Happy One Year

Today marks one year that Tim and I piled our lives into a couple of cars and drove ourselves out of the boundaries of CA. For me it's like most memories - in a way I can't believe it's been a year, in another way it seems like a decade ago. It's a good day for looking back, looking forward and looking around, so I took it as good timing for a new update. 

I write this looking out over an overcast sky. The mountain range in our view (which I affectionately refer to as "mine") is still covered in snow, though most of the snow in our yard has melted now. Good ol' Colorado weather - it's nearly impossible to forecast. All week the forecast said more snow tomorrow - now it's saying rain today with a high of 55 tomorrow. One time my phone forecast for 11 am said "100% chance of snow"....it was 11:15 and not snowing. It's the ONLY time I've ever seen a forecast say 100%, though I guess it is still just "chance". Hilarious. So, Mother Nature changes her wardrobe every 10 minutes (like any good woman with somewhere special to go), and I split my reading time between gardening books (if it's nice outside) and classical fiction (which goes well with snow and a cup of coffee). 

I'm sure you've all seen photos of Luna the kitty - our newest family addition - but there's more at the end of this blog just in case. And, also so you can see them again because she is REALLY CUTE. Personality too - we couldn't ask for a cooler cat. We were both madly in love with her within an hour and Zena....well...she....she hisses at her less now....a little. Luna, in classic kitten form, is equal parts snuggle-bucket and hellian. If she's not tearing around the house, she's curled up somewhere looking adorable and innocent and not at all like the little ball of demon she was just 10 minutes ago. Luna wants to play with Zena so bad and Zena is NOT having any of it. Still, it's fun to watch. Nobody has made any real swipes yet so seems like Zena's bark is worse than her bite. She makes a big show of telling Luna to go away but Luna already knows she's full of it. It makes for excellent entertainment for the humans.

While everything else is changing, so is our business plan and it's gotten EXCITINGLY GOOD in just the last month. Last summer we said we wanted to look for a store space right about now and open by April of 2013. Well, lo and behold, Tim and I are opening a boutique shop inside a local winery on Main St. in Durango. The owners of the winery were the first friends we made in Durango, meeting them on the first scouting trip we took when we were still looking for a place to live. From the get-go, Dean and Tracy have been sweet, fun and incredibly helpful, and now they are offering up 100 sq. feet of their winery (including a Main St. window display) to showcase Gallery H Woodwork and Moonstar Charms jewelry. The location is kitty-corner from the Durango/Silverton historic railroad which is a HUGE tourist attraction. And, opening up shop in an already-established business that caters to tourists AND has regular local clientele is ideal, as is the rent. Our overhead starting this is peanuts compared to what we'd have to come up with for an entire storefront of our own. Last year Tim and I worked hard to build up our online business and both companies made huge leaps and bounds because of it. Now, opening a space here just in time for Durango's busy visiting season, we are ready for the next set of leaps! Couldn't be more excited or more thankful. In the meantime, Tim has been in the garage building gorgeous display cases and small jewelry displays and I've been making jewelry like there's no tomorrow. I'm back up to about 170 items and more coming every day.

Working our butts off doesn't mean we don't take fun time out. We see Marisa and David and Dean and Tracy a lot. Whether it's an at-home dinner party or out to a pub, there's no lack of festivities. This is needless to say. You know us.

Though the winter has been more than lovely, I am excited that today is Spring Equinox and look forward to seeing Spring rear it's colorful head, Durango-style. Spring is now the only season we haven't seen here and I imagine it will prove itself to be just as spectacular as it's sibling seasons. I started composting and can't wait to finally tangibly manifest the dream of having my own vegetable garden. I look forward to making entire salads all from a garden loot that I picked that very day. I look forward to nice, warm weather, to morning coffee on the deck with the hummingbirds and floating the river in the afternoons. I look forward to flip flops.

