Give Up Chocolate?

OMG! I just heard a report that indicates that those who eat a lot of chocolate might be depressed, but they don't know if the chocolate causes the depression or if depressed people crave chocolate. This is terrible, terrible news. I can take making $60,000 a year less. I can deal with not having taken an fun vacation in over 4 years. Even the idea of cutting out pedicures. But give up chocolate? No way is that ever happening. Don't these scientists know that we women depend on chocolate to breathe?

Everyone seems so darn mad these days: White middle aged men are pissed about losing their jobs. Women are crushed that they have to give up their dream house because their husband lost his job. Kids are bitching about not having the latest electronic do-dad that costs 500 bucks or the latest digital camera.(I offered a used laptop to a young friend and before she would even consider it she wanted to know "what it looked like....") Holy Moses! I actually have three cameras in the garage that no one will take because they are out-of-date. Why the revolutionary Kindle might be obsolete now because of that newest device. The eco-friendly cars are killing people and they want to charge us for taking our purses onto the plane.I can't keep up.

Actually all I want is my chocolate! I am over optimum weight and I know it, but if the big one (I live in earthquake country right over a small fault known as the Rose Canyon Fault) hits I want to have a mouthful of chocolate to ease the horror. I've had cancer twice and for years worried frantically about what I ate. I got cancer anyway. I worried about taking artificial hormones and getting breast cancer, so I cold-turkey stopped hormones and suffered through a nutty menopause. I got the breast cancer anyway. So what is my lifestyle point?

Enjoy your day. Buy fresh flowers. Go out for coffee even though it is cheaper to make it at home. Smile and stay up as late as you want. Pet your dogs and let them sleep with you if you want to. Kiss your significant other with a long, wet smoldering kiss. Listen to the music that your kids think is corny. Life is unpredictable and we can't waste any more time. And buy some chocolate.

What Does Your House Need to Stay Organized?

So much of how we live depends on what stage we are in at the moment. For instance if you have three little kids under the age of 5 you live in a certain manner, accepting the fact that the house might be a little less picture perfect than you might like. If you are empty nesters perhaps everything stays in place and you only have to clean once every two weeks. Good for you! Young couples on the go live life mostly out of their nest - taking advantage of local coffee houses, clubs, social networking and bars - and basically just sleeping at home!
Lately I've been watching that program on TV about hoarders and while only the most excessive cases are revealed, the idea of keeping too much "stuff" kind of touches all of us in some way. Lots of people have corners where they stack up little used things. Maybe it is simply a cupboard in the kitchen where we keep stuffing plastic and paper bags. It could be a junk drawer where we cram restaurant menus, sticky notes, rubber bands and pens. We all have some secret mess that needs to be cleaned up.
Spring is the perfect time to get into gear and even if your mood is sluggish still from a long winter - or maybe you have the blues from the economic woes - these are the days when organizing can really make a difference. Your mood might be improved by simply attacking one of these disorganized areas. I unfortunately have several spots that need attention: Looking around my home office I can see three boxes that need emptying. In my bedroom I have a huge pile of clothes that needs to be sorted in order to give away to charity. The garage is a horror movie stacked up to the rafters with the contents of my office that I recently moved home. Frankly I haven't been in the mood to even walk out there except that I have to pass the disaster every time I go out there to do the laundry.
If your crisis area is something that you too have to face several times a day may I softly suggest that maybe you would feel better by addressing the need. A shallow bookshelf such at the one shown can hold a myriad of things if they are stuffed into baskets or canvass bags like the ones shown here. You could use almost any type of shelving that is at least 12" deep and the storage devices can be separately bought. Items from small toys to hobby supplies to photographs might be contained in a neat manner. Sometimes it helps just to have a container where you can organize a task on a temporary basis. Then while sitting and watching TV you might take the basket and slowly work on the task at hand.
Bill paying could even be organized in this way. Reading material or mail can be stuffed inside a compartment on a daily basis until you can get enough time to focus on the job to be done. The funny part is that once much time passes - a week or two -lots of the mail is no longer pertinent. Real hoarders have an illness that doesn't allow them to throw anything away and items that most of us consider as trash have a strange meaning to them. For healthy folks the secret to keeping your home livable IS to regularly rid yourself of obsolete items and trash. Especially if you have a tiny house, the idea of keeping the areas tidy and clean is critical. Small spaces do not allow you to clutter the area up with junk.

BABIES EVERYWHERE

All you have to do to verify that we are experiencing a big baby boom is to sit down at a mall and watch what passes you by. I've never seen such a wide variety of carriages, running strollers and other futuristic looking devices obviously created by clever industrial designers to provide parents with ergonomically positive transportation. It is amazing! Management at shopping centers have already figured out that if they offer whimsical push carts (in the form of mini fire engines or horses) that parents will want to linger with the kids. Wonderful fountains and jungle-gym play equipment also serve as a draw for house-bound parents anxious for an outing.

Once at home the variety of cradles and swings that slowly rock your little one to sleep to various environmental sounds is amazing as well. Baby products are more complex these days and appropriately expensive. Where we just rapidly rocked an infant new parents can set a dial and free themselves from having to hold the kid. Warming a bottle also requires a special device that shortens the process of heating up a mid-night meal. Pour water in the well and in about 1 minute the bottle is warm! Magnifique!

