Living A Beautiful Life...Sometimes

During the 1970s and 1980s, I discovered Alexandra Stoddard and her books. I fell in love. If you've never read any of her books, you've missed a lot. The first book I read was Living A Beautiful Life. It changed my life as I've said before. I've read, and have, several of her books. They're calm and beautiful to read. She can be spiritual also. But it's her sense of how to live a beautiful life that drew me to her books.

I was working as the highest paid woman in a very top Fortune 500 company at the time and needed more serene time in my life. Those books taught me how to achieve it. While, she's a top decorator, and one of my favorites, she's a prolific author also. She has a keen sense of color and fabric. Her books take you on a journey to find happiness in this life.

A few weeks ago while cleaning out some beautiful storage boxes in which I have papers, ephemera, my clay flowers, etc. stored, I came across some of her Beautiful Living Companion brochures she would send out to us subscribers. I loved receiving them but I don't think she kept it up very long as she was too busy. But in one, and there are no dates on these, just volume numbers, it had to be from the 80s, I found a quote from her I'd like to share.

"There is no beauty without order. I've discovered that to the degree that we are organized we are in control of our lives. Haven't you found that the times when you allow your life to overwhelm you with chaos are the times when you are going through emotional turmoil as well?"

I found my answer is exactly as she spells it out. I'm not only disordered in my life/home, etc, but in my mind also. I'm not attending to my garden: the one I have in my head and the one I have when I sweep my arms out to encompass my life and home or, in other words, my environment. I have to have a calm talk with myself and sometimes it takes more than a one-time sit-down. Sometimes, it takes days or even a few weeks to get that calmness I need to pursue something. But absolutely first, comes the ease of the mind. Then comes the "getting to it" of it. That's how I function most of the time and I'm guessing a lot of you mimick that as well. Think on that statement. It has certainly helped me. There are times when I simply sit and read for hours and hours upon days and days because I just can't handle much at that moment. No, I'm not fragile, just have to contemplate it for a while. And my sweet, sweet hubby accommodates anything I want to do. He's my angel. Sometimes, I truly wonder how he puts up with me. Truly.
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A dining room that pleases me. Chairs are darling. She has a bench on one side. Lots of pink, polka dots, checks and stripes. Lovely!

My kind of vignette also.

Love the sofa but where do I sit on it?! Beautiful pillows also.

We should all be lucky to have a dishwashing/sink area like this. Loooove it!!!

Yeah, yeah, I know. Dream on, bloggers.

A sweet night light. We have some of these for emergencies. I just thought of something: I could froufrou them up and bring them in from the garage. Today is the day I do that!

A very clever idea for old spoons and teacups: make it into a hanging lamp.

See, I told you leather sofas could be beautiful in a shabby chic home.

I recently went to a blog when she posted on mine. I'd never heard of her before, but on her blog sidebar she has a saying: I just want to make pretty things even if no one cares. My thoughts exactly. I feel the same way. I just want pretty things around me even if no one understands it.

I would give much to have this gorgeous pink cabinet. I don't think I've ever seen one so beautiful.

I love pretty cakes and these are indeed beautiful.

A house filled with roses can never be ugly. I can't wait until our rose bushes start blooming.

I also love pretty clocks and have more than I need, even in the living room I have 4 pretty ones, all working.

While the chair is lovely, the cushion is what makes it look so comfy.

Several years ago, my daughter gave me some Old Country Roses cups and saucers as she had place settings for about 25 people. She was scaling down. I decorated them and placed them around the house, but this one tipped on its side and made to look like a birds nest is prettier and much more clever than mine. Love it. Maybe I'll redo a few of them like this.

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Tidbit:

 Steven Spielberg is Drew Barrymore's godfather. After seeing her nude in Playboy magazine, he sent her a blanket with a note telling her to cover herself up.
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Linking up with NMH Open House Party and Pink Saturday.

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Rambling Today

Several weeks ago we went to Boise shopping and stopped in at The Cheesecake Factory. It had been a very long time since we'd eaten there but I wanted cheesecake desperately.