I also look forward to laying down some roots of my own - of our own - here. Obviously, I love what the changes of this last year have brought us. I am a big fan of change. But, I also eagerly anticipate a day when things feel a little more familiar, a little more mine. I look forward to the customer who greets me with a hug and can't wander through my shop without buying themselves a little something. To the place down the street saying, "You should really call Tim Hassemer for that - do you know him? He's an amazing woodworker." The newness of Durango inspires a certain kind of love in me. But, like any good relationship, familiarity breeds a special kind of love, too. Spending 35 years in Los Angeles makes me yearn for some familiarity here. I'm pretty sure that's part of the definition of homesickness. But, until then, I'm enjoying the excitement of discovery and the familiarity of the somewhat older things that do feel mine, like a trip to one of our usual spots in town, or just sitting in a squishy chair with a cup of coffee and a view of "my" mountains. Moving forward, excited about the journey, I bless today. Onward and upward.

Miss you, love you.

So, to illustrate the ever-changing weather, one day it will look like this.

Then it will look like this. I know, just another bummer day in Durango. Ho, hum.

And even though it looks warm and pretty outside, there's still ice forming INSIDE your bedroom window at night.

Then it really does warm up to like 60 and the snow melts SO fast. And then...overnight...

you get this.

I'm assuming these little guys fly south for the winter?

But, really, how bad is this???

Or this? I don't really mind the snow when it looks like this.

And to illustrate the ever-changing kitten you're like, "Awwww! Look how CUTE she is!!!"

And then you're like "NOOOOO!!! BAD KITTY!!!!!!!!!"

And then you're like, "Aww! Kitty in a bag..."

Or, "Aww! Kitty with a crystal skull..."

And then you're like, "NO! OOWWWWWW! BAAD KITTY!!!!"

And then you're like, "Aww. Kitty watches fireplace and contemplates the meaning of life."

And then....you're like, "Wow. I couldn't possibly love a little ball of fur any more than this."

And we are CLEARLY still doing just fine. Cheers!

6 Months Out

Next week will mark six months that we’ve been out of L.A. and into the “wild”. Ha. Like this wild could ever compare with West Hollywood.

It’s starting to feel like I’m living a week in a day. I just looked at the calendar to see what I want to highlight here and I’m thinking, “Holy cow, that was only a month ago?” Last week feels like a month ago and last month feels like 3 months….you get the idea. I suppose that means Tim and I are filling our days with lots of productive and fun things and the by-product is I feel like I left home a year ago.

We’ve had several visitors here in the last 7 weeks - Marisa and David, Tim’s business partner, Diana. Of course, the big guests of honor were Mom and Casey. They were here for a week of fishing, sight-seeing, eating and lounging. Coffee on the deck every morning was extra nice with Casey’s chai lattes (I really need to get one of those milk foamer doodads). Mom braved the rain by the lake only because it wasn’t cold and it paid off when she caught a fish. I am loving visitors as we still haven’t met more than a few people in Durango – it’s nice to talk to people who actually know you well. And it was extra nice having family here. Brian doesn’t seem to want to visit but I’m hoping we can talk him into it or bribe him or something. ;)

I ended up with a couple out of town jobs in the last month and one of them left me with 16 hours of delay and an overnight stay in Denver. And WOAH am I giving you the short version. The outcome was a 2 ½ page letter to United Airlines which resulted in a $300 travel voucher. So, at some point I get to come have a beer with my L.A. peeps, courtesy of United’s apologies. I’m thinking spring, after I’ve recovered – or maybe to help recover – from the Valentine’s Day jewelry madness for which I intend to be well stocked and very busy.

In the meantime I’m busting my butt building inventory for the online holiday shopping season. I’ve been learning new things, trying new things, buying new things and really like the new stuff I’ve been making. I’m also trying some new free promotional ideas and it seems to be paying off some – my Etsy store is getting more views now at least. I’m expecting sales to pick up quite a bit in late October and peaking in late November. July was my worst month, August was my best month, September was my 2^nd worst month. Hahah! So far, October is looking good.