The rules for being a foster parent in my community allow for up to two children under the age of two to share a bedroom with an adult. Kids older than two need to have their own bedroom available. So this public policy makes a case for how new parents with tiny homes can make room for a new family member. A corner of mom and dad's bedroom might become baby's area if the room is large enough. You could screen it off or perhaps install the equivalent of a hospital cubicle curtain to divide the space. Even if a baby is across the hallway from mommy and daddy the cries are going to wake them up so sharing a room may not be so outlandish.

Even a home office could share space with the new nursery if necessary. Some color schemes are appropriately gender neutral and still fun enough for a baby. Try apple green, aqua and warm brown. Look at white, orange and sunflower yellow. Denim blue and red is another classic combo that will satisfy an adult usage and an infant's theme. There are no hard and fast rules against using blue for girls, but I don't think too many folks would put their little guy in a pink room. Other than that color there are hundreds of other color family options.

The bottom line is that babies come along and there is no "perfect" time to become a parent. You have to make babies when it is physically appropriate or more accurately stated: Women must abide by their biological time clock. Despite the lousy economy and uncertain future, we are smack in the middle of a wonderful birth explosion! No more wonderful event can ever take place in your life

Gone to the Dogs

There they are just exploding to get inside: Dundee, Kai and Siggy: Our extended four-legged family. The ones who teach us how to love unconditionally. Life changed in my house when we acquired these two large Labrador brothers about 4 1/2 years ago.(The small one belongs to our son and Dundee was just visiting when the photo was taken.) You wonder what dogs have to do with interior design? Quite a lot it turns out.

I used to be one anal housekeeper and totally fixated on keeping things looking in new condition. Any new piece of dirt caught my eye instantly and nothing was ever out of place for long. I love my "things" as most interior designer will admit. We are all possession junkies! Cannot resist a beautiful vase, a great woven basket or a piece of art. When I was young I didn't understand how or why my older designer friends would spend all their money on objects that they fell in love with...it seemed so unwise. But slowly the deep appreciation for the decorative arts got into my blood too and I began to keep some of the items that I supposedly bought for clients!

But then the boys came to live with us and all hell broke loose with regard to the condition of my house and yard. The baseboards are scraped and dirty, the walls are splattered with crud that comes out of their mouths when they shake, and the once off-white grout is a lovely chocolate brown now. (Well at least it matches Siggy's warm coat color.) Now we are into full blown shedding season so the vacuum cleaner just stays out all the time. I've given up! I literally have two huge black crates right in the dining room because it is one of the largest rooms in the house. My adult son felt the need to point that out to me recently. "Do you realize that you have dog crates in the dining room?" he passionately pointed out. Yup! I sure do.

What my good-looking boys have taught me is that while my environment is important to me and I still absolutely enjoy the visual treats all over my home, I value the warmth brought into our home by these nutty labs much more than I can imagine. I am willing to ignore the hair, the goop, the constant cleaning and the barking all because they just love us. Our yard is an entirely different issue: Nothing is left of my gorgeous garden or lawn. It is hideous looking at the moment.

Which makes me think of young families with little kids. You've just got to decorate in a kid-friendly way. Choose fabrics with texture and pattern so that you are not overly worried about spills. Check out some of the newer Green textiles that can be literally scrubbed. Select softer lines: A round coffee table vs. a sharp glass-top version. Avoid breakable accessories or put the delicate treasures up high or behind a locked glass door for safety. Favor flooring that will conceal dirt and traffic patterns. Bend. Flex. Be reasonable. Your little ones won't be tiny forever and there is plenty of time for a whole new look later on. There are safety issues to be sensitive to such as avoiding cords for window treatments or heavy lamps that might be pulled over onto a toddler.

But in the end your home already has the most gorgeous element possible: A precious young life! Relax and enjoy this time as a family. Life in the colored pages of decorating magazines is not real. We stage rooms for photography so remember as you lust after some specific "look" that it has been prepped for the camera. Real life is more sloppy for most people. Somewhere between being one of those embarrassed TV hoarders and a neat-freak you will find domestic happiness. May you eventually achieve your easy and balanced pace!

Picking Olives

I was appropriately born in olive oil country - Burbank, California. The sleepy little San Fernando Valley town sits in a fertile area where ocean breezes occasionally meet with near-desert climate. The civilized region began as a couple of large ranchos where for 6,000 years before Indians continously lived. In September of 1797 San Fernando mission was founded on the site of one of these prominent ranches and joined the other 21 missions established by the Franciscan order in California. It wasn't long before San Fernando became especially rich in crops, cattle, sheep, groves of citrus and olive trees. It was the Spanish missionaries who first brought olive tree cuttings from San Blas, Mexico to San Diego in 1769 and hand carried cuttings up the state. So began the long history of olive oil production in California, the ingredient that Homer called "liquid gold".

