First… we had an earthquake a few days ago… OMG!! I know that it might not be much for others but the epicentre was not too far away and it measured at  4.5 and lasted at least 15 seconds… For some, that is nothing, but when you are not used to earthquakes and don’t expect them, it is something to talk about. It was Simon’s first earthquake and my third, it is really not something that we expect to feel so it really took us by surprise. It was just after midnight and I was still awake and Simon was just coming to bed from having fallen asleep with the boys. We heard a big bang and it sounded like a truck was scraping the road and our bed was shaking. Our bed is on the floor in the basement so it really should not be shaking! Simon got up and looked out the window and of course saw nothing and it was then I said it must be an earthquake.. I went on facebook to see if I was the only one and wrote an update and within seconds saw many more that felt the same. Facebook was buzzing way before the news actually hit.

Again, for some that experience earthquakes on a regular basis, a quake of 4.5 is nothing and may not even hit the news, but for people that don’t expect it and almost never have experienced it, it is something that is quite unnerving and unexpected!

In other news, though I haven’t had any sales from my site yet, I have two sets of cards that have gone. One, is my mom… does that count? The other is to one of Simon’s co-workers. He brought some to work and just placed them on his desk without mentioning anything and one of his co-workers inquired about them and took a set, while others took my business card. It is a slow start but I feel confident that things will start picking up soon enough. I got a call this week from a restaurant near me inquiring if I would like to advertise with them (I would have done it,  but their minimum was a year and was a bit more expensive them I was ready to pay and we want to be gone in a years time and they didn’t have any options with less time/money) but the fact that they called me and that they heard of me from somewhere is something!  I also got an inquiry about portraits that seemed quite positive,  so I have a feeling that things might be moving soon.

In the same news type of news, I decided to get a new lens. Lenses are expensive, especially good ones, and the thing about this lens in that it is great for portraits but the fully automatic version is over a thousand dollars which I do not have. However, there is a manual lens that is at a great price and I decided to go for it… and have not been disappointed. Being a manual lens means that it is a lot more work, and there is a big learning curve, but I have been so happy with the results after much trial and error.

Here are a few shots…

As you may know, we put the house up for sale in February and made the decision that once in sold, we would get our things together and move out and head to Nelson, BC. (where I was raised)

As you may know, we had visits and then spring started to turn into summer and life took priority over marketing and trying to sell the house and things became quiet.

As you may know, I felt like I was in a rut and was a bit depressed and was not writing here on the blog or doing much of anything except enjoying the summer with the family.

As you may know, I have always felt a bit nervous about this move because of the insecurities of leaving our house, leaving our income and heading to a city that is known for having expensive housing and little jobs. It does however have an amazing community and people that we already know and love and is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

As you may not know,  is that about 2 weeks ago we decided that we would take the house off the market for a little while (what little advertising that we had) and we were going to buy a bus. Yes, a bus. We planned that over the winter months and maybe even for the next year we would work on converting it into a home that we could bring with us, giving us a bit more security that we would be able to make it even if we didn’t have the salary that we have now. We could travel and even be on the road for a while to finally end up in Nelson.

For the last two weeks I have been drowning myself in information about how to convert a bus and scouring sites trying to find the right bus for us. I was actually narrowing it down to a few options and was going to try to figure out financing for the initial purchase depending on where we bought it from.

As you may know, I am a procrastinator… and I didn’t take the ads down, nor did I take the signs down. I thought I would get to it soon enough…

Yesterday, we got a call.

I got a call from someone who is looking to buy a house and was wondering if our was still on the market. She asked the usual questions and a few specific questions, and one of those was the date of occupancy. I muttered a bit and said that we were flexible and put an emphasis on that it could take as long as she needed, but then she explained that she would need a house by the end of the month. I stuttered a bit and said honestly that I would have to get back to her because I needed to talk to my husband as we had shifted our plans a bit but I would call her back. When I hung up I realized that this is what we had been waiting for (though much faster then I could even had imagined)… I talked to Simon and we agreed that it wouldn’t hurt for her to come see the house, maybe it won’t be what she needs and we can go back to our plans. But if she does want it, then maybe this is the push… or rather awfully big shove that we need.

She is coming to see the house this evening. If she doesn’t want it, I am a bit confused about what I want us to do next… continue with trying to sell the house or do the bus. Both are ultimately what we want to get us to where we want to go. However, If she does want it, then we have 24 days to pack up and figure out where we are going to go….

Oh my…. I can’t even think straight right now…

breathe… breathe…