Thanks Kristin!!!

Thanks to my sweet friend Kristin for the blog "shout out" yesterday!!! Kristin is an amazing writer, artist and friend. She is about a week away from giving birth to her second child and she is knitting a sweater and trying to finish up Christmas cards!!! Oh that girl!!!! And on top of all of it, she is still blogging!!! Please visit her blog and be prepared to be amazed and jealous!!! The girl is talented!!!!

Coastal Christmas

I lived on the white sandy beached of Destin Florida for about 3 years. It is one of the most beautiful and amazing beaches you will ever visit. My husband and I got engaged on one of those beaches in fact. Destin will always have a special place in my heart.


While in Destin, I had my first job as an interior designer. Working in that environment had a huge impact on my style and inspired me so much in my design career. Even when we lived in Minnesota, I tried to inject a little bit of Destin into my designs. Whether it was a paint color that looked like the ocean, or a fabric that had a texture that reminded me of sand, I tried to incorporate some element of the beach into the rooms I designed.

I remember when I first started to learn about coastal design and how shocked I was. It wasn't about fake shells and bright crazy printed fabric. It wasn't about dolphin paintings and beach chairs in the living room. Coastal design is about casual living, relaxed textures, soothing colors, shell accents and bringing the outdoors in. The coastal lifestyle is so laid back and relaxed and I believe that is what coastal design is intended to be as well. Soft greens and blues and browns, comfy furniture, laid back living.

You can imagine my delight when I came across these pictures from Coastal Living magazine. It shows how coastal design can be incorporated into your holiday decor!! And you don't have to live at the beach to make this work!! Why can't we feel like we are on the beach ALL the time??!! Sounds perfect to me!!!

Give Away Winners!!!

What an exciting week here on the old blog!!! So many great give aways!! Thanks to Gussy someone is going to get a $30 credit for her etsy shop. And the winner is...(insert drum roll please)

Kristin Faletic!!!

Woohoo!!! Kristin writes an amazing blog about her life, her little girl, her husband and all the adventures they go on. Kristin also writes about the projects so has and the incredible meals she makes. It will pretty much make you feel awful about yourself!! (Just kidding!!) She is insanely talented and a great great person!!!!

The winner of my give away (hour of design service) over on Gussy's blog has been announced. So be sure to stop over there to see if you won!!!

I really enjoyed giving away something!!! So, please keep checking back with me because I think I just may need to do that again!!!

Well blog friends, have a super duper Saturday!!! I am off to do today's p90x workout (yuck) and then off to a birthday party (yeah!). Speaking of which, next weekend is the hubby's birthday!!! I better get busy on his gifts huh???!!!! YIKES!! Oh dear, too much coffee, now I am rambling!!!! Have a good one!!!

Give Aways and New Services!!! WHOA!!!!

Oh....the weather outside is very frightful today!! It is down right cold out there!!!

I hope you all stay warm and toasty today!

Doesn't this look delish??!! I would love to have a hot chocolate about now. (Note to self: put hot chocolate on grocery list for this week!!)

Any who, as I sit here drooling over this cup of hot chocolate (stay focused) I wanted to remind all you loyal readers about the TWO awesome give aways going on right now!!!!

First, Gussy is giving away 1 hour of design service from yours truly!! That's right people, a whole of hour of chatting or e-mailing with me!! Can you believe that??? You can go here to register! Its that easy, but hurry, you only have until Friday December 11 at noon to enter!!

Also, Gussy is being extremely generous this holiday season and she is giving away a $30 credit to use in her shop! WHAT??? That's insane!!! You can go here to enter that give away!!!

WHOA! That is a lot of great stuff!!!

And ONE more reminder...Spire Design Group has added a few new services to the mix this month. Go HERE to check those out. If you have any questions about the new services just shoot me an e-mail!!

And, just one more thing...I am now advertising on http://ohbrooke.com/. Hope you will take a look. Really cute blog!

Wow, this is so much information for an early morning!!! I know you guys can handle it!!! Don't forget to register for the give aways. And keep telling your friends to follow my blog!!! I am so excited to have 26 followers right now!! But 100 would be an awesome Christmas gift!!!!!

Great Gussy Give-Away!!!

As I posted earlier today, I am a featured sponsor on Gussy's Blog. Its a great honor as she is an amazing artist! She taught herself to sew last year when she borrowed her parents sewing machine!! That completely blows my mind! Pure talent! She also moved to my old stomping grounds in Minnesota this year. (Poor thing, she won't know what hit her when that wind kicks in!!) Gussy is a lover of handbags, wallets, clutches and zipped pouches and she makes these cute pouches and bags:

Gussy is feeling incredibly generous this holiday season and is doing an awesome give away that you can enter to win!!! She is offering a $30 credit towards any Gussy item in her etsy shop. All you have to do to enter the give away is post a comment on my site telling me which Gussy you would love to own and why. Its so easy!! Be sure to include your e-mail address so you can be contacted if you win. Please enter by Friday at noon and a winner will be picked at random and announced on Saturday.

I wish I could enter!! I would love the Gus for Work, and the Ruffle Gus in hounds tooth with pink, but that's just me!!! Hurry and enter!!!

Featured Sponsor!!! WOOHOO!!

I am so thrilled to be a featured sponsor on Gussy's blog today!!! Be sure to go and take a look!! She is giving away an hour of design service (phone or e-mail)!!! I am super excited!!! Maggie has been a huge help to me as I continue to learn about the world of blogging, plus, she is an AMAZING artist herself!!! Check out some of her items at her etsy shop. She makes me want to dust off teh sewing machine!!! Thanks Maggie!!!

Christmas Photo

Just a quick post to share this photo with you. This picture just puts me in the Christmas spirit! (And it doesn't hurt that it is snowing like crazy outside right now!!) Hope you are feeling jolly and festive today!!!