Bridgette Pyles-Martin

While spending the good part of my summer in the mountains, I love to browse the art galleries in Black Mountain and Asheville.  One of the artists I have discovered and loved is Bridgette Pyles-Martin.  I love her paintings of mountain landscapes and the vibrant and bold colors she uses.  For years I have admired her work that I've seen in the Seven Sisters Gallery in Black Mountain and am waiting to find just the right one for my home.  I don't have any paintings that will remind me throughout the year of my love for the mountains.  More of her work can be seen here: http://bridgetteart.com/biography.html.

Summer in the mountains

Almost every year of my life I have spent the fourth of July in the mountains of NC.  My great grandparents established a tradition of family gatherings here and I am grateful for this.  This past 4th, 48 of us gathered to celebrate.  I then spent the next few weeks there with my boys to escape the heat and humidity in Charleston.  This year's milestone was my oldest son's making it to the top of Lookout Mountain, the tallest mountain in Montreat where we have our home.  We were also joined for a week by a good friend of mine and her two kids.  Now we are back home facing just a few weeks of summer left before the school craziness begins.

French art

                                  

I came upon these prints on another blog and I love the colors!  They seem very happy.  I have been looking for something like this for my laundry room, which unfortunately you have to traverse to go out of the back door.  The prints can be found here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lucileskitchen?ref=seller_info

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Love this kids' space

Found these pictures in the new Lonny magazine.  I love the kids' office with huge bean bag, chalkboard table, and bookshelf as well as the little girl's room.   I am a huge fan of mixing colors and patterns!
I also love the plate arrangement on the wall in the second picture.

Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day.  My boys planted this rose bush for me.  I love it and hope it really proliferates.  I had such an awesome weekend celebrating being a mom.  We spent Saturday in the boat and it could not have been a prettier day.  I hope to blog more in the near future.  My teaching job has been taking the majority of my time and effort.

Love these necklaces!!

I stumbled upon these necklaces on a blog and I absolutely adore them!  You can find them here:http://www.etsy.com/shop/tamar?ref=seller_info.

Winter into spring

I have had a serious lapse in blogging because of a new job I started in January teaching French at an all girls' school here in Charleston.  I am very happy with the job but also still interested in home organizing and decorating and all that kind of stuff also.  I still have been helping a neighbor with a few things in her home and did a paint color consultation yesterday.  I still would like to keep my hands in this business too.  One of my real loves is taking photos and even though I don't have a "real" camera, I think I still get some good ones.  I have been thinking about investing in a nice camera at some point in the future and taking a course in photography.  Here are some of my latest pics---just taken today.  I am inspired by pink at the moment and think the colors in these pictures would be great inspiration for an interior design project.

             

The Pioneer Woman Cooks and 16 minute meals

As my life has gotten a lot more hectic with me working part time, I am loving this website.  I thought Rachel Ray had something with her 30 minute meals, but this tops it.  The Pioneer Woman's website is also filled with lots of other good recipes that may take longer, but look delicious.  As I've said in a previous post I have started planning my meals out for the week (not a new concept I know) which has really helped me.  The kids also like looking at the menu to see what's ahead, sort of like how they like looking at the school menu.  I don't have any fancy way of doing it, just write it down on a piece of paper and post it on the fridge.  Planning out for longer than a week does not work for me.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/category/miscellaneous/16-minute-meals/

Happy New Year!

I will be taking a hiatus from my blog until I can get things All Squared Away.  I have started a part-time teaching job, three days a week that for now needs all of my attention.  I hope that I can still post things from time to time and hope to continue my organizing/design business on the days I am not working and in the summer.  I did want to include my idea for displaying Christmas cards, at least during the month of January.  I hate not to be able to enjoy them for a while, so I made this collage by taping them up over the electrical box in my laundry room.  The kids and I love to stop to look at them--we are blessed to have so many good friends!

Favorite things--nautical pillowcases

I found these awesome pillowcases on Etsy here--they are very cute, inexpensive, and Royal Kane is offering free shipping.  What a great idea for a Christmas present.  They would look good in my boys' rooms.

These are a few of my favorite things: Annechovie

I have long admired Anne Harwell's prints and designs.  Here are just a few that I love that can be purchased from her Etsy shop found here.  I am a big fan of her colors and whimsical design.  I think that any of these would make great gifts for somebody with similar taste.

Art wall

I don't know if I've ever mentioned that one of my favorite blogs it Meg Duerksin's Whatever blog that can be found here http://megduerksen.typepad.com.   It is sort of a photo journal of her family's every day life.  and is very honest and real and she makes us feel like we know her because of our common ground of experience as moms.  I love this photo of the art wall in her house and the fact that she admits that she feels no guilt in throwing away pieces after they have been displayed.  I find that I am saving less and less as time goes on.  Each one of my sons has a box in which I put the most treasured pieces.  I make sure that I purge the box every couple of months.  The only way to keep a home clutter-free in my opinion is to edit, edit, edit.  You'll be glad you did.

