For Ellen...

Here are some pictures, as promised! They're not very good, but were snapped just before everything came down-- so it all looks a little messy!
:(

It's not everything, but most of it... so here we go!


Top of Armoire...






Living room shelf...


Living room with Tree in corner...

Mantle...

Living room side table...

Who are these kids??

;)

Living room...

Kitchen window sill...

Kitchen corner...

Front hall...

Table in front hall...

Front hall...

In the dining room...

Miss you & Big hugs!

xoxoxo

What's New!

Well, what's new?



This is!







Joy & I have just launched a new website called moggit.com-- 'the guilty pleasure of the decorating world'. It's a new site dedicated to design, decor and decorating, but with a twist-- it's a slightly irreverent toungue-in-cheek appraoch!

The site itself is a cross between a blog and an online magazine (hence the name), with regular features and almost daily changes to content. There are interactive polls, fun photos and great interviews with some of the most interesting people in design today.


We launched December 1st, and so far have had a great response! (Thanks everyone!)


So check us out at http://www.moggit.com/ !

A New Camelot...

I haven't heard anyone on CNN say it yet, so I guess I will.

What we have here is...

A Camelot for the 21st Century.

It's about time.

Ain't it Funny How Time Slips Away??

I am reminded of that song (it's actually playing rather annoyingly in my head, to tell the truth! I never really liked it much, come to think of it...) as I try to figure out how to catch up on this poor, neglected blog of mine. I honestly don't know how Joy does it-- she's amazingly disciplined about her blogging, even in the midst of crises (yes, that's plural!)

So much has been going on in both our lives since I last blogged-- not all of it great-- but I'm so grateful for each day, when I know that things could be very, very different right now... I don't even want to think about it!!

But there have been good things too! One fun thing that happened in the last month or so is that I saw my very first feature story published in the latest issue of Romantic Country... on page 62! I was assigned by the Sweet Fifi herself to interview the very gracious Tanya Russell, and she honestly couldn't have been nicer! She made my rookie job so easy!

And the other great thing is the ongoing evlovement of Joy's and my Top Secrret Project. We're having such fun (and working really hard too-- honest!) developing our ideas into one hopefully cohesive package, and with the help of uber-talented Cathy at Avalon Rose, making it into reality... man, that chick rocks! There is no way we could have ever hoped to do this without her!

All I can really tell you about the TSP is that it is very, very different from anything else you've ever seen! We hope to launch soon... soon, is rather vague, I know, be we also know we have to get all our ducks in a row before then-- no mean task for two girls with the attention span of gnats!

So, until we can be more specific... off to work for me!

Back to the Blog...

As I began to compose this blog, I happened to look at the date, and thought how appropos is this, that I should take up again where I left off exactly three months ago!

Three months. Yes, it's been that since I blogged. But I do have my excuses-- little did I know at the beginning of the summer that three kids at home would mean no time for Mom on the computer. (Who knew that they could all be such little computer hoglets??)

But it was a great summer-- lots of sleeping in, sun, swimming, and boating. And now that we're back into the thick of the 'regular routine' that I was so dreading , I find myself not minding so much. I do have to admit to missing them all like crazy last week. But as this week loomed, I felt better about my days seul, and am realizing that I don't have to feel guilty about pursuing my own interests while they are at school.

I've done alot of thinking this summer-- maybe because I knew that I'd be 'on my own' for the first time in over twelve years... A daunting prospect for a stay-at-home Mom! I've lived for my kids for a loooooong time, and I've had to figure out who I am again. I've got my Gifted business, which I hope will keep me a bit busy, and I've decided to go back to teaching-- but only on a supply basis-- I love my freedom too much! Plus, I've got what might possibly be the most exciting Top Secret project we've ever hatched planned with my bff Joy... (I'd tell ya but then I 'd hafta, well, you know...) and in addition to all this, I have some new exciting work on the horizon-- very enjoyable and challenging work that has somehow miraculously come my way.

I'm one lucky girl.

(And oh yeah-- I've got two new great plot ideas roaming around in my head, begging to be let out into about 360 pages.... when will I have the time??)

So now, the days that I was secretly dreading, you know the ones-- those days where I'd have to figure out Who I Am, and What I Want to Do With My Life, the days I thought would drag by with me watching the clock and waiting by the road forthe bus are now flying by. Already. It seems there aren't enough hours between 7:30 and 3:15 to do all that I have a burning need to get done.

And it's only week two!

And the Winner is... plus, What's 'New-to-Us'!

I'm thrilled to announce the winner of my first-ever blog giveaway! With the help of my own personal 'Random Comment Picker'...

The winner is...

Joy at Cupids Charm! Thanks so much to everyone who commented on the blog, and I hope you enjoy your new goodies, Joy!

So, on to our 'new-to-us' acquisition... our 'new' hundred year-old dining room set!
We actually bought this set last fall, and as some of it was in pretty bad condition, hadn't gotten it all together in one place 'til just recently... the set came with twelve-- yes, twelve! (2 captains & ten sides)-- chairs, which have been re-upholstered in a fantastic mossy-sagey green and burnished gold damask fabric...

This is the pedestal of the 60" round table... it is really just quite enormous-- it splits in two, and has room for five leaves, opening the table up to a total of ten feet long for those huge family dinners I always seem to end up hosting!

