HAPPY, HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY theo! x0x0x

January 27, 2022 in family, holiday

(LOOK at the cheeks on that guy - i cropped his cute bum out because he gets embarrassed now…)

when you have a new baby, especially a cute one, the grandmas come up to you EVERYWHERE - in the market, at the park, in restaurants and coffee shops and the line for the loo and warn you, “ENJOY that boy… it goes so fast!” you nod at them sweetly, inwardly annoyed and think about the fact that you can’t remember the last time you slept through the night or slept in or felt even remotely well rested and it just seems impossible because time actually feels like it’s on pause. and then POOF that little cherub of a baby is SIXTEEN YEARS OLD and you just want to bubble wrap him and keep him in the closet so he can’t grow up anymore. so don’t look for theo around town because that’s exactly where he is… i am keeping him safe and sound and frozen in time because i finally understand what those grandmas meant. i will be happy to pass on your birthday wishes to my sweet boy who will not be getting any older… i love him too much for that! HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY my dearest, darling theo! x0x0x

HAPPY, HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY (in two days) to my WONDERFUL mother! x0x0x

January 25, 2022 in art, family, hank, quilts

(my mother’s high school senior portrait)

my mother is a study of contradictions. she grew up on a farm in the very small town of atlantic, iowa. she embraced the no-nonsense, stiff upper lip, super kind, mid-western values (AND the comfort food, which i grew up with) but always felt misplaced on a farm. she did not enjoy collecting eggs at the crack of dawn - she says the hens were ruthless and would pinch the backs of her hands and twist her skin… i have to ask her why she didn’t wear gloves - or get particularly attached to her 4H cow (who she showed in penny loafers, not work boots) or adopt a runty pig like fern that she bottle fed and doted on. no - she moved to the “big city” of minneapolis straight away after college and started working in fashion. she preferred urban sidewalks (where she could wear pretty shoes) and buses to fields and tractors. she was thrilled that her job as a junior buyer for dayton’s department store took her on regular trips to new york where she could soak in the energy and art and architecture and bagels (which she’d never had before) of the biggest, most exciting city in the country.

REUNITED and it feels so good! (sock within a sock) x0x

January 20, 2022

(my little socks)

i know that we’ve had a rough start to 2022 with so many heartbreaking disasters and brutal events and this fucking pandemic that JUST WON’T END… but this week something amazing happened. when i was putting on my fuzzy socks (yes - i still wear my christmas ones even though it’s january) there was a little sock inside of it. i was beside myself because the little socks that i wear with my vans are always inexplicably disappearing. i put a pair in the wash and only one makes it out. my mother sent me a meme to explain this problem:

POSITIVE!

January 18, 2022 in hank, sofa

so it turns out i didn’t just have A virus over the holidays… i had THE virus! when i got back to boulder after christmas i had a sore throat which progressed into a throat ON FIRE with a runny nose, headache and some nausea. i was pretty flat for three days taking nyquil, drinking theraflu and sucking on ricolas (which i HATE so that is an indication of how tender my throat was - i only had them in the house because my dad loves them so i keep them on hand for his visits, which obviously haven’t happened since before the pandemic so they were very old, but still strong and nasty!) during that period my friend dropped off a home test which came back negative. i wasn’t seeing anyone (except hank, of course) because the kids went skiing with my first husband and i was feeling super cruddy and i wouldn’t have wanted to spread what i thought was a bad cold or strep anyway.

my juniper office project was featured in a houzz article!

January 11, 2022 in office, residential interior

i was so excited to learn that my juniper office project was featured in a houzz article on how to remodel your home office. thank you so much patricia lee for including my work and THANK YOU heather knierim of HBK photography for the great photos!

my article on "mixing and matching" published in boulder county home + garden's winter 2021 issue

January 04, 2022 in art, dining room, family room, living room, office, residential interior

i am so delighted to be included in boulder county home + garden magazine’s winter 2021 issue. this story about mixing antiques with modern pieces is the first time all of the projects represented have been mine. MANY THANKS to heather knierim of HBK photography for the lovely photos and to all of my wonderful clients for allowing me to share their homes. x00xx

happy new year 2022

January 01, 2022 in family, holiday

i am writing this on the afternoon of new year’s eve 2021. i am relieved for the start of 2022 because generally, i like even numbers much better than odd ones (which is why i skip the odd birthdays and just stay an even age for two years which CAN lead to some confusion and me not always knowing exactly how old i am, but then i just check my bumble account because that thing updates automatically) and because 2021 was mostly a shit fuck of a year…not so unlike 2020.

the monkey

December 21, 2021 in family, holiday

(even at 15 my grandmother seemed to know exactly what she wanted)

my paternal grandmother was fierce. she lived the way she wanted and you pretty much just went along. she liked things a certain way and if something wasn’t to her choosing she would wave her hand, say, “oh FISH!” and carry on as she deemed appropriate. you didn’t really want to get in her way.

holiday baking

December 16, 2021

we spent the weekend baking and frosting and assembling and decorating and sprinkling our gingerbread houses and christmas cookies. (this was NOT the most successful year for the houses - despite a year of studying autocad my construction drawings must have been a bit off or the builder was not paying close enough attention to the dimensions - one collapsed completely and another one got a big crack by the front door. we did manage to get that one to stand but it will be pretty drafty in there and it is not coded for a fireplace.)