Long after the mission era ended Italian Americans continued the production of olive oil in the San Fernando area. The hospitable climate of Southern California, so like Italy, drew many Italian immigrants to the area. My own grandparents made their way from New York harbor across the country to settle in a place so like their old home. My great uncle maintained a plot of land just over the Hollywood hills from his home in Los Angeles where he grew his own vegetables and citrus crops. It was obvious that the valley produced better results. Not only famous for being hospitable to farmers, the area drew those seeking better health. People emigrated from the east coast to soak up the reliable warmth of a sun that appeared most of the year in Southern California towns like Santa Barbara, San Fernando, Burbank, Riverside, Rancho Cucomonga, Murietta, Palm Springs and Warner Hot Springs. It was the frightening era of tuberculosis and the cure involved warm weather.

In the 1880s Mother Frances X.Cabrini-the woman who worked among the Italian American community cultivating orphanages, schools and hospitals in the United States - came to California to work among the poor. She ultimately founded an order of nuns who built a facility known as a Preventatorium high in the Verdugo Hills above present day Burbank. Here young women could live and ultimately study in the clean and healthful air of the southland without danger of catching tuberculosis. The health facility eventually became Villa Cabrini Academy on land that crept up a hillside. High above the valley floor a small chapel was erected that was said to protect the community against raging fires common in parched Southern California, and where prayer was offered for the success of the crops planted below. Young girls attended the Academy founded in 1906 as late as the 1970s and used to pick the olive in their slips so as not to soil their uniforms!

Burbank and me and olives go way back. Thinking about those days in Burbank makes me consider having a garden again and raising some of what my family needs to eat myself. I haven't done this for years partly due to being so busy with working outside of my home. The daily race home - sometimes not until 7:00 PM - often meant throwing together some sort of meal based on speed, not freshness of ingredients or visual appeal. But this tradition of raising vegetables is deeply rooted in my mother's peasant family history. These people came from a hilly, infertile part of the South in Calabria. They forced the land to yield wheat, citrus, tomatoes, artichokes, onions, broccoli, zuccini and eggplant. We grew up eating fabulous vegetables cooked in deliciously simple ways.

I smile to imagine the girls in their slips! Having attended Catholic school I totally get the experience. There's not much difference between that scene and me going out into the yard in my nightgown to pick flowers or pull a weed. I love the early morning in the yard especially now that it is spring again. One good way to enjoy the enforced free time that I now have might just be to create a vegetable garden again. There is no greater pleasure than to watch things we nurture grow and flourish. Remember the Victory gardens of WWII? Well maybe Mrs. Obama is on to a wonderful idea with her White House kitchen garden. Perhaps this is a way to fight back during these grim times. Maybe she has inspired me to find a way around my big labrador retrievers to pick a spot in the yard for a vegetable garden. A good thing for this lovely spring day!

New Beginnings This Spring!

I'm looking at rain drops hugging the window screen while several brand new tulips peek up above the sill. As I think about the promise of spring, still so much is fractured around us which doesn't seem quite right in this potentially cleansing time of year. It is quite aggravating that tax time coincides with one of the most lovely of seasons, don't you think? Plus it always seems that several insurances are also due right at this time of year. Then if you are self-employed you cannot ever forget the estimated taxes that seem to add insult to injury and that demand another good-sized check to write.

It can be easy to get stressed as we impatiently wait for better weather to become typical. Today in Seattle there is a blustering storm that usually calls in October or November, not in this supposedly bright and sunny month. It can easily be just as frustrating to look around your home and see all sorts of improvements that are needed and not have any funds with which to make changes. I'm going to give you one of the first lessons that I ever learned about design and it remains a marvelous tip: No one will notice what is in your room if you have it clean and filled with some fresh flowers! I might add that if you are entertaining after dark add in the romantic light of candles or soft twinkle lights and you cannot miss.

I need to have my entry and dining room painted in the worst way at home. So I do understand what it is like to function in a room or a house that looks a bit dingy. However, there is genuine uplifting benefit to cleaning and it only takes elbow grease and energy. Adding in flowers is extremely affordable. I suggest that you avoid those pre-made bouquets at the market because the combinations are not always the most attractive. You are better off to purchase a bunch of one type of blossom. For instance I just picked up a bundle of yellow tulips for the dining table tomorrow evening and spent just under $6.00 at a local Trader Joe's. Flowers can be bought at street corner floral stands, floral shops, drug stores, grocery stores and at home improvement stores so there are no excuses!

Always undo the bundle and cut off about 1" of the stem. This allows the cellular structure of the stem to operate again and begin to soak up fresh water. Strip off unnecessary greens on the stem part that will stay in the water and avoid slim accumulating in the water as days pass. Some blossoms last longer than others if you wish to extend the visual treat. Gerber daisies are long lasting as are other types of daisies. Carnations tend to last well as do some rose varieties. My all time favorite aroma comes from the delicate Fresia that sadly doesn't seem to stay for very long. You can also get long life from a blooming plant such as an azalea, gardenia or mums.
The classic Easter lilies that you buy in the grocery store might already be in bloom by the time it reaches the retail market and therefore have a relatively short life left.

Whatever you favor, remember that a room can indeed be brightened simply by one of nature's most generous gifts to us: Fresh flowers!