Business is rolling right along for Tim, too. He gets random odd jobs locally from a Craigslist posting he put up. The rest of the time he’s making some of the AMAZING new shippable pieces on his Etsy store, or more recently building tons of furniture for Marisa and David’s new place. Which leads me to that news…

Marisa and David are moving to Durango in two weeks and are getting married on our deck! I know, big deal. HAHA! These plans have been in the backs of minds for some time now, especially the wedding. Once things were set into motion they came together really fast! David got a job right away at the Animas Surgical Center and Marisa quickly followed with a nursing job at Mercy Hospital, right across the highway from us. They found a great townhouse they’re renting about 5 minutes from us and they’re staying with us while they start their new jobs here and wait for their townhouse to be ready. Needless to say there’s excitement all around. We’re trying to keep Mom Hassemer reigned in as the bride and groom want very much to keep things nice and simple. Marisa and David can’t wait to be in Durango and start a new life in a new place together. I’m excited that now I’ll actually know people here. And Tim hasn’t lived near anyone in his family in 13 years (aside from our recent 3 month jaunt in NM). Guess who volunteered to shoot the wedding. I know, I’m retired. For this one, for my honorary sister, I couldn’t help it. I can’t let someone else capture a day like that.

I calculated recently that on average I’m living 7 day, 60 hour work weeks. Somehow amongst that, Tim and I still manage to find time to enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee in the morning, go fishing at Haviland Lake, watch movies at night, go have a glass of wine in town, or just sit here and look around and marvel at where we’ve already come and where we’re headed. I feel like I should be sacrificing something in thanks but then I realize my sacrifice was 36 years in Los Angeles. HA!

This morning, when I did the ceremonious Opening of the Front Door there was that thin, veily layer of clouds that are so characteristic of October. The back yard is quickly shedding it’s green summer dress and putting on it’s golden brown fall sweater. Yesterday there were bright yellow leaves blowing through Main Street and though there are still some tourists here to see the colors, the visiting population is starting to visibly die off. The air smells like dry pine and crisp high altitude. Later this month we are celebrating our 5 year/13 year anniversary at Tim’s parent’s cabin in Chama for a few days. Makes me think of days in the not-so-far past when I couldn’t “get away” often enough. Definitely cleansed myself of that syndrome. We are enjoying life immensely. Come see.

Oh yeah, and I pierced my nose. Don't be mad Mom, it's a little star stud and it's adorable and you can hardly even see it and I waited 20 years to do it so there. :)

Love you, miss you.

We had TONS of hummingbirds this summer. TONS. Now it's about time to take the feeders down. Apparently hummingbirds migrate too.

The sunset in Mom's glasses.

Dinner! Yay!

Tim's got a whole bunch of these fairy doors on his store now. He thinks it's totally gay but since they've been so popular he'll keep making them. :)

Look at the beautiful shelving Tim put in our bedroom. AND MY BOOKS! MY WONDERFUL BOOKS! Finally set free after being in boxes for almost 2 years.

Gorgeous sunrise in Toronto where I was working the independent film festival. Took this just after my shift ended. Yup.

Crazy face x3.

Dee caught one too!

Hot springs off the highway just outside Durango on the way to Haviland Lake.

We had this amazing day at Haviland Lake last week. It rained a bit when we first got there and all the leaves were changing - when the sun came back out....it was just magic.

This totally does not do justice to the colors on the mountains right now.

It took a couple months but I did finally get some blooms on the wildflowers I planted. I'm already looking forward to next spring. My gardens are gonna be CRAZY.

"Flight of the Phoenix"

My romantic desk. Roses from the garden and everything. Say it with me: Awwwwwwww.

One Month In Durango

I am exhausted right this second, but I know I'm overdue for a blog - especially now that I've realized it's one month to the day that we moved to this fine place. I'll do my best to catch you up on all the fun. Once again, I write this to indulge myself so go ahead and skip to the last paragraph and the pictures. Ha!

Let's see. Four weeks. How do I keep this brief and just highlight an eventful month...

We are completely moved in. There are beds in the bedrooms, pictures on the walls and we remember which cabinet the dishes are in. Cocktail hour on the deck is somewhere around 7:30pm so we can enjoy the gorgeous sunsets. Tim is still building us furniture - for instance, our TV is still sitting on a big red cooler - but he's got a lot built already. More on that later.

Our first house guests were Marisa, Jeremiah and 8 of his friends when they came up on the 3rd and camped out in our yard (2.5 acres leaves plenty of room for campers). The whole crew of us spent the entire afternoon on various flotation devices making our way down the Animas River, literally cruising from one end of Durango to the other. You can bet that Tim and I will be buying ourselves some inner tubes. Walmart has a floating cooler too - I think it would only be right to have that tethered to us. Right? When we all came back we grilled, drank some beer and played with my glow bocci ball set that Jeremiah bought me for my bday/housewarming. It was a great time.

