As many of you know we moved over the holidays. What you may not know is that prior to moving to the modern house, we made an offer on another falling down fixer upper that I had fallen hard for. A big 1920s Spanish, that was a crazy money pit. I dreamed of loving it, fixing it, giving it everything I had and making it beautiful again. Just as we had done a few times before. Love, fix, give. A pattern all too familiar.

This time fate spared me the pain and agony of the fixer and we did not get that house but instead a modern glass box that needs nothing but furniture. As I opened my eyes, the first morning in the new house, I stared across the canyon and found myself looking head on with the old Spanish. I laid there in disbelief and thought how bizarre that this fixer is what I will look at everyday.

The more I thought about the old house, I realized that it was a sign and the first gift of the New Year. That old house is a daily reminder of my old self and that I only have so much to give. I will never stop loving, fixing and giving, it is who I am. However, as I wrap up my forties and enter a New Year and decade, I find myself looking inward instead of out for projects and I’m sure there are a few…

So as we enter 2016, I will wake up each day reminded that we only have so much to give. We do what we can, but we need to take care of ourselves. Once we have, everything else simply falls into place. This year my fixer upper is a 49-year-old who is loves loving, fixing and giving.

Its going to be a great new year.

Charity Matters.

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