Friday inspiration for the weekend

No deep theme here, other than prettiness that appeals to me on this gorgeous Friday. It's mostly gorgeous because steamy warm air did not greet me when I opened the front door. It's glorious. I miss dry air. 

Maybe the theme here is a subconscious wish to spend my weekend in these transformed rooms. 

The best of both worlds ...

Sometimes the groove hits a brick wall and I am forced to slow down. Today's forced shut-down was an 8-year-old who woke up with a horrible barking cough. I knew immediately her teacher and all the other kids and moms would be ever-thankful if she stayed home.

My next thought went immediately to my 9 a.m. appointment AND the perfectly prepped kitchen that is just waiting for me to do my thing. The owners of the house are just waiting for me to do my thing, too. I taped and cleaned and prepped (all the crap I hate) for a day and a half, and now it's time to do the fun part. An aside: Seeking obsessive-compulsive, really picky, possibly even neurotic very part-time assistant. Must love perfection, be willing to get dirty, sweat, and use a porta potty. It's a very glamorous gig.

Back to point: Initially I always freak when I get derailed and have to stay home. 

But hey ... guess what I'm doing now? I'm watching Hannah Montana!!! 

I got the best of both worlds ... come on, sing along with me!! For some reason, God always seems to insert Hannah Montana into my days when I am forced to sit still. Like one day, the girls and I endured at least four or five hours in the mechanic's waiting room, during which time the cell phone towers were down and we were forced to watch marathon episodes of Hannah Montana AND "That's So Random."

At the time I wanted to pluck my eyeballs out, but now that we remember back on that day it rates as one of our favorite best-memory days. Even today I am thoroughly enjoying these re-run episodes. Another bonus: Aren't kids so sweet when they're sick? 

Anyway, here's a handy tip: If you really want to be entertained and maybe even show your kids (and/or grandkids) how cool you are ... FIRST GET OFF PINTEREST!! (Ha!) And THEN ...  impress them with your knowledge of "Sicky Vicky" from That's so Random. Go ahead ... look it up on youtube ... it's classic. 

Inspiration and Ray Wylie

It took me forever to figure out the name for my business. It finally "came" to me one night while listening to Ray Wylie Hubbard. What can I say: I am inspired by creative freaky people, mostly because I am from Alpine, Texas.

In case you are not a fan, I included a video of Ray Wylie for your enjoyment. So anyway, tonight I am listening and watching a Ray Wylie concert on youtube on our fancy new TV that all you other people have had for years (we are behind the times). Feeling inspired, I decided to post a few pics of gorgeousness I have stumbled upon while organizing the photos on my laptop.  

My little baby sleeping on the sofa.  

Really interesting sculpture on the doors of a cathedral in Rome. So much there.

What does it say to you? I should research its meaning. I totally loved it. 

Tiled stairway at the McNay art museum in San Antonio. 

Sunset in West Texas. 

Night y'all. 

Explaining the groove ...

I promised a blog post to explain where I have been for the past year or so and why I decided to return. Like everything else I say or do, it's rather complicated but I promise to provide the abbreviated version. Plus, leaving something to the imagination is always a good idea. 

A long, long time ago, I used to be a writer. Then one day I grew tired of working as a writer and went off on a tangent to make lots of money in the mortgage industry. I do not advise doing something for the money. Life is too short. The end.

Still, my inner obsession with transformation and beautification always kept me connected in some way to creative ventures. I worked part-time for an interior designer doing faux painting and installs, and eventually began to work on my own. I took painting classes and became more confident in myself and my own abilities and eventually me and mortgage just had to break up.

One day my friend Debi started to blog, and because she is our trendsetter and we all want to be her when we grow up, I started to blog as well. All kidding aside, I initially saw blogging as a way to promote my business but didn't give it much more thought than that. I began to doubt: Was I trying to be a blog personality girl and get famous, hang out with Nate and get a book deal? No. I didn't have the time or motivation to become that vision of a blogger and besides: I was too busy working! 

What was the purpose of blogging and who cared? What service was I providing? Who knows? I wandered off into "I don't have anything to say" mode -- again. 

And then there's the negative voice thing. I'll save that for another post because this is so long I can sense cobwebs forming already. If I forget, please remind me. It's good. 

And facebook. That damn facebook is a huge time sucker and zapped all the time I had for blogging. Go ahead: consider it amongst yourselves right now. I am so right on this. 

From time to time, people would tell me they missed my blog. The other day I must have had 39 seconds available to think about business development and I began to consider my lack of web presence. I had/have a website but I don't have time for finding a website geek person, keeping it current, making sure the stupid web hosting contract stays paid and all that nonsense. During my recent life simplification crusade, let's just say all that godaddy crap was one of the casualties. Good riddance. 

Lightbulb moment: What if my handy blog became my totally free, user-friendly web presence? I put up pictures of my work, but also gorgeous pics to inspire. And along the way we discover the world and solve all the big issues in life. It's perfect!

So there you have it. I guess I'll have a blog again. But I don't want it to be all about me, me, me. Hopefully we can have a little back and forth, this and that. 

New pics ... I'll explain later.

How I spent my summer. Wow do I have a lot to be thankful for!

Sexy red Venetian plaster.

Dark brown cabinetry finds new life. 

Savoring the sight of my hubby having some fun.

Seeing my two little ninas looking for dolphins in Galveston Bay at sunset.  

Seeing this smile on my oldest. 

And a little more work ... bringing new life to this bench. The back story is this bench lives at one of the happiest, good-energy homes I have ever had the pleasure to work in for the past . 12+ years. It had been dark green and dreary for a while. No mas!