I remember writing this post last year. I had just had my last chemo treatment and I was completely exhausted. The brain fog was so intense I truly struggled to put sentences together. I remember wanting to just say screw it, but… I’ve written this blog post every year for 8 years, and I care deeply about tradition, so I pushed on. I am so happy to say that I am mentally and physically in a much better place today. Words at this time last year I wasn’t sure I would ever say.
I love to start off this post with Christmas photos from the year prior. We closed on our home November 16, 2015 so the holidays always fall right after this meaningful day. And they’re my favorite so here you go.
Every year for the past 8 years we have chipped away at making this house a home. I can truly and honestly say what we have built here is better than the dreams I had from the start. Living here has turned into my true passion. The endless possibilities completely ignite my creativity. I love that I’m still surprising myself with how the property is evolving. I never saw a mini flower farm, I never saw a greenhouse. Now both of those things are so important to me! I always thought a pool would be fun, but truly never thought we’d have the means. I just can’t believe all we have accomplished. It is still a humble operation around here. Nick and I + my parents help is what keeps the ship afloat. I am just so grateful for it all. Here is a rough recap of what we’ve done over the years.
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
2023: Finished construction on the pool, stained the house and windows black, added to the garden & added a greenhouse
A few personal highlights from last Winter. I had my mastectomy surgery and was officially considered “cancer free.” Nolan turned 3 years old. We took our annual family ski trip and the boys skied for the first time. My best friend Alyssa visited from Florida. I remained in immunotherapy treatment every three weeks.
One of the biggest updates we did to our house this year was staining it black! We have renovated about 85% of the inside in 8 years, but have honestly almost completely neglected the exterior. I underestimated how much I would love this change. It makes such a HUGE difference! We also sprayed all of the windows black as well. We are super happy with this change and its holding up really well. We still have some landscaping to do around the house, hoping we can tackle that next Summer.
If you’ve been here awhile you might remember how much of a disaster our pool project has been. Without going into every gruesome detail, we hired an incompetent contractor that walked away with a huge payment and never came back. We are still dealing with this situation. But, we decided in March of this year to go ahead and hire another company to finish the pool. I am SO glad we did. It took over a year, and so much stress, but honestly the memories made this summer made it all worth it. Having it finished was honestly surreal. After having about every issue imaginable, it being finished just did not seem attainable. So, when it was, it just felt that much sweeter. It was finished during an unusual warm spell in April, so we cranked up the heater and had ourselves an opening little party. Truly so many times this year Nick and I were really marveling in it all. We just had so much gratitude for this little slice of paradise.
In May of this year I took my first girls trip since having the boys. I was nervous to leave them, but the plans for this trip fell together so effortlessly, it was just meant to be. We truly had the most amazing time. It was my first time seeing the ocean since being diagnosed with cancer. It was cleansing, it was healing, it was freeing, it was truly relaxing. Alyssa and Ashley have both been there for me through this journey every step of the way, so getting to celebrate life with them was just incredibly special. It was a trip I will never ever forget.
Growing a cut flower garden has been one of the most amazing and unexpected joys in my life. The garden is truly one of the only places I feel calmness, I get lost, I feel free. Its been an amazing creative outlet for me. But, I will say managing it all while on chemo drugs is not exactly the easiest thing I have ever done. My garden would be a mess without the help of my mom. I am so grateful for her willingness to help me make the property to beautiful. Every year it is growing and evolving into such a beautiful area. My passion for flowers has really taken off and each year I get more and more excited to add to it.
I found so much healing in the garden this year. Being witness to all of these beautiful plants thriving, it made me thrive, too. It brought me joy. It gave me something to share with others. We hosted our first “yoga in the flowers” event and it was absolutely perfect. The garden has been a good distraction for me, a good motivator to get up every day and get outside and make something beautiful. I am so thankful for this space that I can live freely in.
