The latest news!!!!

The Grammy-hood is growing!!!

Friday Fives!!!!

1. What are your weekend plans??

2.  If you could play any musical instrument, which would it be?

3.  What color is most predominant in your wardrobe??

4.  How long is your hair?  Have you ever worn it long?

5.  If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be?

Restless spirit.....

My house is empty...in more ways than one!  There is a spot missing where we moved the twin bed out of the office/guest room and  into my daughter's new apartment.  There is a gaping hole in the living room where the old sofa was, that went to live in her  new apartment, and awaits  our NEW sofa.  My daughter's room upstairs is in the process of being cleaned and painted...we waited too long to get the experimental paint design of blue and cantaloupe ( I know!!! , right???) from her teen aged years into something more calm, more serene and more grown up!!  So I took most things out (the junk), moved large pieces of furniture to the center of the room, and it's ready to paint.  I'm thinking a calm, neutral, hint of taupe color...... but it's clearly NOT lived in right now.  My office has yet to be put back together......so no guests can come for now...if you come, you will end up on the sofa, the one in the family room!

And most of all, after my husband has gone to work for the day, there is an emptiness in our house....both college kids are off on their own, with play time before classes  actually start  and they then  have to do their jobs! 
Not that I mind the quiet, nor the emptiness....it's a playground for the mind.....yet it leaves this mamma just a little bit restless at the moment.  I have LOTS to do to keep me busy, yet I feel restless.....do I tic off the items of my TO DO list, and make them  TA-DA"s?? or do I shuck all the responsibility and go off and shop or play??  Oddly enough, that doesn't draw me like it used to........
I have enough to do each day that I am never bored...I have work to do...yet I feel restless. A restless feeling in my spirit, that longs for completeness of lists, a feeling of accomplishment, and a sense of my own calling.  A yearning for settledness.  Do you have that?

While the washer runs in the background, I make my mental list of what I want to accomplish today.  And sometimes I wander about my house, stirring the creativity of my mind and what project I'd like to tackle next.  Some projects have prerequisites, you know??  I want to do Project A, but need to do THIS first.  I am sure you have areas like that also. 
So in the quietness of the morning, I rest in the fact that God is with me, He is always near.  I rest in the fact that what I accomplish doesn't earn merit with Him, He loves me regardless.  He desires for me to LOVE HIM.  And I must rest in that and do so. 
As well, I long for this hot dry summer to be done......I wish for cooler days, and the feeling of fall, for autumn smells and sights, and for the renewed feeling that school and football season brings.  It's really my favorite time of the year...and I love to decorate for fall......but really don't want to do so when there are still triple digits showing on the thermometer!!  So I am restless for cooler weather, for sure!

What about you?? Are you longing for something in your soul?  What is it? 

Remember in the trials.......

For those who face a trial today.......

Friday Fives

It's time for Friday Fives....I always get lots of participants, so join on in!!  Would love to have you participate!

1. What's been your go to meal for the summer?

2. What do you look forward to cooking in the fall?

3. Is there a spice that you do NOT like?

4.  What's your biggest food/meal prep challenge?

5.  Would  you enjoy having a personal chef???

Enjoy your weekend, folks and take some time to smell the roses!!!
I'll leave you with a GREAT recipe, a No Bake chocolate chip cookie pie.......it's quick and yummy!

Prep time:7 minutes or so...
Chill: 8 hours

1 (15oz. or 18 oz.) pkg of chocolate chip cookies (I use Chips Ahoy)
1 c. milk
1 (9oz) commercial graham cracker crust (extra serving size or deep dish)
1 (8oz) container of frozen whipped topping, thawed

Dip 8 cookies in milk, and place in a single layer in graham cracker crust. Top with one third of the whipped topping. Dip 8 more cookies in milk, and place on top; spread with one-third of whipped topping. Repeat with 8 more cookies, milk and remaining whipped topping. Crumble 2 or 3 cookies and sprinkle over surface of pie. cover and chill for 8 hours before serving. Serves 8.
For cookies, we used Nabisco Chunky chips Ahoy. You'll need 26 cookies for this recipe (you may have a couple leftover cookies from the package. What will YOU do with them?)

