The Search For Our Next Adventure / Home – Intro

For those of you that don’t know, the husband and I are preparing for our next phase in life. Our kids are 21 and 18 with my daughter graduating from high school this May. Prior to that, we took care of my mother for nearly 10 years while she battled Alzheimer’s. She lost that battle just 2 years ago in February. So, it’s time for something new for both of us. And, we are blessed with the ability to work from most anywhere (we DO require decent Internet and shipping services).

This is such a spectacular time. Who just sits around and really thinks about what they want? When’s the last time you’ve done that? We started out just looking at the average weather of areas, then looking at houses on Zillow and Realtor that had beautiful views, and then started really thinking about the specifics. Can we live without trees? Do we like adobes? Do we want to live in the valley and look at the mountains or do we want to be in the mountains? It has been a true adventure into ourselves.

Our plan is to find something that gives us joy, but also provides joy to others. Who doesn’t want to share the love? I was a superhost with AirBnb with our little place in Arlington, TX. So, we want something with a main house and at least one guesthouse for short term rental to start and/or more and/or RV hookups. Ultimately, I’d like to grow this into a Chakra themed retreat to work in tandem with my crystal business – Chakra Rox. So, more acreage is preferable. We love hiking and kayaking so we want to be close to nature. We’ve actually found several options that are backed up to a national forest. Those would obviously be preferable. So, with all that in mind, we’ve narrowed our search to New Mexico and Colorado.

So, here’a a list of wants:

For the Area

• Beautiful Views
• Pleasant Year-Round Weather
• Good Internet
• Good Shipping Services
• Funky Vibe – I’m a Reiki Master that sells crystals for a living!
• Cute Downtown would be a plus
• Something that will bring potential customers to the area
• Hiking
• Kayaking
• Nice People
• Local Brewery
• Not too far to the grocery store
• Low crime

For the House (I’ll be honest – area trumps house – as they say, you can change the house, but you can’t change the view)

• Jacuzzi or hot tub
• Deck or Patio with Views! – the more the better!
• At least a 2-car garage, preferably attached
• 3 bedrooms and 2 ½ baths
• New appliances
• Nice kitchen
• Nice landscaping (something that conveys retreat)
• Updated everything
• Trees
• Guesthouse (the more the merrier)
• Studio/Warehouse
• Prefer not to see neighboring homes. Privacy.
• Preferably larger deck/patio area for dancing under the stars
• No more than 20 minutes out from a grocery store or restaurant