Fingers Crossed!

Good day, friends! This is the view looking out my kitchen window to the backyard. As you can see, we've got a good amount of woods in the back and that goes down a slope behind the shed. There is a street at the bottom of our property, then across the street there is a large chunk of wooded, undeveloped land... (I so hope it stays that way, but you never know). Anyway, all of this matters because if all goes well (and here is where the title of this post comes in) this will be the location of my new studio! Our neighbor is taking the shed that's there, and in that spot, we are hoping to put a 12 x 28 structure. Like everything in life, obviously you've got to take one step at a time, but yesterday Rob and I did a quick step jump through all the hoops we could to get moving on this.

Let me back track for a moment to say this is an idea that's been in the works for a long time. We have met with a builder and got the high quote we were expecting. We've researched other manufacturers of garden sheds, gazebos, etc. online. After going round and round, we took the drive down the hill LESS THAN A MILE AWAY FROM OUR HOUSE to Klotter Farms. It's hilarious - we must go round and round in circles to figure out we wanted to go with the first choice after all. Anyway, we met with someone that helped us pick out each feature of our structure. For a general idea of what this is going to be, click on this link and look at the top picture. http://www.kloterfarms.com/page.cfm?p=12147 On the left side, we picked out that same screened in porch. On the right side, the building part of it is going to be a little larger - 12 x 16, and it's all maxed out with extra goodies. There is a skylight, two windows on the side, three windows in the back and a sliding glass door to the porch area, and it comes pre-wired for electricity. Since we custom designed the structure, it takes 6 weeks to complete. But first we need to be sure we can get all of our permits for it. We bounced around from office to office yesterday, fill out a form, write a check, hop in the car, repeat. The last office we made in the last ten minutes they were open. The woman said "you've got ten minutes and counting. the office closes at 4:30". Pens were flying! And we made it just in time.

So now we wait....... I think it's 2-3 weeks till we find out. As soon as we get the good news (I'm keeping the positive thoughts going here) we'll get the building started so ideally this is going to take 9 weeks. Of course I'm like "gimme! gimme! NOW!" but good things come to those who wait, so I will be a good little patient girl and wait. tap tap tap tap tap -

I was sitting here daydreaming about painting in the porch area on a crisp autumn day. And all of a sudden I thought, "my Grandmother would love this - I wish she could be there with me on that day...". She passed away when I was ten, but we were very close in those precious years of my life and she taught me how to paint. She was an amazing watercolor and oil painter. And she loved nature. One of my clearest memories of being with her was sitting in lawn chairs on the farm painting with watercolors. It was pure bliss - pure peace. I was spoiled from that day forward to crave recreating that feeling - I want to paint surrounded by peaceful nature.

There are so many reasons why this is going to be great for me, and for our family. That dream of painting with my grandmother, well, she'll be there when my mom (her daughter) and I carry on the tradition, enjoying a beautiful autumn day, the crisp breeze, the speckled sunlight through the brilliant trees. I am crossing my fingers that this picture will serve as a Before shot and that in about 9 weeks I'll have an After that will blow your mind! hahahhaa

peace.