Our family's holiday card and Minted's Black Friday Discounts!

These are my people - in this, our 25th year of marriage, I am 

immensely proud of this family we created…….

Marriage and family stuff can be challenging, but SO worth all

the heartache and hard work …. We are currently in the midst of parenting

teenage girls which can be tricky and mentally challenging - basically the 

'worry hours' do not align with my bedtime (thanks honey for handling 

the late nights)……but it is also SO fun! 

(I seriously look at this photo and think, "how did we get here so quickly?")

Thanks to Minted for helping me with my Christmas cards again
this year -  Minted offers so many awesome designs that
it is SO difficult to choose just one!  In the end I had to
go with the gold foil lettered cards this year!

Make sure you visit Minted over the weekend as they will
be offering 20% your purchase of $150+ and 15% off
with no minimum purchase!

**And for local peeps - our family photos were taken this year
by a talented friend, Jen Mahoney!  You can visit her
website to see more of her work - jenmahoney.com

And one more thing - when I count my blessings this weekend,
I will include each and every one of you.
I am so grateful for this space to express my creativity,
promote my business and connect with fabulous people!

Family Drop-Zones…..{aka} contain the clutter!

I think one of the things that stresses me out about the holidays is the amount

of things that come IN to my house rather than go out.  I admit, I have

a huge aversion to clutter - just ask my family!  But I truly believe

that good design and organization can go hand-in-hand.

I have recently worked on a few mudroom/entryway designs for clients

and thought I would share them with you.

Some of my 'must haves' include:

*  closed storage option (cause, duh, they hide the clutter)

*  hooks - cause for some reason husbands and kids are not

good at using hangers but usually have no problem finding the hooks.

*  good lighting

*  a durable rug - dhurries and kilims are favorites because they

hold up to lots of coming and going and are good dirt concealers

*  Inspirational words - to send your loved ones out the door!

* Memo/chalkboards

Happy Monday!!!!

Christmas cards from Minted.

Sending and receiving holiday greetings is one of my favorite

things about the season!  Our family has lived all over the 

United States so the expectation of hearing from friends and family near and far 

has me running to the mailbox each day during November and December.

In turn, I love to send cards that let the most important

people in our lives know we are thinking of them and 

wish them a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Minted is my absolute favorite source for our family's 

Christmas cards.  I love the number of choices,

the contemporary designs, options for customizing

and options for personalization.

We had family photos taken last month.  Shortly after,

I went to the Minted website to look at the options

for our card.  I chose some of my favorites to share with you.

I tend to choose simple designs and because our

family celebrates Christmas I always choose a

design that carries that sentiment.  But Minted

has 'holiday' greetings as well.  I will admit that a couple

years ago I totally did NOT get my cards ordered in

time so sent 'Happy New Year' cards and Minted

came to the rescue with that option too!

In our busy, modern world, this is one tradition that I am

really happy has remained.  

How about you?  Do you send holiday/Christmas greetings?

Minted always has such good discount offers on Black Friday. I recommend 

that you head to the Minted website and choose your design so you will be ready to

take advantage of the discount!

xo ~ Jill

Photos from around my house…...

 I can hardly consider myself a blogger anymore, my posts have

been so infrequent.  But I do still really love coming here in this space

I carved out long ago on the now very crowded cyberspace! 

 I hope you appreciate that I only blog when I feel like I have something

to share - I will never be the blogger who has posting schedules,

tutorials, holiday decor/baking/traditions/crafts/cooking……that's

just not going to be me.  This is one place in my life I embrace

being organic - ha!

And let's be honest - no one is inviting me to be a part

of the 'fall home tour' or 'holiday home tour' - 

SO - here is my own holiday/fall home tour!

In all seriousness, my design business has kept me very busy in

client homes.  And as much as I felt my own home

was suffering as a result, I recently took a look around and felt

a bit content so I grabbed my camera before

my prideFULL ego faded and decided to share with you.

  

I have recently added some touches of red - lest you think I am 

starting to decorate for Christmas, think again, it is purely coincidence!

The red Moroccan rug (on super sale at Pottery Barn of all places) inspired 

the red - I brought it in and really liked the pop of color.  I felt

the red needed some other red friends so added the velvet

embroidered pillow from Pottery Barn too - didn't want to go too

crazy so pulled out my cream sweater pillows from last year for texture

and to temper "Miss Red Velvet".

In my opinion the Schumacher 'Betwixt' is a neutral so 

that one stayed in the mix too.

The white stools are a relatively new addition - they are 

from Restoration Hardware. The family

declared the 'cold to sit on' but enjoy the back rests.

I enjoy the industrial style.

We will decorate for Christmas…..minimally this year.

I am liking my home's energy right now, the thought

of adding stuff just doesn't appeal.  I always love

a tree and natural elements so will keep to doing those things.

I see more red in my future.

Thanks for visiting friends.

I promise to be back soon!

xo~