holiday marzipan

December 14, 2021 in holiday, travel

we spent five christmases in amsterdam while we were living there as expats… there is no more magical place to spend the holidays… there are strings of lights outlining the bridges and arching across the streets so that the whole city is lit up, there are pop up outdoor ice skating rinks and holiday markets and olie bollen (DELICIOUS big round donuts doused in powdered sugar) trucks suddenly appear all over the city. but my favorite tradition was the christmas candy. pompadour, our beloved neighborhood chocolate shop, made whimsical marzipan characters (funny frogs, little piggies, red, polka-dotted toad stools) and fruit (oranges, pears and a pokey, round one that i could never identify) each december. i still don’t know what those guys had to do with christmas, but i looked forward to seeing them (and EATING them) in pompadour’s front windows during the holiday season.

holiday photo 2021

December 07, 2021 in family, holiday, hank, photography

once again my kids completely lucked out for our holiday photo. my super talented friend, stephanie beresford, wanted to try out some new camera lenses and did a little shoot with them in the backyard. i have no idea when we did this… just that it was “some time” during the pandemic (i think i have permanent corona brain, which has left me unable to remember when anything happened) but it WAS in 2021. theo’s hair is even longer now and lucy has more of a “middle school” air about her, but beyond that they look the same. after all that these kids have had to process in the last two years: the corona, home schooling (especially “math with mom”), me being in school and FREAKING OUT over autocad and sketchup, endless door dash, multiple horrendous shootings, me too, BLM, all the wild fires and smokey air, the loss of our beloved GG AND the loss of our grandma on the “i” street, my vacuum being in the shop for so long (which has lots of ramifications for MY mental health and subsequently theirs) and just the loss of “normal life” (i keep imagining them sitting in a bar in their forties chatting with someone about this pandemic period, “how crazy was your mom during corona?”) i just couldn’t put them through further trauma for a more recent photo… i’m an AWESOME mom like that!

nancy drew

November 30, 2021 in family

(nancy when she finds that elusive clock)

mothers take on many roles: taxi driver, referee, party planner, aesthetician, tutor, home chef, nurse, cleaning service… but one gig no one talks about when you are pregnant is that of detective.

thanksgiving grandmas x0x

November 23, 2021 in dining room, family, holiday, recipe

i was lucky enough to have three grandmothers (FOUR if you count the grandma we used to wave to on the “i” street): my father’s mother, my mother’s mother (who i never met because she was gone long before i was born) and my gg, my grandpa’s second wife. all of these women had a huge impact on my life.

thanksgiving gratitude

November 16, 2021 in hank, holiday, pet, recipe

(hank LOVES dressing up for thanksgiving!)

even though the corona is STILL effecting us all (nearly TWO YEARS later… HAY SEUS!) the pandemic has made me really grateful for a lot of things i took for granted PP…

my lovely gas fireplace

November 09, 2021 in pet, residential interior, hank

(hank snuggled up by the fire)

even after eleven years in boulder, i am always caught off guard by the weather. this year we had a stunning, temperate fall with outrageous rainbow colored trees and then POOF - the wind rolled through, the leaves fell down and we got this freezing sleet/rain/snow with temps in the low thirties. my body just could not process the drastic change (hank’s didn’t have to as he simply refused to go outside) and i was FREEZING, despite my hat, scarf and jacket.

devil's thumb

November 02, 2021 in family, holiday, travel

lucy and i recently had a special mama/daughter weekend at devil’s thumb ranch. theo was meant to come, but i got mixed up (corona brain!) and thought he didn’t have school on friday (it was the monday that was off and theo would have missed three tests) so lu and i played hooky instead.

happy, happy halloween! x00xx

October 26, 2021 in family, hank, holiday, pet

halloween is one of my least favorite holidays… i don’t like bloody stuff or getting scared or being out in the cold - more than once we’ve had halloween SNOW here in boulder - or staying up too late. (one year lucy got the barfing flu and she could not go trick or treating - i have to say i was so HAPPY to stay home and just hand out candy - she wasn’t feeling TOO bad. it WAS a little unnerving because i wasn’t sure i should let her rest on the sofa in case she threw up again, but other than that nagging concern it was the BEST halloween!) i DO like candy and i LOVE seeing my kids dressed up (as long as there is no blood or wounds or axes or spooky masks.) unfortunately, they don’t appreciate when i weigh in on their costumes anymore… PRAISE JESUS i have hank.

I GOT MY VACUUM BACK!*!**!

October 19, 2021 in residential interior

PRAISE JESUS! my vacuum and i are reunited. it was a TOUGH separation but now we have an even greater appreciation for each other. THANK YOU to all the lovely friends who offered to lend me yours. and a bonus… lucy showed me a new anime filter that allows you to smile. i do love the original one but you always look a bit glum with it and that is NOT how i’m feeling now… just beside myself with excitement! x0x0x

life without my vacuum

October 19, 2021 in family

(me and my vacuum in happier times)

i’m sure you’ve all been on pins and needles wondering how i am faring without my vacuum… NOT WELL i would say. as i write this my vacuum has been in the shop for NINE days and we have never been separated this long. i DID make some rookie moves in the first two days - i served toast and eggs for breakfast on day one. lucy munches her toast like a wood chuck… crumbs go flying. normally, i don’t let this flap me (remember she has not yet attended cotillion) because i have my trusty vacuum to clean up her storm. but this time i had to wipe down the floor myself.

an eclectic mix of modern and traditional on hawthorn

October 12, 2021 in art, dining room, family room, garden, living room, office, residential interior, sofa

in this architecturally traditional home, we wanted to create an eclectic mix of modern and antique furnishings to give the interior dimension, texture and personality. the color palette for the finishes is a range of whites and soft grays and warm woods, punctuated with hits of black. we brought in lots of color through the artwork, photograph and textiles.