the new, slightly bigger apartment homestead

(one of my niece Nicole's pieces and a photo my father took of me-happy baby!)

dang.
the nice thing about moving: everything is nice and "orderly", a feeling of starting over, total inspiration everywhere you turn, a reason to have people over...
the bad thing about moving: being behind on everything else that DOESNT have to do with the move-like blogging for starters...

yes it is quite apparent that i have taken a quasi-break from writing-i actually have several snippets of posts, but i havent managed to hit the "publish" button for a few weeks. the new place has literally zapped some much needed blogging time, along with some other things that i will be sharing over the next week-i am now back in the game as they say.

(before: living and bedroom)

(after: living room)

(before: kitchen)

(after: this is the first thing people compliment on-the fact that more than 3 people can be in here at the same time!)

without a doubt, i absolutely LOVE our new place, just across the way in another 100 year-old farmhouse. unlike our last place, it is about double the size and only a few steps up instead of 20...great for moving!
i have finally situated the last of our things-the larger space has given us many bonuses but also some challenges that on a budget of extreme proportions has come out quite nicely.
i will be taking the next few months to talk about cheap solutions to challenges (like my soda crate light) in the new place as well as the new garden and food projects that are already happening.

(Sweet Pea testing out the new bedroom-yep, it's comfy)

(after many years, i finally get to use my father's desk-my fave spot in the house)

one of the best things about the move however was that our apartment has become this sort of "hangout" for our little neighborhood. almost every day, we will have spontaneous visits from friends & neighbors for dinner, cocktails and on certain nights, really bad TV-moving has really brought our little community together.  we also receive a number of compliments from the neighbors on the "life" in the area-something as simple as plants and happy curtains have made a difference and encouraged interest in starting gardens...can't wait to see what happens next!