For about the last 3 years I have had this dream to build a beautiful greenhouse on the property. I would look into it, and then work and the kids would take priority. It was always in the back of my mind, but I kept getting distracted. In June of 2022 I started getting more serious, gathering quotes, and putting together information and a business plan. 4 weeks later I was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer so that dream came to an immediate halt. During treatment I remember thinking over and over again that building a greenhouse was squashed, for good. Now that I wasn’t working there was no way we could afford it. Now that I wasn’t healthy there was no way I could be strong enough to plan, build, and maintain it. That dream for my life felt lost, amongst many other things. It was a hard time for a million reasons. Spring 2023 my mom brought over a greenhouse brochure and I fell in love with the model on the front cover. They were running a promotion through June that felt hard to pass up. I can’t tell you the nights I spent obsessing over it all. I wanted to do it SO bad, but the negative thoughts were taking over; “what if my cancer returns?” “what if the business concept is not well received?” “what if we can’t pay it off in X amount of time as planned?” “what if I am too tired to oversee construction.” So many what ifs. Nick and I talked for hours about it. I called my mom daily going through all the pros and cons. Ultimately, I went for it. It boiled down to this, “I want it, I’m going for it.” I am cancer free right now. I can’t live my life always thinking the other shoe is going to drop. I needed a focus. I needed motivation to move forward. So, we went for it!
I am so glad we did. I LOVE the greenhouse. I feel like it really represents hope and resilience for me. It was a time I just leapt in and let go of all my fears and chased after something I truly wanted. I am so thrilled at the response of rentals at The Humble + Pine Greenhouse . We have had so much fun styling the space. We recently decorated for the holidays and seeing that vision come to life was so exciting. It’s been a special and magical addition to the property and I am so grateful.
Here are some delightful moments from the last year. -My 35th birthday - Celebrating my 1 year CancerAnniversary - Adopting our sweet Darby - Pool time with friends - Our family vacation to Hilton Head - And lots of flowers.
I always say that I could argue every season here is my favorite, but dang did Fall show off this year. Maybe it was the black house. Maybe it was the fire red leaves. Either way it was magical here for about three weeks and we truly tried to savor every second.
This moment, watching the kids all run down the hill at Porter’s 6th birthday party to trick or treat on the property, it had me in my feels. Just a moment where I was very conscious of my dreams coming true. We had two miscarriages before Porter was born. I was broken and scared we would never have children of our own. And to watch them run down the hill with their friends all laughing and screaming, truly one of the best feelings I have ever felt in my life. I love all these children, and I love having them over to play and celebrate all of the most important times.
Some really good fall moments. Decorating for Halloween, matching jammies, swimming in October, outdoor movies, our guy turning 6, digging dahlias, and the boys learning to ride their electric bike.
Now that we have two studios on the property, maintaining them is a lot of what I do! Creating the design, and then decorating them for Christmas is truly so much fun for me. I am so grateful for this career pivot that is flexible and allows me to be at home more.
I can honestly say I don’t know the plans for 2024! We have some small projects we want to complete… More landscaping around the pool and house, cosmetic updates to our bedroom (wall paper, wood slatting, paint), I would love to hardwood the steps and get a new railing in our stairwell, always adding to the garden, oh and replacing the carpet that Darby chewed, haha. I’m not sure what all we will get done in the next year, because rest sounds pretty good too. Sitting back and enjoying the fruits of all our hard labor doesn’t sound so bad. But, we don’t sit well so I’m sure we will have some more updates for year 9 :)
I will never forget the feeling I had when we pulled in the driveway here in October 2015. I KNEW. It was truly love at first sight. And the part of that I find so endearing is it was an absolute mess. (Go back to old posts and I will prove that!). I saw so much potential, so much hope. And while some of the hardest days of my life have happened in these walls, the beauty and magic of this place always overrides. Our Humble Hideaway is our home, our sanctuary, its my job, its my passion. It’s where my kids ride quads, where mommy cuts flowers, and where we all safely tuck ourselves into bed each night. I hope I never stop viewing this property and this life as a miracle. This place, and the people that inhabit it, are my entire world. See you next year <3