I had the half chicken salad sandwich with salad but they also brought me a cup of soup. This was much more than I anticipated! I told him to bring me a box immediately as I would never be able to eat all of it. I didn't even touch the soup, ate half of the sandwich and salad and brought the rest home. We both told them to add in 2 pieces of cheesecake to take home also. I refuse to share my slice of cheesecake with anyone.  That lunch was $45 and a bit more than we thought it would be but very good. But it was also more than most people could possibly eat unless they were hogs! I'm not. It was truly fantastic.

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At the rate of weddings in Hollywood, the career to have is wedding planner. You'd never ever want for a job! I simply cannot believe the turnaround in husbands and wives in that city. Surely with all their offspring, every single person there is related to at least 99% of the others. It would be ugly trying to fill out your lineage chart down there. Sheesh...

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 Awhile back I heard someone say that something was totally impractical for their lifestyle—can't remember what it was—but it was desirable to have. I told her to change her lifestyle then. It's that simple and if I recall it was something good. Why can't someone change their lifestyle? We certainly did and it's brought blessings more than we can count to our lives.

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I've also noticed that some people are a bit lean on their answers. Wonder what that's about or what they don't want to say.

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This looks like a little girl's kitchen for play but it is indeed a woman's cute kitchen dining area.

A fabulous cabin.

Pretty chair in a field of lavender.

A very pretty white living room with roses prints all around.

Sweet hearts to enjoy.

Cute open shelving but I really like the cans on the shelf.

Someone's sweet vignette.

A luxuriously long porch with vivid flowers all over.

Pretty rose fabric juxtaposed against an old door.

I like this adorable sofa but I'd put it in a family room.

The kitchen of a very serious cook! I don't have near those pots and pans and I manage. The drawback is I have to cook, which we all KNOW I hate!

Interesting way to display pretty teacups.

Pretty little office area. I like the green and pink together also.

Cute redecorated can.

Lovely embroidery.

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Linking up with SSS.

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Doing Some Cleaning

I invite you all to watch the two minute video; it's up to you of course. It is part of a speech given by a member of The First Presidency of our Church. It inspired me as no other video could ever do on creating. It will touch your heart. It will give you hope. I published it several months ago but thought it might inspire someone again.

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The weather has turned cooler and I'm trying to be productive. It isn't easy being productive.

Today I attacked some drawers in my dresser. Five drawers to be exact. So far I've rounded up and given to thrift stores: 11 shirts, 4 pairs of shoes, 4 of hubby's sport coats that are just too small but in great shape, 2 bathing suits, 4 hats, 3 t-shirts and 54 pairs of socks in good shape, but don't wear knee-highs anymore. That leaves me with 5 empty drawers. I'll not be refilling them with new stuff as I just don't need any more stuff. I'm trying to lighten our load and get rid of stuff. I cannot even recall what else we've taken to the thrift stores prior to today.

Why do we accumulate things? For me, it was partly because I wanted to make sure I had enough. Yeah, you heard me. I didn't just have enough; I had more than any one person needed. Then when I saw a rose plate or anything with roses on it, it was mine. I'd buy it. I am truly sad to have bought all that stuff long ago and now getting rid of it. Not the getting rid of part, but the money I wasted on accumulating stuff because I thought I needed it and certainly thought I wanted it. I see bloggers all the time accumulating more things—vintage, rustic, whatever—because they love it or want to have it. I've come to the realization that I don't need that stuff to make me happy. This is absolutely true. I didn't figure it out until a few years ago. All the thousands, yes, many thousands, of dollars I spent on clothes, plates, anything I wanted. What a waste. I see homes on blogs that have so much and the women keep on adding to it. Now, I'm subtracting from it. Funny how that works out but it is so free-ing to be able to get rid of it.

A friend on an eBay discussion group I had for many years told me that she and her hubby were just taking anything they could to the thrift stores or throwing it out. She said it felt good. I took a lesson from her and am doing the same thing and getting the same feeling. It truly does feel good. :-) And besides, my kids don't want anything we've got. I've already given them keepsakes from their great grandmothers and jewelry I no longer wear. My daughter told me if I didn't get rid of most stuff, she would put it on eBay for 99¢ with free shipping and I think she just might do it!
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Another gorgeous living room, shabby chic romantic kind.

