The stars aligned but we forgot coats & cameras ...

Sometimes the transformer -- that would be me -- needs some transformative rejuvenation. Sometimes she needs alone time. But other times she needs to renew the creative energy with laugh-your-ass-off girlfriend time amidst mountains and beer joints.

So a few weeks ago, the stars aligned and I was actually able to sneak away on a quickie trip to West Texas with two of my old, old, old best friends, Deb and Lisa. They're not really all that old. We've just been best friends since the olden days. One of us actually just turned 45, but I'm not saying who.

Why is this blog worthy? Because I am just floored and amazed and blessed to have such creative and amazing friends. Does your average girl has such talented friends? It has nothing to do with me. I'm just fortunate. Anyway, more about that later. This is a tale about weather and mountains and old friends. You know, the usual.

Leaving Fort Stockton, we could see the windstorm/cold front in the distance and realized we forgot heavy coats. But it looked a pretty long way off. There is nothing wrong with this sentence. It's perfectly normal to say "a pretty long way off."

Here's Deb, the creator of a lavender body care line, getting gas in Fort Stockton, looking just a little bit too much like Cousin It. We were experiencing the cold front hitting first-hand. Then we realized we forgot our fancy cameras so my handy iphone filled in.

You know how the stars aligned and these three incredibly busy women were able to get away for a whole weekend? Well that's just part of it. Our other old, old, old, friend Dara actually met us at the White Buffalo Bar at the Gage on our first night there. Lisa had not seen Dara in probably 25 years. It really was just like old times, except the wine was much better!

Remember that I'm kind of obsessed with mountains? Well, this little pointy mountain is called Mitre Peak. There's a tragic Girl Scout camp at the base of it (tragic only because I'm not the Girl Scout type and I went there one year and they made you wash your own dishes. I thought I was on vacation. I mean seriously. And, they wanted me to sing. Please). One day, it would make me so happy if I could see lava oozing out the top of Mitre Peak. Doesn't it just look like that's bound to happen? Someday?

So what do three creative chicks in need of artistic renewal do on a free Saturday with no agenda? Ride around. And take pictures. We spent our entire youth doing it and it's really effective for solving the problems of the world and soaking up the energy of the beautiful West Texas landscape. When we called Dara to see if she wanted to go with us, she said she was perfectly happy in her warm house, out of the nasty cold wind. We understood. She gets to see these mountains every day.

When you're fortunate enough to be a lucky girl from West Texas, this is what you get used to seeing out your front windshield. This view struck me so powerfully. It was like a whack to my head that said: "Do you see this? Do you realize how blessed you are?" I got it. I get it.

But you know, in between beautiful mountains, there's a town here and there. And as you might imagine, if you're on a drive around the countryside, you might happen upon a bar. This one is in Marfa. It's called Padre's and it's located in the old funeral home. I don't know the address but it's on the south side of the railroad tracks, right near downtown. You can find it, real easy.

Here are my creative friends, who are also kinda gorgeous, bellied up to the bar. Really, their bellies weren't even close to the bar because they don't even have bellies. What's significant here is I love the chandeliers: the juxtaposition of the dark, edgy bar-ness, with the luxury of the chandeliers bringing light to the darkness. After gazing upon the cactus painting, I decided I'd better get busy painting because I could so paint that. Lisa cautioned she thought it was painted by somebody famous, as a way of telling me maybe I shouldn't say that out loud. Whatever.

Here's the entry area leading to the restrooms ... old velvet paintings paired with crystal.

I will be impressed with your bathroom if you've got a beautiful chandelier for lighting, and even more if you pair it with old-school floor tile. Love it!

While in Marfa, we decided we'd better go stop in at Mando's and determine whether their food is as good as it was back in the day. We were not even close to being hungry, but it was good enough to entice my gluten-free self to eat a flour tortilla. Pretty decent, and the green sauce was as good as it used to be.

Lisa (who's kind of an amazing photographer of famous people), spied this interesting vignette out the window of Mando's. She told me to take a picture with my iphone because she left her camera in the car and didn't want to go to the trouble of getting it out. Ok ....

Then, on the way back to Alpine, I made Lisa pull over so I could take a picture of this sign at Paisano Baptist Encampment. Such a beautiful scripture, but I like the NIV version better.

