The Start of Summer

I hope you all had some time this weekend to share moments with family and friends and relax in the sunshine. Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer and since this year our summer promises to our busiest yet, we're happy to take the opportunity to enjoy some family time at the Chadwick Lake house.

With all the fun, it's sometimes easy to lose sight of what really should be celebrated this weekend - all of the U.S. service men and women who have fought and died for our country. For me, the closest to heart and home is the life of a very good friend of mine, Army Sergeant Jason Lantieri, who died serving our country on October 10, 2007 in Iraq. Thank you, Jason and thanks to all of the brave men and women serving our country today.

Jason Lantieri ~ July 24, 1982-October 10, 2007

Check Another One Off The List

Remember my list of goals for 2011? Well, maybe you don't, but they haven't stopped haunting me since I posted them for all to see on the right sidebar of this blog. I'm slowing working on a few of them (I'm up to book #5 or 6) while others are falling by the wayside (I chewed right through my fingernails this morning, eew!). In an effort not to fail miserably on my goals for the year (and to avoid writing a pathetic "recap of 2011" post in December), I decided to pick one and focus on completing it as soon as possible. So I went online and Googled "volunteer opportunities in CT" and found myself browsing through a list of wanted ads for various organizations on the VolunteerMatch website. One of the first listings I came across was for an organization in New Haven looking for a volunteer photographer to take pictures for them. Hold the phone? You mean I can get in my volunteer hours (goal #3) AND practice my photography craft (unlisted goal) all at once?! Yes, please!!

The organization is called the Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven (NHS). NHS works to rehabilitate houses and revitalize neighborhoods in the city of New Haven. They buy and renovate run down houses and sell them to low and moderate income families. We toured a few of their houses and I took pictures for them for their website and educational materials.

The NHS is also collaborating with the Yale University School of Architecture to design and build a new home in New Haven. I took a few pictures for them of the building progress, which was really interesting because they are only a few steps ahead of us in our own house project. The student project is really neat because they designed the house and are doing all of the building themselves.

I hope to work with the NHS again (notice the goal says volunteer more than once) in the near future. It's given me the opportunity to not only give back to a community organization but it has also allowed me to work on my photography skills. And now I can finally scratch another goal off the list. Yes!

Day 23

This is what our building site looked like this afternoon while the foundation was being poured.

Dad Chadwick working hard


Andrew taking in the construction

Day 18

Here we are more than two full weeks into the house building project (more if you count our false start) and so far we have a big hole in the ground and the footing for the foundation complete. Getting the footing in was a fun step in the process because it allowed us to really see how the house would be laid out and situated on the landscape.

The next step will be to finish putting up the walls (not sure exactly what you call them) for the foundation and then pouring the cement. We were hoping to have the foundation close to done by now, but it has been raining for several days here and the forecast doesn't look to improve much over the next few days so we're just sitting tight for now. More updates to come...

At 29

Today is my 29th birthday. Soon, I'll start a new decade. There are a lot of things I've learned in my 29 years and many more things I'll learn in the years ahead of me. I had a quiet night this week to think about where I am at 29. So here you go. Sorry for the sap.

At 29, I can officially recall my “early 20’s.” And when I do, I wonder who was that twenty-year old girl, and how is it possible that she was ever me?

At 29, I realize every day of my life that I have been lucky in love and lucky to be loved.

At 29, I don’t look back on things that “could have been” because where I am right now is where I was always meant to be.

At 29, I have one grey hair that has been in place for several years now (yes, just one) and upon closer inspection I have not just a few but many fine wrinkles around my eyes.

At 29, I have two amazing parents that I can’t imagine living without, even at this stage of adulthood. They somehow figured out how to right my wrongs without ever over-parenting. They also taught me about humility, honesty and unconditional love. Additionally, I have a father who has taught me to be stubborn. Thank you, Dad.

At 29, I have the same girlfriends I had when I was 6 (plus a few "extras" I picked up along the way). Relationships forged on playgrounds sometimes struggle to keep up with the pace, challenges and personal growth of adulthood, but regardless of time and change, we still carve out special moments for each other and I know they’ll be there for me long into my golden years.

At 29, I have learned many things about life that can’t be taught in school or from storybooks but rather only from personal suffering. I wouldn’t take back the pain because without the scars, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Those scars remind me everyday of the lessons I fought so hard to learn.

At 29, I have a closet full of shoes. And I can’t help it but I love them all and most of them I got on sale.

