About Laura-Jane

Laura-Jane is the writer of this blog. She lives with Cameron at Whimfield Farm in Prince Edward Island. Here are some tid-bits about her.

I was born in 1982 in a log-house on a small acreage in Parksville, British Columbia, Canada. Although I only lived in our family house until I was five years old, I have many fond memories of our property. And as I grew up I remember pledging that if I won the lottery I would buy our family house back.

I’ve always had a desire to live the rural lifestyle, and I am excited to be on the brink of making this dream happen, albeit not in the house I lived in as a child.

I had a happy childhood, and some good (and some rebellious) years as a teenager. When I was sixteen I met a certain captivating soul named Cameron, and we’ve been together ever since. We both attended University (first Malaspina College in Nanaimo, BC, and then the University of Victoria), and I majored in Criminology and Political Science.

Throughout University, I was a very active ‘blogger, and I absolutely loved writing and sharing my life with the few who were inclined to read my stories. I wrote for five years, and I am so glad that I did. For me, the most incredible benefit of ‘blogging was to be able to track changes in myself; my grammar, thoughts, ideas, and goals transformed so much throughout those five years that it’s striking to look backwards–but that’s the beauty of the passing of time!

After graduating from University, I worked for the Langford City Hall in the Engineering and then the Planning Department, where I met a lot of fabulous people and I really did enjoy my job.

Cameron was working full-time as well, and we settled into life. We were avid hikers, geocachers, and letter-boxers, and we enjoyed our weekends immensely. My ‘blog was virtually abandoned by this time, and I missed writing whole-heartedly, but did not have the time nor the will to get back into it.

Cameron and I would often discuss the difference between our “work lives” and our “home lives”. We both enjoyed our jobs, but we felt very compartmentalized and felt that work left little time for much else. For a couple of years we mulled over the idea of making a major change, but it was hard to imagine really making it happen. The idea grew bigger and bigger the more we spoke about it, and eventually one day we suddenly vowed (yes, pinky swore) that we would change the way we lived our lives. From then on, everything was easy; it was coming to the decision that had been the difficult part.

And so we set the ball rolling… We sold our condo, sold our furniture, quit our jobs, left everything we knew behind (including every member of our beloved families), and drove across the country to our new home: Prince Edward Island.

For me, leaving everything behind was, in some respects, easy. I am a very quiet home-body and I had very few friends. I have a passion for people as a whole and to me there is nothing more interesting than meeting someone new, but sustaining friendships has been hard for me as I have a tendency to be flaky and to disappoint.

I had always known that I’d have to leave my job sooner or later, so I was mentally prepared to leave those beautiful people behind (although that’s not to say that it wasn’t hard!).

I seem to have a problem with commitment so I didn’t belong to any groups, although I dabbled in playing the cello with a local orchestra on and off. We didn’t have any pets, and I’d given up on house-plants years before.

My family is incredibly loving and I knew that they would support me no matter what. I miss them all, but I know that we will always be there for one another, and I firmly felt that a major life change was needed for me to really be there for my family; working long hours and feeling stressed left me pretty incompetent when it came to staying in close connection with my family.

Now, let me call your attention to the fun stuff:

I play the cello! I love word games! I love baking sweet goodies! Heaven to me is a bag of All Dressed chips. I speak French. The less I pay for something, the more proud I am of it. When I read books I never read the dust-jackets. I love Broadway musicals. I’m terrible with everyday friend stuff, but if you need me in a pinch, I won’t let you down. I have played on a curling team (and, if Cameron has anything to do with it, I will again). I love elderly people, especially my Grandma Connie. I can’t sew/knit/crochet but I make a mean rag rug. Hot chocolate is my comfort food. I don’t drink alcohol. I’m a vegetarian. If I am ever inclined to get another full-time job, I’d like to work in social services. When I consider going back to University, I consider taking sociology or social work. I love swimming. I love music from the 1920s and 1930s. I’m a bad liar. I don’t know my times tables. Cameron is my best friend. We don’t have a TV, but I have watched every Seinfeld episode ever made. I love riding public transit, and if you tell me your life story I’ll listen.