When my kids were little I use to drive my bicycle everywhere and sometimes I took them with me sitting behind directly on the grill… Oh, my … only the thought of it sends chills down my spine and through my whole body!… It was a time of no helmets and no bicycle paths… we didn’t overthink things as much back then, but some, we definitely should have!
The one who shared those rides with me the most was my little piggy, the youngest of them all, who at the time was going to a Preschool called “Louis Pasteur”.
One day I arrived to pick him up and found him standing at the door with his little lunchbox waiting for me, very entertained in conversation with the watchman, the school’s security guard who stood there every day and at all times.
Riding with boys…
As I approached them he started telling me everything about their conversation and introduced me to his friend – Mommy, this is my friend Louis Pasteur! – he said very proudly and excitedly, I smiled and said hi, but tried to correct him about the confusion. He wouldn’t have it. The watchman WAS Louis Pasteur to him. He had seen him every single day, at all hours standing there, guarding the School, so he “knew” that was “his” school, Louis Pasteur’s School! I had to live it alone. Not worth destroying such cuteness!
best moments in life
Many years later, he told me that he was actually terrified with traffic and the way I rode, sitting there on my bike, in the middle of that traffic and noise, completely exposed… while I thought he was enjoying it …. suddenly one of my sweetest memories was now a horrible one of child endangerment and child abuse! … I wish I could go back in time, hold him so tight against my heart and change many, oh, so many things, so he would never have to be scared again… at least not because of me…
…and on top of everything, now she’s coming to pick me up again in that bloody bicycle!If I could turn back time…
Memories that fall out of nowhere, like leaves in Autumn, surprising and delighting us, just not in this case anymore… and I thought, that maybe if I wrote about it, I could possibly…. I don’t know what I thought… but we don’t get do-overs in life, do we?…
… but he grew up to be an awesomely brave, smart and strong US Marine, in spite of me… or MAYBE, just maybe, even a little bit, because of me! I wish I could know….It should be mandatory to go to school to be a parent, it amazes me there aren’t any laws about that yet…...Moms and boys….
Pantone’s Color of the year, RADIANT ORCHID is finally on it’s way out and I’ve put some pictures together to remember it’s kindom, even though most of these photographs are older than 2014! … What brings me to the reason I am writing this post, classic Design is Timeless, either in Fashion, Architecture or Interior Design. Classic lines, impeccable taste and quality materials can make some pieces last almost forever or at least a really long time.
Pablo Paniagua
Accessories are the key to update a look. Use accent pieces to refresh your decor and wardrobe and to bring color and a little bit of an edge to your spaces and your closet. A few pillows, a throw, some books, flowers and pieces of art will be plenty if you feel the need to follow the “new” fad, the new trends … A belt, a Scarf, a piece of jewelry, a pair of shoes, even your make-up can bring a breath of fresh air to your wardrobe without looking overdone or like everybody else. Always use the new color sparingly, as an accent, never all over. We are talking about colors, not neutrals, a monochromatic color palette and an accent color is always a winning combination.
Elie Saab, Fall 2014Karlie Kloss by Alexi Lubomirski for Vogue GermanyJimmy ChooWall Street in Purple light
Elegance feels effortless and natural and always should have your personal touch!. It’s something you create and develop throughout the years. Start small, add just a few pieces at a time, don’t get something you don’t absolutely love… or at least we should all aim at that!
For the sake of Harmony and Flow, I did not follow my own advice in this post while putting together all the images. You are in for a PURPLE RAIN overdose and hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much as I did! Thanks for stopping by.
– CAROLYNE ROEHM
Carolyne RoehmBottega VenetaSalvatore FerragamoTory Burch, Fall 2013Dolce and Gabbana..Haider AckermannHaider Ackermann
– SALVATORE FERRAGAMO
L’hotel de Paris !
– wedding flowers! what a gorgeous palette!
Lanvin
– LANVIN JACQUARD
– CHLOÉ
– Exquisite and elegant table! Purple is always such an elegant and sophisticated color.
– OSCAR DE LA RENTA
– KAZUO SHIRAGA
– CHIHULY
– PORTERS CHAIR
– NATALIA VODIANOVA FOR CALVIN KLEIN EUPHORIA
– J MENDEL
– OSCAR DE LA RENTA EARRINGS, NECKLACE AND CUFF
Valentino
– VALENTINO
– DE GOURNAY
– EDGAR DEGAS, “LA TOILETTE” I JUST ADORE THE HUES…
– CHRISTY TURLINGTON
– LAZARO
– LANVIN
– DIOR
– DALLAS FLORAL DESIGNER CAROL GARNER
– MARIE CASSATT
– HENRI DE TOULOUSE LAUTREC
Carolyne Roehm
– THE IRONER, PABLO PICASSO
– THE CELLIST, BY AMADEO MODIGLIANI, 1909
Colin Cowie weddings
– LA TOILETTE, TOULOUSE LAUTREC
– FIESTA EN FIGUERES SALVADOR DALÍ
– VINCENT VAN GOGH, UNDERGROWTH WITH TWO FIGURES, 1890
AUTUMN …. What a magical season! Everything feels calmer, kinder and softer. There is a quiet feeling of reflexion and introspection in the air and in our souls. Despite the crispiness in the air, there is a warmth inside of us that grows every day with anticipation… The leaves are falling, sign that all is going to be made anew again… what a promise!
