Remembering my grandmother

Hi all

Today I started to fill out a memory book of my family history and it was asking for such things as:
What do you remember of your childhood home?
What was your bestfriends name?
What was your grandmother like?

and for some reason I decided that I didn't want to fill it out after all, lol, but it did get me to thinking about some of my childhood memories which got me to thinking about my moms mom, my grandmother.
Even though she hasn't been here on this earth for many years now, I still miss her and I wanted to show a few photos of her.

Didn't she have the cutest round chubby cheeks (which I also seemed to inherit) and I'm sure that expression of hers made it hard for anyone to say "no" to!
Of course, her expression in the second photo
puts no doubt in my mind that she must of had some what of a mischievous spark behind that cuteness!

But my favorite photo of them all is this 1920's shot, of her dressed in her wonderful sense of style.
Did you notice the tie?

Even though my grandmother was a proper lady of her time she also was a rebel and was the first woman in her small little town to wear a pair of pants!!!
Ohhhh, the scandal!

And as I was pondering this scenario I had a lightbulb moment of my own history.

When I was in Junior High (yes, a long time ago, lol) there was a rule in our small town, that girls were not allowed to wear pants to school.
I thought it was a ridiculous rule because we lived on the coast and during the winter it was foggy and cold all day long, so one day I decided that I would wear pants to school.
My mom said it was my decision (yep, she is a rebel too, lol) and so I ventured out in all my independent glory wearing "pants".
I did feel somewhat anxious the whole day but no one said a word to me, until my way out the school doorway at the end of the day.
I was told in a very clear and loud voice by the school secretary to never go against the school rules again and the glare she gave me, put fear into my little soul!
That's all I needed, a severe reprimand, but guess what happened a year later?
The school rules were changed and girls would be allowed to wear pants whenever they
wanted!!

My grandmothers birthday is Monday and I will be thinking of her as I go through my day.
I will think of her independent spirit, her strength and most of all, how she is a part of me to the end of my days.

talk to you soon,
deborah

Oh oh, the home decorating bug is biting!!!

Hi all,
I don't know about you , but I know that spring is approaching when my mind starts
to meander into the home decorating realm!

I love it though, because decorating is probably my biggest passion. Even over art!
Of course I think of decorating as a kind of art too, so I get to combine both of my passions in one full swoop :)
I've been wanting to repaint my master bedroom for a while now and I am determined that it will happen this year! I'm keeping to the same color scheme of cream, but I want to paint the walls in broad vertical stripes. Alternating each stripe with a flat finish of cream paint and then a semigloss stripe of cream paint.
Subtle but elegant.

There's just something that I find soothing about a white bedroom, maybe it's the purity of it or the crispness. And when the sunshine streams in onto the cream colored walls, it is just sooooo beautiful and romantic.

Of course if I could have the view of the above photo then I would probably never leave my room no matter what the color!

Throw in a glamorous crystal chandelier and maybe a gold
carved mirror and voila, the perfect bedroom!

A girl can dream, can't she?

talk to you soon,
deborah

Hi all, I have been honored with an award of having a charming blog!
That just makes my day!!!

Thank you to Kathy of Catnip Studio for such a sweet compliment.

The authors of this award say that blogs who receive this award are exceedingly charming.

"This blog invests in the PROXIMITY in space, time and relationships. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that even more friendships are propagated."

I love this! That is truly one of my goals, to be a friend and to promote kindness through my words. It's what makes the world go round!!!

The authors ask that when you are awarded this award that you then pass the award on to 8 other bloggers that you admire and include their links and notify them to let them know that they have been awarded.
So without further ado, here are my 8 fav bloggers and their links:

my little life
The Seasonal Cottage
EDDIE ROSS
persistingstars
keepingupwiththetatums
mytangerinedreams
myromantichome
sweetrepeats

Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

talk to you soon,
deborah

Yesterday and the future!

Hi all,
I still am on the happiness vibe of yesterday!
So many wonderful historic moments and so many emotional ones too.
The speeches, the dancing, the people and most of all the man!
The man and the woman. The leaders of our wonderful country.

I am proud today, I am joyful today, I am hopeful today

deborah

My latest project

Hi all,
I wanted to give you all a little sneak peek of my latest art project.

My heart has really been longing to get back to my love of painting lately and last month during my blog tea party I was soooo in love with this tea cup photograph from the etsy shop, couragemylove.etsy.com and I just couldn't get it out of my mind!
And one day it just came to me that I should design a painting around the photo, and this is what I have so far.
I haven't decide whether to add fabric to the piece or not, but I have added a piece of vintage paper below the stack of tea cups.
Of course, I am only in the beginning stages of my work but
the wonderful thing about starting this art piece is that when I picked up my paintbrush and started squeezing paint out on my palette from the paint tubes, such a wonderful feeling of joy flushed through my heart and soul.
You see, I am really a painter, and as much as I love my crafting, my heart really belongs to the medium of paint.
There's just something so amazing in that feeling of holding a paintbrush in my hand and applying the paint to the canvas, that is so part of my being.
I have let that go lately and I have really been missing it, but no longer!
Of course, I will not leave my collaging and crafting behind but I will definitely not be putting my painting creations on the back burner any longer.

Now, if any of you have any ideas on how I could create more hours to the day please let me
know!

talk to you soon,
deborah

Ringing in the year with grandchildren!

Hi all,
Just wanted to show you a few photos of the newest addition
to our family.
Her name is Madalyn Jane!
Here are all three of my children holding her at various times.

The handsome young man with the glasses is the proud papa of Madalyn and I took the photo during a walk after New Years on the Yuba river hiking trail.
As you can see by how the baby was dressed it was pretty brisk outside that day! but it felt great to get out into the winter air and view the scenery.

The other handsome young man is my other son and proud Uncle of baby Madalyn.
He loves getting to hold her every chance he gets.

And the young lady in the pic is my daughter and she is the proud Auntie of Madalyn.
This is the first chance she has gotten to see the baby since she was born in September, so it was super special to see them together.

I couldn't of asked for a better start to the New Year!

It was filled with family and fun and many blessings.
May this 2009 year also bring you the things and people that fill your heart full of happiness and peace.

talk to you soon,

Happy 2009!

Hello to you all and Happy New Year!
I hope the new year brings you all happiness and health and most of all
peace in your soul.

One of my major goals for this new year is to do alot of corresponding through handwritten notes and letters to family and friends.
Don't get me wrong, I love the world of emailing and blogging etc. but I think there's nothing like opening up your mailbox and finding a little note or card from a friend.
Knowing that someone would take the time to get out their trusty pen and pretty paper and set apart a little bit of their day to talk to me is just soooo
wonderful and joyful.
So, I want to bestow that same feeling upon others this 2009 year.
So don't be surprised if you open up your mailbox and find a little note from my home to yours :)

Talk to you all soon,
deborah