image credit: Julia Child print by Unraveled Design
July was a whirlwind month of a whole lot of awesome & celebration of the OMHG community! For August we are putting on the brakes, slowing right down, and heading to the kitchen to cook up some creativity and soul food. We’ve been getting some fabulous submissions from our community and I am so excited to share the goodies they’ve made for us. The deadline for submissions was yesterday but I am going to extend it until August 8th, so if you’ve been thinking of creating a recipe for us be sure to check out the details and get yours in!
July was also a crazy month for our family, we put our house on the market, showed it what felt like a trillion times and got it sold quickly. Then we started seriously looking to buy a new home in Lunenburg…which ended up being harder than we had hoped. After seeing 30 houses we found one we loved only to have our offer turned up for someone else’s. The new owners take possession of our old house on the 10th of this month and for a little while it looked like we might be homeless. Luckily we found a beautiful house to rent just in the nick of time, BUT we can’t move in there until September. So we will be nomads for half of this month, something very panic inducing for a homebody like me, but I am determined to make this an adventure instead of a major trial (hopefully). The silver lining is that we will have the winter to find the perfectly perfect home to watch the girls grow up in.
While I am naturally buoyant, always looking for the juicy goodness in any situation, this whole 7 month process of renovating, selling and now moving on top of parenting + working has worn me right out. I am running on empty and oh so ready to relax into the theme for this month and refuel in the kitchen with you all. Cooking is one of my happy places and where I am totally present. There is such magic in the alchemy of taking raw materials and transforming them through love and skill into something that nurtures and sustains the people we care about. I know I need a little nurturing and comfort food to stoke my creative fires during this transition and the only thing better then cooking for others in my books is cooking together with friends.
With taking it easy this month on the agenda, we’ll be taking a break from our weekly #OMHG chats after this Thursday’s Kitchen Party and come back ready to rock in September after savouring every bit of the last days of summer.
As Julia would say, bon appétit!
Good for you for taking the time to slow down. Having been there, I know how GOOD it feels. And coming back with renewed energy feels even better!
@April, I know that slowing down is so good but it is sooooo hard when I love working & building OMHG a little too much. But it will be good to focus on getting settled & getting started on our new life in Lunenburg.
@Kerry, I hope you share a recipe with us that would be awesome! Selling was pretty easy on our end, living through the renos was the real nail biter!
@Brett, you are so awesome Sir Blogging Brother! Will miss chatting with you at #omhg during our break:)
Thanks for the reminder and the extension! Also, good luck to you with everything! Your positive attitude will carry you through. Plus, selling a house is the hard part so try to relax and enjoy!
Thanks for all you do and for being my #BlogTwitterSisterForever! Relax and enjoy!
Whew…what a whirlwind! It’s certainly going to be weird not hooking up with all the #omhg peeps, I’m so happy for you that after taking stock (no pun, intended!), you’re taking a well-deserved break 😉
Immerse yourself in the calm & comfort of your break!
Yep, as Geri said, a real whirlwind!
Summer is for slowing down, do you know that in Italy we have a mandatory 2 weeks off in August?
Enjoy the nomad lifestyle and take care, ok?
Jessika,
I had a a very similar experience. We sold a house very quickly and the house we had an offer on had toxic black mold. I think I stayed in my room for a few days with my head under the covers after the black mold was found. My son had asthma, so remediating the mold was not an option for us. I loved that house. I saw all that could be…every holiday. So there was a long period we did not have a house. Then we leaned into it. We stayed in friend’s houses while they were on vacation and we rented for three weeks by the sea. Then we came up with a new plan. We bought a smaller house and a boat that we spent six summers on. There was even a point when we just had the boat…no house yet.
Those were some great days. Some of them were hard but all of them were kind of gypsy like. So lean heavy into it Jessika and enjoy.
These are some really special days ahead.
Glad to hear you are taking a well deserved break. You have built something lasting here at OMHG. So glad to be a part of it. xo