by Jen | Oct 11, 2013 | Fun Style, Inspired Style, Interior Decorating
I am laughing.
For umpteen moves we have moved with a pair of snow shoes.
My husband purchased these bad boys whilst in Iceland during a deployment in the 80’s. They’ve been with us ever since. Maybe you read my post about our household goods weighing as much as a UK bus—if you don’t know how much that is—it’s 20,000 pounds. Now you know why. We move with snow shoes. And we live in places where snow is notsomuch. I’m not going to lie–if it had been up to me I would have donated these years ago. Which brings me to today. Laughing.
Look. It’s a Pottery Barn catalog.
Pottery Barn November 2013
Who knew?
Pottery Barn November 2013
Snow Shoes are Everywhere!
Pottery Barn November 2013
I decided to get in on it.
Yeah, I’m trending.
by Jen | Oct 9, 2013 | Fun Style, Inspired Style
www.nancycreative.com
www.countryliving.com
www.digginfood.com
Burcu Avsar www.countryliving.com
www.homemu.com
www.front-porch-ideas-and-more.com
www.blog.artistinn.com
www.countryliving.com
by Jen | Oct 7, 2013 | Fun Style, Happiness at Home, House Tours, Interior Decorating, Life Reflections
There was the day I discovered my son could climb out of his crib and quietly shred a roll of toilet paper. Then there was the day I found the same son, different day, sitting outside the open refrigerator. He was playing “play doh” with raw hamburger meat. Or, the time I found him building sand castles…in our bedroom…using the cat litter from the dirty litter box while the other one looked on and clapped with glee. Let’s fast forward to today. It hasn’t changed. My boys are older and the messes are less e. coli laden but alas the messes are still there.
I’ll tell you when I can keep the house clean and orderly–when they are plugged in.
It’s a fight between good and evil—between my OCD for a tidy house and my common sense that my kids need to be able to channel their creativity even if it means complete disarray. I overheard on the Today show that 3 of the best things you can do for your kids is have them play outside, don’t structure all their time, and let them make messes–it fosters creativity.
Greater Good a website focusing on Happiness by the University of California, Berkley, has a series entitled Raising Happiness, Science for Joyful Kids and Happier Parents. They say, “…creativity is more skill than inborn talent, and it is a skill parents can help their kids develop. Because it is a key to success in nearly everything we do, creativity is a key component of health and happiness and a core skill to practice with kids. Creativity is not limited to artistic and musical expression—it is also essential for science, math, and even social and emotional intelligence. Creative people are more flexible and better problem solvers, which makes them more able to adapt to technological advances and deal with change—as well as take advantage of new opportunities.”
The post goes on to list 7 things parents can do to help nurture creativity. The one that caught my eye was about providing “the resources of time for unstructured, child-directed, imaginative play in a specific place where they can make a mess, like room in your attic for dress-up, a place in the garage for painting, or a corner in your family room for Legos.” I think someone is trying to tell me something.
The expression -The days are long but the years are short-comes to mind. In other words, I better get over my need for a mess free house because tomorrow will be here faster than I realize.
Living with Kids: Laura Hall
Living with Kids: Laura Hall
Living with Kids: Rebecca Brown
Living with Kids: Rebecca Brown
Living with Kids: Katy Regnier
Living with Kids: Sara Kahlenberg
If you liked these pictures please check out www.designmom.com, the intersection of design and motherhood. She has a whole section of Home Tours she does entitled “Living with Kids”. LOVE it.
by Jen | Sep 20, 2013 | Fun Style
Camping. The word brings to mind a myriad of thoughts and memories.
There was the time I camped on Assateague Island. Their official bird is the Mosquito. For real. That’s a good story. My husband is rolling his eyes as he reads this. The bottomline is we camped in a swamp in the summer. There wasn’t enough Deet to make that a pleasant experience.
Then there was the time I camped in the Daintree Rainforest in Australia. In the rain. Spiders are large there. They call them tarantulas.
