Every day is a good day, especially if you have something stinky to roll in or a stick to chew
Looking cute will get you very far in life
If you lay close enough to someone they will pet you and pets are almost as good as food
Blueberries aren't just full of antioxidants, they are also pretty darned delicious
Wag your tail, it makes people happy and it's contagious
Run and play with wild abandon, it's good for the soul
Drink from a hose, you'll feel like you're living dangerously
Be careful about barking too much, sometimes it will be appreciated, but most of the time it will just be considered annoying to those around you...choose wagging your tail instead (see note above)
Have a wonderful weekend because weekends are meant for sleeping in, playing more than usual, and for fun car rides
Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments about our new chairs, we really are loving them!
This has been a crazy week with work stuff, spending 6 hours in the ER with our daughter (who is feeling better but still needs to figure out what's going on), and then Mr. Tide had to head to France with only a few hours notice. Never a dull moment around here I can tell you that!
Can I just say that I'm a teensy weensy bit jealous that Mr. Tide is in France...ok, I'm actually green with envy. I would have gone with him, but stupid me let my passport lapse, it expired in May...how could I let that happen?! So instead of visiting local brocantes, exploring tiny villages, and taking pictures of the south of France, I'm here watering plants, sweating, and wishing I had renewed my passport like I knew I should.
Because Mr. Tide goes to some very interesting places for his work he often remarks that it's not someplace I would enjoy or even a place that he would like to go back to, but when he lands in France that is never the case. I just got off the phone with him and it looks like he will be heading to Paris tomorrow...sigh! He did at least say "wish you were here,"...and all I can say to that is...me too!
It's been a very looong time since I've shown you any changes we've made to our house so I thought today I would show you the new chairs we just bought for the sitting area off of our kitchen.
Truth be told we haven't really made very many changes to the house
lately because I've been so busy working and I haven't been
concentrating on things like making the house look nice. But last week
my in-laws were coming to town and having company is always a good excuse to spruce up your house! Because we had given our son and daughter the blue checked chair and wooden rocker that used to occupy this space it was time we found some new chairs.
I knew what I wanted, but I was having trouble finding just the right chairs to go in this spot. It's located right off of the kitchen and to the left is where our office is located which is open to the whole room.
The door to the back yard really prevents you from putting anything in the middle of the room, and I knew I didn't want a couch or loveseat because I wanted people to be able to take advantage of the water views, be able to chat with Mr. Tide and me while we are working, and be able to converse with someone while they are busy in the kitchen...so swivel chairs seemed like the perfect solution.
Have you ever looked for pretty swivel chairs?! Let's just say that the majority of them have those gawd awful bases that you can see below the chairs and they aren't what I would call attractive. After searching for awhile I settled on a look from Lee Industries who makes beautiful high quality furniture which is still made in the USA.
And after visiting one of my favorite local stores, Traditions of Loveville, which just happens to be a distributor for Lee Industries in my area, I hit pay dirt! I'm not known for being a big "plan ahead" sort of person, so it was serendipitous that Traditions had not one but two swivel rockers and in colors that matched my color scheme and the vision I had in my head just a few days before my in-laws arrived...score! One of them was even on sale, so I ended up getting a great deal on these two chairs...thanks Becky!
These babies are not only comfy but they are also slipcovered so you can slide those puppies off and throw them in the washing machine in case another set of pups, ie. Misty Belle and Mr. Quinn bring a bit of their muddy fun inside and onto the furniture. And if I decide to change the look of the room at some point I can always pick out new slips with different fabrics or colorways.
You may have noticed Miss Misty in one of the photos above, she is the perfect photographer's assistant...and what you can't see in any of the photos is that Mr. Quinn is right beside her. I think Misty was a stylist in another life, she's always right there helping me set up the shot. Quinn must have been a male model in his former life, as he is always ready for his best shot!
