My memories of you
are like the sweetest smile
in the midst of ones deepest depression.
like golden laughter
ringing out on my worst possible day.
Being near you
is as familiar and warm
as a steaming cup of cocoa
after a tiresome day of play in the blustery snow.
You are the raging fireplace of my heart.
Your arms embrace,
the ones I yearn for every moment
of everyday and every night.
All I need to see me through
whatever may block my path.
You are Love.
The light of my life.
Happy Valentines day
from the depths of my soul.

© Misty A. Roff

Merry Christmas and  happy New year to everyone.

It’s been a super busy time at the end of this year.  In addition to “regular work” and the house “renovation work”, I found some time to open my own photography business.  I know! Exciting, nerve-wracking all at the same time!  It’s been a steep learning curve as I navigate my way through starting a fledgling business and the photo shoots/editing have been keeping me busy.  So, I’m sure you can understand dear readers (are you still out there??), with 90+ hour work weeks for the past couple of months, the renovations (and specifically posting about them!) have gone on the back burner a little bit.  We have completed a few projects around the house in the past month or so – the sheetrocking in the foyer is progressing, the stairs have been getting a makeover and a few other small developments have been made.  We have (sparsely) decorated the house for our first Christmas in the new house (last year we were in the UK): we’ve put up the free tree and some lighted garland on the stairs; on the outside we’ve re-installed the lighted trees I made last year, plus added some of those candle lights to our 14 windows on the front of the house.  If I get my act in gear, I might actually take a photo or two of the house from the outside to show our new candle lights.  Until then, check out my first attempt at Christmas bokeh above by photographing our yearly ornament on a backdrop of the Christmas tree lights.

So, in the eponymous words of Arnie, “I’ll be back” in the New Year to update everyone on our progress at the end of this year, evaluate how well we did on our 2010 renovation goals and plan some new projects for 2011.  Until then, enjoy the holidays.  Eat, drink and be merry.  See you on the flip side.

The DIY projects around the house have taken a back seat lately. Let’s just say, life has got in the way. In approximately 4 weeks, my mum and her husband will be coming over from the UK and visiting the new house for the first time. It’s giving us the push we need to get back on with a few “really-need-to-do” projects, and if we have time a few other “I’d-really-like-to-get-this-done-too” projects. I’m calling our new found DIY fervor …

It will be nice to have my family visiting – a few more English people round here is always a good thing! For the week they will be here, home will become a little more like home. I’ll post about the projects we are currently doing and are planning on tackling in a later post. But for now, while we’re on the subject of home, check out the shoes I made for my Halloween costume this weekend (it’s amazing what a little mod podge and some glitter can do):

They probably need a second coat of glue and glitter to fill in some of the small gaps, followed by a final coat of mod podge to seal everything. 

Cute, huh? Despite having my own set of ruby red slippers, I’m not going as Dorothy, even though I have a Toto stand in:

I’m going as a bedevilled witch, and as most of my costume is black, I wanted some red shoes to match my devil horns. Witches can be cute too, y’all! What Halloween costumes have you got planned for the weekend? Do tell.

Over the last year, our chihuahua puppy Reebs has been quite the destructive force in our house.  The couch has received the brunt end of the stick.  Reebs takes great pleasure in making holes and pulling stuffing out of the couch cushions.

The couch is fighting back. The couch is eating Reebs.

Let’s just say it’s couch karma.

Well, it would be if Reebs didn’t enjoy snuggling IN the couch, rather than on top of it.

Picture this.  Friday evening, we had just sat down to dinner.  We hear this almighty crash.  The dogs run away from the kitchen faster than David Hasselhoff running away from an AA meeting. We go to inspect the kitchen.

Nothing.  No items knocked over, nothing dropped off the counter.  We had a WTF moment.  Even the dogs looked perplexed…

Rick had the genius idea to check the pantry. Voila! We found the culprit…

The bottom two wire shelves had come crashing down.

So, that’s another project to add to our 2010 to-do list.  We had eventually planned on making over the pantry, replacing the wire shelves with more solid wooden ones.  Maybe we can just stack the canned goods on the floor for now?  No-one would know, right?

Living in a DIY zone has its dangers.  Like random nails, screws and tacks lying about on the floor.  No matter how many times you sweep up, they always somehow manage to magically appear in the most used footpaths.

I’ve stepped on these little floor tacks enough times now that I feel I’m more perforated than an English teabag. 

What is it about living in a DIY-zone that irks you the most?  Feel free to moan.  It’s cathartic, right?

On Friday night, we took the supporting 2×4′s down and revealed our new library header. Check out this short video I took at the crucial moment. I can’t believe how English I sound on camera. Waaaaall….

I’m tellin’ ya. I should be on HGTV.

Not.

When I left for the UK at the end of June, I packed one medium suitcase of clothes, shoes and toiletries. When I returned last week, I brought back two large suitcases. What caused the extra baggage?

Mmmm, english chocolate.  How I love thee.  Oh, and not to forget our other finest export…

There’s nothing like a good cuppa tea.  It solves all problems. Well, according to most English soap operas.