I lift my eyes up to the hills -- where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. -- Psalm 121:1-2

I needed rejuvenation, and God's "help" came in the form of some time with my girlfriends, in my own personal heaven. Pay attention: Your help might come from a really sweet snuggle with a wiggly five-year-old. Or, a suggestion from a friend, that's really hard to hear. Help is out there: in the mountains, in the sky, in your friends, in the little things that become big things. We found it in all the energy of the universe, in hellish weather that included wind, hail, rain, and God's promise of a rainbow over Iron Mountain.

It doesn't have to be elaborate, or expensive. Sometimes you need to get away and see things from a different perspective, and that's when you might just get the "help" you need to grow and develop and renew yourself.

I'd like to thank God, and Betsy, and Ryan, and my guts

...


Remember the ugly duckling that was missing a porch or any sort of proper entryway?? Of course you do ... because I'm forever talking or blogging about my favorite place on earth all the time. My husband says I can work Marathon into any conversation. I would be offended if he wasn't right.


Anyway, the picture above is the before picture, on a good day when it was snowing. And the pictures below are the after. I never thought I'd ever see the day when the outside of the house looked as good as the inside.


This is the after. Well, sort of. We're still working on it. New roof. New windows. New paint. I cannot express the feeling of accomplishment.

See the one and only decorative architectural element on this house? The little triangle? Well, I spent all day Sunday painting all that. Yikes. I also forgot sunscreen for some odd reason so I'm looking a little tan and crusty. My hair is getting redder by the minute.


Did you notice the interesting cedar porch? ... I'm not even going to start bragging on my husband again. It's getting old. He doesn't want people to start hating on him once they understand his brilliance and perfectness. OK, yeah, he's still a man and annoying and I don't want him getting the "big-head."

Can you believe this front door mat? I bought it at Tuesday Morning for $9, not realizing it would be the most perfect, matching doormat ever. The blue is perfect. The yellow/gold blends as well. We originally had grand visions of building a new front porch, with flagstone. And then we got realistic and decided to keep the regular, old step. It gets you in the house. And it was free. I love the front door.

OK, let's all flash forward and imagine my Academy Award winning moment: "I would like to thank first, my husband, Ryan, for insisting on the main body-of-the-house-color, SW Crater Gray, when I was waffling toward some safe earthtone. Thank you hunky man in Castroville who told me the name of the paint of his house when Ryan made me get out and go hold my paint fan up to the house...


"And thank you, world-famous Abbey Branch, for suggesting an interesting blue for the doors and windows as a Southwesty homage. Once we got new windows we couldn't paint them blue. The color is Sherwin Williams Oceanside. It's awesome, even though there's not an ocean anywhere near here. Good thing because I'm not a fan of oceans. I'm a mountain girl.


Before the music starts playing to scoot me off the stage, I'd like to thank myself for having the balls to paint the trim Sherwin Williams Brassy. It's avocado-ish, and limey, and gorgeous. Somehow it's perfect. Thank you, my husband, for not being a metrosexual freak and second-guessing me. Thank you, Mom, for not voicing your doubts, and being patient until it all came together.


In the words of Joe Danner in 1983, it's "fannnnnntastic!!!"

In praise of 6-hour car rides, handy husbands & wild West Texas storms

My name is Sami and I am addicted to West Texas. I have many issues. You might remember in March I developed a new cloud neurosis. Today on our way home from our 24-hour trek to West Texas and back, Ryan pulled my nose out of my magazine to point out some seriously ominous clouds.


I immediately reached for my camera, and then proceeded to get all wiggly and freakish when the pictures turned out really great. I could not wait to get home and share them with the world:

I saw the clouds above first. Check out all the variations of dark bluish gray, and that one little white puffy cloud.

The following clouds were to the left of our car. I'm saying these would be to the north ... For at least 50 to 75 miles, we drove right alongside this storm system, which kept nicely to itself on the left.

Over to the right, pretty whitish clouds and blue skies.

This exit sign shows all you other West Texas freaks right where we were. I captured this picture rolling along about 85 mph... Pretty good huh? Now you see why I was getting all wiggly and freakish.

Every so often, we had some good lightning, so the storm could show us it was serious.

Did you realize you can be a cracker-jack mortgage guy, talk on the cell phone, and drive through storms on I-10 and make your wife really, really happy with 24-hour treks to West Texas? Who says men can't multi-task? Cell service on I-10 is greatly improved! Back in the day we lost service in Kerrville.

