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Favorite Things

Antiques

back home & another antique watercolor box

Despite a trip to the ER after a day in the car (my youngest son has a stomach bug or severe car sickness and needed fluids), we had a wonderful trip out east to visit our family.  We made our first stop in North Carolina to visit Jeff’s parents and his sister’s family before we drive up to Pennsylvania to visit my parents.  We spent a ton of time in the car, but it was all worth it so we could see family.  We hadn’t seen Jeff’s parents since December 2019 and my parents since last summer. I took a break from writing here on the blog, but I did sneak some painting in.  Painting outdoors from life (known as plein air painting) is such a challenge for me compared to painting in the studio.  I struggled through this one and didn’t love the end result, but it was a

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Favorite Things

February 2021 Favorites

So far, this year has been fast and full.  February seems like it was ages ago, even though it was just three weeks!  Does anyone else feel that way?  Anyway, February was a busy month, focused on organizing closets, cupboards, and drawers, which led to doing random projects that have been hanging out on my mental to-do list for ages.  It was also a no-spend month, which I’ll share more about later in the post, but I still have lots of fun new things to share with you… Reading | The Great American House You know I love a good decorating book and I found a new favorite in the month of February – The Great American House.  Oh man, this one is so good if you love classic architecture.  It explains how old homes were designed “thin” to allow the light and air to pass through and how many

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a slice of life

January 2021 Favorites

Before February comes to an end, I thought I would share my favorites from January!  Instead of just sharing a book for each week, as I did in 2020, I am going back to sharing a little bit of everything…what I’m watching, what I’m listening to, foods I’m enjoying, experiences, projects, etc.  It’ll be a little mixed bag of things I enjoy that you might like as well. Here are some of my favorites from January 2021… On Pointe on Disney+ As someone who went to a performing arts college and was involved in theatre and dance for the first half of my life, I was so tired of seeing the same narrative about performing arts schools in TV shows and movies…  Everyone is petty and hates/sabotages talented people.  Everyone has an eating disorder and is on drugs.  Every professor is abusive and demeaning.  I know these portrayals are for

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a slice of life

vintage-style leather sketchbook & giveaway!

If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you know that I love having beautiful supplies and tools.  I’m always casually on the hunt for new or new-to-me things that will make working, creating, or making even more enjoyable.  Well, a couple of weeks before Christmas, I found this beautiful vintage-style leather sketchbook from a small shop that sells on . These vintage-style leather sketchbooks come in several different sizes and a few color options for the leather cover. I generally like to have a larger work area, so I have the (above) and Weed Green (below.)  I also have the 13 x 8 in Red Brown.  Sadly, the Weed Green is completely sold out at the moment, but they will hopefully restock soon. I bought one of these sketchbooks initially because I loved the paper with the deckled edges.  I was looking for some paper with deckled edges

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a slice of life

December Books of the Week

Well, it’s our last book of the week post for 2020 and I have decided to not continue with sharing a book for each week into 2021.  Instead, we’ll mix it up a little bit and I’ll just share some favorites from a variety of categories, including books.  I love my resource library, though, and I’m glad I shared 52 of my favorite books with you last year!  It gave me an excuse to visit some old favorites and to purchase some new ones to review. Here are the books I picked to finish out the year… The Painted Art Journal I love just about everything that comes from Jeanne Oliver.  I bought her ruffled camera bag and some clothes from her website about 10 years ago!  Since then, I have followed her creative journey and we even met up for coffee when her family was visiting Gettysburg, PA.  She

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a slice of life

Christmas 2020 recap

While our Christmas break was quiet and slow, it was also full.  We have spent Christmas with family some years, but it’s not out of the ordinary for it to just be the four of us, so this year didn’t feel sad or lonely.  We did miss the school Christmas concert and church staff Christmas party, but it was still a sweet season.  We ordered our yearly Christmas Eve breakfast out and ate it at home.  We had our candlelight Christmas Eve service on the sofa in our jammies.  We watched movies at home instead of going to the theatre.  We met with our family over Zoom to open presents and play games.  But we still had a wonderful time of celebration, reflection, and rest. (Yes, the top string of lights burnt out just before Christmas!  Ugh!) And Christmas morning was still a flurry of activity and excitement as the

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a slice of life

The perfect cup of coffee with Storyville

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by.  As always, all words and opinions are honest and my own.  You can read more about sponsored posts HERE. When reached out to me about trying their coffee and coffee-making gear, I told them that they had the right house, but the wrong person.  I am not a coffee drinker.  I wish I were because it looks so comforting on cold days or when you need a pick-me-up.  But, Jeff loves coffee and drinks enough for both of us.  I might consider it to be one of his hobbies!  He’s always on the lookout for a better cup of coffee.  Needless to say, he was more than excited when a few boxes arrived at our house from Seattle labeled “Storyville”. If you’re not familiar with , let me tell you a bit about it.  Storyville is a Seattle-based artisan coffee roaster who might be

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a slice of life

November 2020 Books of the Week

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Ours was full and busy with church stuff – I played and sang in the band this week and worked on the painted murals (I shared about the Storybook Christmas on IG Stories a few weeks ago) and Jeff & the boys spent time at the church painting wood for the supports.  I’m basically ready for a real weekend now!  But, I have a full week with decorating the tree (finally), working on blog posts, and getting more paintings done to sneak in one more art sale before Christmas.  I’m sure many of you are experiencing similar schedules as we approach the holidays! Anyway, today I’m going to share the books of the week for November! I have absolutely devoured this landscape painting book!  It’s a different style than some of my other landscape painting books and I’ve enjoyed studying the loose, more

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I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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