We started saying it a few years ago…  “We will definitely hire a moving company the next time we move!” Having gone through about 7 DIY moves in our married life, we were done with gathering volunteers to load a truck.  We were ready to relish in the experience of having it all done by professionals. Or so we thought. (You can tell which boxes I packed later in the process, because my descriptions get a little nutty.) We started getting quotes for our move a few weeks ago and the DIY instinct that kicks in when you get professional quotes could not be ignored.  Since it’s not a door-to-door move, it was outrageously expensive.  Like, we-could-buy-a-decent-used-car kind of expensive and we just weren’t willing to spend that kind of money for something that didn’t have value beyond saving us the headache (and backache) of doing it ourselves. It was a bummer

I planned to write this post last night, but I was exhausted and decided I needed to wait until the morning to string together coherent sentences.  Well, once I got going in the morning, there was no sitting down at the computer to write a post.  I had my weekly Skype meeting with my staff (which sounds very serious and impressive, but we laugh a lot and it’s a time to catch up and keep me on task) and then I filmed a Facebook Live Q&A for the Milk Paint line. There was a lot to do, so I asked my Lucketts-workhorse, Debbie, to come for a day to help me price items for my yard sale.  I knew I was stretching her a bit when I handed her a roll of Frog Tape and a Sharpie and asked if she would price things for me while I was on

There are some things that I started and didn’t finish.  I’m sure you can relate.  So, I thought I would write a post to tie up some loose ends – things that ended up in my graveyard of good ideas and other things you just may be wondering about! Whatever happened to… …Kriste? My trusty sidekick now has a sidekick of her own! His name is Grayson and you can follow her journey as a new mom on her Instagram and blog.  She’ll still be working for me, but between her new mom status and my moving, it’ll be in a different capacity.  Life changes and time marches on.  I’ll miss having her in the studio with me, though.  She’s gotten to know me so well and she does a great job of keeping me on task and balancing me out. She knows when I get that blank, overwhelmed look,

 When you see someone in their element, doing something they are truly gifted to do, it’s a special thing. Last week, I had the chance to witness someone displaying their abundant gift of hospitality first hand in a beautiful new-old house nestled in the hills of Hamilton, Virginia. And that someone was Chris of Zion Springs Bed & Breakfast (and wedding venue).  Here’s a picture of Chris (in the middle) with me and my mom. They inherited a beautiful lot of land and built a home perfectly suited to their large family and included a “wing” to house Chris’s dad.  Sadly Chris’s dad passed away before the home was complete, so Chris and her husband prayed about how they could use that extra space.  She shared that they tried a few different things, like opening the rooms to local college students, and finally decided to take the plunge and turn it into