In addition to the case load of chocolate and tea I brought back, I did manage to squeeze in a few home decor related items. Like a pair of these crystal pineapple lights:

Although it is designed as a pendant lamp, I’m planning on using it as a wall sconce in the spare bedroom. I also had that makeover in mind when I bought these curtains:

The duck-egg blue, cream and chocolate brown work well with the color scheme I had in mind.  However, I’m not sure I’m actually going use these as curtains.  I might use the fabric to make a pelmet instead, and use the leftovers to make some coordinating pillows for the bed.  I’ll be posting an updated moodboard and inspiration photo for the bedroom makeover shortly.

I also brought back a candlestick very similar to the one below – it was a lovely surprise gift from my mum.

In case I had an extra square inch of room that was not being used up in my suitcase, I brought back a duvet set for our master bedroom (very similar to the one below):

I LOVE that teal color.  So much so that I got a table runner for the dining room in the same palette:

The last items I managed to pack into my overstuffed suitcases were this modern chrome clock, and these wooden letters (actually in white), both of which will live in the dining room.

In fact, the only thing I didn’t manage to bring back was my brother’s adorable spaniel puppy, Ginger…

If I could’ve, I would’ve.  So, that’s the tale of how I managed to double my baggage coming back from the UK.  Let’s not get into how much it cost me in excess baggage charges.  I’m sure it will be all worth it when I see these items in place. What items have you brought back from vacation to use in your home?

Ok, this is not strictly to do with DIY stuff, but it looks so gorgeous I just had to share…

Yummy. During my stay in the UK, I’ve been buying a popular DIY magazine to get some British-based decor inspiration (in fact, one of the magazine issues has given me an idea for the spare bedroom – more on that later). Whilst perusing their website, I came across this recipe.  And started drooling.  This looks L.U.S.H.  And so easy to do. 

How great would this be for dessert on a summer’s eve, sitting out on your dream deck?  I think I’m gonna have to make these soon!  Here’s the recipe…

You will need (serves 4):

For the towers
150ml whipping cream
8 shortbread biscuits (cookies in the US)
350g hulled and halved strawberries
4 tsp strawberry jam (not jelly)

For the raspberry sauce
350g raspberries
25g icing sugar (powdered sugar in the US)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions

First make the raspberry sauce, sprinkle the sugar over the raspberries and lemon juice and leave for 20 minutes. Then force the mix through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

When ready to serve, whip the cream to a soft peak stage. Place a biscuit on each plate and spoon a heaped tablespoon of cream onto the centre of each. Take 4-6 strawberry halves of roughly the same size and arrange in a circle, cut side out, around the rim of each biscuit, pressing into the cream to hold them in place.

Add a teaspoon of strawberry jam in the centre of the strawberries, spoon a little more whipped cream on top, and crown with another biscuit, pressing down gently to make sure the cream and strawberries merge together – but not so hard that the cream comes out the sides. 

Top with a little dollop of cream, and a half strawberry, arrange more strawberry halves around the outside of the plate, and drizzle with raspberry sauce.

Linking this post up to Show and Tell Saturday:

I love my husband.  Insert gratuitous picture here:

Wishy woo. I married him because of his body mind DIY abilities.  My grandmother constantly reminds me how lucky I am because he saves me so much money.  You know, in gigolo fees.  Oh yeah, and not having to hire a plumber, electrician, or general contactor during our house makeover. What can I say? He is multi-talented.

When I left to visit my family in the UK for 9 weeks, I left him a to-do list, written on some old whiteboard we had hanging around from my PhD days:

Ok, I didn’t expect him to do ALL of this stuff.  Just most some of it.  I thought of the list as a good way to focus his attention on specific projects around the house.  You see, I know my husband.  Over the past 10 years of being together, I think we both have a pretty good handle on each other’s great and not-so-great characteristics.  Rick tends to have a little bit of “need-a-bit-of-get-up-and-go-itis” (aka “my-get-up-and-go-has-got-up-and-gone”), coupled with a smidge of DIY Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.).  I wasn’t too concerned about the former – Rick usually likes to keep really busy while I’m away as it makes the time go faster. I was a little worried about the DIY A.D.D.  In the past, he has had a tendency to start new projects… and there are many around our house … rather than finishing old ones.  Seeing as we outlined our renovation goals for 2010, I thought it would be useful to focus his more-than-capable DIY skills on these projects, rather than starting a new one.

It was a great idea. In theory. 

Two days after arriving in the UK, he informed me that he was working on a surprise project.  I need to mention for anyone that doesn’t know us as a couple, typically I am the pragmatist and Rick is the creative dreamer.  So a new project can range anywhere from “surprise, I installed a new faucet!”  to  ”surprise, I ripped down the garage and am building a new 3 story extension!”.

So, needless to say the surprise project was  not on the previously mentioned to-do list.  After a few days of working on said project, he finally let me in on the secret.

Yep, he’s sanding and restaining our stairs! The orangey pine-ish (that’s a word, right?) color is being replaced with a lovely deep chocolate walnut-ish color.  And eventually those white wooden spindles will be replaced with wrought iron ones.

So far, he’s done most of the sanding and has stained the rails…

I think it’s going to look fantastic! When it is finished. So, I guess we’ve just added another project to our 2010 to-do list