Rue

The new issue of Rue is out and it is fat and full of inspiration!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

Started my decorating and I'm having a blast! This is about all of the green and red I use. My colours are pink, white and blue.

 I purchased this sweet reindeer at a home improvement store and added my own signature by spraying him a glossy white.

My dining room table center piece.

Thanksgiving Peak

Thanksgiving was a blast at my brother's home. Christie set such beautiful tables that my little point and shoot does not do them justice. Her attention to detail is inspiring.

With our kids getting older I miss the art that comes home each holiday. I imagine this piece is about 10 years old.

Mother and Sister Extraordinare

 I should have taken more photos of the living room-it was so beautiful with a big crackling fire and snow outside.

Happy Thanksgiving

Off to our brother's home... We know that the tablescape will be earthy, organic, and creative, the family amazing and the feast unforgetable.

Our Thanksgiving invitation.

dwell magazine

Time to get busy...creating

Looking forward to some time off to paint and recover some chairs and create some fabric art work.

Snow

The first bit of snow arrived this morning.

House shopping on Queen Anne

I love looking at homes for sale in my Seattle neighborhood. I loved this home...but fell flat when I saw the inside.

Look at this porch! It's magnificient and dreamy. You have me here that's for sure.

The foyer is stunning!

And here is where it falls flat for me:

The living room needs a more modern-today kind of feel. Oh how I would like to stage it and highlight all of its beauty and fine features.

In the kitchen I would do a dark table to balance all of the dark woodwork in the other rooms and update the chairs.

I just know the bed is oriented in the wrong direction. I would love to tweek this room.

This could be a killer kid hang out area. Imagine a sofa and chairs, a game table and floor pillows. (And the kids out of your hair for awhile).

Bryant Staging

A Vacation Highlight

Our visit to a mission in Mexico called Families at the Dump was a vacation favorite. This particular mission serves about 250 families who live and work at the dump. They provide meals, education, drinking water, medical care and support. We saw so much beauty.

In the children...

Those that are running the mission with zero income.

The learning...

The care for the very young....

The daily baths...

The time given by those living in the dump "neighborhood"... 

The brief encounters we sister's had... 

My dad grilling for the children he helped feed that day...

The brief time the kids have with computers....

A moment to work on english

Mother helping with child care

That's the beauty.

Here's the ugly:

This is their "neighborhood" and those are turkey vultures in the background hovering over the dump.

These are their "houses". Lacking running water, safety and so much more.

We were blessed to have spent a day here. I am unable to describe how grateful I am to the people that make this mission run, all the time they have given and the sacrifices they have made in their own lives.