Sunday, May 30, 2010

Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Welcome to “Show Off Your Cottage Monday”, a blog party I host at the beginning of each week to celebrate the things we love about our homes and how we live.
The House in the Roses
"Just because" roses are always my favorite! I’m one of those fortunate women who get roses just because… just because I love roses or just because I’m loved, the feeling is always the same….
Ah yes, this feeling of being loved is bliss!
Today, I'm celebrating love
What are you celebrating about your home and life today? I love to hear about it!
If you are participating in "Show Off Your Cottage Monday", please be kind and link back to THE HOUSE IN THE ROSES. Linking back allows the readers of your blog to find the other participants, thus increasing visits for all who are joining in.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Tablescape Thursday and Pink Saturday

I'm in the "pink" mode today...

My kitchen is in the "pink"!

Pink carnations for my favorite pitchers

Pink napkins

Pink fresh lemonade

And a super pink super yummy cake

to celebrate my pinkness!

What's your pink!

I'm linking this post to: Between naps on the porch and Pink Saturday Happy Tablescape Thrusday and Pink Saturday to you all! I hope you'll be relaxing in exactly the manner you planned for this long weekend, whatever that may be! See you on Monday for our "Show Off Your Cottage Monday"!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

From trash to treasure

Some things do not require an explanation... but I just couldn’t resist!
Who would not love Rachel Ashwell's line of furniture... like this piece shown here. So Shabby Chic, in my favorite color, and see the fancy knobs here? Lovely, but the price ($870.00) outshines my dreams.

Then I went dream-hunting at our local thrift stores the other day, and was thrilled to found this! See any resemblance with Rachel Ashwell's? Take a look at those knobs! The best part: it only cost me $110.00, including the three-way-mirror that came with it. I love to dream and drool over what I see, but finding ways to recreate the look with less, is just fascinating. Simple pleasures that stir up my 'easy to please' heart and contentment.

What you see here is the already finished product. I forgot to take a picture of how it looked originally, but here is a smaller version of it, which I too painted in the same satin white.

It’s amazing what a little white paint can do! Recreating a look on a budget is fun and completely doable.

I don't see a huge difference between my dresser and Rachel Ashwell's; do you? In fact, I think I like mine better!

This "thrift store" chair you see here has its own story to tell. Read all about it here

I'm linking this post to the following:

DIY Day @ ASPTL

 http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Welcome to “Show Off Your Cottage Monday”, a blog party I host at the beginning of each week to celebrate the things we love about our homes and how we live.
The House in the Roses

Today, I'm celebrating those little "me time" spend in the garden... like today!
Finally, rain and gusty winds are gone and the thermometer is ever so slowly creeping upward. I’m loving the extra sunshine soaking into my bones, and as I sit here enjoying the morning while reading my new seven years old back issues of Better Homes (found at a thrift store the other day), I’m thinking how perfect life is this very moment.
Life brings simple pleasures to us every day, but those pleasurable moments go by so quickly you hardly catch them going... they become memories too soon. One of the reasons I love blogging is precisely because by doing so I can always recreate and relive those joyful fleeting moments in my life, and hopefully, bring you, my readers, to those magical moments as well...

Many people live their whole lives lost in thoughts of the past and the future. Yet, we only truly live life when we are present to the moment. And being present means being fully conscious of what's going on so we can participate fully and appropriately in the opportunities that present themselves.
"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment." -- Henry David Thoreau.
What are you celebrating about your home and life today? I love to hear about it!
If you are participating in "Show Off Your Cottage Monday", please be kind and link back to THE HOUSE IN THE ROSES. Linking back allows the readers of your blog to find the other participants, thus increasing visits for all who are joining in.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Happy weekend!

It’s been such a gorgeous spring day today. Spring is like a breath of fresh air; an awakening. The birds have chosen my backyard as their Paradise so it seems... They’re happy little souls, you can hear them chirping and tweeting as they flutter from tree to tree and my rose bushes are heavy with hundreds of rose buds ready to open any time now…
Life is good, and I can never thank my Creator enough for each of His blessings...
You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted. - Ruth E. Renkl
May you all have a wonderful weekend!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Outdoor Wednesday

Is no secret... sometimes I can’t seem to remember who I am, or where I am. Is very simple, and it can happen to you too if you let your imagination fly far and wide. You suddenly wake up, and find yourself magically transported to some amazing land. You won’t even need a willowroot magic wand to be transported. All you have to do is climb the magical stairs of imagination....
I'm in a place visited by bizarre inhabitants, teeming with unicorns and elves: The deep mysterious wood surrounding the Hallow, that's what is called. If you don’t know it yet, the Hallow is an enchanting small village somewhere in Dreamland; a place filled with magic, where I have the most delicious time playing games, gathering bouquets, picking apples, and dreaming in huge magical cherry trees...

