Cross-Country Moving & Playing the Beautiful or Useful Game

Sometimes when you are trying to organize your home you need to be ruthless—stick to the basics, and listen to William Morris:

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”

Greg and I are moving across the country—again (to Calgary)! We’re done with Vancouver, after almost 7 years (save the 1 year in New Zealand), we’re “going back home”. . .

I’m going back home where I was born

First I planned to stay but I can’t live this way

I’m going back home where I was born

Try to understand I think this city’s grand

part of ‘Going Back Home’ by Nina Simone

photo of me when we were moving from Calgary to Vancouver. . .so optimistic and ready for a change.

You may be wondering why we are moving back home (where Greg was born, I was born here in Vancouver). There were many good reasons that we left and there are many good reasons to return again. I’ve just recently graduated (after about 7 nightmarish years) from the University of British Columbia and am ready to start doing the things I want to in my life.

I love having this blog and it has opened up many opportunities for both of us. I don’t regret having gone to university exactly, but I know now that I don’t want a career where I have to work for someone else and struggle in a world with very few opportunities to get ahead with an art history degree. Living in an expensive city like Vancouver offers few opportunities to do anything but struggle. It is nearly impossible to get a business license here or to live in a larger place where we can actually work on our creative pursuits.

Look out for more on this topic, moving, organizing, and packing . . .and redecorating, etc once we get there in a few months. This summer we’ll be playing the Beautiful or Useful game as we decide what to take with us on our cross-country move.