At 29, I continue to evolve and know that the person I am today will not be the person I am at 39 or 49 or certainly not the person I’ll be if I see 79.

At 29, I have a brother and sister-in-law who are now close in proximity and even closer to heart. They have two beautiful children whose laughter is infectious and whose touch makes me wonder what it might be like to be a parent someday.

At 29, I am settling into my career and I’m proud of how hard I’ve worked for it.

At 29, I have aches and pains that weren’t there five years ago and when I wake up in the morning with stiff, swollen fingers, I think of my grandmother who had debilitating arthritis and I wonder if I’m next.

At 29, I have many hobbies but only two passions: running and making art.

At 29, I have fewer questions about who I am in the world and more concern about how I can better the world around me.

At 29, I have life insurance and a 403(b). Soon enough, I’ll also own a mortgage.

At 29, I have a husband who knows me better than anyone. At times, even better than I know myself. A man who accepts my flaws, encourages my talents and holds me up when I need support. A gentle, kind and caring man. The keeper of my heart.

At 29, I have a strong sense of self. I have role models and men and women in my life that I aspire to be like. But I am my own woman and dare I say there really is no one quite like me.

And finally, at 29, I am settling in. Because let’s face it, at 29, there’s still a long road ahead of me.

In Bloom

I love winter but ever since James got me my first digital SLR camera for Christmas, I've been itching to take pictures of the earth in bloom. We experienced a somewhat delayed spring this year with cool temperatures and a fair share of rain drops and gloom taking up the better part of the past month or so. It's true what they say however, "April showers bring May flowers" and indeed in this first week of my most favorite month of the year, the earth is in bloom. The trees, flowers and insects have given me plenty of opportunities to improve my shooting skills. If you are interested in seeing more of my latest photos, visit my Flickr page.

Breaking Ground

We officially broke ground on the house project a few weeks ago and already had a minor setback that involved us changing the design of the driveway in order to meet the town regulations. Essentially the length and grade of our planned driveway was such that a fire truck could not access the property in the event of a fire. This meant that we had to change the location of our driveway, re-survey the site and re-apply for a driveway permit. It set us back about two weeks. The first setback of many, I imagine. In any case, we are back on track and things are moving so fast I'm finding it hard to keep up. It will be a challenge to keep the blog updated as things get into full swing, but I'll do my best. Ready or not, here we go!

Let's take a look at the "before" pictures of the site, taken last summer:

This will be the view from the back of our house. Rooms with this awesome view include kitchen, living room, master bedroom, porches and patios and lower living area.


Summit taking it all in, without a clue about how her life is about to change.

Here's a reminder of what the exterior of the house will look like. We've made minor changes since these plans were drawn, but they give you a general idea of what the house will look like from the outside. I'll share the interior floor plans with you in a bit but right now that seems so far off!

Front of the house facing the road. We've made minor changes to a few windows and added a pergola/porch that are not on these prints. Windows from left to right: master bathroom, study, front door, dining room, mudroom, garage. New driveway will curve in front of the house and exit the lot on the right. We'll have to come up with some interesting landscaping but it was the only way it was going to work.


Back of the house looking out to farm and valley. Garage on left. Main level from left to right includes kitchen with skylights and walk out deck (not drawn), living room with vaulted ceiling and lots of windows and master bedroom with covered porch. Lower level (finished walk-out basement) includes two bedrooms, a full bath and a family room.

Currently, we are finishing off the site work, installing the septic tank and preparing to pour the foundation. Below are recent images of the ground breaking, driveway making, site grading and dirt pushing activities of the past two weeks.

Looking up to the construction site. Our driveway will be off the road above construction. My brother and sister in law's house is on hill behind barn and garage. Farm entrance is off road I'm standing on while taking this picture. The property includes the barn and silo, three car garage (James' workshop), riding ring, pasture and pond.


A Family Affair: James' dad on the excavator and my dad on the bulldozer.


A closer look at the construction site, looking up from the barns to what will be the back of the house.


James' dad is doing the site work for the project with help from James and my dad. I swear they could spend all day pushing dirt around if we let them.


Nobody said building on a slope would be easy -boy were they right!


Andrew and Aubrey getting in on the digging too!


Summit's sitting in her future back yard....still trying to figure it all out.

And there you have it. I'm sure if I went over to the site right now it would look different already, that's how fast it's changing right now. I'll do my best to keep you posted on our progress!