we’ve moved!

We’ve moved! I’ve been dying to share our exciting news since our offer was first accepted while on my New York trip. It has been a whirlwind! It has been exciting! It has been surreal. Our journey to this home has been full of twists and turns, and I realize now that it was all leading us to this incredible Victorian historic house, but let’s take a step back in time to see how we got from our condo to there:

{boxes galore, we made decent time packing the weekend before our move. I’m proud of us.}

August 2017 | Seth and I meet for the first time face-to-face, fall in love, and begin dating. Once in a while Seth would pull up homes on his phone and look at them. It was a fun little thing to do to pass the time.

January 2018 | After we found out we were expecting, I moved into Seth’s condo. It wasn’t the easiest transition, I won’t lie about that, but it was a huge blessing to be able to move in quickly and without much fuss. I had Marie Kondo’d my apartment in the spring of 2017, feeling like something in my life might be changing soon, and I’m so glad I did. I’m grateful Seth didn’t give me too much fever for my ridiculous mason jar collection.

February 2018 | We began house hunting almost immediately. We started within the city limits of Minneapolis and St. Paul. I wanted to move back to St. Paul while Seth was loving Kenwood. We saw so many beautiful, unique, and interesting old houses. Houses that reminded me of movies, with all the quirks and weirdness that historic city houses bring. I tried to imagine us raising a family in them—and one really pulled at my heart. There was a giant, stunning home in St. Paul that I fell hard for. We contemplated putting in an offer once our condo sold. I loved that Tudor St. Paul beauty! Alas, it was not meant to be.

May 2018 | Seth found a bunch of land and an old farmhouse in Welch, outside of Red Wing. It reminded me of the Wizard of Oz. The house was a teardown, but we’d look through the windows and imagine trying to save it. Could we? Would we? Designing a modern farmhouse not far from one of my favorite thrifting places? I was excited, but… I was nervous about being so far away from the city. Living on a dirt road? I just didn’t know.

August 2018 | P was born and we took a big fat break from the entire process. We sort of landed on the idea that we’d build someday. I imagined having another baby in our condo, being a downtown family, and I didn’t hate that vision. I assumed it would be months, maybe years before we walked into our first together home.

May 2019 | Seth sent me a link to this incredible, stunning, and very unique Victorian home in Stillwater. Ah! I told him to book a showing, he texted back that he already had. One sunny, delicious spring day we drove out to take a look. I think at some point, up in the master bedroom, I told Seth we should put in an offer. A few days later I left for New York, and by the time I’d returned our offer had been accepted!

So exciting, and yet, also bittersweet to leave the city. But, there’s peace and joy in this decision and I know it’s what God wants for our family. I’m taking a big leap here, but also let’s face it—this is a dream come true in many ways. I’ve been off all week as I process and mourn leaving downtown. I have lived in Minneapolis-St. Paul for over ten years, and feel a deep connection, and honestly a sense of grief with this change. My life here is very comfortable: I have my studio, a church I love, I know all my favorite little spots for photos, I have the directions to my most loved restaurants memorized, I’m minutes from my entire support network. I am rarely, if ever, uncomfortable. I’ve noticed a theme in my life, when I begin to get too comfortable for too long, God throws in a plot twist and teaches me to land on my feet, ever depending on him. I can be bold, step out into a place I may not feel total welcomed in (or not, who knows, we’ll see), and be my best self. It’s easy to get into the mindset that there’s only decent people in the city and that outside is a wasteland. I don’t want to be closed minded. I see this move as a shift in working on that pesky habit of mine to jump to conclusions and doubting goodness before it can even be shown, and there’s bigots in Minneapolis, too 🙂

Our closing date has been quickly approaching. The time from our offer to our closing wasn’t long, and we’re suddenly moving in! It was fast, it was intense, and I’m still reeling—all qualities I’ve felt before, with our little girl’s arrival, and I’m starting to believe it may be a family trend? Is this just how we do things? I kind of love it, and my heart just needs to catch up.

There’s so much behind all of this that feels more than coincidental, almost eerie: I have always dreamed of living in a beautiful, old home. In fact, I put that in my dating profile on Match and Seth responded to that part in one of his messages to me (!). As a kid I coveted a Victorian house coloring book. I had my mother make copies of the pages so I could color them over and over again. I truthfully never knew if I would live in a home like this, it is beyond surreal and I am, and always will be immensely grateful.

Many details in this home feel made for us. I love that is has been lovingly and beautifully resorted and cared for by the previous owners. I can’t wait to take a bath in the three beautiful clawfoot tubs. I’m thrilled to set up a beautiful, spacious nursery for Priscilla. I love my new office space with built ins and giant desk. I can’t wait to bake up a storm in our pretty kitchen.

{Here are the listing photos, I just love this house}