Productivity around here!

well, a little bit.  My daughter is moving into her first apt. this year.  We've been doing a little preparation to make her space fun.  She saw this fabric and just had to have enough to make a pillow out of it!  And I whipped it up for her last week.  She and her roomies will be using our our old couch (because remember I have a new one coming!! Yay!) and they plan to get an  off white slip cover to put on it. 

I also made the little burlap one with buttons for her....have you EVER worked with burlap?  It sheds everywhere!!  This little pillow will sit in the chair we had redone for her...remember it?? Here's a reminder....

This was my Granny's chair.....

So we will be doing a little moving this weekend.  Into her big girl apartment.  It's kind of bittersweet.  It's fun to decorate with her and have her growing up, but on the other hand....well, this mamma kind of misses her little girl.

Tuesday........

Ahhhh........I am closing my eyes, and dreaming of being sitting right in the middle of the picture....wanna join me? The temperature is about 68 degrees and we are comfortable sitting with our lightweight sweaters wrapped around us.  Can you smell the coffee and the pumpkin muffins I want to invite you to share?  And the breeze is gently moving the cool, fresh air as sit and enjoy our conversation.......I can smell cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice, as well as coffee and fall leaves....what do you smell?  The birds are perhaps singing a fall melody and time is suspended as we linger over our time together........and THEN....I open the door!! AAACCKKK...................
Some of you in the Southeast have mentioned the pleasant temps this week.......are you KIDDING me?? We are in triple digits with no moisture to be found anywhere!! We are scorched and still hot!  They say that there really are four seasons in Texas...they are summer, super summer, still summer and Christmas.  I am longing for Christmas if that is the case!! 
So I am choosing to dream today of cooler days....it will be at least eight or ten weeks for us before we really do have fall mornings......and I'm living for those...what about YOU?

It's time for Friday Fives!!!!

It's been way too long since we had some fun doing our FRIDAY fives!! Won't you take a minute to participate, and play along, so that we can get to know each other better???  I would love it!

1. What state do you live in?  (Chaos doesn't count, I mean geographical!!!)
2. How many siblings do you have?
3. How tall are you?
4. What is your favorite room in your house?
5. If you could blink and be ANYWHERE for the weekend, where would you choose?

Happy  Weekend, my dear friends!  Hope the weekend is relaxing for you, and that you are able to accomplish just what you have in mind!!

Eager to play with some of my NEW Willow House Fall 2011 one products.....

How fun to open the boxes and play with the new products from Willow House each season!  I'll be playing sometime this week, and wondered if YOU have any ideas of ways to use these products??  Do share! 

Riverstone dinnerware...I wonder if there is a color that does NOT go with these??? I'll be playing with a few.

Spooky? Nah, but yes, indeed very versatile!!

 The Lyric Candleabra, the Eclipse Platter.....what else do you see?

These may just be my FAV.......is there any limit on the ideas for this Wireweave Basket Trio?

Dynamite comes in small packages?? Isn't this the cutest? The Demibottle trio will work hard!

What is it with Wireweave Baskets that grabs me?? I love this French Wire Convertible Basket, too; can use it divided or as a whole...so versatile!

The Athena Crackle Vase.....ahh!!!! top right corner

Marisol Wall clock, Cottage Garden wall art, OH My!

Our cover girl, the Monarch Lantern, as well as the Lady Jane bottleneck vases...what would YOU put in the them??????

Always looking for a healthy alternative??  Try this one!

Willow House Fall 2011 Catalog is now on my website......

If you are interested in seeing the new catalog, it is now on my website, as is the current Weekly Deals and the eOutlet.  My website is www.southerninspiration.willowhouse.com

Also, here is the flip version, if you'd rather look at it that way
http://www.willowhouse.com/willowhousecatalogfall2011/catalog800/dynamicContentLauncher800.html

Our lovely Monarch Lantern graces the front of it....so tell me...what's your FAVORITE product in the catalog?
I might just have a drawing going on for those who tell me your favorite item in the catalog!!!  Anyone?

