The Gallery

left- Lulu's painting of Paris, middle- Lulu's portrait of an unknown woman,
right- Deke's rose still life

Deke's painting of an ice cream sundae

Deke's drawing of Johann Sebastian Bach, Lulu and Deke's pottery

We have Lulu and Deke's art work displayed throughout the house. The wonderful colors they use in their art adds so much life to our home! When they were younger I would set up a still life for all of us to paint, it was so much fun to see how different our paintings were. Deke's paintings were rather elaborate creations and Lulu's subject matter inevitably ended up with a face on it. One of my favorite pieces is Deke's 2nd grade report on Bach, it sits on the bookshelf with their ceramics. How do you display the family art?

Chairs

We collect children's chairs in blues and greens. These little chairs make a perfect little end table during parties.

We also collect little dollhouse chairs in blues and green.
I like to display these on the moldings around the house.

These doll chairs are perfectly dilapidated!

We also look for bigger doll chairs in different shades of white.

Wallflower

Isn't this a lovely photo? If you remove the gigantic bow this dress would look perfectly modern today. I am also curiously drawn to the enormous floral print on the wallpaper.
Would design icon Sister Parish approve?

Crack Problem???

We are well into cracked thumb season! Working with paints and glues only seems to worsen the condition of cracked fingers in the winter. I have been trying liquid Band Aids this year, but it's not doing much good. Do you have any winter creams that you swear by???

Really, Really Cheap!

This is an extremely difficult and dangerous time for me. It is near impossible for me to pass up a fabulous sale, and they are absolutely everywhere! I ran in Target only to find all holiday merchandise marked down 90%. I had to breathe in a brown paper bag. I really don't need anything, even if it's just nine cents. I have a lifetime supply of wrapping paper after running the school wrapping paper fundraiser for two years. I have ten trees worth of ornaments and only a tiny portion of my Christmas decorations see the light of day. I have vowed to purge the house of all of the extra stuff and I cannot be adding to it with great deals. Wish me luck during this difficult time.

Champagne Coupes vs. Flutes

The height of the champagne coupe popularity came in the 1930's.

In the The Seven Year Itch, Marilyn dips her potato chips in her champagne!

I hosted two birthdays parties in the past couple weeks and I served champagne at both of them. I needed to get more glasses for the parties and I was torn between getting flutes or coupes. I much prefer the look of coupes with their wide saucers and the ease in drinking from them. I know that champagne connoisseurs feel that a crystal flute is the only way to enjoy the bubbles and bouquet of the sparkling wine. The coupes encourages the champagne to warm and the bubbles to dissipate too quickly. I ended up going with the Hollywood glamour of the champagne coupe. I picked up all of the glasses at different resale shops in my neighborhood, the best deal was five crystal glasses for $2.50!!! I also found seven of the most beautiful etched glasses for under $10.00. These glasses always seem to come in odd numbers and they are extraordinarily inexpensive. Dom Perignon will probably never be served in these and I follow Marilyn Monroe's taste of champagne with potato chips.

Resolutions

Create something...

everyday!!!

Eat healthy and...

exercise, exercise, exercise.
What's your resolution?