My Last Unfinished Blog: Aspirations born at the bay...full Steam(punk) ahead

We had an enchanting weekend. It was one of those weekends that makes you rethink your priorities and sort them out in the vein of dreams. My debts are close to being paid off. Jeremiah covers our mortgage and we share utilities. As of right now, I save for vacations and extras (Christmas, birthdays, etc.)

So why shouldn't I dream of our very own vacation home. It wouldn't be an expensive one...it would just have to have 3 criteria.

1. It will have to be waterfront.
2. It will have to have a garage and 2 bathrooms.
3. It will need to be within 10 minutes drive of my sister, Anna.

We have always lived below our means. When we bought our house in Phillipsburg, NJ our idea was we would live there, pay off our mortgage in a record time of about 15 years, and use our house as an investment rental property either down the road for Jonas to make some extra money on, or to keep living in it and banking our money for somewhere that would be our dream home.We are doing a combination of both of those things. The bottom line is I don't see myself in Phillipsburg forever. It isn't a bad place to live or anything but I would eventually like to go back to my roots and head to South Jersey again. Besides, it is where my family is and I am super close to them.

My sister Anna and her fiance, R.J. just moved down to Osborne Island (Little Egg Harbor) couple of months ago. When we were there visiting this past weekend I just thought of all the things I didn't want to miss out on a regular basis...their children, random get-togethers, being able to help them out, etc. After our house is paid off in the next 7-10 years it will be great to have income from our renters helping us with the mortgage at our vacation home turned permanent home. In the meantime we will have a place to go on weekends and throughout the summer. Kayaks, jet skis, crabbing, biking at our own vacation spot???? YES PLEASE! I even have some pretty awesome ideas for decorating our new place...I am going to work on getting a piece here and a piece there to really alleviate the expense of it. Here are couple of ideas for my Steampunk nautical theme...We will also have a huge map of Westeros and a Game of Thrones themed room too, because, obviously.

It is funny how motivated Jer and I can be when it comes to pursing our dreams. I suffer from depression and anxiety and sometimes that can be debilitating in the day to day interactions with other people but give me a goal, a tangible goal, and I can be unstoppable. Couple that with Jeremiah's shared enthusiasm and it is pretty much in the bag.

Here are some pictures from our weekend with my family. I kinda look at these pics as the dieters version of pinning up their ideal body onto the fridge to remind them of their goals when ever they open the fridge. These pics will keep me focused on my dreams. Our dreams. Jer, Jonas, and mine.