A darling vignette of teacups.

Isn't this little hanging element adorable?

A cozy patio bench with beautiful pink pillows.

This would be a darling setting for a pink lover's party—stripes and polka dots.

Just a feminine setting with ruffles, lace, roses and a french chair.

A chocolate pot with gorgeous roses and green color.

Wow!!! What a stunner of a bathroom! Woooohoooo.

More roses for ya, but with feathers this time, sweets. ;-)

Got enough roses yet? Hmmmm?

Or pink???

Box of beautiful laces waiting for someone to do something with them.

Pretty pink, blue and white kitchen dining area.

Now, this one I adore. It could very well be the "perfect" kitchen in my eyes. Gorgeous!

Just like these vivid colors. Anyone who has been to Mexico probably has one of these. We've picked up a few on our travels down there.

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Everyone has a talent; I think mine is nagging.
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Rambling Again 8/21/2012

I want to tell you about a book I read recently called Three Against Hitler. It's a very good book loaned to me by a friend. It's thought provoking and will make you cry though. You can find it here on Amazon if interested.
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Hubby wanted salad the other night with tuna on top. I didn't want that much so told him to make a tuna sandwich for me instead. (Pain killers have dulled my appetite significantly, but heaven forbid I should lose any weight!) It was the most delicious tuna salad sandwich he's ever made me. I don't know why but it just tasted so dang good to me. Here's an example of a salad he made me a couple of weeks ago. It was delicious also. He does delicious salads. I crumbled up some toasted Asiago/garlic baguettes into it also. Yummmmm.

Ooooh, I also told him he's losing kitchen cooking privileges until he cleans up after himself. Seriously.
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For those of you lusting after yachts, I saw a photo of the biggest yacht just built for some mega-millionaire, probably in the middle east somewhere. It's like a cruise ship! Huge. Bigger than 2 football fields if I'm remembering correctly, which is somewhat in question as I had to get back on pain killers after 3 days without them. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that to fill their gas tanks would cost $100,000. Plus they can't dock at just any port. See, the rich do have their problems. No way would I want to spend that much on gasoline even if I was rich.
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I'm a bit frugal on some things but extravagant on other things. For instance, I won't buy any meat that isn't Angus to bring home to cook. I'm not a big meat eater and not particularly fond of meat but I do love steaks. I even like the Angus burgers at Jack-In-The-Box, which they do superior to any other chain fast food restaurant. Grilled onions just tops it off as the best. Once you taste it, you won't go back. It's the best!
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I saw a woman recently that had on a T-shirt that could have provided shelter for  a VietNam family of eight. I sincerely do take pity on her as she's as much loved by God as I am, maybe even more as I'm such a rebellious woman sometimes. Very sad for her, however. And I truly mean that.
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A quaint cottage with just some unusual features I thought you'd like to see.

Main Street, America, house.

A perfect sun room or enclosed porch to daydream.

My next lamp redo will look similar to this. Beautiful! (Update:Actually, I created this post and decided several days later to redo the lamp that looks almost like this one. You can see it here. It's in the very first photo. I redid my Page My Home recently to make it look better. I used a template to make sure all the photos were evenly spaced. I don't think Blogger has yet fixed it to where we can do it correctly without using a template.)

Here it is.

Pink eye candy.

More pinks to drool over.

Lace and roses. Can it get much better than this? ;-)

Lazy afternoon in the shade, a respite from the sun and heat.

Somewhere in the world. I wonder where. But life continues even if it is on the top of a tall, narrow building. Life will continue.

Love the curtains billowing in the breeze. Colorful pinks and serene blues and whites. Gorgeous.

Daydream living in this old French home.

Cute setting for an afternoon tête-à-tête.

Gorgeous floor lamp and table lamp.

I like what the homeowner did with this paper hanging lamp. Quite easily done and what a statement it makes.

I'd love to have a chalkboard with this rose decal on it. She has some of the most gorgeous roses paintings I've seen. Just stunning.

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