Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The color of spring

Can anybody tell me where has spring gone to this year? Have you seen it over there in your part of the world maybe? She is certainly nowhere to be seen here! In fact, I think I might have to get my winter boots out again... it's been so very windy and still cold around here, yuck!
What colors do you associate with Spring? Is it the pastel of Easter colors, or the golden yellow of Forsythia and Daffodils? Or, do you think of fragrant Lilac? Or maybe the sunny yellow punch of lemons?
Green... green for me! Green is so appealing, and is sure to brighten up any corner of my home!
Spring is green, right? And, the perfect companion for green is... you guessed it, roses! Either fresh or fake, encourage yourself that Spring will come by using fruits and flowers in your home...
Just let Spring come early to your home with whatever colors brighten YOUR mood!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

My window to the world

This is my window—my blog—my magical window to the world. And so, I come here every day and sit in this mossy floor of words just to observe the world as it come to pass beyond this imaginary tattered sill. Here, through this window, I also let the world take a peek into my life... my life as it unfolds each day, and as I see it.

One of the things I’ve discovered through blogging is that every human being has a unique atmosphere about themselves that make them exceptional. This atmosphere or energy is passed into others unconsciously. We hardly notice that what we transmit, but others can certainly see it, or feel it. And you can convey and feel this atmosphere through all sources of channels. Even through your blog.

Some blogs (and their owners) emanate a peaceful glow. You feel better around them. Your energy and optimism increase. Others, well, not so. I love to hear what my readers have to say about this atmosphere, and I treasure (and devotedly keep) those incredible emails I receive from time to time of people who, although know nothing about myself, somehow feel connected and lightened by what they read and see here. One of those emails particularly touched me, because that's exactly how I feel about my blog... It reads:

“Your blog does not come across as a job, just a letter to a friend and that is a letter I look forward to. Thank you again. Debi Mann”.

A letter--I want my blog to be an open letter sent out straight from my heart to the world. I am so humbled by you all. So blessed I am by you.

And so... It’s been quite cold around here, but the sun was out for a while last Sunday. I cleaned and dusted my little nest until around mid-day, and then decided to take a stroll through the garden... which I hadn’t visited much throughout the quiet season.

It was cold, and windy... blustery, wind swept grasses and old dried leaves danced in liveless garden floors, but I kept walking; wrapped in my lace hair wrap—like a prayer shawl over by longings...

It is chaos here in the garden, snow and ice can add a great deal of beauty to the winter garden, but also a great deal of nostalgia...

I didn’t want to concentrate in the unattractive though, and decided to celebrate memories of that ‘what has been’ and that ‘what’s to come’—those lovely spring days, past and future. I was thinking of cut branches of pussy willow, forsythia, peach, plum, crabapple, and magnolia... how sweet when I can bring these treasures inside my home and make bouquets with them... how lovely my precious garden will look, graciously adorned with the variety of tulips and bulbs I planted last fall! I can hardly wait to see this symphony of colors... of yellow crocuses and primroses, and the early tulip and purple irises...

In March, there will be violets flowers too, the Miss Kim Lilacs and Lilac tree will start putting lovely buds and there will be earliest yellow daffodils and the white Daisy.... the ornamental Pear will be in blossom, and in April the lilies and peonies. In May and June Pinks of all sorts, specially the roses... roses of all kinds! Are you this crazy about spring too?

By the way, I'm totally in love with my new lace hair wrap. I found the most amazing selection of lace hair wraps on this website here. Chantilly lace, Alencon lace, Battenberg lace, Venetian lace! Which one is your favorite? Can you imagine living in the beautiful Victorian era? Walking the streets of the world in frilly, lacy, flowing clothing from the British Victorian era is one of my favorite dreams ever! The hair wrap you saw in my picture above is not really a hair wrap, but a scarf weaved in lace. I love scarves, and can never have enough. The minute I saw this one I knew I just had to bring it home with me! ;)

It is from Payless store, and it only cost me $12.99.

Are you ready for spring? Oh I am so ready!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

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
Hi everybody! Are you a romantic at heart? Oh I am! I often fancy my house decorated just the way my heart dictates, but usually hit roadblocks (co-occupants) along the way. Since this is “MY” room—all mine, and I can do whatever I want here without the boys interfering, I go totally Romantic in the styling of the space. This time, I decided to decorate my little heavens in yellows and pastel blues... Don’t you just think this is the most fascinating color combination ever! Ah yes, blue is one of the most calming colors, it evoke a soothing blue sky, and yellow is the color evoked by light! And I so yearn for those two colors in my little glacial world right now!
what are you celebrating today? Take us there by linking, and please don't forget to bring your friends over by placing our little logo on your blogs and linking back!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

