You may have noticed that this the first blog to come from my little fingers in a long while.

I know . . . I know . . . apologies for the absence, but life just got in the way somehow; I was busy with a big life REBOOT!

I started a new job, left that job, sold our house in Fort Lauderdale, sold a car, put all our belongings in storage, went on road trip for over a month, went to Europe for two weeks, bought a house and then settled into a new life in a new city; and least we forget, the Traberts were taped to be on HGTV’s House Hunters, which was more time consuming than initially thought.

So needless to say, all these life changes took me away from my creative outlet of writing for a bit, but “THE BITCH IS BACK,” and I’m ready to create again.

I have a new look to my site, a new attitude on life and a new place to call home – let’s just say that I hit the REBOOT button on my life.

Where have I been you ask?

Finding myself . . . then landing in St. Louis!

St. Louis? 

(insert blank stare)

Why in the world would we move from sunny Fort Lauderdale to midwestern St. Louis?

Well, let’s back up a bit, because . . .

I think there's a story there!

 

As the saying goes, “A lady knows when to leave (the party),” well, so do The Traberts.  There is no better way to make your grand exit than on a high note!  Some might even say we had the perfect life, and it was, for the longest time.  So, why give all that up?  Happiness of course!  After ten glamorous years of fancy galas, luxurious beach clubs, pool parties and a crazy nightlife, it was time to switch things up and trade it all in for a new adventure, a “reboot” if you will.

The easiest way to explain our desire to leave is to pose the question . . . “Is it paradise if it is paradise every day?”

I mean . . . what is paradise anyway?

I yearned for a gloomy Sunday afternoon where you had no yard work to do, no chores and lazy day on the couch with no guilt.  How about a Christmas where we did not have to crank the A/C to 65 degrees in order to achieve some resemblance of a winter chill?  I wanted to wear a sweater in fall and have the ability to sit outside and not melt away from the sun or loose a pint of blood from those pesky mosquitos.

Let’s be clear though, we did not take the decision to move lightly.  We had built a life together in South Florida and a lot of friendships had been forged during our time together.

Plus, I had spent almost eight years collecting and curating to create a masterpiece of a show home; leading some to call it the “ART HOME.”  However, the final nail in SOFLO’s coffin was the ridiculously immense traffic we experienced in our hour and half commute (one way) to work each day and the absurd cost of living – paradise is expensive.  In the end, it just came down to what some deem as “paradise” was a nightmare for us.  So, we packed up our life and hit the road Jack . . . and never looked back.

Our “ART” home sold in 21 days and even broke records for highest dollar per square foot in the neighborhood – THANK YOU to the Rockstar real estate broker Terry Behal.  All our belongings were packed into national storage and then we embarked on a road trip of self-discovery.  The discovery was where the Universe going to take us next? Over a course of 40 days and 22 cities (Savannah, Charleston, Richmond, Annapolis, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Wilmington, Kennett Square, New York City, Mystic, Thompson, Lancaster, Blue Balls, Intercourse, Jeanette, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Lexington, St. Louis, Kansas City, Pigeon Forge and Asheville) the Traberts began a city search for the next place to call home.

We decided to record parts of our adventures, properly entitled – “My Crazy Trabert Life: Road Trip Edition,” so that our friends and family could follow along on our journey as we navigated around the U.S.  You can view all the laughs on our YouTube page @mycrazytrabertlife.

In the midst of our road trip, Tedd received a call for an interview in St Louis with an international law firm looking for the next leader in HR; thank goodness I packed a suit to take on the trip for just an occasion.  So, we rolled into town during what would be a very poetic moment – the Solar Eclipse of 2017.  I kid you not . . . we literally were driving past the St. Louis Arch as the eclipse was taking place!  Talk about a sign from Heaven!

The next day, as Tedd went to razzle dazzle at his interview, I decided to take the opportunity to explore St. Louis and look at some housing options.  I tell everyone it was to get a sense of the real-estate market in STL, just in case Tedd did get the job; but in reality, I really just wanted to tour the big historic homes that St. Louis has to offer.  Of course, this was until we saw my dream home!  I call it my “Under the Tuscan Sun” moment. You know the movie about a woman who travels to Italy and decides to risk it all and buy a villa in Tuscany and “reboot” her life?  Well, let me just say, that Tedd and I lived that exact moment in the movie when all the stars aligned; or in our case, the sun and moon.  On our way out of town, we viewed one last house – OUR HOUSE!  From the moment I walked in, I knew this was it, this was HOME.

But alas, Tedd did not have quite the job yet, so we continued on our journey and headed on to Kansas to visit my family.  It was a very hot day of working in my dad’s barn (YES, I said barn . . . I can be butch when needed), when Tedd received the call that changed our course on the road trip and life.  He was offered the job and accepted.  Upon hanging up the phone, in a moment of celebration, Tedd turned to me and asked, “should we put a bid on your dream house?”  There was only one answer that appropriately fit the scene, “Does a deer sh*t in the woods?”

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And rest was, as they say, “HISTORY!”  We are now building a life here in St. Louis with a beautifully historic home and discovering all the wonderful things the city has to offer: an arts scene that rivals Miami, eclectic and delicious restaurants, historic architecture, manicured parks and of course the Arch.  We are quickly becoming St. Louisans and loving it!

So now, I am back and writing and on a new mission . . . to build the perfect home for entertaining and presenting my passion of the “Art of the Table” to the world!  You can watch all the renovation drama of our new historic home unfold on our personal YouTube and Instagram pages @MyCrazyTrabertLife.  Watch for more blog posts and my videos to come on my new YouTube channel @ArtfulMatters for helpful tips on protocol and proper entertaining. Enjoy!