PUMPKINS AND MUMS…
WARM CLOTHES AND WALKS IN THE PARK WITH YOUR FAVORITE PERSON
Home becomes once more the center of our lives, we grow closer to our families, we reconnect with our friends …. We feel more than ever the need of meaning and purpose in our lives … a nesting feeling comes back stronger than ever…. Books and blankets, boots, sweaters and scarves, go together perfectly with apple cider, hot cocoa, hearty soups and warm apple pies ….
There is a stillness in the air that reminds us of a time, when priorities were quite different and life made more sense!
SEEING THE WORLD IN AMAZEMENT THROUGH A CHILD’S EYES…
We borrow nature’s colors to cover ourselves, inspired by the ever changing leaves of the Fall … we fill our homes with the intensity of Autumn and it’s jeweled and earthy palette and with the quietness and muted tones of golden fields of wheat or greyish heavy skies that often look like they are about to cry… we just don’t know why… Is it from sadness or joy?… or just to wash away our worries and doubts … I wonder…
Hoping to inspire you to fill your homes with the glow that these Legends of the Fall will cast into our homes and into our lives! After all change is always good, right? Change makes us grow because it challenges us.
MAGICAL MOMENTS FOREVER IN YOUR HEART…THE RED DOOR…
SWEATERS AND MITTENS, CHICKENS AND KITTENS…
SOFT LEATHER BOOTS!HOW SOMETHING SO SMALL CAN BE THIS BEAUTIFUL?!
HUNTER BOOTS!
LONG WALKS WITH YOUR BEST FOUR LEGGED FRIEND, PRICELESS!
PENDLETON BLANKETS!
A VIEW FROM THE TOP
COMFORT FOODS…
Pumpkin Soup with Sage and Bacon serves 4
2 T butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 lb. floury white potatoes 2 1/4c of pumpkin flesh, diced 2 3/4c vegetable soup 1c cream, not low fat 2 t freshly grated ginger 1/2 t lemon juice 1 pinch grated nutmeg salt and freshly ground pepper 4 sliced bacon, diced 5 fresh sage leaves 1 T extra virgin olive oil -Heat the butter in a large saucepan and fry the onion and garlic
-Add the potatoes and pumpkin, cook for a few minutes, stirring -Stir in the vegetable stock and cook for 25 minutes until the vegetables are soft -Puree all in a blender, return to pan and add the cream -Add a bit more stock if desired -Add the ginger, season with lemon juice, salt, pepper and nutmeg -Fry the bacon in small pan in the butter until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towel -Add the sage to the pan and fry for 30 seconds -Add the bacon and sage to the soup, drizzle with the olive oil and season with fresh pepper
FOUNDED THIS IN 5TH AND STATE BY DEBRA PHILLIPS, I still can’t figure it out how to link to other people’s websites or blogs. Sorry!
Deliziosa, dolce, gustosa, la vellutata di zucca è un ottimo primo piatto, ricco di vitamine e sapore. Questa portata si può facilmente personalizzare, a seconda dei gusti di ognuno, impreziosendola con dei Porcini, o ancora con formaggi come il Taleggio o il Pecorino, oppure optando per preparazioni più leggere e delicate con i porri, le patate, o lo zenzero. Oggi scopriamo una versione saporita: la vellutata di zucca e speck.
3 cups crushed pecans (the original recipe called for 3c chocolate chips, but I thought it was too sweet with the glaze and I love pecans, so there you go.)
Mix wet ingredients, then add the dry ingredients; mix well.
Bake at 375 for 8-9 minutes. While baking, make glaze:
Glaze
2 c powdered sugar
4 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
1 Tbsp. milk
Mix well and immediately frost warm cookies. (If this seems thicker than a glaze, just add a little more milk- I can’t attest to the consistency if you’re somewhere drier than Dominica)
– SHAKESPEARE COULD HAVE WRITTEN A NOBEL ABOUT HER BEAUTY! THOSE LOVELY COLORS! SKY AND FIRE…
FAMILY PICNICS! LOTS OF BLANKETS, HOT CHOCOLATE, CRUSTY LOAVES OF BREAD!
CARAMEL APPLES!
LAVENDER, WHEAT AND PUMPKINS
FIRST FROST OF THE FALL….BREATHTAKING
ROADS ON FIRE !
PUMPKIN CINNAMON ANYTHING!
HOT FREAKING CHOCOLATE!!!
APPLE TARTS…
Gatherings around the table, outside, enjoying this magic season
GOLDEN BUNDLES OF WHEAT AND FIELD FLOWERS
THERE IS A SEASON FOR EVERYTHING… TIME FOR CONTEMPLATION, TIME FOR INTROSPECTION..