This sideboard, below (one of two-- I haven't gotten the smaller one yet, though I've spoken up for it!) is seven feet long, and 32" deep. Again, enormous. But it has great storage-- room for all of my antique linen table cloths, cake pedestals, and cutlery! Obviously, it is still in need of some work-- we'll be re-painting the entire set in the same creamy colour... soon??

Just for now, here's what I've put on the sideboard for display...

A few vintage decanters, filled with creamy buttons, all snuggled together on a vintage silver-edged mirror with legs!

Half of my ever-growing collection of vintage glass candle holders...

And a sweet little 2 oz bottle with stopper sitting on a vintage mirror & crystal candle pedestal...

That's all for now... I've got a date with a paintbrush (which I suspect will turn very quickly into a long, drawn-out affair!)
;)

'Creatively Speaking' and My First Blog Giveaway!

The more I blog, and the more I explore other blogs, the more I realize what a wealth of incredibly talented, giving, and supportive women entrepreneurs there are out in 'blogland'.

Just knowing this has provided masses of encouragement for me-- enough even, to get up the nerve to start my own web-based business! For me, always a natural 'back-seater', taking the proverbial leap into the web has been one that has forced me to grow in ways I couldn't even imagine. It's been a frightening, exhilarating, rewarding and enlightening experience, one I wouldn't trade for the world.

What I'd really like to know, though, is how you all do it! So I've decided to create a new feature for the blog, called 'Creatively Speaking' where I'll interview the owners of some of the best, most creative blogs and sites on the web, and hopefully tap into their creative consciousnesses.

I am hoping that 'Creatively Speaking' can be a platform where we can all learn from one another. I think that uniting some of the many diverse and talented women in 'blogland' and creating an atmosphere of sharing where we can all glean inspiration and support from one another though such a medium as 'Creatively Speaking' will be inspiring and fulfilling for all of us!

My very first 'cochon d'Inde' (uhm, yeah-- 'guniea pig' just sounds so much better when you say it in French, doesn't it?) is none other than Fabulous Fifi herself!

I'd like to thank Fifi, who has been so gracious in participating in my very first blog interview. Her unfailing generosity in sharing her projects and ideas with others is legendary in 'blogland'. I chose Fifi because to me, she is the epitome dynamic creativity, and truly seems to implement that creativity into her own daily life, her surroundings, and her personality. And I think we can all learn from that!

Welcome Fifi! I hope you all enjoy her insightful interview as much as I have!

Creatively Speaking: Ten Q & A with Fifi O’Neill:

1. Please tell us about a bit about yourself… what do you do?

I am an editor, writer and photo stylist.

2. How did you come to do what you do? If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?

I always wanted to be a writer. I began my career in the 1960s when I was still living in Paris. If I wasn't a writer I would be involved with animals in one way or another.

3. Please complete the following sentence: Three things about me that would surprise other people are…

a) I have owned 3 restaurants.

b) I can't sew.

c) I love to be alone.

4. What inspires you?

Other creative people.

5. What brings your creative drive to a screaming halt? How do you recharge your creative battery?

Too much writing/editing. The best thing for me is to switch from writing to creating something with my hands. It frees my mind.

6. Time to play favorites! What are your favorite:

Colors: all the soft hues

Foods: chicken and any kind of vegetables

Blogs/Sites: Any blog with beautiful photographs, interesting interiors, great gardens and those with creative projects.

Guilty Pleasures: shopping for girly things and home and garden accessories.

6. If there was a fire in your home (God forbid!), and you could only save one inanimate object (lets assume all family, friends and pets are safe!), what would you save? Why?

My computer because all my work is on it.

7. Please complete the following sentences:

I can’t live without: beauty around me.

I’m totally addicted to: Girly clothes

8. What’s ‘So In’ for you right now?

Any object/accessory made of chicken wire

9. Time to play ‘If I’d known then what I know now…’: please tell us one thing you have learned that you wish you would have known at the beginning of your career. How would it have changed or made things better for you?

I truly believe "Ignorance is Bliss" because if you knew what to expect when you get in most business you might never take that step. I wouldn't change a thing.

10. Finally, please give three tips to other ‘bloggers’ and Women In Business (henceforth to be known as WIB’s!):

a) Never let someone say "It won't work."

b) Don't worry about rejection.

c) Stay the course. it might take longer than you thought (it always does) but you will reach your goal.

Thanks so much once again to Fabulous Miss Fifi, for participating in 'Creatively Speaking'! Each comment received on the post will automatically go into a random drawing for my very first blog giveaway... goodies include: a gold 'fleur-de-lis-esque' kind of frame-- it comes to you with a perfect empty circle in the middle (Just to get your creative juices flowing!), a really great vintage silver teaspoon, an old key-- rusted 'just-so', a metal roses 'thingie', which can be used for any number of things, three fabuous, high-quality sheets of stickers (one nests, one eggs, and one vintage 'Paris' ephemera), and two vintage-look 'Paris' ephemera postcards, all sent to you in a fantastic vintage-inspired emphemera file-folder! (And, if I happen to run across any more fabulous doo-hickie's this week, I may just throw them in to the mix!)

Drawing will be held on Monday, June 9, 2008!