Infertility blog, turned home renovation blog, turned cancer blog… We really like to keep you guessing over here! Can’t wait to find out whats next ;) This space has always been about keeping it real, so I am doing just that!
Every single year on this day I write a blog post… November 16, 2015 is the year we closed on Our Humble Hideaway. And every single year I profess my love for our home. Every single year and our life experiences shows me other ways that I am in love with this land. This year, my diagnosis brought on more time at home. The pandemic did this too. I feel like with each of these experiences I found new things to love and appreciate about where we live. We’ve been stuck at home for the better part of 3 years, and having a place that is a haven, a place that you truly love, a place you feel safe, it has made all the difference in otherwise unfortunate situations. The way it’s worked out, we’ve done about 1 large renovation or project per year since moving in. If you want to read last years anniversary post, have at it!
Here’s a quick recap of past years renovations:
2015: Close on home & Move in
2016: Remodel Existing Bathrooms, Paint, Replace Fencing, Clean up the Property, Replace interior and exterior doors, tons of small projects
2017: Kitchen Renovation, New Flooring, & our Porter Gene joining the family
2018: Barn/Studio Renovation
2019: Driveway addition and clean up, Master Bedroom Reno, Master Bathroom Addition
2020: Reside Garage to match barn, Nolan Henry joined our family
2021: Remodel Mudroom, Add Front French Doors, Remove Wall To Sunporch/Add Renovate Dining Room, Finished Basement 3/4 Done, Added to the garden
2022: Added a window in the boys bathroom and a large window in our stairwell, Two bathrooms got new cabinets and a re-fresh, Planted a 1 acre wildflower meadow, expanded the cut flower garden, planted new trees and flowering shrubs, started construction on an in-ground swimming pool
My dad has mentioned many times “you really need to stop cutting holes in your house.” But ahhh, natural light is so addicting! There has not been a window or door added that we have ever regretted. Our bedroom + master bath are mostly glass and it is the brightest most uplifting space to be in. We added a 6x6 ft window to our room, in the kitchen we added double french glass doors, in the dining room we knocked down an interior wall that revealed a wall of windows in an area that was once a front porch… basically, I can’t stop. 2022 brought on a new window in the boys bathroom (that did not have one ever) and a 5x6ft window in our stairwell that is gigantic and grand and we just love it. The window is right in front of Porter’s room and when we wakes up he loves to proclaim the weather status. I love that any room of our home has a perfect view of the woods and it often feels like we live in a tree house. Its so peaceful and I love it.
I love to start the blog with last years Christmas photos. Christmas is my favorite time of year and the thing that always happens directly after I write this post. We haven’t decorated yet, we always do before Thanksgiving, so it won’t be long! Here’s some of 2021’s magical holiday season to get you in the mood.
In March of this year we took a family vacation to Florida. The trip was amazing. 0/10 recommend driving. BUT, everything else was honestly perfect. We stayed in St. Pete Beach where my childhood best friend now lives with her family. The weather was incredible. Our airbnb was adorable. And we took the kids to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a dream of mine! Amazing family memories. We also completely fell in love with the backyard oasis and pool at our Airbnb which prompted us to put in a pool at our house… Stay tuned…
In 2020 I started growing a very small amount of cut flowers after my great friend Valerie bought me an inspiring book. It was no time at all before I fell completely in love with flowers. There are truly so few things that bring me calm, bring stillness, things I get lost in, things I am just completely captivated by — one of those few things is flowers. I’m hooked. I’m sucked in. There’s no turning back now. This year we expanded the garden on a huge level — we added a 1 acre wildflower meadow, grew dahlias for the first time, planted several varieties of flowering perennials, and planted 20+ varieties of cut annual flowers. Overall, it was a huge success! I was a nervous wreck about it all. For the meadow, we tilled and weeded for weeks — and I finally got to a point where I said screw it, lets throw these seeds down. Not only were they expensive, but it was SO much work, I was so anxious they wouldn’t germinate… BUT THEY DID! We had a flourishing meadow by June and I swear I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life. The dahlias thrived, and most of the annuals did as well. I have plans to grow more of the things that really worked, and less of what didn't this upcoming season, but overall it was incredibly successful and brought me so much joy this year. It felt quite serendipitous that the year I created this beautiful and peaceful garden was the year I was diagnosed with Cancer. I feel this deep connection to it all now. It feels like the flowers saved me. They brought light in a dark time. They bring me hope for the future. I feel a huge pull to the garden and I am going with that feeling. I have never been so thankful I took it all on, the garden was truly one of the best things to happen to me this year.
Sooooooo, we went to FL this year, fell in love with the pool at the Airbnb, literally came home and put a deposit down to have one put in just like it. The first photo here is a rendering of what it will look like. Not exact at all. We are actually hoping to bring in enough dirt that we will no longer need a fence around the pool (we have an auto-cover!). With the layout, you walk out our double doors from the kitchen, onto the deck and it leads to the pool, so it’s technically our front yard. Because our house is set so far back off the road we actually don’t have much of a backyard. This was truly impulsive of Nick and I. We both agreed, it would be so amazing to have this oasis, to have a place to make years of family memories. So, we did it! And, its been a nightmare ever since. I will spare you the details, but we have had every delay possible, every problem imaginable with our contractor. It was supposed to be completed July 4, and here we are middle of November and still waiting. Apparently they are finishing up this week. LOL. I truly stopped believing anything they say. It’s been a nightmare, but we are holding out hope that 2023 is the year of the pool and we doing a family cannon ball on opening day. I can’t wait.
We sold our beloved Stock Tank Pool this Summer and have missed it sooooo much! We went off the promise date from our contractor for our “big pool"' and for sure let go of it too soon. Here’s to holding out hope we will be up and running May 2023 and wont miss it so much!
Here is some Fall 2022 fun. I was in treatment the entire season, and truthfully finding fun wasn’t exactly the easiest thing I have ever done. But it was so important to me that we keep our holiday traditions alive and make it special for the boys, so that we did.
I had my last chemotherapy treatment a week ago. I haven’t fully processed it all. Maybe that’s because I’m still feeling the effects of chemo. Or maybe it’s because this is the most traumatic thing I have ever experienced in my life and it is going to take months/years to “recover.” I realize these photos don’t have a direct link the the anniversary or when we closed on our home…. But during my treatment we have never spent so much time at home, never been so grateful to have this place to call home. Unfortunately my diagnosis has taken over our life, its changed our day to day in more ways than I can count. It has been an important life changing event to round out our 6th year in our home. It has really made us see things differently, appreciate what we have right now, and gain some incredible perspective. My last day of chemo was one of the best days of my life. I felt proud of myself for accomplishing something I was so afraid of, and I felt so much love and support it just overflowed my heart. I am so thankful for all of my friends and family that came to The Spielman center that morning to surprise me, and to every single other person that has helped us on this journey along the way. Hopefully next years post involves a cancer free mama and lots of swimming in our new pool. Thanks for being here, we love you. XO
