Back to the Basics: How I got here.

Well, it seems that FinalCut (editing software) may not ever be back up and running. But maybe this just makes me adhere more to my "back to basics" philosophy? At least that is what I am telling myself... keep blogging, post pics, and maybe someday the dreaded "general error" will stop popping up when I try and edit.

Enough tech talk though. I really wanted to share something with you all, something seemingly simple, yet big enough that it brought me here. When I was considering moving from Brooklyn I really had no idea where I wanted to move. I was primarily googling places I thought might be cool and reading about them.
Portland, Freeport, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Block Island, Cranberry Island, and more... I found things I liked and disliked about all of them and my brain was soon flooded with images of each place and the imaginary life I could have there if that is where I chose to move.
I fancied myself in cable knit sweaters walking a cliffy frothy ocean in Maine. I imagined myself working for the Blackhawks and braving the cool winds of Chi-town. Dungee and I could walk undisturbed along the rocky shores of Block Island and sing in our underwear (something we actually did last summer). Places slowly got eliminated by whether or not I could surf (sorry Chicago, not ready for Great Lakes surfing just yet) and if I could find a job (I really wanted to make organic baby food and can it myself and never see another soul, but would it PAY in Boston?).

So. How did I finally decide on Encinitas/Cardiff, CA?

I would like to share with you my very simple way to pick a place where you would like to live.

Every single night when I would go to sleep I would close my eyes and imagine that the very next morning I would wake up in a completely BLANK room. No furniture. No windows. Even the bed disappears once you wake up. There is NOTHING. Just one, blank door.

I find there is importance in a BLANK and bare room.
Why? I believe one can be enticed by cute furniture and architecture of a place. You can become distracted by objects and material possessions. You should move somewhere for the place itself, not all the things that come WITH the place (*AHEM* cable knit sweater). So, yes, a complete blank room.

I would imagine waking up there, stretching my arms, shuffling to the white blank door and opening it. In front of me I would imagine each place, in each season, or at different times of day.
What would Block Island look like in November?
What would Portland look like on a rainy Sunday?
What would it feel like to have summers in San Francisco?
What could I do on a Saturday morning in Encinitas?

I did this every night, using all my imaginary powers to make it feel as REAL as possible to the real thing. Slowly places got eliminated and I kept coming back to the sandy beaches and quiet walks of Encinitas each morning. Opening the blank door to Encinitas every day felt the best, in every scenario. It mattered not where I lived structurally, but where I lived in relation to nature, surroundings and also how those made me FEEL.



So that's how I did it. A blank room, every night, and imagined every possibility. It took a good 2 months of doing this to figure it out, but it sure worked.

Now, every day, I open the camper door, brew a pot of espresso on the propane stove and Jorma and I take Dungee on a long walk, playing fetch by the waves, drinking our steaming cups of coffee. Repeat every evening, replace espresso with wine. Voila.