Sweet Dreams

Happy Friday! Any exciting plans for the weekend? I'm hoping for a little lazy time myself...

Suzanne Kasler

Simpleblueprint

via Bear Hill Interiors

I love how this room is modern and comfy at the same time...that green stripe, perfection!

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

Sweet dreams!

Art Work I'm Lovin'

I've seen some really cool and different art lately that I thought I would share with you. Do you have a favorite artist? 

Nat Nicklin

James Nares

Steve Mills

Steve Mills

The above 2 paintings look like photographs...guess what, they aren't...they are indeed oil paintings on aluminum. This guy is super talented!

Francois Marie Banier

Francois Marie Banier

I first read about Francois Marie Banier's work on the design blog, Sketch42, I follow. The above 2 paintings/photography are actual pictures Francois took then he paints over them. He has a fantastic website of all his work. Love!

1/16/2012

via Pinterest

"Your task is not to seek for love,

but merely to seek and find

all the barriers within yourself 

that you have built against it."

~Rumi

Room with a View

Happy Friday!!!

via Renee Finberg

Isn't this the most relaxing bathroom? Perfect place to unwind after the work week. Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Things I love

via Designsponge

I think this would make a fun and colorful painting.

I'm obsessed with Ashley Longshore's work. I highly recommend checking out her website. Her paintings are fun and lighthearted. Hopefully, I'll be in New Orleans soon and can check out her studio.

My 'hood via my new camera.

via Renee Finberg

What I wouldn't give to have my own art studio...

5-Day Work Week

I really think we need to have 4-day work weeks only...

via Pinterest

"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow."

~Orison Swett Marden

Heavenly View

I don't know what it is about January but I'm always craving blue water and white sand at this time of year...



via Freshome

At the rate I find awesome pix of the Maldives Islands I clearly need to go there pronto!!!

A No-Work Kinda Monday

B-day Trip in SF

"No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change."
~Barbara DeAngelis

New Year Word 2012

Well, I've been thinking about my New Year Word for a while now and believe I've found it. So without further ado...My New Year New Word for 2012

via Google Images

CREATE- (verb) to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes.

I like this word it's action packed and reminds me to move forward...I feel like 2011 may have been a semi-stuck in a rut year, don't get me wrong there was plenty of positives sprinkled with love, there are just some things I need to move forward on. I think my New Year word, create, will help me do just that.

Happy New Year!!!

via Pinterest

"The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins." 

~Bob Moawad

Room with a View

via Freshome Blog

It's winter and I'm loving all pictures with snow. We don't get snow in Austin, unless it's a freak thing, which has happened but rarely. I love the arrangement of this living space, with the main living area and then the cozy 2 chairs off by the windows. 

Page Road House located near Boston and designed by Andrew Cohen Architects.

Year-End Review

One of my favorite things to do at this time of year is evaluate my year (hence, the title, Year-End Review) and map out the next year of things I want to work on/accomplish. It's like re-energizing my life...love it!

Last year I decided to choose a word to live by, that word being love.

So, how did I fare? Hmmm, I've given this some thought and rather than say, I did a great job, or I flunked miserably, I've decided to list the things I did this year that I loved/enjoyed.

1. Silk Dance- this is something I'd been wanting to try and found a 6-week program to give it my all. I learned rather fast this wasn't a class I wanted to continue once done. I think one 3-hour class would have given me the info I needed. However, being true KJ, I jumped in cannon ball style, half-way to the bottom WTHaaaayyyyy am I doing? I chalked it up to adventure.

2. Boxing- wanting to work my core and strength, a friend invited me to try Pink Glove Boxing. I loved it, absolute blast and on the way home from work. Great stress reliever while waiting on traffic to die down. Highly recommend this class to the Ladies.

3. I decided to keep my blog. I was debating ending it completely, but found something I enjoyed in the design world and opted to share with my 3 readers:-) I steady post pictures of things I love. It's the most posts I've done in a year, UBER exciting!!!

4. I started painting with acrylics on canvas and even started a TINY ETSY site. I LOVE this more than anything in the WHOLE wide world. Now anything I see gives me a new idea of something I'd like to paint. Now patiently waiting on what I see to actually be on the canvas...never turns out quite like I expect, but I enjoy every single minute of it!

5. Last but not least, I got a dog this year, Bronco. This has been a huge life changer. He has temporarily taken me out my social life, but we'll slowly get back to that in 2012. 

Overall 2011 was a great year!!!

Bronco

Loves of the Week

Things I've loved this week...

via Here

I'm so excited about my new camera. My other one died a year ago, and it was one of the first digital cameras to the market...yay, for new gadgets.

My patient model.

Purple house in 'hood, love it!

Now off to figure out all the features to my nifty camera.

Happy Holiday Monday

via Pinterest

“What you do speaks so loudly that I can not hear what you say.” 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Merry Christmas

I swear it's the final post on the DIY Christmas. I won't torture you with the details but here's what I did for my dad. There were some rough moments and stressful texts to my sis debating if I should run out and buy him something, just in case. Without further ado:

Christmas Eve

Remember if Christmas is a disaster we're blaming my sis. Just setting the record straight. Ok, my mom's painting had a few starts, stops and do-overs. The beauty of painting on canvas you can just paint over your mistakes and begin again...it also, adds texture to your painting, win-win as far as I'm concerned. Alright, here ya go...

First pass, not diggin' the placement of the square, and the base has too much of a pink tone.

Deciding to start over.

Ok, liking this coloration better. Not saying you can tell a difference, my iPhone has a scratch on the lens so pix will never be clear, but then again do any of the 3 of you care that much??? Noooooo.

Wanting to add 1 more thing to the painting, this didn't make it.

And we're done! Thank goodness because I still have to do my dad's painting. Don't worry, I wrote this post on Monday the 19th:-) 

Room with a View

via Sketch42 Blog

What I wouldn't give to have floor to ceiling windows with a killer view. Coffee, wine always with a book curled up in a comfy chair. This room is heavenly to me!

All That Glitters

I'm not over my sparkle fetish. Sparkles make me smile!

via House of Turquoise

Let's see who can guess the win-win of the picture above:-)

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

via pvedesign

Monday

I just realized this is the last Monday I'll work for this year:-) This is great news!!!

via Scott Meacham Wood

"The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing."

~Michael E. Gerber

A DIY Christmas

Let's just say this might be the scariest Christmas my family has ever experienced, and they have no one to blame but my sister. I asked Jenny what she wanted this year, and she replied with, "I want you to paint me a Fleur de Lis." Uhhh, really??? I think battling the mall during holiday season on the last Saturday before Christmas is easier than granting her this wish. So, I've decided to show you how this went down. DISCLAIMER: I'm not a painter so keep that in mind when judging my art work:-)

Practicing with pencil on paper is a good idea.

Gold background on using a palette knife. 

This isn't centered and it kinda bugs, BUT I've let it go...

Hope she likes it...

Happy Friday

via Pinterest

"Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keep friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment."

~Greenville Kleisser