City Girl Moves to the Country: June 2007

Gratitude

Last fall I moved from one of the 5 richest counties in the US to either the poorest or second poorest county in OH (depends on who you talk to) and one of 29 counties considered to be in Appalachia.

This is a beautiful part of the country, with the most wonderful genuine, kind and helpful people you could ever meet.

And the reality is that some really struggle to make ends meet and put food on the table, yet they don't give up.

This morning a Church in town was having a "Basement Sale" and not knowing what that was I stopped to check it out and yes they did have some books and I did buy some books (not all of them). It was kinda like a thrift store, except there were no prices and you made whatever kind of donation you felt appropriate for what you bought. The funds were to build a cafeteria (eating area) and two classrooms for the Christian school they hold there).

While I was looking at the book table a young woman came in asking if this was where they were giving free food away. The women running the sale were very helpful and explained it was a different Church further up the road and that you needed to be in line at 8:30 am because they did it until the food ran out which apparently didn't take long.

Here is a woman who has left an abusive husband has 4 children and is looking for food. And the women from the Church wrote down a couple of other places to try and contact names and phone numbers. Apparently it would be Tuesday before the next food pantry would be open so they asked her if she had any food to get her through the weekend. She said she had a little bit but not much. Anyway one of the women gave her a bag of groceries (and told her what was in it, probably had bought it for her own family).

I was really touched how they assisted her, without judgement and with kindness. And they gave her lots of options of where to go to get assistance and what she would need regarding ID etc.

And once again I was reminded of how grateful I am for the food I have to eat and the roof I have over my head.

Jill
Jill@AntiquarianBookLounge.com
http://www.antiquarianbooklounge.com/
MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/antiquarianbooklounge
MySpace Blog: http://blog.myspace.com/antiquarianbooklounge

One Year Ago This Week - Part 2

I had left my job in Washington DC six months earlier and was in a transition period looking to most likely move, but didn't know where and what my next career would be.

About the same time that I came to Hope Springs to volunteer for the week, I was researching the feasibility of starting my own business as an online bookseller of used, rare, and out-of-print books.

In fact one of the buildings at Hope Springs is a farm house they have converted into lodging and group space that reminded me of my grandmother’s home in Utah where we spent a month visiting relatives, every summer vacation.

When I found my log cabin house it really clicked for me. By then I had done enough research that I knew I could start my own business of selling books online. And that meant that I could live where ever I wanted to, and wouldn’t be tied to moving where “a job was”.

Another huge plus was that I’ve always loved books and when researching my next career and exploring selling on eBay, I kept reading over and over, “sell what you know and love”. So books it is…

I’ve named my business, “Antiquarian Book Lounge” and am loving it. Especially scouting for books to sell.

I’ll share more in future postings about the online book selling business and my new life of moving from the city to the country and interesting experiences, adventures and learnings.

Jill
Jill@AntiquarianBookLounge.com
http://www.antiquarianbooklounge.com/
MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/antiquarianbooklounge
MySpace Blog: http://blog.myspace.com/antiquarianbooklounge

One Year Ago this week...

One year ago this week, while volunteering at Hope Springs Institute, I had a series of fortunate events that changed my life profoundly.

I met Carma Crothers, a realtor with Wilson Realty and now a very dear friend. She showed me 3 properties. One was a darling pink cottage style house with a white picket fence affectionately known by the locals as "The Barbie House". While cute and charming inside and out, it didn't really speak to me. (See photos)

Next Carma showed me a home on a cul-de-sac that was brand new and maybe 4 other houses on the street but there were 17 lots total, very close together and no trees. Again, it just didn't have the feel of what I wanted.

I told Carma that I would go home and draft up a list of things that I would like in a home as I had no real conscious thought of moving here, yet from my first visit to Hope Springs I felt like I had come home. She called me later that afternoon and asked me how I felt about log cabin homes because she had one to show me.

I met her the next morning where she showed me the most beautiful home (only 5 years old) on 20 acres of land. The 20 acres is mostly natural forest with a huge ravine, two streams, waterfall and about 3 acres of pasture land with a very small patch of grass.

Walking around the cabin, hearing the birds sing, breathing the clean air, seeing how tucked away it is off the road, I knew this was what I wanted and we had not even see the inside yet.

The previous owners had the inside decorated simply and beautifully. And I had fallen in love. I slept on it that night and when I woke up the next morning in my dream I was unpacking and putting things away in the cabin. I took that as a sign that I was ready to commit to buying it and still felt great about my decision so I met Carma, we wrote up the offer and it was accepted.

I stayed on a couple more days then drove back to Washington DC to get my condo on the market and sold. It sold within a week of me listing it with Jeff Wu and closed 30 days later. If you live in the DC area, especially Northern VA, I highly recommend Jeff. He was outstanding, thorough, helpful, and communicative through the entire process.

After closing on my DC condo I drove to OH and a few days later closed on my new home. The previous owners are a wonderful couple and have since built another house just around the corner which is closer to their barns where their beautiful and beloved horses are. They needed extra time to pack up and move so I moved in near the end of September. My furniture and belongings arrived a few days later (everything had been in storage in VA) and I got into the business of unpacking, settling in, starting my new life and my new business.

And here is my new home...