READY FOR ADVENTURE

NEVER IN HER WILDEST DREAMS did California native, Heidi Lancaster, think that someday she would leave the sunny state she’d lived in her whole life to move across the country and make a life in Lake Forest.

“One day Dave told me that he had a work opportunity in Chicago and asked what I would think about moving there,” says Lancaster of her husband who works in commercial real estate finance. “So many of our friends were selling their houses and moving on to new things because they were empty nesters. I wondered if maybe it was time for us to do something different, too. I think Dave and I were both ready for an adventure.”

But the decision to move wasn’t solely up to them. The Lancasters still had one child at home, Will, who was going to be a high school sophomore when this move was to take place. Their son is the youngest of four—Will has three older sisters (one has graduated from college and the other two are in college in California).

“Will didn’t take any convincing,” Lancaster says with a laugh. “He was ready for a change, too. We literally got to Lake Forest a few days before the high school’s football season started and he jumped right in.”

Lancaster’s transition into Lake Forest has felt seamless, in large part due to the close friends her husband has kept since childhood and his time attending Lake Forest Country Day and Lake Forest High School.

“I definitely think it would have been much harder to settle in without Dave’s friends who are like family,” she says. “They have really taken us under their wings and made us feel like this has always been our home.”

While Lancaster says that Lake Forest reminds her a lot of her community in San Francisco, she has been so impressed at how welcoming the Midwest is overall.

“People are definitely friendlier here than in California,” she says with a laugh. “I always heard about people who were ‘Midwest nice,’ but that’s really a thing. Total strangers have made us feel happy here.”

The one issue that worried Lancaster about moving to Chicago was winter.

“I wasn’t sure I could handle the cold,” she says. “I know that sounds silly, but we don’t have weather like this in California. We vacation in Lake Tahoe where there is snow, but it’s sunny there, too. The cold and gray aren’t something we have to deal with every day for months on end. I’m feeling like we got lucky with our first winter here. It wasn’t that bad!”

In the midst of getting her family into a routine in their new home, Lancaster is juggling somewhat of a bicoastal professional life. As a photographer for some of San Francisco Bay area’s top interior designers, she makes regular trips back to San Francisco to photograph recently completed projects, while now working to market her services here as well.

“Having regular work in San Francisco is truly a blessing and has softened the move to the Midwest because I’m able to still keep up with friends and family that are so dear to me,” she says. “But I love the idea of cultivating new Chicago and North Shore-area clients, and potentially having a business in both spots. Chicago offers a whole new world of art and design. I’m intrigued with the more traditional architecture and styles used by designers here,” she says. “When shooting interior designers’ work, I feel fortunate to be surrounded by the beauty they have created. It’s a dream job to spend the day with such remarkable people, many of whom have become close friends.”

As to whether or not Lancaster would make the move again to Lake Forest if she had a chance to turn back time, she answers without an ounce of hesitation—despite the weather and the number miles she’s racking up keeping her California clients happy.

“Absolutely,” she says. “The move has been better than we could have ever imagined. We thoroughly enjoyed raising our family in a great neighborhood in San Francisco, but this is turning out to be a great new adventure in a really special place for our family!”

To see Heidi Lancaster’s work, visit @heidilancasterstudio on Instagram.