A Favorite Painting~

After Dark by Pino

I decided to participate in Julia's Hooked on Houses event hosted each Friday here. This blog is fantastic and I love Julia's post today!

Several years ago I was on the local real estate tour of homes and came across a home that had this beautiful painting in it. It must have been at least a 36 x 48 inch giclee on canvas and it was amazingly beautiful. I have been hooked on Pino's art ever since.

There is something so feminine and gorgeous about this painting and it reminds me of our sweet daughters, an elegant dining experience and an abundant life, not in the monetary sense but just in life itself.

I keep this picture in our antique kitchen cabinet and really need to find a new place for it somewhere in our house as we are changing the color scheme and style of our kitchen and it just won't work in this room too much longer. It will be a challenge but never fear~I will figure it out because I love this painting! What artists do you enjoy? I love the impressionists and I would love to be tagging around with our daughter, Laura and her husband, Robert this weekend in Paris! Hopefully they will get to Musee d'Orsay in their adventures.

How do you incorporate things that don't quite go with your decor but that you just love and want to keep near to you, your heart and soul? Being eclectic in style is a good thing~it allows for a more interesting look and it truly lets your personality shine forth ~ but it can be tricky. What works for you?

The Daffodil Principle

Yesterday was not the best day of my life. I came to some realizations yesterday that made me want to quit doing something I love and enjoy very much that I assumed was a good thing for others as well. I don't know about you but I am a big baby when my feelings get hurt and I usually just want to walk away from realities. I was ready to let it go but then I received an e-mail version of this today from an angel unaware. It made me realize that the most important thing is for me to do the right and good thing and not worry about the rest of it. So I am! I was thankful for this answer to my prayers last night.



I hope it may mean something to you as well!

Happy Birthday Miss Piper!

Happy Birthday Piper! Wish we were there to party with you!

Piper is entering the double digit age today, turning ten years old! It does not seem possible that Jim and I have been grandparents that long and yet, I cannot remember life without her.

Piper is such a beautiful young lady. She is so sweet and funny and smart, smart, smart. She has amazing talents in her academics and her art. She is such a wonderful daughter and granddaughter and a great big sister to Julia, Chloe and Hazel.

Just recently she has been enjoying the Jonas Brothers movie and working on a genealogy project about her great great grandmother, Marguerite Ferrera. She did an excellent job on her science project and got to present it to all the fourth grade classes. Here she is in deep concentration over it all.

Piper is beautiful, tall and graceful but not feeling so
tall in this photo I am sure. Fun animals!

She shares a birthday with Jim's Dad, Grampa Fred who passed away in 1990. I am sure they would have been very close, they have many wonderful qualities in common. Piper hopes to get back to Scotland where she was born someday. Born in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, she is a genuine Scottish Princess!

To show you how grown up she is, her mom told me she decided to forgo a big friends party for some extra spending money on a trip to the mall with mom on Saturday. I wish I could join you guys for that trip! Love shopping with my girls! Have some Cake, Piper and a wonderful celebration! Check out what her mom says about her here.

We love you and wish you a fantastic birthday today!

Love,

Gramma and Grampa XOXO

Twin Sisters of Different Mothers!

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family search - Family pedigree

Deanna had this on her blog and I thought it would be fun to check it out. It is not only fun but it is FUNNY! I am going to bed now thinking ....hmmm, if only......! Ahhhh, go ahead and try it, you know you want to!

Sweet dreams! B

The Simple Woman's Daybook~March 16, 2009

To join in focusing on the simple things and pleasures of your daily life or to read other people's entries, click here.

So, For Today...Monday, March 16, 2009

Outside my window... the dawn is just breaking and it looks pretty cloudy and like we might be getting some rain.

I am thinking...that when you mark your weeks by something like this simple daybook, you really realize how fast time flies by!

From the learning rooms...I am learning that happiness is a choice that we make every single day. More than seeking it, we have to choose it!

I am thankful for...discretionary time to do the things I want and need to do, having a job that isn't a 9 to 5 daily, and a design job tomorrow.