Some people think we're nuts for going on long 6-hour trips to West Texas together, but can I let you in on a little secret? This is the only time we get to think, plan, talk and strategize about our life, our marriage, our kids and careers. The rest of the time we're just making it through the days. Moral of the story: trap yourselves in a car for six hours and see what happens.

OK so then, I turned my attention to what was going on behind the car. Dork alert! The wind was blowing pretty hard, which is normal even without a storm because this is all in the vicinity of the wind farms.

And now for the object of all my affection, and the destination for our 24-hour West Texas trek. See that hideous aluminum window to the left of the electrical boxes? Well, it's going bye-bye. We had to go out there and get good measurements for the new windows! The house is set to get its new paint job in July, and efficient husband doesn't think it will be efficient to paint the whole house and then later rip out the windows and then put up new trim and repaint the trim. He has a point, and since I got to go to West Texas, I was an enthusiastic supporter of his plan.

Notice the beautiful blue paint color Abbey Branch (the famous designer) helped me select. SW Oceanside -- I love it. To the right of the hideous brown, wood-rotted trim board, you can see the future paint color for the body of the house -- SW Crater Gray.

And while you're admiring the door, did you spy the fabulous landing/mini-deck my super-handy, hunk of a husband built a few months ago? If only I could show you the previous way you got into the house. Let's just say it involved a homemade step and a wooden pallet. Very classy.

Life is good, y'all.

Help Wanted: Implementation Assistant

I'm here to paint but I can't seem to find my groove. It was that whole day of caulking that killed it. Or, the 30mph+ winds are messing with my chi...

While I was caulking, I couldn't help but think that it sure would be more efficient if I had a nice, subservient helper, kind of like a cabana boy, but with knowledge of paint. At this point there is nothing glamorous about what I am doing.

I have the ideas. I just need an implementation assistant.

Visualize this: In praise of the Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer

Do you love it? Do you want to marry it?

I love the Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer. It is so much fun to click and drag colors and see what you can come up with. It also will suggest colors for you, which is pretty handy because it will offer suggestions you wouldn't think of yourself.

You know I've been contemplating (obsessing, actually) about exterior paint colors for the Marathon, Texas, retreat house. It's what I do. I think about paint colors. And then I also think a lot about that house. The poor thing has been quite neglected through the years. We have been lovingly encouraging it to be, if not a swan, then at least a really cute duck. The energy there is restorative. The view is magnificent. One day I hope to have other people enjoy and restore themselves there. Here's what it looks like now:

Well, I doubt it's snowing right now, but you know what I mean. One day soon it will get a new front porch and a little overhang over the back door -- and a new paint job, ASAP!!! I know, it could use some new windows but that's another project for another day. The goal here is to get the house to visually acceptable.


On the top photo, I was playing around with the Color Visualizer. I used my personal favorite, SW 6410 Brassy, for the trim. The Color Visualizer actually suggested SW 6496 Oceanside for the door and I have to agree that it's quite dramatic, especially given the Southwest blue-door tradition.

To check whether I was out of my mind with the Brassy choice, I enlisted Abbey at Design-Block to help me. She knows West Texas and I'm sure those in the know would say her design aesthetic is quite sophisticated -- whatever that means. I'm from Alpine.

Abbey suggested some other options:

This one has SW 6951 Cote d' Azur for the trim and SW 6607 Cherry Tomato for the door. All of these use SW 6165 Connected Gray for the base color, although the real selection is SW Crater Gray from way back in the day old skinny fan. It's still really similar to Connected Gray:

Pretty cool, right? But something makes me feel like it's a little too whimsical and cartoonish. I keep thinking Minnie Mouse is going to come out that door. I don't want the house to just stick out and stop traffic. I want it to stop traffic but in a more subtle way.



Ooooh! This one really blows my skirt up. Here Abbey suggested SW 6477 Tidewater as the trim color. And the Color Visualizer offered up SW 6342 Spicy Hue for the door. It's a toss-up. This one is probably the safer, less edgy option. It would be my second favorite, for sure.

Let's also mention, because I know you're thinking it: The house on the Color Visualizer is just a wee bit more visually appealing than the poor little thing sitting out there all by itself in Marathon. Very true, but let's just say you get what you pay for and they don't even have anything close to that adorable in Marathon. So we're working with what we have, such that it is.

So what do you think?

