I am a mother of four, a wife, a crafter, former professional cook and an entrepreneur. I recently spent a couple of decades running a successful mobile games company with my husband. In that chapter of my life I lead teams that won awards for cause-related marketing efforts, but am more proud of the fact that our company made sizable donations to both breast cancer assistance organizations and grassroots reforestation efforts. I love putting my creative efforts to work for good. While in my tenure I had the privilege of collaborating with industry giants like Apple, Facebook, Google, Disney, Turner, NBC Universal, Amazon, Cartoon Network, and PBS. Additionally, I independently published four children's apps and brought to market a first of it's kind RPG game + companion physical goods product. I love creative play and both digital and physical worlds. My own kids are my favorite playmates.

 

Sadly, we worked like dogs for 2+ decades to build our company. There was never enough time for relaxation and joy, as most families know. I am a creative person at heart, with a serious wanderlust, vacation and travel time are precious. It's a sacred time to decompress, reconnect, cook and to have fun together. I almost always get a creative boost from it, new foods to cook with, simple projects to do with my kids, or some home renovation idea, travel inspires and delights and brings our family closer. I wanted more of that kind of time.

 

We love to go to new places in the US and abroad, but we also always wanted to have our own little haven that we could drive to for vacation. To be able to reconnect with the family for holidays and long weekends, in our own space. Then, we had a stroke of good fortune, and we sold our company. Right place, right time. So we bought our dream home in the mountains, where we could gather with extended family and friends to create lifelong memories. Having bought and renovated three other homes, we were looking forward to making this our forever place and were beyond excited for our dream to come true. .

 

Then, in true yin-yang fashion, tragedy struck. Two of our four children would be seriously injured in a sledding accident just days after closing on our family's dream house. They had to be airlifted out of the mountains and spent a week in the PICU. My husband and I spent too much time waiting for the kids to wake up -- they both suffered traumatic brain injuries, multiple facial fractures, internal injuries, and a whole lot of anguish. They woke up one at a time, first the oldest one who instantly charmed the nurses. His younger sister would take days, and when she first spoke my name I cried and cried and cried. We never left their sides, and once we were all okay and walking out of the hospital, I wanted nothing more than to be their mom and be present. A few months after that tragedy, my second son and I were driving him back to college after Thanksgiving break. I was loving my one on one roadtrip, it's amazing to be solo with one kid when you are usually with four plus the grandparents. When we were on the 101 freeway near the redwoods, an oncoming driver crossed the center divider and hit us head-on, which sent us spinning. Miraculously, we survived, with minor injuries -- but it left us terrified and shaken, and would take some time to heal.

 

You'll have to read on to hear how epic snow in Mammoth caused our renovation to turn south and how we are fighting our way back from that.

 

Despite our terrible, no good year, I am grateful to be alive and just months away from our mountain renovation being done. I am happy to say I do now devote much more time to my family, travel, and our collective well-being.

 

I started this blog to make a based home-living. Affiliate linking, product sales, and advertising, I am using all of that to keep the home fires burning. Or I hope to. Thank you for reading, and I hope you find usefulness or joy for it.