Boulder to London

A lot has happened since my last post.  Probably the most significant is that Melisse applied to and has been accepted by The Art Academy in London.  Her talents have now officially been recognized by the international art community.  The school is a three year program that focuses on developing professional artists.  She will be in class about 35 hour per week and will have her own studio space to work when she is not in class.  If we are reading the map of London correctly, the school is in the same part of town as my office.  With any luck, we’ll be able to find a place that is an easy commute for both of us.  We leave at the end of the month for a one week house hunting trip.  Before that, we’ll be in Texas, Montana and Washington visiting friends and family before we take off.

On the moving front, this past week has been tough.  The tenants moved out of my house in Ft. Collins on Saturday and Melisse and I spent most of Sunday cleaning and painting to get the place ready for sale.  The carpet cleaners and stagers came on Monday and the landscapers and photographer were there Tuesday.  There were a few hiccups in the process.  First, one of the light circuits in my basement no longer worked and the smoke detector breaker would not reset.  I was lucky enough to get the electrician out to fix both problems quickly.  Second, when the landscaper was painting my fence, he got some overspray on the neighbor’s house.  This might not seem like a huge deal, but Bob had just finished painting his house a few days earlier.  In addition to getting on the outside, it looks like some came into the house through a window or the AC unit and is also on his furniture and carpet.  I felt so bad.  It looks like the insurance companies are going to take care of it, but it still sucks.  Overall, the house looks great.  I don’t actually think it ever looked this good and am a little sad to see it go.  Hopefully buyers will view it with the same admiration!!!

Other than that, I’ve spent a lot of time bumming around and enjoying Colorado.  I’ve been on a few mountain bike rides, a few more on the road bike, Eric, John and I did a cruiser tour of the Ft. Collins breweries, and HJ, Kevin and I had a great day skiing at A-basin.  Overall, I’m going to miss Colorado a lot, but Melisse and I are very excited for the move.  Over dinner last night we spent a little time reflecting on how lucky we were and what a great opportunity this is for both of us.