A PERFECT MOMENT FROZEN IN TIME..
PRINCETON’S IVY
GORGEOUS URNS WITH MUMS ON FIRESIMPLICITY, BACK TO BASICSWORN OUT MEMORIESENCHANTED PARADISE..A NEW SEASON, A BRIDGE TO A NEW LIFE.CHILDHOOD REVISITED..BLESSINGS AND BOUNTY
– THE NOTEBOOK
A DEAR JOHN LETTER … THIS TIME WITH A TWIST… I DO LOVE YOU!
– THERE IS SOMETHING SO ENCHANTING ABOUT PENCILS AND PAPER…
SOMETIMES A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS, SOMETIMES A FEW WORDS ARE WORTH A THOUSAND PICTURES…
HAVE AN INSPIRED AND GREAT WEEKEND!
Gratitud changes EVERYTHING
You are a LIVING magnet…
Be happy for THIS moment..
The creative adult is the child who SURVIVED!
I AM more than what you SEE..
Tough times don’t last; Tough people DO
Imagination encircles the world….
You have more to do than be weighed down by pretty or beautiful….You .The earth has music..Henri Cartier-Bresson Just three things…There is only one happiness in life…There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.
I don’t know if there’s anybody out there that is ever going to read my words and I’m a bit scared of beginning this journey…. I’ve wanted to do this for a while and just postponed it over and over again …
After my youngest child of five left for college, I understood well the empty nester’s feelings! Thirty-six years of being a full time mother! I couldn’t figure out what to do with myself! All that time I used to dream of having was now leaving me with an empty hole in the stomach and heart! Oh the mixed feelings!!!… I was so used to being a mom that I wondered…. COULD I JUST BE ME?
What does it even mean being me?! Who am I?! What is left of the person I used to be? I hope I am a better version of my younger self, but who knows?! We usually are, we are supposed to be …. Who doesn’t remember her younger self? I do! That girl full of passion who dreamt of being a lawyer, an interior designer, an artist, is still here, somewhere… Why would I feel her so much otherwise if she wasn’t here, inside of me, kicking and screaming: Let me out of here! It has become harder and harder to recognize the person in the mirror…
Where did time go? Am I still on time to live my own life, experience my own dreams?! – I have loved being a mom, totally and completely and still do. My best moments are when I visit my children or they visit me. Now for example, I have three of them home for a week, two of them on their way back to school and one on her way back home, my daughter, and I have her, literally on my butt, following me around, asking me to start this!
This is supposed to be a blog about Interior Design, art, travel, photography and all the lovely things that make life worth living…Actually, I don’t really know what is it going to be about, but I should share a little bit of who I am while trying to discover it myself…
One of the reasons I found it so difficult to start writing is that English is not my first language, and obviously I’m not a writer. Does it matter? They say not to sweat the small stuff! Isn’t the content more important than the vehicle? I absolutely think it is. Never liked perfect things, never will. I think they are boring, uncomfortable and unnatural. I like things that feel real and possible, unique in a way, unaffected and spontaneous ! What this first post is about is … Do I have something interesting enough to say? Don’t we all? Thanks to the awesome Belgian designer Greet Lefèvre from Belgian Pearls, a wonderful blog about design and lifestyle, I decided to venture into this unknown territory…. (Greet is from Belgium and has never allowed the fact of English not being her first language stop her from writing and sharing all the beauty that surrounds her, inside her home and out! Go visit her blog, http://www.belgianpearls.blogspot.com if you haven’t done it yet, you’ll be happy you did! Thank you Greet for being an inspiration.
While my youngest boys were finishing high school, I went back to school to study Interior Design, I had always loved decorating and everything related to design and art and frequently have helped family and friends with that. It came so natural to me, but I needed the title to feel I could have my passion become my business. Now it’s time to start… How to start? Where to start? – While I was in school, I received some generous comments about my work, telling me I was an artist! I didn’t know what to do with that, it was so good to hear, but so hard to believe…. I always wanted to paint but never did, I kept telling myself, I wasn’t an artist! It seems like I was expecting to be given permission to dare to try … What is art if not an honest expression of your soul? A higher and universal language of communication… Life’s too short to waste just wondering “What if…”. Thanks to the encouragement of people in my family, I finally started painting this summer while on a three month trip overseas! … Being in South America, looking at the Pacific Ocean every day, made me feel inspired, like I could accomplish many things, I guess I’ll have to press forward and keep trying … So, what is it going to be? Who am going to become? Let’s find out, shall we? Well, not you, just me 😉
Hopefully you’ll find me in this magic cyber world and decide to keep me company for a while, perhaps you are in the same situation or going through a big change or discovery of your own? … If you happen to stumble by, please say hi! Let me see if I can figure it out how to upload some pictures here. …. AND IT WORKED! (These are some flower arrangement I made) – Just learning how to work this WordPress thing!
Next time this will be about something more interesting. Today I just needed to vent…
CHÂTEAU DES RÊVES 