Sleeping beauty

He does like to get his beauty rest. But that's ok.

Cute & affordable memo board

Source--
http://www.pulpproducts.com/

plenty more pretty fabric covering options from which to select.

This is the one I ordered for the wall over my desk. Hopefully it will be arriving very soon...

Graham Colton rocks

Graham: we're "Always in Love with you!!"

Sorry, BTE, didn't stay for your show, just wanted to see Graham and he was awesome!

Wintry white Christmas

Several inches of snowfall on Christmas eve gave a wonderful sight to behold on Christmas morning. Our resident neighbor squirrel stayed in his little house and blocked the opening with oak leaves to keep the cold, cold wind out.

Snowy Christmas eve

Woke to a pretty softly white Christmas morning. after the fierce snowfall last night.

Over the river and through the woods

The fun started at the airport yesterday. We arrived and the fun continued. Wintery weather expected tonight, maybe tomorrow a snowball fight, who knows?

Tristan the wonder dog

Survived homelessness, cancer, heart worms, SUV attack and still as sweet as they come.

Christmas brunch dining table

While Cristy is busy cooking bacon, I thought I'd stay out of the way. Not an animal product eater, myself.

So, even though this is a casual brunch for just a small handful of friends, I couldn't help myself. Had to add a touch of easy splendor to the dining table. Courtesy of limes and apples from the farmer's market, green baubles from the dollar store and leftover ribbon from Williams Sonoma packages. Couldn't be prettier.

A helping of Christmas

Tomorrow at this time I'll be working on a few final preparations for Christmas brunch for a few friends. Nothing formal, but I want it to be pretty anyway. Collection of red and white for the serving table.

Jasper, Gracyn & Marlow

Jasper clowning around.


Marlow in his tiny bed. Gracyn likes it too.

Jasper wearing her fashionable sweater.

Inspiration file

Taking a cue from Vicky at http://vickydar.blogspot.com/ I am assembling a grouping of furnishings that somehow make me feel calmer. Colors, lines, patterns that I would love to find in the rooms of my home.

Maybe not all in the same room.

Cushions are by John Robshaw

Chair by Sam Moore

Dominique chandelier

Descriptive words: feminine, earthy, fundamental, comfortable, pretty

Signs of the season

My beloved collection of Santas.

O Christmas Tree(s)

4 beautiful trees, 1 glorious occasion for filling the house with sparkly loveliness. I adore them all!

The very small pink tree features my late grandmother's silver eyelash tinsel. I only have 1 strand, but it is precious.









The largest tree has the most sparkles, glitter and glam.






































This tree in the bedroom has homemade stars, garlands, old fashioned decorations and a couple of my mom's treasured ornaments from many years ago.











This small tree is decorated entirely with wooden toy ornaments that belonged to Cristy's mother.

Gadgets anonymous

One of the most-used gadgets in our house is the plastic grocery bag dispenser. With 5 dogs, the possibilities are endless. This was Cristy installing it in the pantry (cookbooks in the background).

Gracyn & Snoopy

Between fiddling with one of the 328 smoke detectors in the house and trying to unsuccessfully clean the soot from Marlow's fur (he apparently decided to do a little exploring in the fireplace) last night, I took this sweet picture of Gracyn cuddled up next to Snoopy.

before & after: Chandelier

Before.

We didn't care so much for the bright metal finish or the lampshades, but liked the scale and didn't particularly want to have to buy yet another light fixture. So...











Voici.
Painted finish with a soft patina. Nix the shades.

Perfect for the parlor.

Sharing joy on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was the first holiday that Cristy and I shared in our new house and it was extra special this year because my mommy and stepdad made the journey from Oklahoma to join us.

This photo was taken at the Hubbel & Hudson Bistro, one of my absolute favorite restaurants.

Homemade garland

Inspiration landed and Christmas decorating started in earnest. First on the agenda was the creation of a new garland. Stars cut from old greeting cards on one side and wrapping paper on the other with strands of rafia glued in between to form a light, cheerful garland.


















And it looks just lovely on the tree too. Due to the scale of the house, there are now only two large trees rather than 3 smaller ones. This one is my favorite with old fashioned ornaments and two treasures that were my mother's favorite decorations.

Thanksgiving - in the mood

The cutest candy-corn Thanksgiving cupcakes in the world! From the Apartment Therapy Kitchn blog.

Dining room

Dining room. Mirror arrived on Saturday evening, but unfortunately it was cracked. It will eventually hang on the wall; it's just resting on the floor now.

LIving room

Living room. Added all the family photos and trinkets in the cubbyholes.

Tisket tasket, green & yellow basket

One of the sweetest women in the world gave me a little bag full of pretty fabric remnants. I plan to find plenty of uses for them to add a layer of friendship to our new home. This was the first use - lining a couple of storage baskets in the utility room. Something formerly uninteresting and mundane is now sunny and pleasant!

Scenes from moving day

Make a Smilebox collage

Introducing Jackie

Jackie loves his new yard. He thinks he is exploring in a jungle - just loves it! At 14 years old, he doesn't run quickly any more, or really much at all, but he's getting more exercise tooling around the yard now than he has in years. Can't seem to keep him indoors.

Wipe your paws

The dogs are exhausted from the excitement of the move. Tristan has not ventured far from the house but came out to sleep on the back porch mat this morning.

Beecham house pics

Make a Smilebox postcard

Celebrating life at work

Lunch out is always a treat. This celebration was in honor of a birthday (birthday girl, front & center).

Scenes from Tulsa

One of my favorite photos - one fine June afternoon in 2008, mommy and i attended a fabulous leacture at Southern Hills featuring several faculty members from M. D. Anderson. We had a wonderful time mingling with the local supporters of M. D. Anderson.

Scenes from the Texas Medical Center II

Another image captured yesterday from the roof of the parking garage of the never ending construction in the TX Medical Center. I particularly like the rippled reflections in the St. Luke's towers.

Scenes from the Texas Medical Center

After work today I snapped a handful of photos from the roof of the parking garage. From the corner of Fannin and Holcombe, looking southward on Fannin. Plenty of traffic to enjoy nearly any time of day.

Cristy's laugh

Cristy is adorable. She's also mischevious, playful and sometimes mildly cynical. But she appreciates funny and her laugh sounds like music to me. I love this photo of her taken on Mother's Day.

Introducing Edgar

This is my particular baby, Edgar. He is named after my late maternal grandfather William Edgar Brunk. Edgar epitomizes the phrase gentle giant. The fact that his tongue is much too long for his mouth is the most comical aspect of his appearance, making him appear like an oversized teddy bear with one of those felt tongues stitched onto his face. But comical or not, I love him dearly.

Sunset of the coquina clams

Sunset over the Texas coast in Port Aransas is a spectacle of brilliance. This particular evening, in early September, millions of coquina clams were bubbling to the surface at the edge of the tide.

Creepy crawly

I noticed this large spider in the yard at dusk building a web near the eve of the house. Apparently the spider was in the house a day or two ago and Cristy banished it to the backyard. There are plenty of flies to be had and this creepy crawly is a welcome neighbor to help keep that pest population under control.