I’ve gotten many requests to share the coveted recipe for Blood Orange Cosmos. My dear friend Bart Miller graciously said that I could share it with you! I warn you though, do not drink and drive after indulging in this delicious concoction……
As 2016 comes to a close, I would have to say it has had its ups and downs but all in all its been a good year and I am grateful for that. I am looking forward to Christmas with my husband and daughter. Then I’m flying back to CT for a few days and then on to Florida to visit with my parents and sisters. I am blessed to have both of my parents healthy and energetic and I…
When I think back to the Christmas of my youth, I marvel at how my parents pulled off a miracle every Christmas Eve. When my sisters and I awoke at a ridiculously early hour on Christmas morning, we would run into my parents room and wake them up so that we could not only open presents, but see the tree for the first time. My dad would go in first and set up the movie camera and the bright light…
I loved autumn when I lived in New England…the crisp air, colorful leaves swirling about, hot mulled cider, and the scent and sounds of a crackling fire in the hearth. What I never really enjoyed was fall decorating (or the winter months that followed). Even in Connecticut, I was not a fan of the reds, oranges, and russet tones that spelled out FALL. And don’t even get me started on Halloween decorations! I guess you could say I’m a bit…
I almost didn’t post this piece today. It seems that every time I turn on the news, another horrific attack has happened and everything else seems trivial in comparison. But I think in my own way, by creating beautiful, comfortable places to call home, it makes me feel safer. Our homes are our sanctuaries away from all the atrocities happening in the world. And isn’t it nice to have an oasis if even for a little while? So here is…
I’m a bit of a pillow hoarder. There, I’ve admitted it. Does it mean I’m going to change my hoarding ways? Not anytime soon! I’ve had this problem for quite sometime and it became even worse once I discovered Etsy. I have pillows and their assorted covers in every closet in our smallish home. They make it so easy to change your decor in a snap! One day about a year ago I was scrolling through Instagram and I came…
When my hubby and I moved to Santa Barbara and bought a house six years ago, we knew we wanted to embrace the California outdoor lifestyle. This meant adding things like a hot tub, an outdoor shower, and a place to gather…a fire pit. While my husband has incredible faith in my ability to design gardens (as I did in Connecticut), I knew that with irrigation, electric, gas lines, and poured concrete hardscaping, I was in way over my head!…
For those of you who follow me, you know I moved to California from a traditional home in New England… a 1917 stone and stucco Connecticut cottage to be exact. I grew up in older homes with lots of character and even lived in a historic brownstone building in NYC when I was first married. “Modern” just wasn’t part of my vocabulary. When we decided to buy a house in Santa Barbara, I was at first drawn to the older Spanish homes that…
As a kid, I didn’t like blueberries. Come to think of it, I didn’t like much of anything when it came to food! But every summer my mom would pick fresh blueberries from our bushes and make something called a blueberry cougan. I have no idea where that name came from, but it’s what we always called it. Just the smell emanating from the kitchen while it was baking was enough to let me know that this would be something…