The gypsy days of December

Hi y'all! Hope you're all doing great wherever you are. Did you have a lovely Christmas? I sure do hope so. We ended up driving to South FL where we spent the entire Christmas week with mom, dad and sister Lissette and her family. Making memories, savoring precious hours, great food and long lovely walks 'round lovely neighborhoods... memories, that I will forever treasure in the deepest and fondest hiding places of my heart. 

It was a super warm and super humid Christmas even for South FL. The hottest Christmas in 30 years, they say, with the loveliest of full moon adorning the southern skies since 1977... real awesomeness, me thinks. 

Here at home, it's been raining non-stop for the last two weeks. Everything is green and wet and wonderfully mossy outside... inside, we've surrendered ourselves to our gypsy side...

You see, a very dear and lovely 'fairy' is spending a few days with us

at our little white cottage...

...and thus, my usually airy and contemporary guest room is now a gypsy caravan moving at the slow pace of time... the crunch of rocks under the wooden wheels as we travel along busy cities, the rhythmic motion rocking colorful porch lanterns which throw glittering rainbows as they catch the rays of the sun on our way through country roads and swaths of rich tapestries and velvets, and the sweet tinkling of coin belts...

Sometimes all you need is a splash of color to brighten your life...  I love white, and I need white sometimes.  But my love for white can never be surpassed by the power of color.  How can people live all their life under the blank slate of just white white white everywhere they turn, it's something that escapes my imagination.... it surely is a trend that speaks of a sad life to me.    

We love the cute coral gypsy skirt!

and fairy lights...

A flowery chandelier...

Our 'Gypsy Fairy' created for herself a very lovely and comfortable reading nook where she spends precious hours reading her favorite novels....  so pretty!

She also came up with the idea of creating a mood board the size of an entire wall that we did using scraps of colorful gypsy fabrics and old photographs and mementos.  

Some of the arts there comes from her own writings, straight from the heart.... isn't this just awesome?  

A colorful bohemian room where to play, read and also pray for those affected by the floods.  

May the Lord embraces us in His light

and may our little world rest in His wonderful peace.

And to the friends and readers
of the little white cottage...
a magical and blessed 2016!

Happy New Year!

Those December days...

The cold days of December are for sipping honey vanilla chamomile tea in pretty teacups...

They are for cups of hazelnut lattes warming up your hands while you stroll the early morning gardens...  

For fleece pajamas and comfy beds 

Oh yes.... and for thick warm socks too! 

only I'm not such a fan of socks....  I know ;)

Cold December days are for little lights diluting shadows...

Until daylight comes around knocking on your door... 

...inviting you to start off your day feeling calm, refreshed, and joyful.  You’re more likely to sustain that positive vibe as the day goes on if you do... 

December days are also for cottontail rabbits and the eerie cries coming from the woods when you're outside pulling weeds.

The first time I heard these strange sounds I thoughts I was imagining them....
Cries that sound like a human baby in pain can make anyone's hair stand on end

but then I learned that it was just the rabbits...

Since the woods are both, habitats to the cottontail as well as the wild cats, one can only imagine what goes in there.  The human-like screaming noises I hear coming from the woods must probably are related to the stress and pain caused by felines... can you imagine?  It is very sad, and creepy... Any how, where was I?  Oh yes yes, December days... they are for hearty soups on chilly evenings...

And for giving and receiving...

The other day I was nicely surprised with a box filled with all sorts of goodies

from my friend Bonnie...

I was a happy little girl taking things out of the box...

That was so nice and thoughtful of her...

Thank you dear Bonnie!

I wanted to wallpaper one of the walls in our guest bathroom using fabric the other day...

But I wasn't happy with how it looked, so I took it down and tried something else...
Although I like this fabric much better I still couldn't make up my mind

and at the end left the emptied white wall as was...  

What do you think.... which is your favorite?

I hope you're feeling all holiday happy my friends... I know I am. We were planning on heading down to FL again for Christmas, but decided to just relax and take it easy here at home...  so now that we're staying, how about you come for a cup of tea, or coffee one of these days? We can even share some pie... ;)

Do have a Merry Christmas!

and remember:

Be blessed!

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Dear diary...

I've been bringing in a mixture of things under my feet...  a bird's feathers, remnants of wet leaves, a tiny pebble, a nougat of soil...  It is no use... I cannot help it.  Rain, soggy soil outside, yet I find myself craving the outside.  Nothing can keep me away from the garden and the sacred light which shrouds it...

I'm thinking I need to do something like this real soon... I really do.        

Source: Pinterest

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After this morning's sudden downpour, cloudless blue skies.  And the trees surrounding our little white cottage are the silent sentinels of midday.  They are the visible guardians and the fortress protecting our humble dwellings.  

Surrounded we are, too, by invisible hosts of invisible worlds night and day.  

