Fringe!

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Cuddle Up

Craigslist has been good to me lately.  I found six original finish bentwood chairs a few weeks ago. ("Found in an old Wisconsin barn!") They might be more of a project than I'd like - some disassembling, sanding and glueing will have to happen before they get painted.

This weekend I found a bright blue full/twin bunk bed close by and got it in the house before all the rain started today. (I even managed to get Will's room repainted before putting it in!) I finally feel like I'm making headway!

Then I spotted this:  (I really need to stop looking!)

I am so distracted by this "Davenport"!  Which is nuts because it's brown - almost the same color as the sofa we have now that I just slip-covered (not a project I want to repeat!)...I replaced the cushions on this sofa, and we've been using it for the last three years.  It's held up well, but we're getting closer to an "upholstery emergency"!

$150 for a full-size sofa!  Reupholstering the one I have now will cost me as much, and I am so tempted to change things up in the living room.   Can you picture a fringe at the bottom?

I just love the wood trim (crazy, I know!).  I'd try to lightly sand the trim and paint or stain it darker ...or lighter.  Maybe it's the rainy weather that makes that delicious nubby fabric look cozy.  It would be the perfect spot to snuggle up and peruse Craigslist for another project!

Cheers!

Fake Foul

Okay, confession time.  Antlers remind me of fingernails.  There. Now you know.  And wish you didn't.

The older I get, the more creeped out I am by any kind of taxidermy.  Too many childhood visits to the butcher where your brothers dared you to stand under the huge (long-haired!) bull's head (who-can-stand-there-longest-style)?  Possibly.  Does that mean I'm vegetarian?  Heck no.  There is still a place in my life for meat.  And I still go to that butcher - Best sausage around!  (Though writing that last sentence made me a little sick just now.)

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While I can appreciate "animal" in home design,  I have a lot of questions that I really don't want the answers to:  Swiffer or vaccuum?  Which attachment?  At some point those hairs/feathers, start shedding, and they go where?

 

I have a friend who thinks donkeys are funny (I think they're just a@#$%. :)  But, I get it now, because lately I really do find that ducks, and geese, kind of adorable.
That goose is hilarious.  If it's not shedding stuff, that is.

Lately, I've been setting aside a lot of time to daydream about the following spaces.  Which has me really pumped to hunt down the perfect the non-shedding, dust-collecting version of one of theses fine, funny, foul.   

D&S

D*S                

     

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Are you Team Taxidermy or Team Decoy?  Team Donkey or Team Goose?
Love to You!

Not too late for love...

Thinking of all of you & sending you belated valentine wishes!

Pamela Griffith's Botanical Art with Soul

Meeting people is one of my most favorite things to do.   I love being part of a group and listening to and learning from other people.  I'm especially drawn to people who are natural teachers.

Magnolia

You know that person in a crowd who is gutsy enough to "break the ice"?  The one who, with one well-placed story, question or observation can get the whole group talking and having a great time?   On my trip to Taliesin, I met the loveliest lady who has just that ability. 

Poppy Plant

Pamela Griffith is a beautifully talented Australian artist, who works in nearly every possible medium and through her sense of place and appreciation of the Australian landscape "brings art to everyone."  

Pamela has designed for the Kleenex brand of Kimberly Clark; designed commemorative toile fabrics for the Australian Bicentennial and the Beatification of Mary MacKillop; and, if youhappen to be in New South Wales, she designed the waratah flower logo on your driver's license. (I had to google waratah, too.  Here it is!)

Blue Wrens Nesting

In her printmaking studio, Pamela also creates etchings and prints that celebrate the fascinating Australian landscape.  There are so many beautiful paintings and etchings to browse through on her site, but if you're lucky enough to be heading to (or in!) Australia, you can check out Pamela's exhibition in person:

If you go, tell Pamela, "Hello from Wisconsin!"  :)

Here are some more of my favorite etchings I couldn't resist sharing with you!  Enjoy!

        

Feathered Gliders in Gum Blossom & Black Chinned Honeyeater in Gum Blossoms

Wren and Fern

         

Poppies & Christmas Bells

Cheers to 40 Years!

Today is the day!
Happy New Year to Me!
Celebrate with me!...

Live the moment...

...Put on your party pants and just dance...

...Smile big, just because!

After all, the sky is the limit!  Or is it?  As one great explorer once said:  "To Infinity and Beyond!"  :)

And my favorite quote from one Mr. Thoreau:  

Do you know what you are? 

You are a marvel. 

You are unique. 

In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. 

You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. 

You have the capacity for anything.

– Henry David Thoreau 

You have the capacity for any.thing. (!)

Ah, to be new again! Hooray for today!

 Love to You!

Gwyneth, Nora, and Me, Myself and I

Many of you have seen these style picks from Goop and JCrew, but there are two reasons this pick is still on my mind.  That of course, I must tell you about!  :)

1) #7 is the basic uniform I wore while student teaching in 1994.  Jacket, jeans, dress shirt - I even had wine colored slippers with a pink monogram on the top!  I thought I was so smart - "mixing" professional (jackets & tops) with jeans.  I'm sure other people were doing it too, however, my supervising teacher did not appreciate my jeans, jacket, dress shirt look - she took points away for "dressing too casually"  (!) It was the only point on which we disagreed.  I still wear a version of this outfit almost everyday - You too?

2)  Gwyneth is, hands down, my favorite celebrity - she and I share a (momentous!) birthday (this week), and, really (!) is there anyone's life that could be more glamorous?

goop.com

The closer "the day" comes the more and less I care all at the same time.  I love that I'm not the 20-year-old who is trying to figure everything out.  At the same time, in a very Nora Ephron way, I feel bad about the whole aging process!

Things just looked better - and were in the right place - years ago!  (I have yet to fit Tracy Anderson into my life...:)

me

myself

and I

What do you think about being a woman and aging?
Do you love it?  Hate it?  Do tell!

In the meantime:  Love to you!