Hello Beautiful Soul,

You may have forgotten about me, but I haven’t forgotten about you.  

Gina from Blissed-out, fit and feisty and the Goddess Quiz, here to reconnect and share with you a few golden nuggets I was reminded about amidst my craziness. 

I’ve been busy moving our family from North Carolina to California. To put it into perspective 2,466 miles and 36 hours driving.  

How do I know… because I drove all of but 1hr of it. 

Picture it; 2 cars, 2 parents, 2 kids, 2 german shepherds, and 3 cats, crossing 10 states in 4.5 days with 3 drivers. 

Yes, it was like a circus show. 

That’s the easy part of the story, now on to the nutty parts and most importantly those golden nuggets.

The Backstory

Mark and I both work from home and have been planning this move for four years. We knew the summer of 2020 would allow an easy transition because our son would be starting college and our daughter entering High School. 

For months, I prepared the house with fresh interior and exterior paint, resanded the hardwood floors (removing the evidence of our 2 delightful dogs), installed fresh carpeting, hired a professional photographer for photos and virtual tour, and the list goes on…

As I shared my bright CA visions with others I was surprised at the unnecessary and negative comments I received. 

They ranged from mentioning earthquakes, fires, and typically ended with taxes.

I have to admit there were moments that the naysayer was winning over what I knew was more important to my family…  beaches, warm sunny skies, wineries, mountains, fresh fruit, and veggies. 

After 4 Years of Waiting…
Late February, with excitement in my heart, I put out the ‘For Sale by Owner’ sign. Despite the nasty weather, within four showings we were under contract. (I was doing pirouettes across the kitchen.)

Next, my husband and I hopped on a plane and completed our search for our Cali home. We had been stalking a neighborhood for months and thanks to the internet narrowed down our search to 2 homes. Immediately, we found ‘the one.’ We entered a bidding war against another couple and won.

Our dreams were coming true! (I broke out into Zumba dancing.)

The Unexpected

Yes, you guessed it…

… a pandemic.

At the last minute, our NC buyer’s loan fell through and we were back to square one. Out went the ‘For Sale’ sign, AGAIN.

A couple of weeks later, our CA seller had surgery and two days later decided he no longer wished to sell his home.

‘Is this REALLY happening?!’, I wondered. Unfortunately for us, it was.

We were now offering masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer to every person viewing our home.

Things became very SLOOOOWWWWW in the housing market… and the world. 

It felt as if I was walking through quicksand. I was tired and somewhat down. Days became weeks and now the summer was passing too. 

With the new school year approaching, I needed to kick start things. Our son would be starting his dream program at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.  

The already sparse CA housing market worsened. And we had no idea where our daughter would attend High School. 

Our favorite neighborhood was looking less likely, so we expanded our search.

Golden Nugget #1: This IS a time for expansion. Think about what areas of your life you can broaden. 

Quicksand to Tidal Wave

How on earth was I going to get my family relocated across the country before school starts? 

I went into full-fledged mediation, prayer, and co-creation mode being clear and concise.

Each morning I practiced with my cup of hot tea on my back porch watching the sun come over the trees and adoring the birds as they each seemed to chirp (cheer) me on.

I found peace in remembering that I was being guided to California by a force greater than myself… and in being obedient to my calling I needed to let that energy allow it to unfold in its own time. 

This wasn’t easy for the native New Yorker in me.

There I sat wondering what this was going to look like, feel like and where in Orange County, CA we would end up.

Overnight, the quicksand became a tidal wave.

Months of vacuuming, mopping, dusting, sprinkling fresh flowers around the home for showing after showing with no offer in sight, prayers, and dreams on hold became something miraculous, the most powerful movement of my entire life.

Golden Nugget 2: Hold close to your heart, clear in your mind, and BELIEVE wholeheartedly in what you wish to call into your life. Remain steadfast and patient.

The Race is ON!

One mid-July Monday, we were told that a couple who had seen our home a month earlier, was preparing to make an offer. On Tuesday we received their ideal offer. 

