A Very Big Weekend

So as I sit here watching Hurrican Sandy come thrashing through I pray for my house in the shore to be safe, for everyone in harms way to be safe as well.  I decided to post about the weekend and all the excitement November brings.

First of all to Launch the excitement, on Thursday November 1st (my most favorite month out of the year)  Susan Taylor, my dear friend, designer and store owner, launches her Christmas spectacular!  Her unveiling of this year's christmas decor and endless possibilities.  I look forward to this event all year long.  

Here is a preview of just her greens.  Yippie!  Love greens.  

Unfortunately KC will not be joining us, my dear friend and companion every year.  Lisa and I will be going, but we will miss you KC.  I promise to take a lot of photos.

Then Friday! (On my best friend and sister Sonali's birthday) I almost can't even write it down because I'm so excited and a bit terrified at the same time.  Hee Hee.

Friday (Once Hurricane Sandy is far away) I will be hopefully seated on a plane heading for Kansas to Mary Carol Garrity's OPEN HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Okay forget the plane part, lets omit that and not even mention it again.  Lets pretend I'm already there. I can't wait to see Mary Carol's home again.  To walk through it's glorious not ostentatious but elegant, comforting, beautiful rooms.  When you walk through her home you feel like "Omg!  How lovely, hey I can do that at home!  or I can totally try that!"  I love that about her.  Her ideas are feasible and even if you don't have the exact piece of furniture or chair, one can create the look with what you have.

On Sunday Nov 4th, my youngest son Matthew will receive his high school ring in a ring ceremony where he is in the chorus and will be singing a solo.  I can only imagine my mascara.  Note to self:  Use waterproof mascara and bring plenty of tissues.

Finally Monday the 5th is my 24th wedding Anniversary.  I can't believe we have been married for 24 years.  My husbands anniversary gift is taking me to Kansas for the day.  He is the best! 

So needless to say, I am excited about the weekend ahead.  Just praying that I can survive the plane ride.  I wanted to take something but the flight is too short and all I need is to get off the plane and walk into Mary Carol's home like Lucy on Vitaminaveggimin!  "Do You poop out at Parties?"  Only true Lucy fans and women over 40 who grew up on that show will get that.

And then in a few days I will be turning 47!  AHHHHHH!  Oh well.  

I promise to take tons of photos, I will try to take different angles too of Mary's home and of her store.  Will keep you all posted.  

Stay safe if your in Sandy's path.

xoxo

Lisa

Just a short note to say thank you.  I am humbled and thankful to see that my little blog has 75 followers.  Thank you for taking the time out to comment and view the simple things I post.  Life is busy and complicated and we all need a place to vent, to gather, to escape.  This is my place.  Thank you for taking the time to stop by and join me.  I am truly humbled.
xoxo
Lisa

Autumn Friends

About two days ago the corn was cut down.  I live across from a cornfield.  The geese have come to settle along the land and it is a beautiful thing.  Their sounds are comforting and exciting to me as they signal their arrival flying in almost v formation over my home.  My dogs bark at each fly by and some of them even make a pit stop on my lawn or even on my roof.  This is as close as I could get without scarying them away.  They feed on the ground corn left over.  As I walk up my road to get my mail I can hear them.  I can hear them from my bedroom window as I open it to greet the day.  I can hear them all communicating at once.  Who takes care of them?  Who watches over them?  They seem content and excited and share in a brotherhood similar to soldiers together looking out for one another constantly being there for each other.  I watch how they move over to allow another to feed nearby.  Or even how they cross together looking, one looking out for the cars and then signaling with it's head to go forth.  

How much can we learn from our winged friends.

Sela Ward's Home

I love Sela.  Always have been a fan.  I think if I could look like anyone in the planet I guess I would pick her.  Recently I saw an article on line about her home and how she loves to design and fix up and flip houses.  I thought I'd show you. 

Sela is an artist and she paints most of her artwork in her home.

I must admit, my style is not modern or contemporary in any way but her home is a work of art.  She tends to have a more modern contemporary side.  I do love her color choices and her inhibition for using strong colors.

Her outdoors are lovely.  She wanted a beach feel.

This linen chair reminds me of my new chair.

I know for a fact that she loves to cook, after all shes a southern girl.  You gotta like to cook in the south right, but the kitchen looks like no one has ever cooked in it.

I don't love the little stools, they don't look comfy.  Perhaps her kids hang out here more than she and her hubby do.

Love these two chairs, although modern, the color and texture look inviting.

Gotta love that tub!

I adored her memoir "Homesick"  It was truly a glimpse of her life and a taste of the south.  Poignant and beautifully written she takes us back to her childhood and growing up in Meridian Mississippi.

This room is very peaceful.  I do love how the outdoors are welcome into the home (Frank Lloyd Wright would be happy.  Every room has light and access to the outdoors.

Love that painting of her.  These colors are amazing.  Don't know if I could be that bold.

I love this little glass butler trays.  I love it.  I could see this in my house.

Well hope you enjoyed my little tour through my dear friend Sela's home. (Just kidding, never met her. If you don't know who she is she played Lilly on Once and Again, only my favorite show ever and Teddy Reed on Sisters)

10 more days until . . . Ahhhhhhhh!

