Our Winter Headquarters

When people start emailing me wondering whether they've accidentally fallen off the newsletter list (since it's been so long since they've received one), I know I'm overdue for an update. Several weeks ago Brian, Declan and I all packed up for a month-long house swap in Minnesota. Being at "our winter headquarters" (as Brian called it) was a ton of fun. Lots of ice skating, hockey, and time with the family. The house swap was great and I'm seriously lusting over several apartments in Paris for our next trip. I know we'll make it there some day.

For me, it was most definitely a working vacation. I visited 20 different archives, scanning some of the most amazing engravings and lithographs--the oldest from the 1700s. Some of these images I will turn into collage sheets (like the Marie Antoinette painting in the upper left corner). Others will be made into calendars and greeting cards by some of my larger commercial clients. All together, I think I scanned more than 1000 new images. Here's a small sample (click on the image to zoom a bit). Now it's time to recover from the "vacation," catching up on everything I let slide while away (like the 1500+ feedbacks I still owe). Yikes.

Spending a Month in Minnesota

For some reason I have grown up with the idea that money (or lack thereof) shouldn't be a barrier when making decisions. First you come up with your dreams, then you figure out how to make them happen. Back in November I started thinking about how fun it would be to spend a month in Minnesota in the winter. Yes, sounds a bit nuts I know. But Declan loves snow, I love all of the archives and antique stores out here, and we all love being close to Brian's family. The trick was that all of the expenses really add up: a place to stay for a month, car rental, airplane tickets, dog sitter back home.

So I came up with the slightly crazy idea to swap houses and sent out a tweet to find interest. And believe it or not it actually worked. Through a friend-of-a-friend we're staying at a lovely house near Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis, borrowing their car, and taking care of their cats while the other family and their two young daughters stay at our house in Portland and take great care of our dog. We even had two free airplane tickets from miles, so the expenses have been minimal. And we're having a blast.
Apparently I'm not the only one who's ever had this idea. The Oregonian recently ran a couple of stories about house swapping (with slightly more exotic locales like Denmark and the Caribbean). Of course I'm already planning the next getaway. I'm sure someone in Hawaii will want to swap houses, right?

Happy Trails

The big news here in piddix land is that Brian (my significant other and better half) was laid off from his non-profit job of the last 4+ years last week. After much cursing and crying, my next thought was....so where should we move?

See, I'm one of those strange people who actually likes moving. I love the process of cleaning things out, boxing up what's left, and exploring a new city. For graduate school, Brian and I packed everything we owned into my tiny Honda hatchback and drove cross country to New York City--neither one of us ever having stepped foot on the East Coast before. Three years later we sold just about everything we had accumulated and bought one-way tickets back to Portland, where we've been for the past 10 years.

Since the sun (still) hasn't made a appreance in Portland much this summer I've been contimplating sunnier lands. And as Declan isn't in school yet, and I can work from anywhere with an internet connection, why not explore for a couple of years? While there's about a 2% chance that we will actually sell the house, pack things up, and make the big leap, I do love the idea of it all.

My current dream locations include:

Malta -- Stay a couple months with my sister and her husband.
Paris -- Brian's been working with a French/Austrian art group on a TV pilot.
Bay Area -- Always lovely, though expensive.
Hawaii -- Sigh. I love Hawaii. Why not?

I'd love to go somewhere sunny, laid back, and friendly. Am I crazy? Probably. But still, the the possibility of change is always a fun one for me.