Welcome to Dusty Ridge!

intro: a field in winter

Wherein Eleanor Attempts a New Dream

A little over a year ago, I purchased this field in a new, small development in Youngsville, Louisiana. Some of you might be confused since a little over a year ago, I owned a single-family craftsman in San Leandro, California. According to Google Maps. it would take 31 hours of driving to get from my San Leandro house to this new field I owned. While my commute was bad — it wasn’t quite THAT bad.

Having grown up in both Lafayette, Louisiana and Spring, Texas — I am, at least on paper, a southern girl. At the age of 17, this wasn’t a label I appreciated — I had eyes for the Golden State and no one was going to deter me. So when it was time for college, two months after turning 18, I moved out to the San Francisco Bay Area and into an apartment in San Leandro. The early years were hard; packing up your life and starting over entirely on your own is something I think only a naive 18-year-old can muster the unfounded confidence for, but that’s who I was so that’s what I did. I made friends through school, through jobs. I braved new grocery stores and new streets and new cultures as best I could, but the sense of belonging in any community was hard to come by. I went from a small(ish) town centered around a massive 5A Texas high school to a metropolitan area with a population over 8 million. In hindsight, it’s not surprising I felt a bit lost. Thankfully, I inherited a decent stubborn streak somewhere in my DNA, and I refused to admit that it was anything other than exactly what I wanted. So even after college, and after the economy recovered from the 2008 recession that I graduated into (so fun), I settled in to the Bay and decided to call it home.

And for 15 years, it was.

Something I learned a bit later in life is that its ok to change your mind. If you make a choice and it doesn’t go how you think it will or it doesn’t end up getting you what you’re chasing - you can, in fact, just make a new decision. You don’t have to stay married and indebted to a choice you made under a set of circumstances that no longer exist. After almost 20 years in the Bay, I was ready for some place new. I weighed several options - places in Texas, Louisiana, along the East Coast, and even Seattle and the PNW. Once I had landed on coming back home to Louisiana, I worked on my transition at work, and then I bought the land.

The best laid plans, am I right? In March, suddenly I didn’t need to worry about a work transition because Meta and I parted ways after seven and a half years. So after a tense few weeks, I rescoped my plans. Isn’t that what any project manager worth their salt does when the road forks? I packed up my house, I loaded up my car, and Muffin and I jumped the state line. I arrived in Lafayette at the end of June.

a relocated lady in her field, summer

Undertaking a custom home was something I knew would be incredibly difficult. As someone whose entire professional career is about anticipating the worst case scenario, I knew the sheer volume of decision-making would be intimidating. Setting aside the fact that I barely knew how to MAINTAIN a house, designing one from scratch seemed like a pretty steep learning curve. Also, SO MANY PEOPLE told me not to do it, lol. I cannot tell you how many people tried to caution me against this project. But much like my unfounded confidence at 18, almost as many years later, I decided it was time to do another hard thing. And unlike the hard things I did all those years ago - this time I’m gonna document it. Right here.

So welcome to my project blog! I’ll update as we move through phases of construction, starting with designing the layout with the architect, all the way through (hopefully) to a video tour of the finished thing. I can’t promise you that I’ll teach you anything you don’t know, I also can’t promise that I’m going to get everything right with this house. But I can promise that once my perfectly imperfect dream house is built, there will be a light on for you.

“If ever you are passing my way, don’t wait to knock! Tea is at four; but any of you are welcome at any time.” -Bilbo Baggins (my spirit animal), The Hobbit