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a slice of life
a slice of life

tips for gingerbread house success

I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to make gingerbread this year because of my healing shoulder.  Rolling out dough that’s been refrigerated overnight is not a one-arm kind of job!  But, my friend, Cheri, volunteered to make gingerbread with me, so she could do the rolling and I could share some of my gingerbread house success tips with her.  While I was sharing my tips with her, I thought I would turn the camera on and share them with you as well! Both Cheri and I made our dough the day before and refrigerated it.  We then got together at her house to make and decorate the cookies and houses together. Her house is so pretty!  She lives in a split level, which is such a challenging layout, and she did an amazing job making the house flow.  My favorite corner is this space just off her kitchen with

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December 10, 2019 18 Comments
a slice of life

…and the stars go with you | magnolia pearl giveaway

Disclosure:  This post is sponsored by Magnolia Pearl.  I am over-the-moon to be partnering with such a unique and amazing brand.  As always, all words and opinions are my own. I think it was my second year selling as a vendor at the Lucketts Spring Market and a couple of other vendors scurrying around the event, setting up their spaces and coordinating other vendors, caught my eye.  They were wearing ruffled pantaloons and layered under linen dresses with beautiful details, finished off with lace-up leather boots.  It was different and slightly eccentric, but I loved it.  Not only did I love the easy, feminine style of it, but I loved that these ladies weren’t wearing what the trends told them to wear.  They were wearing something that spoke to their personal aesthetic and it worked. And, I have to admit, the theatre-girl and antique-lover in me both love clothing that

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December 9, 2019 426 Comments
a slice of life

florence | the 163-year-old pen & paper shop

Once we were settled in our room at the Piazza Pitti Palace, my mom and I decided to walk around and explore until we were scheduled to meet our guide at 4:00.  We didn’t have a specific destination but were just planning to meander and wander into pretty shops.  Just a couple of blocks from our hotel, I was drawn into a shop by a beautiful display of papers in the window. There were old cabinets filled with hand-bound leather journals and rolls of colorful printed papers. Of course, I was drawn to the dip pens and inks, but I didn’t see anything I felt like I needed to buy. But then, some antique school notebooks caught my eye.  I was excited about seeing something old.  Perhaps they had more old things.  There were things in every nook and cranny and it would be easy to miss if you didn’t

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December 3, 2019 44 Comments
a slice of life

kittens & crochet

Based on the title of this post, I’m officially turning into my great grandmother.  I don’t mind that too much, though, because she was a pretty awesome lady. Anyway, if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you know we adopted a couple of kittens last Saturday.  It was something we’ve been thinking about for a few months and decided this would be a good time, since Jeff and the boys would be home from school and work for Thanksgiving break and we’d all be able to bond with them and help them adjust. We went to the cat adoption day planning on looking and perhaps picking out a pair of kittens if we found the right ones.  We knew we wanted siblings and older kittens – about 4-6 months old.  We were also hoping for cats that had been around dogs before, so they wouldn’t completely freak out about

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December 2, 2019 83 Comments
a slice of life

creative frontier

The first few days after my surgery was tough in some ways, but in one way, I was sort of enjoying it.  It was a forced rest.  I couldn’t do very basic things that were staples in my line of work…typing, writing, painting, holding a camera.  The things that felt safe, normal, and routine were temporarily not options.  I rested in that for the first couple of weeks, a part of me accepting the permission to sit and binge-watch old seasons of Survivor all day.  A part of me was thankful that I could ignore my inbox and excuse myself from posting on my blog and social media regularly. A couple of weeks out, I started feeling better and set the expectation for myself to jump back into the everyday tasks.  Writing posts and e-mails with dictation was unexpectedly frustrating and I struggled to compose posts verbally instead of letting

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November 25, 2019 40 Comments
a slice of life

October 2019 Favorites

I have been out of my sling for a week and it’s been going pretty well!  The first couple of nights were tough, so I have been wearing the sling to sleep.  Otherwise, I’m gaining a teeny bit of mobility each day, but those gains are adding up.  I can drive, type, write, get dressed by myself, and more.  I have a whole new appreciation for these everyday things, I can tell you that!  I’ve also been able to get off of all medication, so I am feeling more like myself and it gets better each day.  I will have to be faithful with my PT and pace myself, but I feel like I’ve turned a corner. Since I spent the majority of the month of October in a recliner, my favorites are mostly about little things… Chicken Pot Pie One of my sweet friends, Cheri, brought us a chicken

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November 22, 2019 18 Comments
a slice of life

florence | piazza pitti palace

When I was planning out the final leg of our Europe trip, there was no doubt that my mom and I wanted to stay at the Piazza Pitti Palace in Florence again.  We made a last-minute hotel change last year and it was one of the best surprises of the trip.  Not only does the hotel have amazing rooms, but the staff is friendly, and it’s in a quiet location that’s still just a short walk from the main tourist attractions.  (And this isn’t a sponsored post.) The room we stayed in last year (you can see it HERE)was going to be tough to beat, but this room was just as beautiful. The most striking thing about the room is the huge antique original oil paintings on three of the walls.  It was like staying in a museum, but this was our room.  Nothing was roped off. Look at the

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November 21, 2019 16 Comments
a slice of life

favorite things 2019

Today, I’m excited to be a part of the 10 year anniversary of Favorite Things by Melissa of 320 Sycamore!  She is one of the first bloggers I ever met.  We met nine years ago at the Blissdom blog conference and, unbeknownst to her, she became one of my mentors.  I looked at her as an example of how to be a generous and authentic blogger.  I have loved watching her, her blog, and her family grow over the years.  So, this is a fun thing for me to participate in again!  (You can find my favorites from 2015 HERE.) This list is a little different from my typical monthly favorite things list.  This is a list of things I love that I think will make good gifts or you may want to add them to your wish list.  I have a mix of items from different categories and price

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November 13, 2019 17 Comments

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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