Creating space and atmosphere and ambience have always been so very important to me. I have created space in businesses that customers adore and I have long longed for my own space.
But, I always thought spending money on rent was such a waste. So, I lived frugally so I could travel and eat and drink.
Light is my driving force in life. I love nothing more than to feel the sun on my skin and to be surrounded by bright, mood inducing light.
My last home had no light, it was dark and cold and 200 square feet. I questioned whether it had black mold as I had this exhaustion that would weigh me down that I had never had before.
This home is everything I have dreamed of. I got to hang my large pieces. Print one of my favorite images, the white barn that Tori and I would call our "living room." We would grab a picnic blanket and a bottle of wine and spend hours talking behind that barn, feeling so lucky to live a life that was so close to nature.
I hung my poster that my best guy friend produced. He re-created these old 1960's Chicago PR posters that are super style-y. My ode to Chicago.
I hung my poster that I pulled off of a wall in Chianti when we stumbled upon a wine tasting festival in a piazza on my 21st birthday on a Sunday- a day that would normally be dead in Italy except for this one event. I celebrated my 21st with wine glass in hand, going from producer to producer tasting away under the fall Tuscan sun.
I hung my map of Burgundy, printed in 1967. I hung my design-y black and white piece with one teeny yellow bird that I bought in Cuba. It feels good.
I am sleeping better, no longer groggy morning's that I could not shake until noon. I wake up earlier, ready to go.
Kiara hadn't gotten used to the Lacey of the last few years, never planning, never figuring things out. Now, I have the space to plan a trip, make reservations, read about things to do. Ali always made fun of my 12,000 unread e-mails. I now have the time and space to be on it and delete them. I use the phone more now too. In my last town, phone service didn't exist. So, I never connected with people in my life.
In hindsight, I should have made this move years ago. Alas, everything happens for a reason and I waited for the timing to be right and everything has fallen into place perfectly and I feel so content with this new life :)