I’ve written before about my hometown of Petaluma in Sonoma County, California.  It’s a really wonderful place to live, filled with antique shops, close to the coast and San Francisco, and we’re in the Wine Country too. A few days ago I was interviewed for an article in the local paper, and woke up this morning to see the feature!

Greetings to my fellow Petalumans who are reading this today!  You can learn more about me here and browse the Project Gallery and Style Files for plenty of inspiration. Perhaps I’ll see you around town (I’m the gal with the paint in her hair). Thanks so much Lynn (and the Argus Courier) for the great article!

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Hello everyone and happy weekend!  My little munchkins are bouncing off the walls awaiting the arrival of you know who and on their best behavior since the man in the red suit is comin’ to town. Don’t you love tossing around the ol’ “Santa’s watching!” line this time of year whenever they get squirrely?  We say that a lot. “You know Santa’s watching you!”  Funny how quickly they make their beds and remember to get along with one another…

Our oldest is home from college, so we were finally able to get together and snap the annual family photo. I don’t hire a photographer, I just set up the Nikon on the tripod with the timer.  We got lucky this year (unlike in past years when one of the young ones is pouting or frowning or making a face) and we finally took a good picture! 

Oh I know what you’re thinking, yes, that oldest girl of ours in the middle, isn’t she a beauty? Smart too, great grades, and studying to be a nurse practitioner, I’m so very proud of my stepdaughter. And those little ones sure are cute too, we’re very blessed.  

We’re an expressive family, yes we are. We can’t sit still just for smiles, oh no, ho ho ho.  We like to have a little fun with our faces… here we’re pretending to be angry or annoyed I think.  Which only led to more antics . . .

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Greetings friends, there’s a great interview with me over at Style at Home where I answer 20 questions they ask a series of decorators and designers. 

Want to know which designer I’d love to shadow for a day ?   What I’d buy if money were no object ?  My favorite Hepburn ? 

Have a look, right here !

Thanks so much Lauren. 

I’ve been blogging for well over a year now, and in my quest to keep my toe in the know, I stumbled across ProBlogger a few months ago.  I like to read ProBlogger’s daily tips because I am trying to learn everything that I might want to think about maybe, perhaps, considering or actually doing someday with this blog when I either discover how to clone myself or give up sleep entirely.  I subscribe to ProBlogger to absorb helpful bloggy stuff to incorporate here and there.  Today is the Seven Links Challenge, where I am playing along by listing seven links in these categories:

1. Your first post
2. A post you enjoyed writing the most
3. A post which had great discussion
4. A post on someone else’s blog you wish you’d written
5. Your most helpful post
6. A post with a title you are proud of
7. A post you wish more people had read

OK, today I’ll bite.

Here are my Seven Links:

#1)  My Very First Post.  First let it be heard all across the land that I’ve almost deleted my first post many times, but something in the back of my mind keeps saying, “Aw, how cute” every time I read it.   I confess that my very first post was about . . . . . chocolate shoes.  

I remember sitting there at my computer, stumped about what to write about (in hindsight, why???) and going to Google images and typing in the word ‘chocolate’. 

Somewhere between the third and tenth page, this image (pictured right) came up. 

So I wrote about it.  Right here.  My favorite thing about that first post is the one and only comment from across the sea.

Now that you’ve read my very first post, we shall speak of this no more.

It’s unlikely I will ever write about chocolate shoes again.  Although *confession* they are fabulous.   

#2  The Post I Enjoyed Writing the Most.    This is really challenging question to answer.  This online journal of my adventures allows me to connect with people across the globe that I’d never ever meet in my lifetime.  It’s really extraordinary.   I enjoy writing just about all of my posts, although some days I am sillier than others, like this one about fuzzy pillows. 

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A would like to send out a loud musical glittery puffy heart THANK YOU card with a giant balloon drop to everyone who participated in Tuesday’s survey.  Over 1,700 responses and climbing, wow !  It is so refreshing to hear what you have to say, especially about things I never even notice or think of.  I’m still absorbing all of your constructive input, and I can’t express in words how truly grateful I am to all of you who took the time to respond.  

First let me say that I still consider myself a complete amateur in this blog world and have incredible respect and admiration for those who are the real experts out there, who’ve been doing this for years and years.   They are the experts, and I bow to their skills and professionalism.   There are some bloggers out there that blow me away they are so awesome.   They inspire me greatly.   As for me, I’m still learning so much everyday, and I’m just incredibly thankful that anyone at all stops by to read and share with me.  

There were a few questions that kept coming up, so I thought it a good time to address them in a post.  And because it’s impossible for me to not have photos, please enjoy these pictures from the past that are completely irrelevant to what I’m writing.   Okay, here goes.  

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