Current Fav's

Well I have too much to do to be going on a mini-girl getaway tonight with my pal Molly, but sometimes you just gotta get when the gettin' is offered... So off I go!

While I am gone (oh so briefly) I will leave you with a few of my current Favorite Things:

This cupcake paper from Basic Grey. A major inspiration for a interior design project I am working on... It is everything I love best about summer!


This magazine. One of my favorite "lite" reads. Sort of Oprah meets Real Simple without being break-your-wrist heavy. There are always good articles on life, decorating, crafting, cooking, travel, books etc. Just a little bit of everything, and the photos are always great.


My FABULOUS new coffee maker that my sweet man got me for our anniversary. This little number makes smooth foamy coffee one (or 2) cups at a time. It is so good I have been known to get up early just so I could make a cup. Yummm....



And finally before I jet off into the wild blue yonder, a sneak peak at a little something I am working on for all of you, that will debut in a few weeks... Are ya curious?

Have a lovely weekend dear friends! See ya soon!

Life with Miles

Miles is the kid I did not expect. I thought he was going to be a girl. After all I already had a boy and I really, really wanted a girl. When they told me he was a boy at the ultrasound I had to keep myself from crying in front of Wylie. I took care of the crying later, and gradually - and happily I might add- adjusted to the idea of Life with Miles instead of Life with Clara (as She Who Wasn't would have been named.) And soon Miles was here and life as we knew as a family of 3 ended and a new adventure as a family of 4 began.


Miles continues to be full of surprises, full of the unexpected. As all parents will tell you, always to their amazement as if they were the first to discover this phenomena - your children are not the same. Similar in some ways, perhaps. The same? No way. Especially not #1 and #2. Nope, in many ways they are night and day. Yin and Yang's, peas and carrots.

Wylie is so much like me that sometimes I forget he needs me. I think sometimes he forgets too. We are bonded by similar rhythms, thought patterns, temperaments and interest. We can happily co-exist side by side without too much fussing or trouble. I tend to know what he is thinking before or at the same time as he thinks it and, we need about the same amount of alone time to social time ratio. We are the 2 halves of the same whole much of the time.

Miles, precious sweet Miles, well, he is a whole other ballgame all his own... Miles is my earthquake.

Miles came out of the womb and immediately replanted himself on my shoulder during the day, or in the small of my back at night (his favorite sleeping spot to this day.) Luckily he quickly developed an all consuming love for his swing and proceeded to sleep there (and not in the small of my back) for the next 9 months.


Miles is a momma's boy. He is ferocious in his need for my attention and affection for me. Actually he is ferocious in everything he does. You never have to guess whether Miles is happy or sad, angry or sweet. You just need to be prepared that you are not going to be able to figure out why and to avoid/encourage the mood in the future. The pattern with Miles seems to be no pattern, the only thing predicable is that he can be completely unpredictable.

My sweet boy has never met a stranger, and introduces himself to everyone he comes into contact with, immediately calling them "my friend" and inviting them to his birthday party in 2 months. He has wanted to be a fireman since he could talk and he is drawn to microphones and stages filled with instruments like a magnet. He has his fathers internal clock which means that if he got to pick his schedule he wouldn't go to bed until midnight and would sleep till 10 AM. He and Nathan are in their best moods all day at 10 PM, it amazes me. His teenage years are going to be fun. I see night-shift homeschooling in my future.

He attracts dirt like Pigpin. I don't know how is is face is always crusty. Always. But then again he changes is clothes 5 times a day, always has to wear a belt tight around his waste and cannot bear to let his pants touch the ground (thank goodness it is shorts weather finally!)

This July my little boy will turn 4, which is exactly the age Wylie was when Miles came into the world. It seems so long ago, as if he has always been in our family, this little, huggable, kissable, beautiful, amazingly imaginative mess of a boy that I adore and who adores me back.

I needed to share all this today, because I needed the reminder of how much I love my little boy and how glad I am to have him around. Why you ask? Well, just now, I caught him peeing in the trashcan that lives next to the toilet. I have no idea why. That is just life with Miles.

