A Place to Call My Own

In the past year or so I've been passively searching for my dream home. I'll be 25 in May and I'm not really in a hurry to buy my own place (within the next five years would be preferable). I rent the lower half of my parents' two-family home, so I have everything I need. I pay them more than they ask for, but it's still barely anything compared to most rent in central NJ.

2011 was the year to "Buy ALL the things!" I honestly didn't save as much as I would've liked, but I did need to make some major purchases. I paid off more than half of my new truck, which made my monthly payments quite manageable. I bought lots of dog-related things, including, well... more dogs. And just a ton of small things that all add up.

Since I spent so much last year, 2012 has been deemed the year to "Save ALL the money!" Paying for my tattoo should be my last big expense, barring any emergencies. I need to cut back on restaurant food, but other than that, I should be in a position to start saving.

My goal? I need to put away a good chunk of money for my next huge purchase -- hopefully, a down-payment on a house. My own house.

I'm hoping that what I want/need in a home will make it less desirable to the average person, and therefore, cheap. I'm not worried about school districts. I don't need a ton of bedrooms. I just want a relatively secluded place on a reasonable chunk of land. Out in the woods, maybe. A half-hour drive into town wouldn't be a bad thing.

I've been looking at chalet houses in the Poconos. Generally, they're inexpensive because most people buy them as vacation homes. They're often tucked away in wooded areas or built next to rivers or lakes -- both features I would love. Many are part of communities, which could be good or bad, depending on their rules and amenities. I plan on having more dogs, a big garden, and backyard chickens. These things may not go over well in a community setting. We'll have to see.

The Poconos isn't exactly close, but still doable as far as my commute to Edison is concerned. Luckily, it's just once a week, so I wouldn't be killing myself too much.

I'm mostly just spitting out ideas here. I have no idea if I'll actually end up in PA. It seems like it would make sense, especially if I want to someday give mushing tours. The Poconos are known for their winter recreation activities, so there's really no better place for me to live -- and still be close enough to everything and everyone back "home".

Am I setting myself up to be that weird dog lady, living alone out in the woods? Yea, maybe. I guess I am crazy, because I don't see that as a bad thing

Blue Eyes and Spitfire

Click the logo above to visit my new mushing site. You may need to refresh a few times if the page doesn't load correctly. I'm still working out some kinks with the domain.

Website Changes

I've been doing some thinking, and I've decided to create a secondary website for all my dog stuff. It will be my "kennel" page, whereas this site will remain my personal/portfolio website. I will also be starting another blog on my kennel page, but it will be for recording my team's progress - strictly mushing-related posts.

I'm sure some stuff will leak over from that blog into this one, and vice versa, but I think it will help those who strictly want to read about dog stuff.

It might be hard to believe, but I DO have other things to write about, other than dogs. And I think this separation will force me to focus on some of my other interests... some of which have definitely been neglected.

So, in the coming year, I hope to blog about the following:

• Food - I love to cook and I love to eat. Hopefully I'll have some interesting recipes or restaurants to review.
• Art - Drawing has always been a huge passion of mine, and I admit I haven't been honing my skills. I'm hoping to create more art and share it here.
• Photography - My photo-taking has dwindled down to pictures of the dogs. I'm going to get back in gear and start photographing some other subject matter. (And the dogs too, duh)
• Homesteading - This is the main reason this website isn't just a simple portfolio hub for my work. One of my main aspirations is to create a food-producing homestead by keeping a successful garden and small animals. Obviously, this is somewhat on hiatus until A. it's warm enough to plant and B. I'm able to legally raise chickens. But there are always things I can read and write about, in preparation for my future plans. And I need to get my butt in gear.

So there you have it. I'll be setting up my kennel page within the next week or two, and I'll post the link somewhere pretty obvious on this site. Stay tuned!