In the shadow of His wings there is rest, sweet rest.      

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This morning I went outside in a search for wonder.  Discovering little gift... flowers of the winter garden. 

  

Anybody knows what this plant here might be?

This is one of the cuttings that our neighbor Jane gave me when we moved here two years ago.  It has taken all these time to finally grow and now something is blooming out of it, but I have no idea what it could be...

             

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The waters running through the woods have left behind some very defined paths and furrows that have changed the anatomy of the woods...

The waters took with it an angel's wing...  the woods look magical under the bright green light of day.

The little creek has been running all winter long with all the rain we have had.   I cross the bridge that lead to the woods and my mind is racing in a thousand stories.   For a moment, I am the Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz lost in a world outside my own...  The little creek is a river.  Shall we cross it?  It is so peaceful on the other side...  

Then I wake up.  I find myself still standing on the same old bridge, I turn around and look at the woods behind me, look down at the creek, then down at the bridge again only to notice my ruby slippers shinning above the waters.  This is when I realize now am Judy Garland and the little bridge is the musical stage where I'm performing... looking absolutely stunning in a floor length ruby red sequined gown, complete with matching ruby slippers....  I hear myself singing.... 

           

"The sun is shinin', come on get happy, the Lord is waitin' to take your hand, shout Hallelujah, come on get happy we're headin' across the river, It's all so peaceful on the other side...."

OK ok... if that's too much I'll stop right here! ;)

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I decided to name my cat "Winter" because not only I've finally managed to bring him closer this winter, but most obviously for his lovely winter white fur... 

So Winter it is

I'm so in love   

Our little town is premiering its first Goodwill ever.  I visited it yesterday.  One of the songs playing in the store was this one here.  I searched for the lyrics this morning and thought it so appropriate for the season.... 

It's almost Christmas

Everyone is wishing

for everything they always wanted

And a beautiful, shiny winter wonderland

It's too easy to get tempted

Cinnamon cider, sparkling diamonds

Presents too big for the tree

So much shopping, there's no time left

For my friends and my family

Maybe we worry too much about wishing

And not enough about giving

'Cause some people have nothing at all

Giving is priceless

Random acts of kindness

Remember the homeless

'Cause this is Christmas

Give hope to the hopeless

Love to the loveless

Remind us to be selfless

'Cause this is Christmas

So let just spend some time together

And be grateful that we're safe and warm

That our house is filled with songs and laughter

We gather by the fire making s'mores

It's caring and sharing

All of the good things

Not taking anything for granted

That we have

Giving is priceless

Random acts of kindness

Remember the homeless

'Cause this is Christmas

Give hope to the hopeless

Love to the loveless

Remind us to be selfless

'Cause this is Christmas

Songwriters

GAD, TOBY / CAILLAT, COLBIE

Loving coral

As some of you may already know, I love black-white and gold together, with some gray thrown in for extra glamour in my decor.  I have incorporated this trend practically throughout our entire home. But if you notice down the hall going onto our bedroom, you'll  see a pop of color there...

I wanted to pair my favorite color combo with some salmon/coral hues.
Particularly in our bedroom. 

They’ve always been my favorite colors, but I never wanted to use pink tones in decorating before out of fear of it looking too girly. But I love them so much, I’ve decided now that I don’t care  ;) 

So I filled our bedroom with filtered hues and soft shades of coral by incorporating them in the details...  

 I also changed the upholstery on the headboard to a coral pattern.  

Pretty uh?

  

Well, at least it was for a few weeks anyway... 

'cause I went back to the black/white headboard combo really fast ;)

Brought in subtle, shimmering gold as accent pieces for a flash of excitement

Here's an old book covered in gold wrapping paper

and a thrift store vase I spray-painted in old gold...

The cute little owl table lamps are new.  

I'd had preferred some larger table lamps in our room, but for now I'm loving the whimsical charm these little white owls bring to the atmosphere of the winter room.  They speak to my heart of the solitary, vine teeming woods and they made me want to go outside during the dark hours of night and listen... listen to the whispers of darkness in the hope of grasping a fleeting glimpse of magic.

The cut-glass lamps I had originally in our bedroom are now sitting in our living room.  I've been working on some updating there too, and can hardly wait to show what I've done.  But for now, back to the bedroom... ;)

I've been hunting our local thrift stores for some antique/vintage style mirrors, particularly anything with pretty asymmetrical or ornate form, which I love, and have add some real cute ones to my wall of gilded mirrors.  Like this cute little one here, for only .25.  

This is how my mirrored wall started...

just a few mirrors as you can see...

And this is now...

The French Provençal-Style little chest was part of the guest room furnishing.  I painted it in white after I bought it many years ago, but as you can see, things are always evolving around here... ;)

I used Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2X, in coral on the chest.  A lovely color I will certainly use again.  And that's it for now....  hope you like! ;)

See you soon everyone!

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