Melamine plates by Daninotes: A few of my favorite things

A good friend of mine who is a graphic designer sells these personalized melamine plates and platters on her Etsy site.  I think they make fabulous and useful gifts.  I love the platters because if you take an appetizer to the party and happen to leave your plate there, the hosts will know who it belongs to!  You have to order by December 10th to get them in time for Christmas.  Visit her site here.  She designed the pirate monkey for my son as a birthday gift.  He loves it!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Christmas is definitely my favorite time of the year.  We have decorated the house and are getting things in order.  My kids adore the Christmas tree and my oldest is especially obsessed.  He decorates mostly himself and wakes up every morning and stares at it as he is eating his breakfast.  I keep my decorations pretty simple: tree, mantel, and manger scene on one of my buffets, and a Christmas cactus (love the red and pink blooms) on the other.  The manger scene was given to us as a wedding present which I thought was such a great and meaningful gift.  As far as clearing clutter, I do go through my decorations as I am putting them out and get rid of anything I don't like anymore or something that is tattered and torn.  And, as a rule, my decorations have to fit neatly into four boxes.

Earring tree

Trying to get ready for Christmas and the New Year I feel a strong desire to get everything All Squared Away.  Do you?  OK--I've tried many different ways to organize my earrings (I am a big accessory person), but I think I have finally found one that works for me.  Here they are (almost all of them in one place) on a little earring tree I purchased at TJ Maxx for about seven bucks.  Finding a storage solution that works for you is key--one that fits in with how you work, dress, etc.  More and more I am loving to see my things out, so I can know and remember what I have.  I still haven't figured out the necklace storage, but am working on it.

Turkey gobbler fruit centerpiece

Yesterday at my youngest's Thanksgiving party, I saw these turkey centerpieces that a mom had created out of a cantaloupe, a small pear, a few raisins, a red pepper, grapes, and cheddar cheese chunks.  They were precious and totally edible and make a fun craft for you and your kids.  Happy Thanksgiving!  Here are the directions I found on food.com:

• 1 bosc pear (head)
• 1 cantaloupes (body) or 1 honeydew melon (body)
• 2 lbs cubed cheddar cheese (beak and tail feathers)
• 1 -2 red bell peppers (snood, feet and side feathers) or 1 -2 yellow bell pepper (snood, feet and side feathers)
• 2 raisins (eyes)
• 1 lb seedless grapes (tail feathers)
• bamboo skewer
• toothpick

1. 1Stabilize the melon body by cutting a shallow slice off the rind to form a flat base and place on serving dish or platter.
2. 2Using a section of bamboo skewer, attach a Bosc pear (head) upside-down to the upper front of the melon.
3. 3Cut a cheese triangle beak and red pepper snood. Attach both, along with raisin eyes, to the pear head with sections of toothpick.
4. 4Cut red pepper feet and set them in place. For tail feathers, skewer cheese cubes and red grapes, then insert the skewers around the back of the melon. Pin pepper side feathers in place with toothpicks.

These are some of my favorite things series: Nostalgic Graphic Tees

Elizabeth Horton, a friend of mine in Mt. Pleasant who is a graphic designer has created these cute shirts that feature silhouette designs of nostalgic childhood memories.  I think they are adorable and the quality is great.  This week she has a special offer on the Christmas tee.  Her sizes run from baby to size 12.  What a great gift to give or to ask the grandparents for!  Visit her Etsy store here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/elizabethhorton to see all of her cute designs.

Scarf organizer

I found a great organizing blog called "Penelope Loves Lists" which can be found here: penelopeloveslists.com.  Because I also am a huge fan of scarfs, I thought this clever solution was great.  The scarf hook which can be bought at the Container Store.  Just hang on a wall hook or on your closet bar, grab and go.  I love having things readily accessible.  I also think scarves are a clever way of adding color and personality to an outfit and if your neck is warm, it makes a huge difference.  Having been in France this month, I can say that you hardly ever see a French woman without a scarf.

Weekly menu

Although it seems like a no brainer, I have not always been super good about planning the week's menu in advance.  A few weeks ago, however, I made a conscious effort to be more diligent about it.  For the last two weeks it has worked superbly.  I don't do anything fancy, but at the beginning of the week I sit down and write out what we are going to eat each night.  On the back of the menu I write out my grocery list.  It is important that I choose something that everybody will eat.  Also, I have found that for Monday-Friday, I can get away with cooking only three times because I try to double up on the recipe.  Here is a sample of what we had last week:


Monday: Beef Bourguignon and salad
Tuesday: Turkey tacos with toppings and black beans for the side
Wednesday: Roast Chicken
Thursday: Leftover Beef Bourguignon with broccoli
Friday: Leftover chicken (you could make a pot pie, chicken quesadillas or anything)

The following picture is of the roast chicken we made and it was SO easy.  Just buy a whole chicken, coat w/ olive oil salt and pepper and lemon juice.  Put in foiled covered roasting pan with potatoes and carrots on the bottom (also brushed with olive oil) and cook @ 350 degrees for 20 minutes per pound.  Ours took about an hour and a half.  Although it is very easy to buy a roasted chicken at the supermarket, this tastes so much better in flavor and nothing beats a home-cooked meal.

Paris is always a good idea...

I have been out of pocket this November with a fabulous 40th birthday trip to Paris and then getting back and playing catch up, etc, etc.  Hopefully I will have more time to post throughout the Holidays with decorating, organizing, and gift ideas.  Being in Paris reawakened my love for the French way of life, or  "art de vivre."  I have always felt at home in France because the way of life there speaks deeply to something inside of me--finding joy in the small things, slowing down, taking pride in the beautiful and well-crafted, and quite simply enjoying the everyday.  Here are some of my pictures...