Seeing Red, and cheetah...

My lovely daughter has decided to "update" the look of her bedroom.  I would have been satisfied with cleaning it, but what's a mom to do?  I totally see a version of my messier self when I walk in there... and I hope she doesn't also inherit my OCD tendencies when she's older.

My six-year old son bought me cleaning sponges for Christmas because, "mommy likes to clean!"  Yes...it's true... I do love the smell of a clean house.

But I digress!  My daughter has decided to update her room.  She will be ten years old in February.  What happened to the powder puff pink walls and fluffy bedding?  When did it give way to bright vibrant colors and clothes all over?  When did the books beside her bed change from princesses and fairy tales to adventures and mysteries.  For goodness sake, the child read Jane Eyre this past summer!  Where did my  little princess go?

But I digress again.  Sorry.  You'll get used to it.  I promise!


Back to the upgrade.  I will post pictures soon.  I promise!  After all, that's what we visit for, isn't it?  The pictures:  the tiny glimpses into another life, another world, another designing adventure...

I will show you the before state of her room:  Green walls, white furniture, purple curtains, a very vibrant patchwork quilt lovingly hand pieced and quilted by my husband's late grandmother.  It is a beautiful quilt... but it's time to move on and grow up a little bit.

I will show you the after effects of our make over: Tan walls, black furniture, red curtains, chocolate brown bedding, and animal prints!  She loves animal prints!  No one could be more shocked than I, but that's another blog entry.

She got a zebra print pillow for Christmas and boy has she been excited!  We went thrifting last week and found a cheetah print throw, a cheetah print pillow, and a cheetah print mini lamp with red beaded shade - it will be the perfect night light.

I will show it all, as soon as we're ready for the reveal. Wait for it....

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the process, enjoy the project, enjoy the shopping trips with my daughter, and try not to mourn the passing of one very little girl into one very beautiful young lady.

Designed for Life: A place to begin...

I frequently ask myself, "where to begin?"  The question applies to laundry, house keeping, work inside the home, work outside the home, freelancing, volunteering, child-rearing, marriage mentoring, the list is never-ending.

So, I've decided to blog.  I've been so indelibly inspired by so many of you bloggers, that I have decided to join the blogging ranks.  And so, the question is, "where to begin?"  (See, it applies to blogging, as well.)

Do I begin with a history?
Do I begin with pictures of my home?
Do I begin with a story?

I'm not sure...Maybe I'll begin with all of the above.  Maybe when you've read this post, you'll understand the name of this blog, and decide that my story is not so different from your own, and you will follow along. Maybe we'll exchange email.  Maybe we'll share ideas.  Maybe we'll never meet this side of heaven. But somewhere, in blog land, we will know and be known to one another as friends because we share a passion for design and for being designed.

And so we begin...

Psalm 139:16 says, "...all the days ordained for me were written in his book before one of them came to be."  Wow!  All the days of my life, were written for me, before I ever came to be.  What a joy and comfort I find in that.  No matter what has happened, no matter what is taking place, no matter what the future holds, my story is already written in my Father's book, and he knows every word, because he is the author, and finisher...

My well-designed life looks something like this:  I am the wife of a wonderful man.  He is absolutely God's gift to me, and I am glad he was written into my story.  We married nearly 20 years ago, and this past anniversary, we celebrated half our lives as husband and wife! I am blessed by him every day that I live.

We have to precious children.  Our oldest is nearly ten, and our youngest just turned six.  We also have a precious little one resting at the feet of Jesus.  There is no better baby-sitter that I could ask for.  I am proud that they are part of our story.

Like many of you, I am a full-time wife and full-time mother.  I work full-time inside the home and part time outside the home.  I am blessed to have this life:  I can be at home when my kiddos are home, and be busy at work, when my kiddos are at school.  It is a blessing I do not take for granted.

As for this blog, I don't have any pictures to post yet.  I'll start working on that soon.  But for now, I think I'll decide what to blog about next...  Let's see now..."where to begin?"