Can't think about it.  I'll go crazy!

Throughout the years.

When I was 14 I heard Amy Grant for the first time.  And something inside me changed.  Somehow it was as if she had the answers I had been looking for.  She became the person I wanted to be most like.  Amy Grant, for those of you who don't know who she is, is a christian singer. She is southern and lives in Tennessee, my favorite state that I have visited 11 times. 

Here I am striking a pose before one of our "coffee houses."  A christian concert that the band I was in "Salvation" would perform at.  I am standing against my bedroom door at the time.  I believe I was around 17 in this photo.  Notice all her photos are glued on to my wall.

I wanted to dress like her, sing like her, look like her, be her.  Her hair even frizzed like mine, come on now.

Lets just say I was very impressionable.  (ahh hum, stalker!)

Here I am my first year of marriage.  My husband took me to Nashville and I went to her home.  Back then she was married to Gary Chapman and lived at Riverstone Farm.

If you click on the photo you can see the writing on the stone.  I actually took a small rock and it sits in my rose garden even today.  (Please don't call the Nashville authorities)

I think one of the reasons I loved her so much was the fact that I felt a "kin" to her.  (I know I feel like that about a few ladies, Sela Ward, Ashley Judd, Jaclyn Smith, Mary Carol Garrity)

I have seen her a billion times in concert and had the pleasure of meeting her twice in my life.  

Here I am at a meet and greet in Nashville on yet another trip.  This time I brought my baby boy, Tim.

Here I was at the last meet and greet I attended a few years back.  

Our birthdays are also in November.  I'll be 47 and she will be 52 but throughout my life I have always followed her lifes journey and enjoyed the way our lives seem to have similarities.

Well today Amy was on Katie Couric.

Talking about her parents.  I lost my father (will be 3 years in March) She lost her mom last March.  She struggled with dimentia and now her father has it as well.

She spoke about her experiences taking care of her parents with this dreadful disease.  Once again, there I was feeling her pain and understanding whole heartedly because my mother has it.

She spoke about what it does to the people we love and what happens to us as we are there to go through it with them.  It was very close to home.  I thought about how our lives continue to have similarities.  Although I'm not a christian singer married to a country star, millionaire and live in Nashville, I am a daughter struggling with my own pain, having lost my father and watching my mother wither away.  I can understand because I am there.  

Berry Bush

For the past five years I have tried to grow Berry bushes.  I have always failed due to the heavy deer population in my area.  We had three growing and slowly now only one.  Well this week I was surprised with my very first blooming of berries.  Take a look.

Although small, I thought it produced quite a bit of berries.

I love the contrast of the red against the green.

It tells me that it's that time, time to move activities indoors

to order more firewood

take out the warm comforters and throws 

make a fire

breathe it in, the smell of the wood and enoy the sound of the crackling kindling

roast more meals

enjoy the early signs of evening as the light changes

watch more movies on the couch

marshmallows

take out the soup books

stock up in hot chocolate

make pumpkin anything

pull out my favorite sweaters

write letters, without a computer

wear my husband's bulky socks around the house

always coffee but have tea while in my favorite chair enjoying a great book

and most of all

enjoy being home

it's time to settle in. . . Autumn is here.

Carolyne Roehm's Website, To Die For.

I have often posted about Carolyne Roehm and her home in Connecticut, Weatherstone. I have had the wonderful opportunity to visit her home and her gardens twice along with Bunny Williams garden.

I've always had a admiration for strong women who love gardening and decorating and have made a name for themselves.  Carolyne has always been at the top of my list.  I can honestly say that after meeting her and visiting her home, having the pleasure of chatting with her and her lovely mother on two different occasions, she is charming and sweet and totally approachable.  Her home is a treasure and although it is grand in scale it has the comforting quality of a home.

She just posted these amazing photos of her studio.  You have to see them.  You can also visit her website on my sidebar.  Just click on Carolyne Roehm.

Weatherstone had been damaged by a fire years ago and Carolyne was able to restore it to perfection.

These are some old photos of Weatherstone before the fire and restoration (I believe)

And this is it now in all it's glory.  Perfection!

Complete with an exquisite porch.

Here I am walking on her property.  (Intruder!)  Hee Hee.

Her staff was joking with me because on this lovely spring morning I had chosen a light blue gingham blouse, grey pants and a straw hat and it turned out Carolyne was wearing the same thing.

I have a photo I took with Carolyne but I came out so terrible that I refuse to post it.  She came out lovely of course.

Here is her stunning studio surrounded by wisteria.  

Her new book will be released early November about flowers.  I can't wait.  

Check out her books on her website.  Each one is a treasure by themselves.

Also I am not ashamed to say that I have totally copied from Carolyne so many rooms in my home.  I even had my barn built to resemble her studio.  I know, I know, but once you have walked on Weatherstone grounds it is impossible not to be influenced.  Even my kitchen was influenced by hers.  

(along with The Big Chill as posted in Joni's Cote De Texas post that you can click on, on the sidebar or click Southern Hospitality's post on feature friday to see photos.)

Thanks for following.

xoxo

Lisa