Night Ryder

We spent a long and convivial evening with our supper club last night.  Hosts L&D served up a scrumptious fall inspired meal – think caramel apple martinis, roasted veggies, a hearty pasta and toasted gingerbread with ice cream and caramel.  *what I wouldn’t do for another piece of that dessert*  After dinner the gals curled up fireside on the porch while the boys headed out with glow in the dark golf balls for Ryder Cup inspired Night Ryder tourney.  And while I can’t give a first hand account of that outing, I can tell you that the captain of the winning team came home drinking scotch out of his trophy.  I’m guessing they had a pretty fab time out there :-)




I couldn’t be more thankful to have such fun friends.  And I can hardly believe that three years ago I’d yet to meet a single one of them!
xoxo

Updated Fall Dining Room with New Bench and Runner and Joy to the World

A few weeks ago I showed you the farmhouse table I built for our dining room and a few days after that our fall decorating in that room. Although I was pretty excited about the table, I was not a fan of my autumn decor in that room. It was a little dark and drab looking. It might have been fine for November, but just seemed too dreary for September or early October, especially seeing how the weather is still so warm here. Last week I finally played around with it and am so much happier with how it looks. The first thing I did was build a bench for one side of the table. It took a little while but was relatively simple. I upholstered the top of it once I built the base and then added some nailhead trim to dress it up a bit. I took photos as I went and as soon as I have time to edit them will do a tutorial. 

Sometimes I feel like things look better in photographs than they do in real life and sometimes I feel like a photograph just doesn't relay the feel of something. In this case, I was disappointed in the photos I took of the dining room and the bench. I think the fabric and trim on the bench add a nice little shine and dress the bench up which helps keep the room from getting too rustic but it's hard to really see in these pictures. 

After I finished the bench I felt like the table needed a runner so Lillie and I made a new runner. It's basically the same as the one we had on our old table but a little bit narrower and quite a bit longer. The one from the last table didn't fit on this one. And then after that we added some fresh hydrangeas and white pumpkins to the table and sideboard. I like it so much better in here now!

I also wanted to let you know our Joy to the World pillow covers in Cranberry are now available!

I hope you all have a lovely week!

the poem of a lovely room

somewhere, hidden in a bower, bracken filled and flights of wings,

living there, beyond the eye's dreams.....a little person, slight of, weightier than a butterfly

yet silken and fond of sunshine, 

a little person, a friend of gentle folk and foxes of the forest.



moss laden footpaths, winterey and sleeping quietly as the forest speaks.

quiet sounds, far past any memories of solitude, wait for the woodsman, 

watch for the peasant milk maid 

for their lives are old and yet filled with stories



stories of old wooden doors, rooms of thick, heavy books and keys

whose owners know not where they arrive from.



stories of roads of brown, soft soil where wooden carts have fastened long trails

of familiar afternoons. i remember that such places find their way.

ready for the old trees lovely limbs and leaves to feather and dance lightly into the sky.

night falls, dusk and bending light and clouds, softer, more gray than that of fading coal



the foot steps out the unknown door, unknown only to the reader inside

this room filled with handwritten letters for stories yet to tell.

having just watched the endearing, lovely and singularly beautiful

film "Bright Star" of the story of John Keats and Fanny Braun. i have written poetry since age eleven. this wondrous film always takes me away from this world into a place that is divinely delicate and soft. hence my poem. i should share more of my poems. 

find a place that is quiet and serene and lovely, filled with some kind of old and beautiful history and the soft places of your soul will brighten and live again like a little child.

Game Ball

The PCP was just thrilled to leave yesterday’s game with the game ball. 

 

And while I’d never tell him this, (I mean, what good is a mother if she’s not the kid’s biggest fan?!?)  I knew it wasn’t the best game he’d played all season.  So later that afternoon when he said “Coach S didn’t give me the game ball because I played the best.  He gave it to me because my attitude was the best” I couldn’t have been more proud.  It was a tough game and a hard loss but he’s right…he DID have a great attitude through and through.  It’s moments like that when I think maybe, just maybe, we’re doing something right :-)

xoxo

Autumn is here...