(and yes I made HIM clean it up! Ewww....)

Question

So this is my bench. I love my bench. My father-in-law made it for me out of an old headboard. Being the thorough craftsman that he is, he tenderly and resolutely stripped it of all its old chippy green paint. Opps. Guess I forgot to mention that I liked the chippy old paint? I am sure I did. I also forget that everyone does not see what I see in chippy old paint. In his defense I did not tell him to leave as-is and I think he did say it was all moldy and dirty too, so in the end perhaps it was for the best...


But regardless, I now have a beautiful unpainted bench and after almost 2 years of it living in my house all naked like this, I think it is time to make a decision. And that is where you people come in.

What color do you think I should paint it?

Here are the options:
1) Peony Pink
2) Hydrangea Blue
3) Country White
4) Martha Stewart Logo Green

Any help would be appreciated!

Gratitude

To all who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and to all the families who have also sacrificed, and to all those who are willing to make the same sacrifice,
Thank You. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Shout Out

I need to say a BIG "Thank You!" to Missy Sue of Lorelia Roark Design Studios for her feature on me and my work today.

Also if you haven't heard of it already you need to check out her new venture for all you creative types out there:

a community of support and resources for women so they can follow their dreams

Indie Inspire Co. - It's what all the cool chicks are doing these days!

And So It Begins...

Summer.

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. ~Sam Keen
Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. ~Henry James

We dare not forget that we are the heirs of that first revolution. ~John F. Kennedy


In summer, the song sings itself. ~William Carlos Williams

Let the singing begin...

Summer Banner Lovin'

Thanks for all the Sunny Day love! It really was their day, and I just so happy that we could help make is special...

Now it is back to the daily grind, I mean daily glitter...

Here are some new Summer additions to Storia HOME...


Happy Fathers Day


Father Knows Best

Freedom

Glorious Fourth

Stay tuned..more patriotic banners to come!

It Was a Sunny Day

It was a Sunny Day and the perfect day for a garden wedding... which is exactly what we had.
My sweet man's good, good friend Mr. Ray and his bride were married on the back deck of their new house... As our gift to them, we did what Nate and I have done together so many times before - we threw a party. Nate on food, me on flowers and decorations.


The bride loves Monet and we settled on a Blue, White and Yellow color pallet for the garden nuptials and reception.


11 years ago this coming Saturday Nathan and I said our own "I do's" and this blue and white tea pot was his 1 year anniversary gift to me. I still love it!



More flowers and a touch of humor. The bride dressed up these flower pot people as a bride and groom, since it was a "garden wedding" after all.

A perfect shady spot.


Bread and roses.


The cake. We didn't make it - only embellished it with a little fruit.



The veggies and the best dip ever.
I ate way tooo much!


Another touch of "garden wedding"
humor - It was blue and it was thematic!


The best kabobs. Again, I ate too much. I could eat these every day I think....


Miles was never seen without a piece of watermelon in his hand all day.

The happy couple, both widowed, both found love again... I think her smile says it all!

If the Ice Cream Man Decorated....

These would be his colors...

(sundance catalog)

Doesn't it all just scream sherbet and cream?

(house to home)
I bet you want a fresh strawberry shake now don't you? Or maybe rhubarb pie with homemade ice cream?

(I am not sure where I found this...anyone know?)
Total Dreamsicle fantasy...

(sundance catalog)
Neapolitan sundae on a raining afternoon...

(Maine Cottage)

A large margarita flavored Shaved Ice, on the front porch, watching the world go by...

(Making)
Sonic Cherry Limeade on the way home from the pool.... so delish!

Hope your weekend is filled with lots of yummy treats!