A birthday on Valentine’s Day

I love Jane Austen’s books. Of all of them, I absolutely adore Pride and Prejudice. What a masterpiece that is! I still remember the first time I read the book... oh the power bestowed, the magic that transported me ever so delicately into the world of 1813! And of course, oh oh Mr. Darcy!!
Do you love Mr. Darcy too? I was swept off my feet by Mr. Darcy the very moment he entered my Peripheral vision! Oh lala, enamorada, in un mare di emozione, head over heels in love!! And I mean it! Then came the movie and then came Colin Firth. Things got even better then! Colin Firth was everything I had imagined Mr. Darcy to be physically and more! I was madly in love with him! ;) I so wanted to be Lizzy! ;) Well, can I tell you a little secret? I am a Lizzy. In a way I am. I am a blessed woman. I can sincerely and devotedly say that I married my own Mr. Darcy—a man that after so many years of sharing life together can still give me his best “Mr. Darcy” look and say straight into my eyes, “You have bewitched me, body and soul.”
Forever yours...
Happy Valentine’s Day dearest Mike... and a happy Happy Birthday to you!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Excerpts of my life...

Did you all watch the Super Bowl last Sunday? I really don’t care much for sports, but all my guys do, and so they all got together in my living room and swirled me over to my own little world... where I happily accommodated myself and delighted in all sorts of domestic bliss...

And so I cooked and baked and decided that Super Bowl Sunday was also good for ironing all that linen that I’d been deliberately hiding away from my view for some time, because I simply think that ironing linen is an onerous task one must rather forget...

Something magical must have happened during the task, though... for what do you know! All of a sudden the chore was no longer a chore at all! Ah yes, I was actually enjoying ironing!

I got so carried away that I even decided to go one step further and also ironed some of the old tablecloths... It was magic I tell you! It must have been magic!

While my lovely guys shouted and cheered for their team, I baked some delicious pumpkin bread and sat down to enjoy a bite with a steaming hot cup of tea.

Tea in my new teacup tasted different—delightfully different! For the past few months I’ve been dreaming with a teacup like this and searched almost every thrift stores in my area, until finally the other day I found this one.

I love teacups that are colored on the inside, and this one is in the most perfect shade of robin's egg blue. I only wish I could have found more than one, but one is all I need for my contentment right now. What a great satisfaction!

While I savored my tea, I was thinking how I wish I lived close to my sister Lissette... I miss my best friend, and now that we were able to spend a couple of days together in her lovely home in Florida, the longing have deepened. Are you close to your sister? Is she your best friend?

My sister Lissette and I had always been very close. When we were growing up we used to share everything from clothing to shoes to laughter to fear to Chicken Pox and rubella to the itty-bitty room we shared until the day I left my parent’s home to go to college and never came back…
I shared room with my sister since the day she was born, two years after me. I cannot picture my life growing up without Lissette always by my side. Growing up back then I never felt the need to have my own personal space, and neither of us ever asked our parents for separate rooms. There was something special, almost magical, about fading to sleep in the same room. We both represented so much comfort to each other. And we still do!
You can imagine our delight and joy those few occasions when we get to be with each other. It’s like going back to those happy days of our childhood again! We try to get together at least once every year, but sometimes this is not possible... miles and miles separate us, distance, work, family and life separate us, but that old bond is still the same as when we were growing up.
Goodness gracious me! I can't imagine what I was thinking the day we took these pictures! Do you see what I see too? Ah yes, I walked every little street and sun-drenched alley in warm and tourist-filled St. Augustine in my Eskimo boots, and never gave a single thought about it until I saw these pictures! Duh!
By the way, the most curious of things just happened this very moment. As I was typing, an impromptu of a snow storm passed through my window tossing giant fluffs of white. Tossed by wind’s whim danced the most intricate snowflakes, and I watched until a glistening blanket covered the brown earth instantly fading in the frozen wastes of the cold. Suddenly, my thoughts then turned to you--those of you who have never experienced the magic of snow and wish for it. I’m bottling some of this magic just for you! Hope you’d be awake tonight when the snow-sprites round your windows... Adios!

Friday, February 4, 2011

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
Sisters are so special, and I thank the Lord for bringing my sister Lissette into my life… Last week while vacationing in Florida we got to stay at her house for a couple of days, and you can imagine our joy… What a blessing that was! Through the years as we were growing up Lissette and I shared so many things together and now as adults we still do… like the same decorating taste and style. Time can never change or destroy this special bond we share. I love my sister’s sense of style and I love her lovely home. So today, I’m sharing her home with you… come, and sit a spell!

Alas, today I'm celebrating my sister Lissette and her lovely home... what are you celebrating today? Please take us there by linking, and if you are linking, please be kind and link back to the house in the roses from your post. Thanks