After my in-laws left last Sunday I decided to do a little rearranging and I finally brought in an old Coca Cola cooler I had found in the attic at the farm property we own. I cleaned it up and brought it inside to sit underneath the sofa table made from an old shutter that I've had for years. That whitish swath you see on the cooler is actually an old hunk of masking tape that I'm sure bore our family's name on it once upon a time. Growing up crabbing, boating, camping and picnicking meant having your name slapped on everything so that you could claim your stake if something fell overboard or wandered away. I thought about trying to remove it, but I think it just adds to the piece, so I decided to leave it on.
I also decided to take down the license plates and horse pull and put up one of my images which is printed on metal and has a high gloss finish. The seagull picture, which I took awhile ago at the beach in Chincoteague, has been sitting in a box for over a year and I just didn't know where I wanted to hang it until now.
Throw in a few summertime accessories like these old croquet balls from a set my parent's once owned, a pair of binoculars to help you see the herons, osprey, and eagles outside, and a few books about the Chesapeake Bay area and you are all set!
So here is the room before, last December complete with a blurry Mr. Quinn, the kitchen table which is now in the dining room, the old furniture, and previous wall decor...
BEFORE
And after...ready for some summer fun!
AFTER
Hmm, now what other rooms can I rearrange and buy new furniture for... ;-)
I hope everyone is staying cool and if you are getting too much rain, please send some our way, we've been hotter than the hinges and dry as a bone!
Hello there, how is everyone?! Things here have been crazy around here, some good crazy and some bad...but mostly good.
We bought a hummingbird feeder, and that has been both good and bad. I love seeing these delicate little creatures as they come to feed at our feeder, but man are they hard to photograph.
They are so darned fast and not keen on humans, so trying to take pictures from afar and in the evening light, when they seem to feed the most, is a bit trying on my patience. I've decided that in the winter the swans are my photo nemesis' (or is that nemisi?) and in the summer these little buggers will do everything in their power to elude my lens.
Oh well, it gives me something to do, right...and it keeps me out of trouble!
The past few weeks have been filled with all sorts of things, like photo shoots until 3 am, and then right back at it the following morning. Collaborating with a dear friend on some artwork...something I love doing these days, and working, working, working!
We also had some bad things happen in the past few weeks, friends and acquaintances who passed, some who had lived very long and interesting lives, and others taken too soon by the ravages of cancer.
Our dear neighbor George was one of those who lived a long and interesting life. When we moved into this house 5 years ago, George was a spry 95 years young, living completely independently, driving his sweet dog to obedience each week, and tending to his beautiful garden. I'll never forget that at our Christmas party he showed our son his itouch and told him that when the newest model came out he would sell him his old one for a good price.
Because George was one of the oldest living WWII veterans, I had the opportunity to interview him for a magazine, and what I learned was that George wasn't just any WWII veteran, he was the Forrest Gump of soldiers, having seen action in some of the most hostile and critical arenas of the war, and bearing witness to things most people only see in movies. From there he ended up in India for a few years, and through all of his experiences he embraced moving forward, choosing not to dwell in the past.
He used to joke that he would make it to 100 or die trying, and it was that great sense of humor I will miss at our neighborhood gatherings. George did indeed make it to his 100th birthday last December when his family hosted a wonderful celebration of his long and storied life. In true George fashion, he made it to 100 and a half, passing away on the exact date that he turned that impressive age.
I don't think George ever really knew how much of an impact he had on those around him, how much of an inspiration he was, and what an example he set for embracing life no matter what age it says you are on a piece of paper.
He didn't complain about technology, but instead embraced it. He didn't let a number dictate what he could or couldn't do, he simply lived life the way he wanted too and I firmly believe that it was that attitude that kept him healthy up until just a few months before his passing. George lived completely independently until his 100th birthday when he decided to move to an assisted living facility, still tending his garden, driving, and caring for his beloved dachshund, and constant companion Hummel.
We could all learn a little bit from George as we frantically go buzzing through life like a little hummingbird. He taught me to live the life I have right now instead of wasting time pining for the past or longing for the future. He taught me to embrace change and to move with the times. But the most important thing he taught me was that no matter what your age, you can do anything you set your mind to, that the limit is not in the number, but in how we perceive the number.
