Be Our Guest

I am busy today getting ready for my sister and her family.  They are coming to escape from winter spend a few days with us in Texas.  They are driving all the way from Minnesota with 2 little ones ~ sound like fun?

Our home has 4 bedrooms, and 2 of them are on the main floor.  At first we thought of using this room for our work out space as the previous owners did.  

This is a picture of the room before, taken after we bought the house, but while the other people still lived here.  The same wall and trim color that was in every single room.

                              Come on in to our guest room.


This is the room at the end of the long hall.  I've posted pictures of the library and guest bath that are along this hall.

 {The reverse of this sign says Room Service.  That doesn't happen much in my house!}

 This is the sampler that hangs just in front of you as you open the door.  I made this in 1988 when we built the house that looks just like the one in the sampler.  This house was in Springfield, Missouri and we sold it in 1989.  In 1990 it was flattened by a tornado.  Not a stick was left.  No one died, thank goodness in our house, but a man was killed in the neighborhood.  It was a terrible storm and I was always thankful that we didn't live there anymore.  I loved that house though.  We had a female builder and she had great attention to detail.


This sampler hung in the entry of that house, and I love the blessing on it.

 Here is the room ~ same butter yellow as most of my house.


The teddy bear on the chair is mink, made from my aunt's mink stole I believe.  Almost all of the accessories in this room are family pieces.

I framed the pictures of the brides in our family for my daughters' weddings.  They were married 51 weeks apart.  The prayer book is the one I carried in my wedding, with the ribbons still in it.  They are a little yellow after almost 34 years.

 The bedding on the bed I've had forever.  It was in our room when this was our bed.  I did have the plaid pillows, bedskirt, and tablecloth made when we moved into this house.

 Bedside necessities.  There is chocolate in that box with the violets on it!  I guess my clock needs replacing ~ this one is a CD player, but I guess I need one with an IPod dock for my guests these days.

 The other side, with the pocket door open to the guest bath.  On either side of the bed are samplers I made for my girls when they were born.  I used to do a lot of cross stitch and had it all over my house.  Now all that remains is located in this room.  I still love it and it goes well in here.

 No room for a dresser in here, but my little secretary fits nicely.  

 It holds all of my Brambly Hedge dishes.  Love these cute little plates and cups.  I did a tablescape here with them.

 The closet wall holds some needlework that my mother did, on the right, and some old pieces from my family on the right.

Sorry for the crooked picture, but I wanted to show a close up of one of these that my mother did.  Both pictures are of 2 girls, blond, sharing a book.  These could be my girls!  My mother stitched them when they were about this age, and their very favorite thing to do has always been reading.  One of my girls always wore pink and the other lavender, so these really are so sweet.  Love these, and I am so glad that they go so well in here.

It is a gloomy day in Texas and cold, so the lighting in these pictures is terrible, but I wanted to join in some parties this week.


 I am linking to:


Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow us Wednesdays
Sherry at No Minimalist Here for her Open House party
Robin at All Things Heart and Home for All Things Inspired party

Wine Country

I haven't even done my last post of our Disney trip, and I am sharing our latest mini vacation!  I thought I had better do this trip while it was still fresh in my mind.  It's absolutely amazing to me how little I remember any more!


   We were invited to go to Napa Valley to meet some good "old" friends.  We have known Kathy and Mark since high school, and that was a looong time ago!!

I always love getting to the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge.  {a little scaredy cat about big bridges}  We stopped so I could get a picture, but I wasn't able to get the angle I wanted, but there it is!

Gateway to Napa!

 We stopped at our very 1st vineyard ~ never heard of it, but it was quite large and had a lovely gift shop.  We were able to buy some food and sit out on the terrace and enjoy a bottle of wine and the view!  Our friends are from Minnesota, and so they were really enjoying the 60 -70 degree weather.  We were a little chilly:-)

We stayed in Napa at a new to us place.  Of course, not a single picture.  But in all honesty we weren't there much.  We got up and got ready in the morning and headed into Yountville to have breakfast every morning.  It was a great way to start the day.  


Our first full day we headed to Sonoma and toured some wineries there.  These were 2 of them, they happen to be side by side.

We are members at Arrowood, which just means they send us wine about 4 times a year, and at the winery we got free tastings!  We have been to Napa a couple of time, and those tastings just keep going up.  We always share a tasting. {Bob and I} No one needs that much in one day anyway!

Arrowood

I just love the view, and the fact that the tasting room just looks like a comfortable family home.

This fire was welcome ~ kind of a dreary start to our day.  I also loved the "stuff" on the mantel.  Simple and pretty.

Hmmm, which way next???

                                             Oh ~ that way!

