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Happy Hearths
Part of the joy of the Christmas season for me is working with family and friends to help create the warm and welcoming atmosphere they want in their homes. These hearths reflect the diversity of...
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Treasured Memories
This year I decided to use our own personal treasures to decorate our tree. A napkin ring belonging to my great-grandmother, a worn baby shoe from my first-born, feathers and nests collected in the...
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California Christmas
Christmas on the coast of California can look a bit different! We love a white Christmas too – the white of sun-bleached driftwood, coral and starfish, and white roses blooming in December, along with...
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Reflections
For the first time since the children were small and Christmas was magically reflected in their eyes, I was reluctant to take down our Christmas tree. Why? The total answer is complex, but here is a...
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Hearts
hearts of love, and love of hearts ready for pink glaze treats from the Andersen’s – my favorite bakery
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Bunnies, babies and baskets
Easter Sunday always brings to my mind baskets filled with pastel colored eggs to be hunted….. and babies – bunnies, lambs, and chicks….. -arrangement by ‘E’ who always ‘thinks outside the vase’- (stay...
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Mothers day: my definition….
Let us not use the apostrophe to make the day belong to one mother – instead let us recognize, with love and gratitude, as I do, the woman who gave birth to me, and loved and nurtured me for the first...
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Confession
Now firmly in the grip of nostalgia brought on by the changing season, I confess to disregarding some of my own best interior design advice…i.e. ‘keep it simple’, ‘less is more’, ‘practice restraint’…...
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Hint of Halloween…… E-style
SUSAN ESTABROOK ________________________________________________ Fleur Provocateur “floral designs that evoke surprise and delight” Santa Barbara Paris quintessential E love the ‘Lone Pumpkin’!!! – do...
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the last full measure of devotion…
Abraham Lincoln’s words still ring true. As a fifth grader at Commonwealth Elementary School in Los Angeles over half a century ago, I, along with my classmates, not only said the Pledge of Allegiance...
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‘thank you’
Such amazing words, these two….expressing appreciation, gratitude, acknowledging kindness, favor…expressing good will. I am grateful to our forefathers for establishing a national day of...
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Thankfully re-celebrating
As we gathered with part of our family on Thanksgiving Day, we not only gave thanks for God’s amazing provision for our lives…food, shelter, meaningful work…. but also in our lives…. re-celebrating...
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RED
I LOVE RED – I love many colors, but each year at this time red becomes my favorite! I love to wear it, eat it, decorate with it, wrap packages with it and drink from my favorite childhood cup...
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Angels we have heard on high…..
…..even quirky angels remind us of the greatest news of the ages Gloria in excelsis Deo I lovingly dedicate this post to three dear angels recently arrived in heaven: JL and LC and TK
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The gift of roots
Always interested in family history, I have now become the family historian. A favorite quote from ‘Healing Old Wounds’ by Judy Ryden speaks to my love of the subject: “All children deserve two things:...
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Kitchen Christmas
Life happens in the kitchen, so why not Christmas! we have been enjoying small celebrations in the kitchen this year before some of the family scatters… heirloom spoons decorate the tree on the...
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Holiday touches
my favorite way to decorate: use what you have, what you live with, what you love. If you love green and red as I do, you will have treasures to use…. a heart, a star a pillow a throw an old wooden...
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Italian Feast…..part 1
‘Twas the night before Christmas…….Eve Christmas Eve Eve! Each year, those of us who are family and those lucky enough to be invited, gather at Gail and John’s, around the kitchen island for Bagna...
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Italian Feast…..part 2
Being Italian means serving food at every possible occasion and lots of it…Christmas Eve Eve is certainly no exception. Following the Bagna Cauda, pasta of course!! favorite sauces added to the menu by...
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Family history etched in silver
Silver spoons are on my mind. I’ve just taken down the kitchen Christmas tree (the longest a tree has ever remained!!!). Looking at all these spoons and thinking about the family stories they have to...
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