Good morning from snowy Utah, as I’m up here with the family getting a little skiing in here in Park City while visiting and staying with Isabel’s cousin in the quaint Guest House cabin! Great day of skiing yesterday at the Canyon’s Resort and today it’s windy and about to begin snowing. The girls came with us as we are celebrating my daughter, Bella’s 16th birthday and tonight we will make a celebratory paella! The girls are still sleeping and Isabel and I are listening to George Winston and watching the storm blow in. Nice to have a day to chill!

The time is flying as everyone is very busy that is for sure. Skiing solo yesterday gave me some time to reflect and look back as I have lots of great memories of past ski trips with good friends and how the time has moved on. The lift ticket tag was still on my jacket from the last trip with a good friend who complained while skiing that his back was bothering him. Well we have all experienced that, especially after a day of skiing. Sadly, upon return he visited the doctor whereupon they discovered a tumor the size of a grapefruit – he lived just three months more and was gone. 54 years old.

Then just this last week I heard the news of another friend, Paul Einan, who many of you know in our industry, recently passed away suffering from a fatal heart attack. My last time with Paul was at a cigar and bourbon mixer we had at John Schultz’s home we designed.

We all know this but sadly we forget that each day, each experience, each encounter with everyone you meet on any given day, may be the last encounter and the last experience. We all get so preoccupied with our lives and our problems that we forget to simply be in the moment and enjoy that moment – take it in, connect, and appreciate it as if it is the last moment. Fortunately, my last two moments and times with these two friends were special and will always be cherished.

Skiing yesterday and getting the girls all set for ski school – although a real adventure – was and is now a wonderful memory. The girls will never by 12 and soon 16 and who knows maybe that was my last time to ski. No one knows….. I enjoyed every minute of it, from watching the girls head out on the gondola with all the anxiety and enthusiasm of their first time on skis, to my first run of the day to my last run. Having a cold beer on the lodge roof deck and watching the girls from afar as they struggled with their pizza wedge form on the slopes, to grabbing hot cocoa at the end of the day and watch them drift off to sleep from exhaustion!

During the course of the day, I heard so many parents, and couples and kids, complain, fight, and say some pretty nasty things to each other….I wonder how this same day and those particular moments would have played out had they all known this might be the last day. Having been close to death a couple times I have learned and have tried to keep this in mind – that today might be it. Someday it most definitely will be for all of us. Why take that chance? I love our company tagline “Inspiring Living” because that is what we are passionate about with everything we do from the design of our homes, to our tours, to our cooking. LIVE people!!!

Ok so many exciting things going including a new charity project we are pitching in on that I mentioned in our last blog – a new playground for the River of Hope Orphanage in Port au Prince, Haiti. Through builder Michael Dudley and interior designer, Nora Johnson of Est Est they have invited my team to help out in raising the funds and building this new playground. A group from Candelaria Design will be heading to Haiti in April to be a part of the construction crew. On February 7th we co-hosted, along with Arcadia Design Group and Dudley Development, a happy hour at Arcadia Public Market! What a fun evening and a beautiful setting for our fund raiser. Thank you for the incredible turnout and thank you for all of the continued donations – we are getting closer and closer to reaching our goal.

Keep on the lookout for more quick episodes of what’s happening behind the scenes of Candelaria Design with our SKETCH Daily episodes. Tune in and subscribe on our Candelaria Design YouTube Channel for updated episodes https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbgBYVic9aP2PWdKS8duS6A?view_as=subscriber . You never know when one of your projects will be featured as we cover a lot of ground every day and every week!

Isabel Update:

Isabel is doing great and each day she gets a bit stronger. She has started her radiation treatments – 33 in all and she has completed 13 already and she is doing great! Again, we cannot thank all of you for the continued prayers, thoughts and posts on our social media and Isabel’s Caring Bridge https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/isabelcandelaria