Fabulous Addictions & blogs I love

Wow! The love just keeps pouring in! This time, Lavenderchick nominated me for this most fabulous "Your Blog is Fabulous" award. Again, my heart is so big. Oh, did I tell anyone that over Thanksgiving my mother, Teeni, got the "my heart is so big" inside joke all wrong and asked me: "is your heart large?" She kind of drawled it out, Laaaarge???? If you knew Teeni, you would be falling on the floor laughing right now.

OK, back to my award. It apparently has nosy questions that come with it. Since I myself have been called some variation of nosy a time or two, I will play along:

Here are the rules: Copy and paste the rules and instructions in your post. When posting on receiving the award, make sure you include who gave you the award and link it back to them. Post five winners and link it back to them as well. Post five of your addictions. Add the award image. Let your winners know you gave them an award by leaving them a comment on their blog.

5 Addictions (no particular order):

1. Coffee. Alright, it probably has something to do with my whirling freakishness, but I'm sorry. I cannot be perfect. I gave up smoking and wild living. This is the best I can do.

2. Red wine. See excuses above and add in that I have three children, all girls and one is almost 14. I love almost all red wine, but my favorite is La Crema Pinot Noir, which little old me discovered on my first trip to Sedona. I also must send a shout out to my good friend St. Genevieve for all those lean times when she was there for me.

Me, drinking red wine on Lavenderchick's sofa: (note need for Botox, which I hope to become addicted to in 2009)

3. Fixing. This is my most obsessive compulsion. And don't start emailing me with suggested pharmaceuticals. God made me this way and the rest of you will just have to cope. No matter what I see, I want to fix. If it is a house, I analyze it and try to figure out what would make it look better, new paint colors that would transform it, a better landscape design. If it is a marketing piece written by my darling husband, I edit it. My fixing obsession is a curse. And I do realize it's annoying. I just can't help it. However, I will say that I do apply this fixative curse to myself and I have seen improvement in the last few years. Part of my personal improvement has been learning that I cannot fix people. So I try not to try.


4. West Texas and Mountains. I love mountains and the desert, so I love West Texas. I think about it all the time. And one day, when I'm an old lady, you'll be able to find me sitting on my porch, staring at the mountains, thinking about something I need to fix. I used to say I'd be smoking a cigarette, but I really think I've kicked that addiction for good.

See me trying to grow a plant in the desert. Most people will see this and think 'how pitiful.' But I'm here to tell you this mini century plant is thriving in its little rock circle! Note the nice dry dirt and not a hint of mud. When you are from West Texas, mud is a problem.

5. Learning. I love to learn stuff. I love my smart friends who also like to learn stuff and are therefore smart. I like people who are not smart only if they are interesting and I can therefore marvel at their flawed nature or twisted upbringing. Being from West Texas, I can say I know a lot of smart people and probably just as many who are flawed, twisted and interesting. I pledge never to reveal who is who.

Here's me and three of my smart friends in West Texas, at the Gage. It doesn't get better than this. Oh yeah, and we drank some red wine. See, we are all smiling.

And here's a pic of me and my two best friends, who just happen to be smart and are from West Texas!
In this photo, I now notice I must have been having a hot flash. Compared to everyone else in this photo, I appear quite exposed.

That's it for me and My Fabulous Blog Award. To share the love, I'm nominating the following super cool bloggers I follow. Some of them may already have received this award and I just don't know it.

1.Joni at Cote de Texas. Since I am addicted to learning, I love Joni's blog because I learn about design and see beautiful things. And, I have a sneaking suspicion that she's more addicted to coffee than me. She is way too famous and cool to respond to this chain letter award, but I love her and am nominating her all the same.

2. Lucchese to Louis Vuitton. I just discovered this West Texas girl so go check her out. Her blog right now is serenading me with "Silver Wings." Must be a girl I need to get to know.

3. Design-Block. I just love Design Block when she blogs, but she's busy and not as prolific as I'd like. But when she does say something, it's good.

4. Laura U. A darling young designer in Houston. She's got a great shop on Westheimer, Laura U Collection, and is creating some beautiful interiors that recently won some ASID awards. I love her website as well, www.laurau.com

5. Cheap Chic and Lizzy Webb. Another new blog discovery for me. I already love her. One of my favorite things is clicking on to blogs that my favorite bloggers follow. Lizzy appears to be Joni's daughter and although I am old enough to be her mother, she is darling and I love her fashion sense and the way she writes. Again, I don't care who I learn from, as long as I'm learning. If I lose my mind, I think I'll refer my daughter Mary over to her blog.