Honeysuckle in the Air

(image from House to Home)

This has been the wettest spring we have ever seen. Or at least that I have ever seen. It is mid-May (something I am shocked to discover every time I write or see the days date) and we are still able to live comfortably in light sweaters and blue jeans, with windows and screen doors open and fans running. We have yet to turn our air conditioner on thanks to our 9 oak trees giving us shade, our new screen doors and our placement high up on a ridge that keeps us a wee bit cooler than the rest of town. But even with those tricks, by mid-May we are typically already sweating and huffing and complaining of the humidity and how much worse it is going to get. But not this spring, no this spring there are breezes, and cool evenings and everything is so green. So very, very green. Because of the nice weather I have been driving around town with my windows down and I am constantly amazed by the whiffs of honeysuckle, jasmine and rose that continue to flood the air... everything is so alive with color and lushness. And yet the contrast between the devastation it has brought to our state and those close to us, and the sheer beauty that is shooting straight up from the earth at a staggering pace is not lost on me.

I have not been able to escape the thought that this is how life truly works, regardless of our best laid plans. Growth and destruction happening side by side. Life and death, both caused by the same conditions, occurring at the same time. You only have to live through one tornado tearing down your house to realize how little control you really have in this life, despite your best efforts to the contrary... You learn quickly that despite the destruction and death that might ravage, life continues right along side to sprout from the earth, green and lush and full of fragrance.


There have been a lot of things this spring that have left me perplexed. Questions that I have about the future, questions about what my life is supposed to look like, what I am supposed to be doing as a mother, as a creative person, as a believer... Some of the questions have been particularly hard, and most of them do not have quick solutions or obvious answers, but even in the midst of the hardest days, the moments of complete confusion and frustration, there is still light, there is still hope. Every day I wake up and there are still my children's sweet kisses and silly antics to greet me, to charm me. There are still my husbands strong arms to hold me tight, and his encouragement when I doubt myself. My sweet friends and family whose very presence and chit chat soothes me, distracts me, comforts me with their familiarity. And this spring, this wet, cool, tumultuous spring, there has been an almost constant soothing breeze, and the fresh sweet smell of honeysuckle in the air. Sweet, sweet honeysuckle.

As I have driven around town, with the windows rolled down, honeysuckle flowing over me, the song I have listened to over and over, the one that has become my mantra, my daily prayer is this one.

For I will sing a new song...

This Week in Vintage News

I have recently been lucky enough to be asked by Vintage Indie Mag to contribute as their "Style and Design" editor.

My first article on Re-Newing Vintage Furniture is now up at their site.

I will hopefully be contributing twice a month on how to alter and/or use vintage items in your home. I am very honored to have been asked to contribute and I hope you will visit Vintage Indie often as they are always having great give-aways and lots of great info on vintage products and designers!

Here is a teaser picture from the article:
In other Vintage News, the fab Ms. Sarah is giving away vintage tablecloths over at her blog to celebrate her birthday! If you hurry you can still enter yourself!



And finally, some new vintage treasures (aprons, pillowcases, spoons...) have been added to the Storia VINTAGE Attic SALE so get out your coin purse and go shopping... (And make sure to check back later this week when some more goodies go in!)

Hope everyone has a lovely Tuesday...

Happy Momma's Day

This Momma's Day I decided I needed to do something girlie to celebrate. Something that involved punch and crepe paper and fancy silverware. I decided that my mother and grandmother and aunt and sister needed that too. So together we threw ourselves a garden themed Mother's Day Luncheon on my Maw's screened-in porch .... Mom made her yummy quiche, Maw provided the venue and a lovely spinach salad and a delish citrus punch, Judea brought fab french bread and Auntie Tei headed the clean-up crew. I (of course) took on the decorations and our cupcake dessert... I think we still have a few left, want to join us?


Crepe paper flowers, a nice inexpensive, easy to make and old fashioned alternative to the real thing...


The table, all set with Maw's adorable ruffled table cloth (see where I get it?)


The place settings, complete with pink party favors...


A large vintage crepe paper decoration hanging overhead...


When I ran out of crepe paper flowers to fill this bowl I used some thin pink vintage napkins to fill in the gaps....I think they almost look like paper themselves they are so thin...



When it was all over, we were very full, and very happy just to be together, celebrating being mother's and having mother's and blooming right where we are planted.
It was a lovely day...

Happy Momma's Day!