A few weeks ago I took some photos of Lillie and Lola. I don't think I've taken any setup type photos of them together since last fall and they've grown so much since then. Lillie is wearing our Briar hat, made by my sister, Dana. We are hoping to have them available again later this fall.

Lola's hat was a gift from Jon's parents for Lillie when she was little. It's from a store in Indiana called Lola Rue. My mom made Lillie's plaid jumper. Lola's dress, little jacket and shoes were also Lillie's. I guess that's what happens when you are the second child. =)  The dress is from Gap and her little jacket and shoes are from Joyfolie. 

Our neighbors, Chloe and Bayley came along too and wore the Briar hats in gray.

I also wanted to introduce you to our newest sponsor:

Vinyl Wall Decals

Head on over to their website for a wide variety of vinyl decals at great prices!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Beauty helps with sadness

                                                    jo aylward

jo aylward

lost in fiber, blog

michael graydon

olssen and jensen

pondeli

pretty gingham, blog

sada art on etsy

sada art on etsy

house of bliss on blogspot

some pink flowers, blog

topipittori

tumbler

winnie

a rough week, wishing we were at the ocean or somewhere else. do you ever have days where you just feel so sad and discouraged. we just are not happy where we are. want so much to sell our art more. would love to be a traveling art teacher. anyone have any ideas? at least have peace and happiness more from these lovely pictures. certain things do keep me going. would love to hear from you.

Late week random musings.....

Hi there and Happy Friday. Another week gone by.......wow they are going fast! Even though I think some of these random posts might be short, they inevitably end up being rather chock full as I keep on adding to them and by weeks end...I have one heck of a long post, but its normally up through the weekend, so its a few days worth:) I am still recuperating from my party last weekend, did very much enjoy the leftovers and had a few friends stop over to help me polish them off (cannot stand seeing waste)! I love how the "after effects" of a great party linger well into the week after.............See exhibit A.

A plate full left of the fabulous French pastries......yum!

And exhibit B.

All the pretty flowers I received still going strong and condensing  some arrangements to maximize their staying power.

Other than that, trying to get going on more projects in my house, doing two E-design jobs, and that along with all my other non blogging commitments has me really busy....as in wishing there were more than 24 hours in the day kind of busy!So let's begin shall we with all the randomness that has come to make up these random musing posts.....For those who have not seen, may I present my completed formal powder room........

And the back powder room is pretty much done as well..............

I went to for a lovely breakfast/brunch the other day to a friends house, who had some pretty fall decor out on display, here's a peek....

Love these mugs! I have to find them......

Love seeing autumn branches as she displayed them here......

How cute is this picture? My friend sent it to me of her pooch celebrating his birthday, too adorable to not share!

We have some new lighting going up around here...FINALLY! My bathroom the sconces I was waiting on for about 8 months finally showed up and are being put up in the next few days. You might have seen my new dining room chandelier which I am loving as well as the absolutely gorgeous crystal sconces for the living room.....super happy with the lighting so far!!

Stunning new sconces for the living room

Close up!

The gorgeous new chandelier for the dining room finally came and got hung!

Dough bowls...you know I love them and I have a really great new resource, so kept one for myself and filled it with lemons and artichokes.....

Any good  new books or movies lately? I am soo excited over the release of Les Miserables in December!! Anyone else with me on that? I know its going to be fabulous......

Click on arrow to watch the trailer....looks amazing and the music always gives me goosebumps!

Very off the interior design topic, but I caught tale end of something which captivated my attention and that is the focus in some schools and amongst educators on "CPA va GPA". I was intrigued about what CPA means, it stands for "character point average", its a movement towards taking a closer look at character education vs. traditional education......there was a very interesting article put out by the New York Times that you may or may not have seen, in any case click here for link if you are interested......(particularly interesting for those who have school aged children)

A little store biz...the big buzz is my very special napkin rings, click here if you missed my post on them, worth seeing they are amazing!

Also getting in 5 of these oversized tole trays......antiqued and painted with gorgeous florals! Email me if interested, don't think they will go on the online shop so just email me if you have any questions!

So that's my randomness for this week! Lots of rain around here this weekend.....good weekend for a movie and to catch up on all kinds of things that have fallen to the wayside.  What are you up to this weekend? Hope whatever you are doing is enjoyable and relaxing!