We were driving down South Alamo Street in San Antonio the other day when I noticed this grand house for the first time. It must be the new paint job that did it because my eyes had never beamed in on it before. Apparently it is a bed and breakfast, in the heart of the King William district. "Wait!" I shrieked. "Did you see that house?"








Ryan had not noticed it, because he doesn't care about paint colors and, to be fair, it was almost dark. "Oh my gosh!" I said. "That house color combination was fabulous. Maybe we need to paint the Marathon house like that," I continued in that rapid-fire, wheels turning a thousand miles an hour way that I do when I get all flitterbated about something exciting, like paint.



"I thought we had already decided what to paint the Marathon house," Ryan said. Poor thing, he thought this subject was behind him. What he doesn't realize is until it's painted, the decision is never final. And, really, that's what I love about paint. It's never permanent. It's always changeable. I wonder what that says about me, from a psychological standpoint?



Anyway, I need your help. Do you like it? Do you hate it? Here's another view of the house that cranked my head:

I just love the crisp white against the warm tan, and the black sets it all off so nicely. Is it too formal for the Marathon setting?

Here's a picture of the dingy outside of our humble home in Marathon. It really needs some help:

This is how it looked the day we went to do the inspection. The evaporative cooler is out of the window and it has a new tin roof. The storm screen doors are off. And there are a few plants trying to grow in the yard. But other than that, it's still aching for some curb appeal. A new porch is planned to jazz up the front entry, and a little overhang is going over the back door, but those will have to wait until people can qualify for home mortgages again. (Shameless plug: www.accessmortgageplanners.com.)

The former option for this quaint little West Texas diamond in the rough was Sherwin Williams Crater Gray, which Ryan loves. I love the color, too, It's a gray/green/bluey color and quite masculine and cool. We first saw it on a beautiful house in Castroville. The difference that gives me pause is the Castrovile house sits in the shade, surrounded by beautiful green trees. This house sits out in the arid plains, set against tan, dry desert mountains. I do not want it to stick out like a turd in a punch bowl, as someone really influential in my life named Bob used to say and probably still does.

So what do you think? If you're one of those sneaky people who reads this blog and doesn't comment, please break that trend today and tell me what you really think!

Life's a .......

Back in the day, we used to say, "life's a bitch. Then you die." I'm not quite so negative these days. I've matured, thank goodness.

These days, we have so much to be thankful for. We're well. We have electricity. My husband and I are putting some distance between ourselves and work and other looming obligations to rest and recharge this weekend. West Texas is calling me.

See what I mean? I'll be looking at this tomorrow night. A nice, neighborly goat may happen by to visit while I sit on my porch.

While life is so good for me, I just can't get thoughts of those less fortunate out of my mind. My best friend's Uncle Bo died this week in a plane crash in West Texas while surveying flooding on the Rio Grande from the air. The Texas Gulf Coast is in serious distress. My brother and his kids can't go home to Beaumont. The markets are a mess. Two very important people in my past life have really scary cancer. I wonder whether that beautiful Galveston beach house that Joni of Cote de Texas blogged about earlier this summer even exits anymore.

I can really see myself sitting in this chaise, reading a book. You know, in another life.

The really simple and realistic girl in me loved this house from the Joni's post. I could see myself lurking on this porch, incognito, watching tourists meander by. I wonder how it fared when Ike attacked?

We don't get to pick the trials that make us stronger and form us into really tough old ladies who retain their good manners, snazzy good looks and charm. I guess if there' s any lesson to learn, that's it.

In Marathon, Life is Good

the church next door

Just home from a leisurely dinner at the Gage, which would have been perfect if not for the smokers who got seated on the patio next to us. I know it was outdoors, and I really hate to be a smoker nazi ... however their air was mixing with mine. As my dear father always says, there's nothing worse than a reformed smoker and something about a redeemed hooker.

So anyway, if I have a card reader I'll share photos from this most fabulous locale. The weather is wonderful. The air is clear. It wasn't windy today, although Dara said we had horrible wind for the last two days, which completely dried out my sweet little Vitex tree that I'm planning to plant tomorrow. My little vitex looks like my dried out crusty West Texas menopause skin, actually.

Kuhny and I had the most fabulous day driving out here. No rush. Many stops. I read a book to him on the way. He got a ticket for driving 87 miles per hour, which I predicted because I have psychic skills.

Now it's early and in the words of my favorite cousin and the world's second-best mortgage babe Vicky, it's "time to make night-night."

Iron Mountain at dusk