Things happen for a reason...

I haven't checked in for some time, and I'm sorry for that!! It's been a busy couple of weeks. We returned to Channel Islands Harbor on Tuesday, December 6th. I called my old boss, Emma, to let her know if she could use my help during year-end, I'd be happy to help and it turns out she was interviewing for my old position. So, I ended up getting my old job back at Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Association and I started on Monday. Meanwhile at the shop, we jumped right in and prepared for the big Parade of Lights weekend and had a wonderful weekend. We had Michael's Dad, Chad, Chad's Dad (Paul), Casey & Barbara on the boat for the parade. It was a nice evening, Dad made Pot Roast & Cherry Crisp and we had plenty of hot buttered rum's!

Since we've returned, we've been trying to get back into a routine and get re-established. We found a car for Michael this weekend, a 2000 Lexus GS300, that we'll pick up on Wednesday, I have been shopping for some 'work' clothes, we're looking for a slip for the boat, and generally trying to get things moving. We've been car shopping as well for me, but I'm much more finnicky than Michael and we haven't found the 'one' yet. I'm looking for a PT Cruiser Convertible, Jeep Wrangler, or a VW Cabrio. We'll see what I end up with!

We decided one improvement we'd make to the shop is bring the upstairs (Clothes, Shoes, Nautical decor items, gifts, etc) downstairs and move the downstairs (Marine supplies) upstairs to hopefully draw in more of the passers-by. We have this move scheduled for the 1st week in January, the shop will close for the entire week and lots of changes will take place. So we're ramping up for that - purchasing lots of goodies, preparing, planning, & getting excited.

We're spending Christmas out in Palm Springs with Michael's family. We're having Christmas Eve dinner at Jennifer's house and will come back home on Monday. We can't wait to see the kids!!

So what's the plan now? This is a postponement of the trip, not a cancellation, so we're still planning on leaving in the next couple years. Our plan is to doll up the shop, wait out the redevelopment of the complex where the shop is, and get it making some good money, then put it up for sale and actually make some money on it. That's the plan, hopefully it'll work out as we plan! Michael will work at the shop, and then do some Real Estate part time. I'll work at LMVNA as the computer chic. :-)

We'll write more as things happen, stay tuned!!
Rene & Michael

New news

Sunday, December 04, 2005
Subject: Okay….so we've had a change in plans and we're heading back to Channel Islands Harbor for awhile. After some long, exhausting discussion, we've decided that it's too much of a financial burden to go sailing and finance the shop until it sells. Our shop manager, Casey, & Dad are doing a fabulous job keeping the shop running, but as all of you small business owners know….a small business must be tended to, constantly grown, & changed to continue success. And because of several unusual circumstances in the complex where our shop is located, foot traffic has been lower and sales are down. We simply can't leave and go sailing while owning the shop and although we still have it up for sale, it won't sell itself, and certainly won't sell if it isn't making good money. If we leave now, we will be committing financial suicide and we've worked too hard and for too long to make a dumb decision now. We've been pushing so hard to take off sailing that we were willing to do about anything to leave, including making a silly mistake. Apparently though, a few weeks out on the water have helped clear our minds and bring us to our senses!

So what now? Well….we're going to try and find a slip in Channel Islands harbor for the boat, Rene will look for a job, Michael will work at the shop for a while, make some exciting new changes to the store, dig in, get the shop running like a top, and sell it for what it's worth.

Let's be clear though….this is just a postponement, we're not giving up the dream, just delaying it a bit. Obviously, we're pretty disappointed, crushed really, a little embarrassed, & feel somewhat defeated, but are kinda looking forward to kicking butt back home until it's time to leave again. And hey, since the boat is ready to go….we can really enjoy playing on the boat and get it all broken in before we leave again. We're looking forward to weekend trips, doing some scuba diving, & trying to break anything we can. We'll write more later….Rene & Michael

Monday, December 05, 2005
We headed out of Newport Harbor at approx 6:45am this morning headed to Marina Del Rey. We're going to stay there for the night and then head to Channel Islands Harbor. We had a great time in Newport, we did a TON of walking. If you check out the Newport area, it's a huge harbor and we walked the whole thing, several times. Yesterday was our most adventurous day by far, we walked a little over 7 miles. We checked out all of the gift stores and have some great ideas for how to doll up the shop when we return. Chad had a great time in Newport as well. He raced on both Saturday and Sunday - Saturday he raced on Lido 14's and Sunday he raced on a CNC 40 named Cha Cha Cha and they came in 1st!! They had some great wind - 30 knots when they first started the race.

This morning was fabulous, beautiful, sunshiny, clear. The winds are about 10 knots and we're letting Otto the autopilot drive as the wind is not on our side. We'll write more later….Rene & Michael

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

We made it to Marina Del Rey around 1:30 yesterday. We filled up one tank of diesel and headed to a slip. One of Chad's friends, Ty, arranged a 100' slip that belongs to Nicholas Cage for the night….the boat fit with room to spare! We were beside some very BIG boats that were all decked out for Christmas. Once we were tied up, we had cocktails with Ty and another friend, Mike. Victor, a dockman from CYC, was incredibly helpful and showed us to our slip, even loaning us his key from his keyring for the night. We had dinner at Tony B's in the harbor and had a nice evening. We left the harbor at about 7:00 headed to Channel Islands Harbor. Woohoo! J Will write more later…..Rene & Michael

In Newport Harbor

We decided to leave Avalon one day early and arrived in Newport Harbor around 2:45 on Wednesday. We didn't have any great wind, so we motored the entire way, but it was a beautiful sunshiny day and we had a great trip over. We're now tied up in front of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club and will be here until Monday. We'll write more later!!….Rene & Michael