morning, Rick and I hit the road on a real estate reconnaissance mission. Our first plan of attack is to research areas before we start seriously looking at houses.  

We made a big loop – starting by driving though the Livermore valley (very pretty through there), headed through the foothills of Morgan Hill and Gilroy (also very pretty), over Hecker Pass and down into Monterey.

We stopped in Monterey for a leisurely lunch overlooking the harbor.  I would have taken pictures of my sand dabs but I ate them too quickly.  Trust me, they were very photogenic.  And tasty.

The second part of the loop took us through Hollister and over the Pacheco Pass where we made a requisite stop at Casa de Fruta.

Rick had never been there before this trip.  I thought everyone that lives in the Bay Area stopped here on their way to Disneyland.  Just like everyone stopped at the Nut Tree on their way to Tahoe. 

We spent over $50 on "snacks."  

It was a fruitful trip on many levels (groan – sorry about the pun); it was a lovely drive, we saw an area that we REALLY like that seems to have properties in our price range and it was probably the first time in the past two months that we could really relax and just enjoy each others company.

So what happens this morning?  A house we were very interested in a couple of months ago has just come back on the market.  And it is in very different area.  Ya think you know what you want….

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

• A new year is coming – time to get a new journal
• I think these would make cute gifts for the holidays.  Who couldn't use a new book bag or a reusable grocery tote?  I love the sentiment and I love the font
• Cute paper plates
• Truly vintage ornaments are getting harder (and more expensive to come by) – here's a DIY method to 'vintage-ize' new ones
• Etsy shop ❤

Happy Friday everyone!  It promises to be rainy and dismal around these parts so what do we have planned?  Road trip!  We are going to take a little day trip on Saturday and do some exploring.  I'm hoping we can find a cozy spot for lunch.

Hope everyone has a splendid weekend!

Hi.

Happy September.  Erm.  Well.

Where in the heck did the time go??  I truly didn't mean to be gone for so long.  And I truly meant to have a more wow-like come back than this.  Blog redesign, increased focus, scintillating content.  

Yeah – that didn't happen.  

What did happen is Rick and I got a notion to move.  We thought we would test the waters by putting our house on the market and if nothing happened in this slow real estate market then we would take it off after a month and relist it in the Spring.  What ended up happening is we put it on the market on a Thursday and by Monday we had seven offers.  

So we have spent the last two months packing up our belongings and putting them in storage. Sorting through 12 years of accumulated treasures (some may have a different term for it) and marvelling at how much stuff one can accumulate.  We said goodbye to our chickens, shut off the lights and hit the road.  

Normal people would have another house lined up to move into.  We, on the other hand, decided we would take our time exploring different areas around Northern California and when the right house and location present itself we will buy something.  In the meantime we have taken over the upstairs of my mother in law's house.  We have run of a guest room, an office and a loft area.  The only belongings we brought with us are our bed, our clothes and a few oil paintings we didn't want to put in storage.

And Belle.  We brought Belle too.  My mother in law has a male cat so we have confined Belle to the upstairs (only one successful escape attempt so far) and she seems to be adjusting to her new home.  She hops up on an old wicker dresser and looks outside and wonders how she can get down there.  

The chickens were left behind.  The new owners, a lovely retired couple, said they would happily keep them and care for them.  Since there isn't room on the second floor here we decided that was the best option.

Anywhooo – just wanted to pop in and say hello.  I hope to chronicle our house hunting efforts and anything else that might cross my mind that I think is worth sharing.  I feel like we are at a completely new juncture of our life and if feels weird and scary and exciting.  So let's just see where this blog takes us.

See, Belle is adjusting:

Thank you for the emails enquiring on my whereabouts and general well-being.  I do appreciate them.

I'm not sure what I am going to be doing with this blog.   It's causing me angst lately.  I feel like my posts are unfocused and that I'm not spending the time I want to create interesting content.  

I am going to take a break for the month of August and then decide if I want to revamp it or just pack it in.  

I truly appreciate all the support and encouragement and friendship I've received over the past six years.

I hope everyone is having a splendid Summer.