What's Up

It's only 8:45 p.m. here and already I feel a magnetic pull to the bed. It's been a long (fun - but long) week here. We had a visitor, our friend Chris, and did a CRAZY, insane amount of touring. When we've had guests in the past (granted Joey was younger) we did some visiting around, but had alot of downtime. THIS time, we threw caution to the wind (read: no naps) going out all day, most every day. Among other things we... visited Chinatown, Lake Tahoe, Pier 39, Muir Woods, Napa Valley, San Francisco for 2 days, Alcatraz, Oakland (for church and good Mexican and margaritas), and the Jelly Belly Factory (of course). We stayed out late, tried to feed Joey alot to make up for the missed naps, and played board games and Wii. Lastly (yesterday) we celebrated Chris' birthday and my first opportunity to make a carrot cake (which Matt and I enjoyed again today for breakfast and dinner).
I'll be able to put up pictures of some of our adventures later when I catch up with everything around here.

Matt spent the day of "recovery" taking Chris to meet the TRAIN, shooting some real estate, working on editing, and shooting a rehearsal dinner. (my man works hard!!) I got back to the swing of things by going to the grocery store (blah) washing diapers, doing dishes, taking Joey to the pool, and making sure he got his naps!! Ahh naps, how we missed you.

In other news...I think it's official enough that I can blog about it now....but....we are moving to Oakland!! I guess there is still a chance that things could fall through. BUT...at this point, through an incredible amount of generosity...we will be buying a house in Maxwell Park (that's kind of the name of the area), Oakland. The mailing address will be Oakland, but it's a big place so there are lots of smaller names to distinguish areas.
It seems wrong to say we are "buying" a house, getting as much help as we are/will be, but we are incredibly grateful, and very prayerful that we will be able to use this help wisely! It is our hope that putting down roots here for a short while, will enable us to build a photography business that can be transferred to any other place.

We searched high and low to find a house (our #1 quality that we looked for) with a dedicated studio space that would not have to be shared (like in our current house with a guest room), so that Matt would be able to meet with clients and do more product/stock photography (which we are hoping will later become a larger portion of our income). This is a hard place to find. It's hard to use an extra bedroom for many reasons (not to bore, so I'll list quickly, but we want it to be business-like, and not have people trooping through the house to get to a bedroom), and it (if possible) needed to have higher ceilings (good for the shooting) and it's own entrance. We found most of what we were looking for. Basement spaces are a little hard to find in Oakland, as most of the houses are between 70-80 years old and don't really have basements. Although we thought that's what we'd settle on, the house we picked instead has an easily accesible upstairs-loft area. You don't have to walk through the whole house to reach it, it's an addition so there is still regular house space, there are 4 big skylights (Matt says great for lighting), and a separate entrance would be really easy to add eventually. It has a huge sliding door and a deck too. The space is large enough that Matt can permanently set up his lighting and background equipment for shooting, have a desk and business area, and a sitting area to meet with clients. The house was a great find and we will be so excited to settle in on the 22nd of September!!!

So now... We will be working hard on 2 fronts. I am going to be working hard to find a job. Please be praying for me, that I can find something that pays well, and I can take the baby to. This is very important for us financially. Also we could use prayer for more weddings for the Fall/Winter. This will be the toughest time financially, but also a good time for it to be a little lighter as Matt has already headed back to school. We are also thinking about a birthday party for our soon-to-be one-year-old. whew.

Pictures to follow, but for now...here is a picture of our new house. It looks kind of "castle-like", but I know we will grow to love it! Oakland's old homes are mostly Tudors, or Bungalows...actually I don't know if we looked at a single house that wasn't. Hopefully the exterior will look as nice when we live in it, as it does in this picture. We definitely won't have a gardener, and I think Matt's going to wing-it and see if a weed-whacker will work for the grass, BUT, enjoy...



**Pretty good sized earthquake while I wrote this blog. Definitely second biggest I've felt in over a year! Hope the new house is sturdy!**