jenniferpaigejones26 on HGTV Rate My Space

My heart is full

I truly cannot thank you enough for your incredible comments and emails over the weekend and today. I’m humbled and so grateful for of your prayers and thoughts. Each and every comment made my weekend.

The past few days have been filled with so much sadness, but SO MUCH joy and love as well. Our friends and family have gathered around us with real and virtual hugs – YOU included. It always amazes me how I can feel so much love at such a sad time – but that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? Celebrating how someone lived and realizing what we have to live for.

I don’t how else to express my gratitude but to just say THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. I mean that – each and every one of you are a blessing to us.

Tonight, I leave you with one of the bouquets that the staff at hubby’s school sent:

Beautiful right? But do you see the extra special additions? Garlic, avocado, chilies and peppers – some of my father-in-laws favorite ingredients! Absolutely unique and stunning. He brought so much joy to those he cooked for. PERFECT. :)

Thanks again so much. This weekend has inspired me many ways – I’ll show you one way tomorrow. :)

Sew Many Ways

MelissaSamuels on Two Peas in a Bucket

Decor Chick

A great man

My husband is a great man.

He the most patient person I’ve ever met. He loves so true and deep. He is never threatened when I succeed – he encourages me, drives me, inspires me. He is gentle and calm and when I see a bug (and jump on the chair screaming), he will pick it up and take it outside rather than kill it. When I have a problem and ask him what I should do, he is always, always, ALWAYS right.

He works 12 hour days most of the year. And after working a full day, he walks in the door and never takes even a second for himself – he immediately has his arms outstretched for our son, and comes to kiss me before even putting his keys down.

He worked from home all summer and we were together all day, almost every day, and I never get tired of being with him. He is my very best friend and he is the best person I know.

My husband is the man he is because of another great man. My father-in-law raised three amazing children, my husband the oldest of them.

We had a rough holiday season last year – first my father-in-law was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Then only weeks later, we lost my mother-in-law.

It was a punch to the gut – twice. But we used the news of his cancer to live differently – we saw my father-in-law as much as possible. He lived with us on and off for months, so our son got to know him and see him often. Even though he was in his 80’s and couldn’t really play with the Bub, Papa was one of his very favorite people in the world. (There is something about Grandpas, isn’t there?)

We celebrated with one final Mexican Fiesta (he would cook for our friends once a year):

   

We took a ton of pictures, wrote down every recipe, and listened to his instructions (very carefully!) and stories for hours.

We lived. He LIVED for those nine months.

It is with a very heavy heart that I tell you my father-in-law passed away early yesterday morning. We were able to prepare, somewhat, but many of you know you can never prepare enough.

Oddly enough, it wasn’t the cancer that caused his death. He fought it like a tiger. A very stubborn, determined tiger. :)

But the cancer is what allowed us to spend as much time with him as we could over the past nine months. Isn’t that funny how the worst news you could get turns out to be a blessing in disguise?

Without the cancer diagnosis, we may not have seen him as much. We may have let a couple weeks go by without visiting. We may have let a week pass without talking to him. My son may not know to grab his drumstick (or any long item) and wobble around the house with a “cane” like Papa.

:)

My father-in-law was a GREAT man. He came to the USA as a teenager, became a United States citizen, and worked his tail off to make the American dream possible for his children. He and his wife raised three fantastic kids – two boys and a girl.

He made my husband sit at a piano from age five, because he saw his talent, even at that young age. My husband is an amazing music teacher and composer today because his father believed in him and pushed him to be all he could be.

He created a GREAT man when he raised my husband. My husband will create a GREAT man in our son with what he has learned from his father.

For that I will be eternally grateful to him. I admired and loved him so. I wish I could have thanked him a few hundred more times for what he has given to me.

For now, he is heaven, cooking up some fabulous Mexican for all of his loved ones. :)

We love you so very much Dad.

House of Smiths

1st Option

Fall inspiration: Link it up!

(source: Pottery Barn)

Ohhh, the time is almost here!!! Can you feel it? It was positively CRISPY tonight! (Crispy in a good, cool way. Not a burning hot, I feel like the sun is baking me way.)  :)

I know, I know…we have another four weeks. Well, reeeeeeally, 27 days if you want to get all technical about it. That’s like, three weeks and six days.

Stinky Eye Sister keeps harassing me because I want to pull out the fall decor next week – she rolls her stink eyes at me, reminding me that “fall doesn’t blah blah start blaaaaah until September are you still talking? 21st.”

WHATEV SISTER. Talk to the hand.

I keep asking her…do you call June 1st summer or spring?

(She totally calls it summer.)

Booooyah!

Anyway, I’m on a mission this week – I told myself the basement decrapifcation (that I started eight months ago) must. be. done. before I pull out one piece of fall decor. Because once the holidays hit, a decorating BOMB goes off down there, and I’m determined to keep that from happening again. (Stop laughing, I can DO THIS.)

Needless to say, I’ve been down there all day. ;)

But guess what came today in the mail to keep me motivated? The latest Pottery Barn catalog, full of fall goodies! Swoooon!

I know PB isn’t the end all to decorating, but you gotta admit – they know how to style the heck out of a room. They are also wicked good at making warm and cozy ooooze off the page.

What I love about fall decorating is that it’s so natural – normally I’d scoff at hanging branches from a mirror, but for fall, it totally works. :)

I also love how something as simple as a few (real or faux) pumpkins and just a container full of branches is so striking:

Isn’t that huge pumpkin gorgeous? Did I just call a pumpkin gorgeous?

I love this mixture of pears, gourds and simple foliage:

Of course, it’s the colors of fall that make the decor so warm and loverly – they work SO well in our house. I think that’s part of the reason I love decorating for this time of year so much.

This picture is so AUTUMN I could just pass out from the gorgeousness:

 

It is now my mission to make a big, huge, honkin’ leaf wreath this year. I made a lovely little bitty one last year, and I need to do that times 50:

You can use just about an.y.thing. and fill it with fall fillers. There’s no candles in these hurricanes, just lots of random, fall-y, natural stuff:

I especially love how easy fall decorating is – pile some stuff in a tray, a candleholder, a bowl – and it looks fanfreakintastic:

I mean, really. It’s just a tray with pumpkins, gourds, beady stuff and little nuts for good measure.

That picture makes me want to go caress my bin of beady stuff and work on my dining table right. this. second:

My head is positively swimming. ;)

I won’t even mention the Halloween ideas in the Pottery Barn catalog – every year I get more and more into the spooky decor and I’m SO excited to work on some crafty goodies soon!

I’m throwing an impromptu fall decor linky party, so let’s share the fall mojo -- I’d love to see your  past decor or crafts, or current ones if you have already started! (You soooo rock.) Anyone wanna help with my basement??? Hmmm?

Link it up! I’ll leave this up till the 1st…when the bins come up from the basement, whoooooohoo! (I’m using the linky with pictures this time…let me know if you like it!)

P.S. My friend The Nester just did a post about fall decorating too. Inspired by Pottery Barn. I want to be her, that is why I did pretty much the exact same post she did. By accident. She rocks my world.  (Go here.)

P.P.S. My friend Melissa is having a Fall Nesting Party. Can I get a HOLLA for the fall love??? (She rocks my world too.)