Good morning friends! I thought I’d start the week by telling you about my big news. Well, our big news, my husband and me. I’ve been wanting to talk about it for awhile now but couldn’t for certain reasons, some being that I needed to first tell all of my family and friends before announcing it here or else I’d be offending quite a few people (”You blogged it before telling me?”). This news won’t be a big deal to most of you, but it’s quite life changing for me anyway…

We are leaving our home in New Hampshire and relocating to Germany! We’ll maintain a crash pad in Boston for business and vacation but we’ll be based abroad now. I’m so excited, I can’t believe it. As many of you know, my goal has always been to live in Europe (since I was a teenager) and when I was in my twenties I came thisclose to relocating to England a few times but it did not work out for me for one reason or another. As the saying goes, timing is everything. Finally, after years of wanting something so badly for myself, it’s soon to become a reality.

We’ll be living in a city called Hannover (in the north), a city the size and climate of Boston, where we already have a second home (a small apartment) but once we’re over there we’ll be property hunting because a one bedroom won’t be large enough for us. Hannover has changed quite a lot in the past ten years with lots of restoring, building and now even a small indie art scene is emerging there so it’s a good time to go over. I’ve built up some very solid contacts in northern Europe in general after going back and forth for so many years and my husband’s family lives there so it’s not like we’re starting at zero. We’d like to eventually have a child and I plan to grow out my business in new and interesting ways and I feel that Germany will be the perfect place for us to plant ourselves right now. I never say forever when it comes to any of the plans that I make in life (except for my wedding vows), I always allow wiggle room, but for now this is what our plans are.

We move in August so I have about two months to finish everything — our relocation company is amazing and is making the entire process a breeze so far. If you’re an expat you know the process I’m sure. We’re only taking about a quarter of our belongings with us, some will go to Boston and other things I’ve sold already or have given to charity. It’s a good feeling to go through everything you own and “qualify” it — what stays, what goes… It’s been such a cleansing process. I’ve been going through things for the past few months with a very critical eye and it started off feeling scary and overwhelming but now it’s become quite fun since I like a good challenge.

So what will change about decor8?

Nothing really. I’ll still be plugged in to my life in America and what’s going on over here, but of course I plan to travel more when I move because places like London, Amsterdam and Copenhagen will be a 45 minute flight away so I want to catch design shows there and see some of the stores and places I’ve long wanted to visit. Paris is only a little over an hour by plane, and I can fly to Istanbul and Marrakesh a lot easier (and cheaper) than I can from Boston. I can hop on the train and in one hour I’m in beautiful Hamburg or in a little over an hour I’m in artsy Berlin so there will be quite a lot of culture for me to absorb and share here with all of you.

So that’s my news. :)

(photography: holly becker)