CHECKING IN: THE NEW SHOP/HOUSE HUNT/FUTURE PLANS

hello, hello!

I wanted to check in and let you guys know what's been going on with me lately. Now that this site is more of a personal blog, I'm excited to be able to have a place to check in and document my life.

I told you a few days ago that the Charm & Gumption shop is open! This was so exciting for me to launch because I really took the extra time to get good photography, pretty listings, and most importantly a more distinct brand image. I think it turned out the way that I wanted it (not to say that I won't change things along the way), and I'm happy with the response that I've gotten so far. What do you guys think? It's also been so nice to have so much support on Facebook, and to even have some specific product requests from my old shop. Little things like that help to let me know that I'm on the right track. I really hope that in the next year, I will be able to meaningfully contribute to our family finances and help us save to eventually build a house. I guess that's my New Year's resolution this year (though I don't really believe in doing those). 

Speaking of houses, I know that the last time I wrote on that topic, we were looking for a rental house here in Nashville. Well, if there's one thing that Wes and I are great at, it's changing our minds. ha! We've since made new plans. In the past few months, Wes has really been getting homesick. We're both from rural Ohio, and nearly all of our family members live there and sometimes it does get sad to realize that we're so far away. While Wes enjoys writing music (and even recently recorded an EP - I'll share soon!), I think he's sort of over the idea of playing music in Nashville, and he's now really into the idea of living in the country, growing our own food, living off the land, etc. etc. (I guess he's transitioning into the "settling down" part of his life). While I've always had the same dream, the one thing we disagree on is the timing. I would rather wait until I'm at least 30/having children/settling down to start the settled down, country life, Wes would prefer to start...tomorrow. We've both tried to be really open about how we feel and I think we have come up with a compromise of staying in Nashville for another couple of years. Anyway, because of that, and because of the fact that our current landlord will let us pay our lease on a month-to-month schedule if need be, we have decided to stay here in our little 1 bedroom place because of the flexibility and price (and the location is great!).

When we do move home, we're thinking about moving into my parent's farmhouse (that they're not living in), and helping with the renovations until we're able to build our own house. I am excited to see the place transform, but also a little wary of living in the house during renovations. But you all know how I feel about makeovers and I think we could really make that house beautiful. I guess my biggest fear in all of this is that I'll be forced to not devote as much time to my business before it's really had time to grow into what I want it to. 

Anyway, these are all the things on my mind lately. If you have any advice or thoughts, I'd love to hear them. :) Have a great weekend! xoxo

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