If you don't believe me, that age is just a number, please read the short article linked HERE and watch a bit of the video which was shot at an obedience trial when George was 98 years old!!! He was so proud of this video and showed it to us on his itouch...RIP George, though you are gone you have inspired so many and your legacy will live on forever, you will be greatly missed!
Broken lawnmowers, nails in tires, art appointments, industrial air purifiers, doctor's appointments, and dead computers, want to know what all of these things have in common...well they're all associated with moi!
The last few weeks have been a blur. You know the kind, where even in your dreams you are behind the eight ball or atop the highest point in the universe with no visible way down...yeah that was last night's fun dream! The kind of pace where the bullet train goes whizzing past you in a blur, but you're on one of those hand crank railway seesaw car thingies like they always had in the cartoons, pumping your heart out to try and catch up. Phew, I need a vacation and there's none on the horizon, so the crazy train will have to keep chugging a few more months.
Yesterday, it dawned on me that I never showed you my friend Melissa's beautiful shop photos that I told you I would show you last month. I made a promise to myself that today would be the day I would get the post done, and then like magic I saw Melissa at Panera last night...you gotta love how the universe works sometimes don't you?! Like it was saying to me..."remember, you said today, this means you better do that post, you promised...see there she is!"
So below is my LONG overdue post filled with lots of lovely photos from her amazing store. But before we get to all the pretties, I'm also long overdue in thanking each and every one of you who commented on my last post. I haven't returned a single email or comment from that post and I feel sick about it. The fact is that I read them all and each one gave me a greater and greater sense of comfort regarding our empty nest, so thank you! And thank Mr. Tide for fixing my dead computer so that I could come here to say what should have been said within just a few days of posting...THANKS, you guys rock!
And because I've blathered on enough for one post, I will let the pictures do most of the talking for The Right Mix, Antiques and Fine Art, owned by my dear friend Missy/Melissa Geimer! Enjoy!
Beautiful antique oil paintings...check!
Gorgeous silver serveware, including antique samovars...yup she has what you need!
Beautiful antique furniture and rugs, including burl wood and a baby grand piano...whatever you need to tickle your fancy!
In need of a little sparkle in your life, or maybe just an Aidan Gray fix...well you've come to the right place...or should I say The Right Mix! ;-)
And did I mention that she also carries accessories for yourself (she even sells antique jewelry), or your home, Missy has you covered, at her shop you'll find giftware too, including cards and napkins.
And because Missy understands that every well dressed home deserves a beautiful setting, she offers an array of beautiful garden accessories to boot.
I think you can see why I love this shop, and why I think the name The Right Mix is perfectly suited to it, it truly is a wonderful mix of must haves! If you were to take a quick lap around my house right now you'd find one of her armillaries gracing my front flower bed, a beautiful antique blue and white creamer sitting on the tea cart in my dining room, and a gorgeous white German Shepard statue atop the Hepplewhite chest in my living room...not to mention some wonderful paper napkins in the drawer of my buffet waiting for guests, or to use as hostess gifts. So not only do I love Missy's shop, but I love how her wonderful gifts and antiques have helped me create the right mix in my own home! And the best part is that she's always finding new treasures so each time you visit her shop you're sure to find something new to bring home!
I hope you enjoyed this little tour of The Right Mix located in Leonardtown, Maryland, and I hope you'll have the opportunity to visit it yourself one day and meet Missy, who is one of the sweetest women on the planet, and I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that!
The shop isn't open every day, but you can always contact Missy/Melissa via email at missygeimer@yahoo.com or you can phone her at 480-365-8871 to schedule an appointment, and please tell her Kat says hello!
Thank you Missy for letting me invade your space and take photos of your beautiful shop!
All images, text, and content are Copyright protected and exclusively owned by Low Tide High Style, Kat Warren Photography, and Kat W. Photography. Please do not reproduce without written permission.
I am a mom to 2 wonderful children, wife to an amazing husband, loved by 2 fluffy puppies, a freelance writer, fine art photographer, and a lover of all things beautiful which I hope to share with you here on my blog.
Posts
