Welcome to our first annual holiday/year-end update/post-Mayan-apocalypse/hi-how-are-you letter!

What a year it’s been! Twelve months ago we had recently decided not to buy a 27-acre farm in Virginia, consoled with the idea of starting a new farm business on someone else’s property. We were preparing ourselves for the big move from VT to VA and saying goodbye to a home we had spent over a year pouring ourselves into (leaving it in the responsible hands of trusted tenants). Last year around this time we were celebrating Mark’s birthday at a ski/waterpark resort on the Canadian border, cursing climate change for the lack of snow.

Now, our farm business this spring/summer is quickly becoming a distant memory, Melissa is on the verge of starting an equally ambitious and yet completely different business, and we just celebrated Mark’s birthday with our new BFF Dave Matthews (and band. And 15,000 other fans.)

After our farm experience ended, Melissa spent a little time in Vermont: seeing friends, hiking, biking, and swimming in Lake Champlain. That is, until this summer’s massive outbreak of blue-green algae scared her from stepping foot (or any other body part) in the lake again. She then traveled the northeast to see friends and family in MA & NY, and took a vacation with some awesome ladies in Maine. After a hellish week without power that is best not talked about again, Mark left the farm but stayed in Virginia, finding friends and commonality at an intentional community called Twin Oaks. After many weeks apart, we two came back together to take a wonderful trip in New York’s Hudson Valley. A walk down memory lane for Melissa, it was Mark’s first time to the area, and he nearly moved right in to the cute hippie town of New Paltz.

Upon moving back to Charlottesville together, we temporarily lived in one bedroom of a two bedroom apartment. While far from the ideal living situation, it was the perfect short-term solution for our collective indecisiveness about our next steps and Cville’s indecisiveness about whether to make other apartments available to us. Somewhere in there, Melissa took an intensive course on Reiki I & II and we started side gigs as petsitters and (un)professional movers. These days, Mark is working a hobby job at Trader Joe’s, in walking distance from where we live, which he is having fun with. Thanks to TJ’s, and Mark’s enthusiasm for trying Joe’s products, we’re eating and drinking well!

Note: We do not actually eat this. But it is apparently all the rage at TJ’s.

We also have a beautiful new two bedroom apartment. “New” to us at least; it’s actually a bit shabby. Speaking of “shabby” and “apartment”: as a consequence of preparing for Melissa’s new consignment store, our furnishing style seems to be “shabby chic warehouse,” as there are stacks of boxes everywhere you look.  As I write this, there is a mannequin in the living room, dressed in an obnoxiously-ugly Xmas sweater. I’m not even kidding. (Update: someone on ebay paid $25 to buy this thing to win an Ugly Sweater Contest!)

What’s this about Melissa running a store? Yep, it’s official. Within a few months she will open ReThreads – Consignment Clothing in Charlottesville. She would tell you more but she’s too busy obtaining business licenses, store fixtures, and merchandise to sit still at the computer. Stay tuned for more info.

In conclusion, we’ve learned a ton this year – about ourselves and each other and this journey of life. We’ve come through the questions and the doubts and the cramped shared apartment to clarity and peace and abundance. Each day, we’re being our best selves, and we’re choosing where to place our hearts: with each other. We’re excited to see what the future holds!

(Oh and did I mention we also found a love for magnet poetry?)

Cheers and happy holidays!