Just one problem – there was no closing date. They wanted to sell their home (which wasn’t even on the market yet) first. 

My first impression was that I needed to comply. But then I realized my body was retaliating. I was tossing and turning knowing this wasn’t right for my family. 

I was conforming to someone else’s wishes and not my family’s needs.

I got out of bed at 3:23 am and typed a 3 paged letter to the wife/buyer explaining how desperate I was to get my daughter to California before day 1 of High School. She had already been suffering: school ending abruptly, not saying goodbye to her friends, and missing her 8th-grade graduation from her K-8 Spanish-English immersion school.

Within hours of hitting send, our sellers gave me what I asked for, a 21-day close.

Golden Nugget #3: Be transparent. Tell others what you need and desire. You’ll sleep better at night!

On Friday Mark, Sonia and I hopped on a plane and went on a wild jampacked 2 days, 10 homes, in 5 cities house-hunting escapade. I asked to be guided to our new home.

The clock was ticking, it was nerve-wracking! We raced from house to house, but nothing was working. It was getting to the point that my husband said, ‘We might have to settle.’ 

I’m guessing you are a bit like me and know that I wasn’t an option. 

We had broadened our search so far that now we were going to a neighborhood 25 minutes away from the ocean – which we originally didn’t consider. The pickings were slim – 8 houses down, with only 2 to go.

Finally, house number 9 was amazing. Our realtor quickly got on the phone and learned that it was nearly under contract.

Panic-stricken, off we raced, around the corner to house number 10. 

It had now been on the market for 30 hours. We knew it would be a similar scenario. (Same neighborhood, 25 minutes away from the ocean. A neighborhood we’ve never seen before, yet my cousins had been urging us to see for months.)

The realtor opened the front door and Sonia and I peered in. 

WE knew it…

…THIS was OUR HOME!

We stood there in awe and I told the realtor before entering, ‘this was our home’. 

He said, “Ah, ok….(long pause)… Would you like to go in and see it then?”

We took a look around and most importantly felt it’s vibe and knew we had arrived.

Our realtor explained this seller had multiple offers on the table. If we were serious we needed a great game plan.

We chose to offer more than 2% over the asking price. (Never done that before.)

Our brilliant realtor explained if we really wanted the home we should add a clause stating we’ll pay $5,000 over the highest bidder. (Sounded absurd, but we did it anyway.)

Guess what? By Monday dinner time, we were under contract for our dream home.

This home checked off nearly every box plus some we didn’t think of. The high school is even better than the one closer to the beach. 

This home’s energy, sunlight and mountain views inspire me to be the best version and vision of myself! 

This tidal action continued… 

…within 2 weeks of arriving back to NC from our house hunting trip, I hired a mover, finished packing, closed on our NC home, and was loaded into a moving truck and 2 cars for our trek across the country.

Golden Nugget #4:  Live in BELIEF and AWE. Divine timing is beautiful and bountiful.

With Minutes to Spare

Miraculously, we made it to our hotel in CA 20 minutes prior to our son starting his first on-line college semester and 18 hours prior to our daughter beginning on-line high school year.  

We remained in hotels for 2 weeks awaiting our closing and moving into our dream home.

Golden Nugget #5:  Remember your true passion, purpose, and vision then no matter what’s going on in the world, you’ll remain in your ultimate goddess energy.

I’ve been sharing nuggets like these with wonderful women, like you, for more than a decade, but as you heard, the craziness in the world took me away from my core, which in turn made me feel scattered and nervous. 

I’m grateful and thankful that this journey of highs and lows quickly reminded me of these golden nuggets of expansion, belief, transparency, and calling forth our brilliant destiny, grounded me again.

Enough about me, I’m excited to hear from you.

Let me know, have you been feeling like you’re in quicksand? Or, are you riding a tidal wave? And what nuggets have appeared for you during this time?

Love, Light, & Inspiration,

Gina Vincent

XOXOX