Hi.
Welcome to The Canyon Estate. My name is Michelle and this is where I document my adventures in a 1940's home remodel.
Welcome to The Canyon Estate. My name is Michelle and this is where I document my adventures in a 1940's home remodel.
michelle
Michelle earned her Masters of Business Administration with a focus on real estate finance and development from UCLA. Prior to moving back to the same small town she grew up in, the one she met Colton in, and the one where her parents live, she worked for The Ratkovich Company, a commercial real estate development firm in Los Angeles specializing in urban infill projects. Now she lives on a small farm in Oregon and is learning how to garden. She’s a mama to Hank and Rae.
Colton
Colton received his Bachelor’s in Construction Engineering Management before spending five years as an officer in the Marine Corps. He left the Marine Corps to work as a senior project manager at Marmol-Radziner, an architectural design-build firm based in Los Angeles, California. He left a piece of his heart on the surf breaks of Southern California when he moved back home to Oregon to raise his babies on a farm.
This is my crew.
Colton and I are from the same small town in Oregon. We grew up, went to college, Colton went into the Marine Corps and we spent a few years moving around the country and living it up on the beach in California while I built a photography business. Colton left the military for his dream job and I went back to graduate school to study what I should have studied the first time around (no regrets).
In 2017 I graduated from UCLA and we welcomed our first kid, Hank. We left jobs we both adored in Los Angeles to move back home to Oregon, where we could be closer to family and enjoy a slower pace of life. One year in I can say that while we are definitely closer to family, a slower pace of life is an elusive game we’re constantly trying to play.
Along the way we’ve been investing in real estate in an attempt to craft an intentional, simpler life in which Colton and I can be around for our family. This online journal is a reflection of many years spent trying to build something that allows us both to be home, working on the farm, when we want to be.
I’m not a financial professional, but this is my story of what’s worked for us. I don’t know if that’s interesting to you, but if it is, I’m really glad you’re here.
