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a slice of life

Favorite Things

Home Stories | book review

Now, I have to confess right from the start that I am a little bit bias about this book.  Months ago, when it was still in the works, I was asked by Kim to write an endorsement, which I gladly did.  I had a chance at that time to peruse the book and I absolutely loved the premise, so I was so excited when I received my hard copy last week and had the chance to enjoy it in printed form.  The book is Home Stories – Design Ideas for Making a House a Home. On the back of the book, it reads, “Every room has a story worth telling: Learn how to create rooms filled with warmth, meaning, and your own unique story of home.”  And this book does a beautiful job of balancing practicality with inspiration and realistic ideas with the concept of intentionally telling your story through

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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

Rosa’s Recipes | Creating a Blurb Book

Organizing is something I do pretty regularly.  Several times a year, I’ll get a little tired of certain areas and I’ll start sorting.  Sometimes I force myself to go through each item and make decisions.  Other times, I just organize the stuff that’s there, only getting rid of the obvious.  As I’ve been organizing in February, I’ve been trying to make decisions about each item and take action on it before I simply put it back neater than I found it.  The result has been so refreshing.  Less stuff, more space, and it’s so much easier to find things.  I’m gathering like things together, getting rid of what we don’t need, and working on projects that have been on the to-do list for a long time, sometimes years.  One of those action-items included creating a Blurb book of my great-grandma Rosa’s recipes. I only knew Rosa when she wore her

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a slice of life

No Spend February 2021 Recap

Well, we made it through no-spend February!  I received a few confession comments/emails from people who felt like they blew it, but the point isn’t to be perfect.  The point is to become more aware of what you spend (and why) beyond tracking it in a budget.  I’m happy to report that I stuck with it pretty well and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. So, first of all, did I buy anything in February beyond bills and necessary expenses?  Yes.  I ended up buying a few small things. I bought a , so I could finish my pair of socks.  I ran out of yarn halfway through and Jeff agreed it was a purchase to finish an existing project, so I could purchase it.  I only bought what I needed to finish. I bought another because I bent a couple of needles while making the

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a slice of life

uncle George, grandpa henry & other organizing rabbit trails

It all started very innocently.  As a part of my organizing push in February, I tackled the lower right built-in in the living room.  It’s not a cabinet we’re in and out of a lot, so it’s been sorely neglected.  It houses our photo albums, boxes of photos, some family mementos, and it’s where we would drop the school photos each year.  It’s also where I would stick random decor, apparently, like the antique scale. I’ve been avoiding this cabinet because it’s such a mess, but I finally dove in.  As is the case with most messy cabinets, it looked worse than it was.  It didn’t take me long to get things sorted and labeled.  I readjusted the shelves so the photo albums could stand upright.  I sorted the remaining photos and documents into categories and put them in bins.  I also added labels to everything… Everything that is loose

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a slice of life

scanning old documents, photos, & postcards

One of the big projects I want to work on while organizing and purging is scanning antique and vintage family photos, letters, postcards, and documents.  Fortunately, I have a lot of them!  Unfortunately, that means the task is a little overwhelming and I’ve been putting off most of it for years.  So, I’m just going to chip away at it.  Here is the basket I’m currently working through, but it’s just a fraction of what needs to be sorted, scanned, and properly stored. I started by scanning the letters that are most important to me – my Opa’s letters and telegrams to his family when he was serving in WWII. I organized them and made copies once before, but now that I have a nicer scanner, I scanned them all.  I have uploaded them to a Google Drive, so I can share them with family members who are interested, but

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a slice of life

February Organizing Update

Despite a busy week and feeling a little under-the-weather over the weekend, I chipped away at organizing a bit more.  I’m still avoiding the huge projects, but I’ve been trying to do something most days, even if it’s just cleaning out a part of a cabinet or one drawer or sorting one bin.  Making small strides each day will help me maintain some momentum and I know that one of these days, I’ll be ready to tackle some of the tougher areas.  I find that once I get going, I usually end up doing more than I initially planned. Here are the little areas I tackled last week and into the weekend… The junk drawer!  This drawer always ends up a bit of a mess (living up to its name) because we’re in and out of it so much.  It only took 10-15 minutes to get it cleaned and sorted,

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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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