At the end of the day we ended up in a town ~ I think Healdsburg ~ and we did a barrel tasting.  That was new fun!  They just stick the pipette into the barrel and give you a little sample.

The next day was bright and sunny and I just loved this little spot out in front of one room.

On our second day we headed up to the Alexander Valley to find a vineyard that Mark remembered from a previous trip.  We found it, but it had changed names and was closed, and as we headed back to the main road we saw a sign that said Robert Young and pointed down another little country lane.

Well, you can tell we are children of the fifties, because we all said "Father Knows Best!"

Wondered if Jim Anderson was making wine in his golden years!  {and yes I do realize he would be about 150 years old by now!}

Well, look at that house!  Doesn't that look like a house the Andersons could live in??

                          Talk about a beautiful property!


The house is the family home and the property started out with plum trees.  At some point they made the switch to grapes and added this cave to store the barrels.  Wouldn't you just love to sit in this little courtyard any time you wanted?

We were the only people at the tasting room and the gentleman manning it that day spent a lot of time telling us about the ins and outs of farming and tending the vines.  It was very interesting, and they made a really good chardonnay too.  {and I don't even drink chardonnay!}

Another beautiful property.

I took this picture for my sister ~ she wants a rooster for her garden.  Sorry I couldn't fit it in my suitcase Amy!

Look at the view.

We had lunch here ... I guess some show about dives and diners {?} did a piece on them and it will air in the summer.  I had a ham and brie sandwich ~ yummy.

                            We ate amidst the antiques!

I just took this picture to show they grow something besides grapes in Napa Valley.

Our last stop was fun too ~ this was an appointment only place, and the owner himself took us on a little tour.

I just loved the name.

He had a little grove of redwoods that just needed a little cottage to make it perfect.  You know, for Hansel and Gretel or the 3 bears.

Can you imagine looking at this every morning when you wake up?

Lastly he took us into the cave for a tasting ~ that was fun!

Well, if you made if through all of those pictures I think you deserve a glass of wine.  We brought back a bottle or 2 and I wish you could all stop by for a taste!

Happy Spring!!

I am just popping in to say Welcome to Spring!  We have had a very nice winter, but I know that is not the case for most of the country.  But, even so, I am still ready for spring and some GREEN.  Texas is very brown in the winter.

I thought I would take a few pictures around the yard today to show what's popping up at my house.  My knock out roses are starting to bloom!

 Love the color on these, and I am so glad that we added all of this landscaping to the back yard.

 And a shot of the pond.  If you look hard on the left there is a hint of blue ~ bluebonnets.  If I had the time I'd run down there and get a shot, but not today.

We are back from our fourth trip of the New Year, and getting back in the groove.  I don't know why it takes me so long to regain my stride after a trip!  But no matter how long I'm gone, it takes a good 3 or 4 days to do just that!  {I think it might be age!}


Thank you to all of the wonderful people who stop by and visit here and HAPPY SPRING!!   

To God Be The Glory

That's all I could think when I put these branches in a vase in front of the windows. 

 To God be the glory.

Spring has sprung in Texas.

I just had to share the trimmings from my Bradford Pear Trees.  I gathered up the branches and stuck them in a large vase that I never use.  They look beautiful.

 { It's times like this when I need a camera that takes good pictures.  Of course it would help to edit out the Thomas the Tank beach towel that is on the chair outside.  I hate for you northerners to know that the grands have been in the hot tub swimming.}

These beautiful branches are a gift from God to remind us that he makes all things new.  Every spring...

What a beautiful reminder to me as I begin to observe a holy Lenten season.

He will make me new too.

Progress in the Guest Bath

I've slowly been going through my house, introducing you to the various rooms, and changes we have made.  Next room to show is our guest bathroom, powder room and pool bath.  This room is a few steps from the door to the pool, so guests and grandchildren use this bath when swimming, and it has a pocket door to the guest room so it is convenient for guests too.  It is the only bathroom on the main floor, except for ours, so it serves everyone else too.

The bathroom had this wallpaper when we bought this house.  {previous owners "stuff"}

We had the paper stripped before we moved in,  and then painted the walls a soft green and the woodwork white.  We kept the tile floor and counter.

Not a drastic change, but it is a little simpler and I like that.

Froggy soap for the grands, soon to be replaced with a bunny on a cute leaf dish for Easter.

A few necessities for our guests.  I keep the rest in the linen closet that is next to the shower.  I would like a different basket to keep the washcloths and soap in  ~ I'm looking.


I just hung that little black basket on the wall and discovered that they didn't center the toilet on the wall.  That kind of thing drives me crazy, but there isn't much I can do about it.  

So there it is, simple but functional. 

I am linking to:

 Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday.

Heather and Vanessa at The Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday.

Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow us Wednesdays.