Aaaahhhh Fall. It’s one of my favourite seasons. And one I often feel cheated of because in Manitoba we tend to jump straight to Winter and skip over Fall altogether! But not this year. 2020 finally got something right: the September weather has been perfect… so crisp and refreshing that I’ve happily adorned my favourite cardigan from Old Navy (in Warm Coffee) and pulled out loose leaf tea from Other Brother Roasters (I’ve been sipping on Cinnamon Chacha Rooibos and Vanilla Cream). It’s pure joy!

As some of you may have noticed, I took a little writing hiatus - 7 months to be exact - and completely neglected this space the entire Fall and Winter.

Those seasons were a complete blur to me. I was adjusting to the water damage in our basement and the loss of my lovely office space down there. I was working like a nomad, shuffling “office space” between my living room sofa and my parents house! And all the while, work kept getting busier (a really good problem to have!) and I felt like I was running after my own life just trying to keep up!

I was exhausted; and, I remember saying to my husband Kyle, “if I could only press pause …” But life doesn’t usually give you a pause button. Usually.

Sometimes you have to remind yourself that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes you have to remind yourself DAILY. This is where my husband Kyle and I are at as we wrap up Summer and transition into Fall. We’ve been dealing with water in our basement these past two months and I’m feeling much empathy for my clients.

As an interior designer, my job is to make the renovation process as stress-free as possible. I take that job seriously. But, the fact is, renovations will always be hard. Home is intended to be a place of refuge …. a place where we can retreat to … where we can set down our guard and be ourselves … where we can where sweatpants without apology! A renovation will always disrupt that feeling of refuge and retreat. There’s really no way around it.

HOME. Hmm… what a loaded word, isn’t it? We all have a yearning to have a place to call home. Young and old. Renter and home owner alike. It’s how we’re wired.

It just so happens, that today marks exactly 3 months in our new (first) home! House anniversaries are a thing, right?! Regardless, I’m celebrating by working this beautiful Friday night in my functional (and on it’s way to being beautiful) home office. It seemed like a fitting spot to write this - the place where I focus on everyone else’s homes and not my own. Ha ha!

My husband gets a good chuckle from all of my feelings. I don’t just want a piece of chocolate … I feel like a piece of chocolate. I don’t just want to cuddle … I feel like cuddling. I don’t just need a shower … I feel like a shower. I’ve got a feeling for everything!