Feel the need to be organized??

Willow House has a GREAT deal for you.  Just this week on the Weekly Deals in our eOutlet, they are running some GREAT organizational tools that might just help you corral the clutter.  School is coming and all the barage of papers will begin to flow back into your home.  Or maybe you're past that stage yet you still feel the need to conquer the paper monster???  Well, I've got a great deal for you!

Check this out.  The Estate Wall Organizer has a removable toilet paper roll holder, so it is multi-functional, and the holder can be removed and used as pictured here....Paper Central!!!  Everyone's papers so that you always know where  they are!! How cool is that idea???
And to coordinate with this, and keep the file folders in their places and things filed so that you don't lose them???  Check out its companion piece, The Estate Tiered Rack.....both on sale this week as a WEEKLY deal.  The price of $11.96 each is good until Sunday night and can be purchased at my online eOutlet store....have you been to check it out?  It's some GOOD shopping!!
Check it out at www.southerninspiration.willowhouse.com
Would you mind adding me as the Party hostess when asked?? Thanks, y'all!

Estate Tiered Rack

Paper Central, where everything has a place!!

Estate  Wall Organizer

Help me decide!!!

I am excited to say that I get to start selling Willow House Jewelry by Sara Blaine, starting in October!!  It's really gorgeous, and Sara has outdone herself by designing jewelry that is gorgeous and I believe will meet the needs/desires of many types of people.  AND.....I have earned some FREE jewelry (our company is the best!) so I'm setting up my "kit" to be ready to sell.  But it's soooooooo hard to decide what to get.  If I had my "druthers" I'd just get one of everything.......oh, but I can't do that.....the family still wants to eat. Hmmm.....

So I am picking out my kit pieces and decided that maybe I should ask you all what your favorites are......would you be so kind as to take a few minutes and let me know what you think....of course I can't put the pics of ALL the pieces, but I'll show you a few that represent the collections and you tell me what you would pick.  I am excited that later on I just might be able to do a GIVEAWAY!!! How cool is that??

So I"ll show you some of the pieces and you tell me what you like...m'kay??? thanks!

And let me just apologize for the pictures and text being all wonky.......Blogger loaded the pics in a funky way.....but hope you will enjoy nonetheless......thanks, y'all!

Biji collection

Tuesdays thoughts...

I am so out of the blogging loop, it's not even funny.  I can't seem to post regularly.  I've lost my blogging mojo to the 100 degrees days we are having...it is FRIED!
KNOW what I mean....I am sure that you do, although some of you blogging heroes seem to slog through and come up with entertaining, if not heroic!, blog posts.  Not me, I'm fresh out of heroic juice.



Y'all were so nice to make sweet comments about the vignettes in my house.......but you might have been mistaken that the couch from the Willow House product showcase was mine....oh heavens, no.  It was indeed lovely, but that was not it.  I"ll show you the mock up and you can compare when it actually gets here and what I am going to do with the stinkin' pillows.  I could NOT for the life of me pick out fabric for the pillows to go in my living room, so I settled for something I like, but will either have to change out accessories and fluff the room differently (which I do not mind at all) OR just cover those babies.  I'm leaning toward covering the pillows.  But I do love the shape of the sofa...I'm told by the furniture people, we don't call them couches anymore.....who KNEW??? We call them sofas. 

There she is.....although the name of the sofa is Jefferson, so maybe I should say HE???
And while I am thinking about moving furniture, like sofas and chairs, I am thinking it's just going to be more sweating....is anyone else HOT???
I just want to be here....

Anyone up for a road trip??? Have a great day and stay hydrated, and under the air conditioner/fan!

PS....another COOL thing you may want to check out is the Prop Closet giveaway that goes on every Tuesday at Plate and Pattern...they are giving away a double place setting of our handsome new Riverstone Pottery......that's a $90 value or more!  Go on over and enter and check their FB page to see who wins tomorrow!  Or I will check it for  you if you're not on FB.  

Riverstone dinnerware