Last time I shared anything with the big, huge blog world, we were living in what we believed was our “forever home” fixer upper in New Jersey. We never imagined living life anywhere else. We always said how our ranch felt more like home than any other place we lived. My, my how things have changed. These words I’m sharing with you are being typed from a new city, a new state and, honestly, a new me.
So much has transpired in the last few years. My almost-decade-long struggle with chronic illness brought me to absolute rock bottom. I had to go out on disability from my corporate finance job of almost 10 years. Later I was released from that company when I wasn’t well enough to return to work once short-term disability ended. After spending years (and thousands of dollars) visiting doctors, receiving testing, trying out medications, supplementation and dietary changes…all in hopes that we would uncover the root and resolution to my chronic illness…I was guided to answers and truths from Anthony William, Medical Medium. (Yes, I said “medical medium.”) After speaking with him, my eating shifted overnight. This hardcore paleo and ketogenic girl fully embraced a whole food, plant-based lifestyle. As I was trying to climb out of the depths of my health crisis, I even managed to become a certified health coach via the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
Most surprisingly…(okay maybe not most surprisingly since I did mention the words “medical medium” above)…was when it became clear as day that we needed to move. And not just move to somewhere we knew, but several states away, to a city we never visited before. How does a person go from never, EVER wanting to leave her home to feeling like she can’t leave fast enough?! Well just like all the other milestones listed above, that’s a story for another day…
Once we decided on relocating, things happened quickly. We listed our home, for sale by owner, and within a few days we had multiple offers and were under contract for full list price on Thanksgiving day 2017. Talk about so much to be thankful for!
Before we knew it, we were packed up and driving south to my parent’s house in North Carolina!! Within a few months, hubby began his new job and house hunting was under way. With the help of a wonderful realty group (I’m looking at you KBT Realty), we navigated our way around the new city and figured out what area we wanted to call home.
We closed on our house at the end of July and began a search for a company we could trust to remodel for us. Just as work was about to start in September, Hurricane Florence arrived and hit our city head on, shifting priorities and deadlines. Clean-up work from the storm began as soon as we could safely make it up to see our house, and remodeling work began mid-October.
Going through construction on our new house brings back so many memories of working on our old retro ranch renovation. In the seven years since we took on that project, I have developed a tremendous passion for health and wellness…so I cannot wait to combine that with my love of home design in the remodel of #ourcarolinabrickcolonial. And I absolutely can’t wait to bring you all along for the ride as we create our new life in our new home!