I “camped” in Europe. Under a white plastic bench on the bow of a ship headed to Greece while Ivan Drago (remember him from Rocky) and all of his commrads danced and sang around us. For real. I also “camped” in Zurich, Switzerland, outside a 30 foot statue of Michael Jackson, and then there was the parking lot in Athens. All lovely experiences.
I camped in Virginia where the weatherman said it would be unseasonably cold that night. Whatever. Unseasonably cold in October should NOT mean snow flurries.
And then there was the famous Mudslide of 2012. Well famous to those of us who camped on it. Awesome.
Oh gentle reader I do love camping.
Susanbetweennapsontheporch.
sanctuaryretreats.com
thegirlyguidetocamping.wordpress.com
Inspiration for this post—House Beautiful, October. Elizabeth L. Gilbert
by Jen | Sep 16, 2013 | Fun Style, Inspired Style
Flipping the pages of People I was struck by a picture of John Mayer. Not in the way you think. I liked his outfit. It was the coolest. For a minute I thought “Can I wear that?” I came up a blank as to where I would wear it–unless it is in the midst of Montana, during a Renaissance Festival, while herding cattle, just before I did a rain dance.
John Mayer, Paradise Valley.
I’m not making fun. I REALLY like the look, so much that I decided to translate it into my 8 year old’s room. So here’s the rub. I’m not spending a bunch of money to make this happen. I’m also not spending a lot of time to make this happen. In a different time and place I would LOVE to really do this up. Velvets, denim, leather, the Byzantine Crosses, a little Americana, a little Western funk. Ralph Lauren is only wishing he came up with this idea first. So, perhaps, not to let Ralph beat me to the punch I will work on this behind the scenes to make this really really come to life. Stay tuned. In the meantime, I, over the weekend hauled things around in my house and did some tweaking.
Here’s a prelim:
I found these pillow covers at TJMaxx on clearance for $5 each! Blue velvet with red velvet piping–they retailed for $38 each! I took some pillows I’m not using and stuffed them inside.
I found a blue body billow red tagged at Target for $5.
From my house I’m using a blue bedskirt, blue comforter, blue roman shades, and a dresser with knobs that had been custom painted for a medieval theme in a previous house. I am repurposing a rustic wood tool box and sacrificing my beloved bulletin board (see the About Me page My Style.)
So there’s the mish mash of what I have so far. The roman shades are not hung, just balanced. The light blue comforter is not working but has potential. I love the white knobs with the red Byzantine Cross but the rest of the knobs, not so much. Not sure on the dresser color–it’s grey/blue. It’s a versatile color in my house (we will be moving a lot so everything has to be versatile) but the light blue seems a little “babyish” in this room. I need some denim, and that has been a job. Whatever I find looks like Jerry Seinfeld’s couch from the 90’s. In other words, no. And I NEED some trim similar to what is on his jacket. I’ve been tearing up the internet looking. In the meantime I will be taking this
with me wherever I go. You never know what I will find–Really large jeans from the thrift store that I can resew into a hip duvet cover? Religious Holy store of robes and whatnots? Perhaps the stylist from this record album Paradise Valley will see this post and call me?
Have any pictures you want to translate decorate?
by Jen | Sep 13, 2013 | Fun Style, Inspired Style
I have a dream and that dream is to have a teeny tiny cottage.
It would look like this.
Shabby Streamside Studio. Sandra Foster, New York
A Kit Greenhouse..Philippe Vendrolini. San Francisco, CA
The Little Pincushion Studio. Annabel Wrigley
LOVE this one.
Treehouses. Inkaterra.com
Canopy Tree House at Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica, Tambopata, Peru
Treehouse Cottages in Eureka Springs, Arkansas
How about this for a Front Yard?
Traditional Landscape by Alpharetta Landscape Architects & Designers Outside Landscape Group
If you liked this post check out A Bewitching Cottage and Cottage Love.