Yesterday Marisa and David came up and we spent this morning making me (....drumroll....) A GARDEN! Two, actually. No, three. We tilled the front area of the deck, put in wood blocks, built up the soil for raised planters and planted my 7 rose bushes. We also tilled out the area where my veggies will be planted next spring and (while we were at it) we put in a little walkway from the deck to the veggie garden and David even made rows for me. AND (why not?) tilled out an area outside the garage where I scattered wildflower seeds. I also threw seeds along the sides of the planter by the deck, along the walkway to the veggie garden, around the veggie garden and next to Willy. In about 4 weeks this place should be looking very colorful. Oh, and we did all that in less than 4 hours. YEAH! Amazing. SO thankful for the help - if I were alone I'd be out there til next Tuesday.

Tim has been busy as usual, building a whole lot of awesome things for the house. Once again I'm awestruck by how quickly he works and how inventive the guy is. He gets this idea to build a corner bar in the dining area. Then, four days ago he says "I should make it a pirate bar!" As of this morning, the bar (a.k.a. The Baaarrrrrrghh) is now finished and in it's place, complete with wine bottle holders, a red light under the liquor bottle shelf  and a pirate sword across the top. It is the most amazing thing to me that he can put something like that together in just a few days and it's SO COOL! What a guy I got.

We spoke with a commercial real estate agent who says we have a good chance of finding what we want store-front wise by late summer/early fall when vendors close up shop at the end of tourist season. We want to open for business by late September....opening party date TBA. In the meantime we are building inventory for the shop and I've been building up my online business like crazy. Workin our butts off over here. Tim's business partner is coming to Durango next week and we're all excited to get some particulars ironed out, especially since we sort of have a new vision for the store. More on that to come.

Monsoon season started right on time - just after the 4th. We've had thunderstorms every day since which has kept the temperatures nice and cool, and which will also be good for the planting we did today. I just sat on the patio enjoying the breeze, the view of my new planter, the bright orange hummingbirds in their war over the feeder, the wind chimes tinkling and the sweet magical serenity that envelops this place. When you move to a new place far away, finding a space for things doesn't just mean where to put the coffee mugs. You have to find space for you, too. You have to find where you and all your little facets belong. So far, I'm happy to report, we are feeling awfully tucked in and cozy here. We feel at home. Mom and Sis will be here in less than a month and I can't wait to share it all with them.

Till next time, love you, miss you.

We were far from the big CO Springs fire, but we had some small local ones. Turns out fires make for great sunsets.

Weird little beetle guy. 

Willy's resting place. I scattered wildflower seeds over there today. He liked eating all my flowers before so....

Just another sunset from the deck. Ho hum. :)

We have these HUGE dandelions here. This isn't even as big as they get. Reminds me of when Mom and I were in Wisconsin when I was a kid. 

I don't know why, but I feel like maybe now is a good time to try something new.

Tim is REALLY good at chess. He and J both competed when they were in high school. I'm having fun learning from him.

Loving these summer storms.

So I pour a cup of coffee and go sit on my step like I do every other morning and I say, "What a glorious day, look how beautiful...HOLY SHIT that's a deer." He's a buck - see his little velvet antlers coming in? I named him Jerky.

Even the grasshoppers are friendly here! Hahahahh!

 Here's the progress of the garden(s) from earlier today....

David workin the ho.

Before. Ugh.

Rototillers are AWESOME! We borrowed this from Don and what would've taken hours to till took minutes.

Planter is up! Marisa is moving around the soil we shoveled in from another place in the yard.

David and Marisa making the stone walkway leading down to the veggie garden.

My little walkway! So pretty!!! You can see the garden square tilled out at the end of the walkway.

Happy roses! The little triangles on the left were Tim's idea and they hold lemon balm and peppermint. Off to the right leaning on the post - that's the monster aloe I brought from CA. He's still a monster.

The Baaarrrrrrgh. Complete with bar-style wine glass holder on top and a space for our wine fridge on the bottom.