One might think that I have an obsession with the Alice of Lewis Carroll, but this isn't true. You'll not find a Mad Hatter or a white rabbit no matter how hard you look, in any of my dreams! The lure of the land and the redheaded orphan with a scope for imagination by the name of Anne Shirley are much more my sweet cup of tea. You must understand, there are no limits to fantasy here in the garden. You simply have to go by your own code of rules and beliefs based on fancy; capricious, whimsical fancies of the imagination...

The last time I sat here, in this same spot you're seeing now, Berbegazi came to visit from his frozen underground dungeon. Is you don't remember him, or never ever have seen him before (and I hope you haven't), he's a troll as bleak as snow and as rigid as ice. Berbegazi is his name, and he inhabits tunnel and burrows in arctic tundra and snowed mountain peaks, but sometimes he chooses lovely gardens to dwell.

But that was back when all the snows of the world seem to have accumulated here. Berbegazi is now hibernating, and this morning is particularly beautiful, and warm. The sky has the bluest tint to it, and the purest balmy air is bringing in myriads of tiny butterflies to the garden. Butterflies that look like magical little flying flowers as they flutter and dance above the snow balls, lupines and smiling pansies.

You can tell the birds welcome warmth with the same joyfulness I do. They’re happy little souls, you can hear them singing, see them fleeting the skies or scurrying among green branches without an apparent worry. One would almost think that birds have ideals and values which they’re trying to live up to, even if they never quite succeed... Life would be a sad place without them. With them it’s grand and great...

Did you know that fairies abound in this place? Look at them very closely, and tell me if you see flowers or fairies dancing in the sunlight... See what I mean?

Like Anne Shirley would say: "Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me glad to be alive – it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?" But am I talking too much?

These are called columbine flowers, and their dainty fairy-like blooms held high above delicate foliage, nod and dance in the breeze. Surely one of the top reasons why I love coming here must be the fairies, the color bursts of flowers, the exotic fragrances of leaves, the hypnotic effect of arching stems swaying in the wind, the singing of the trees as gentle breezes rattle their leaves, and of course, the intriguing columbines... I like to give columbine exotic names like “Joyful Adelfa”, “Fairy Mist”, “Yellow Luna”, and “Colorida Almida”. As I gazed at them floating and dancing above the surrounding vegetation I know why they always have been inspiration for the notion of woodland fairies. Oh yes, I see fairies in my garden. Can you see them too? They’re dancing in the sunshine with wreaths of columbines and foxglove wands in their hands.

I told you... is pure magic here.... I walk through my garden just like Anne of Green Gables walked through Violet Vale on her way to school, with reverent steps and worshipping eyes, as if I trod on holy ground. What can I say? I love my garden, and when I am here is like being in Paradise. My own delicious little Paradise!

Have a great day everyone, and don't forget to dream in your garden!

Im linking this post to Outdoor Wednesday

Monday, May 17, 2010

In a new light

In May, the house in the roses feels light and airy, and decorating becomes a personal expression of spring. I like to refresh my rooms with pretty hues, set out my loveliest objects and see anew what a difference a season can make... I particularly like my favorite window in May. I simply love what I see beyond it... The garden grows more colorful and lush by the day, and there is this magical wonderful brilliancy and luster to light, that fascinate me.
My little world is bath in what I like to call "magical dust" of soft snow made of white and pink petals.... petals from the flowering trees, as they drift from the sky to lay ever so gently on the green grass... this is the time of the cherry blossoms...
Time for birds... they're everywhere in the garden. The American Goldfinches are getting their yellow feathers back, and you can see and hear the haunting call of the mourning dove filling the air, as the dawn reaches rosy fingers up the eastern sky.
Baby birds have already hatched; you can hear their little wee voices chirping, tweeting, and peeping everywhere... from the nest built by a little house sparrow on the flower urn by our front entrance, to... ...the nest built among the thorns of my Sally Holmes climbing rose, babies are everywhere, while busy mothers hurry in the wings of winds finding food for their hungry hatchling... Wouldn’t it be magical to open your eyes to this new wonderful world of ours and already be surrounded by roses?
Mourning doves are mainly ground feeders, and they love the new birdbath I designed just for them...
Mr. Froggy here is happy to share his pond with them... they seem to love it!

Oh yes, spring has finally sprung in my little world... and I’m so loving it!