From the kitchen... come great memories of having an old friend over for dinner last night and realizing we need to get back in the groove of doing this more often.

I am wearing...PJ bottoms and a white sweat shirt but not for long.

I am reading..Remember Me...at 10 pages a day before I fall asleep at night it is taking a bit longer than usual to finish it. Current magazine that came in the mail last week are being perused, along with some wonderful blogs.

I am hoping...for more energy and inspiration for the week ahead.

I am creating...the color scheme and design features of our new kitchen remodel.

I am listening to...You Make Me Feel Like Dancing~Leo Sayer~a moldy oldie!

I am going...to pick up a part for hubby's car at the Volvo Dealership.

My spiritual thoughts include...looking to Christ in every thought and not being doubtful or fearful.

Around the house...the work and organizing is never ending. I am cleaning out the closet in our bathroom today. I am trying to do a different area several times a week~and remembering days gone by when I use to be able to do lots of areas in one day!

One of my favorite things...iTunes and Playlists

A few plans for the rest of the week...Get my car into the Toyota dealership for servicing, attend a networking meeting with some fellow real estate stagers, redesign a home tomorrow, stop by a favorite home shop in Pleasanton to see what they have out for Easter, get the entry way painted and the windows installed in the laundry room and kitchen on Wednesday. Celebrate being a grandparent for ten years on Wednesday and get a haircut and color touch-up on Friday.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Our grandsons, Spencer and Rossie,
exploring a vineyard in Italy.

The picture thought...

The path of life is so much more easily taken two by two, in the spirit of love and cooperation.

Renegade Petunia

As many of you know, petunias are annuals not perennials. What that means is basically that if you want petunias in your garden, they only have one blooming season in the spring and summer and then the plant will die. When fall arrives you usually dig them up and start over the following spring with a new plant.

Well, if you are lazy and don't clean out your pots and put them to bed for the winter, you may get a petunia that decides to be more than an annual. I found this yesterday in one of our pots~a petunia that is going the extra mile and blooming for a second year!

Reasons I Love My Husband #936

Jim is a great worker and does so much to make our home beautiful. He never complains and just keeps at it until it is done!

Just getting started with wallpaper removal which is a terrible job...one of the worst and we will NEVER have wallpaper again...No, Never!

The wallpaper is off and so now on to all the other stuff that needed doing before sanding, priming and painting with Restoration Hardware's Cappuccino...love the color. Jim is very detail oriented and does a fabulous job, no matter what he is doing.

Putting in the decking for our new counter top.

He painted 8 louver doors today that go in the laundry room, pantry, and entryway. The patio furniture and deck railing came in handy for drying.

Next he is priming the entryway for new paint which will be going on Monday. It is Restoration Hardware's Latte. This is the best neutral paint color ever! Then maybe he will relax for the rest of the evening. Fingers crossed, anyway.

Next we have to paint all the cabinets and change out the hardware and then finish the little half bath by reinstalling the toilet and putting in the molding. The windows and doors go in Wednesday and then we should be ready to move on to the kitchen. I want him to take a brake in between. I hope he will. But he is on a mission and if you know him at all, you know what that means. He is doing a phenomenal job but with only one day a week to do it all, it makes it very hard on him. He has been pulling some late nights after work occasionally too.

Since we work in the singles' ward at church, I am sometimes asked about what the girls should look for in a good husband. One of the thing I always say is be sure he is a man that is a great worker, someone who knows how to do things and if he doesn't yet, make sure he is willing to learn. Either that or make sure he is very wealthy! They are always a little surprised by that recommendation as they usually haven't thought that far ahead. But it truly is one of the things I treasure most about Jim. He loves our home and wants to make it nice and his willingness to step in and do the hard stuff gives me a lot of joy and saves us a lot of money too.

He makes the cake and I do the icing~we make a good team in that respect. I really enjoy working together. (Jim does most of the hard stuff but I enjoy being with him and being his gopher!) Do you enjoy working with your spouse on home projects? I hope so because there sure does seem to be an unending list of them to do if you are a homeowner.