Showing posts with label simple life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label simple life. Show all posts

Adriatic Sea




A couple quotes today to make you think.  Two serene photos of the Adriatic Sea, note the splendid blues and greens.  This is inspiration enough for me, oh how I love blues and greens.

I hope it inspires you today to do something with calm and courage.

My Walk to Work




The Simple Life

Recently while working in California I have been getting jobs where I need drive out of Napa Valley and into San Francisco or the county before.  It takes about an hour and a half and there is often bumper to bumper traffic.  Leaving the Valley early in the morning I drive through the vineyards and feast my eyes on spectacular views of the valley floor, sometimes I will even see a fleet of hot air balloons. I don’t mind the time driving because it is alone time when I can be in my own mind….ahhh. 


Umbria Italy, Napa Valley California





The Simple Life
We are in Umbria, Italy now.  The moment I stepped off the plane in Rome I could feel the Italian air, it was just heaven, warm and inviting, thick with possibility.  My girls are so happy to be back, Italian flying off their lips with confidence and ease.  I’ll always sound like a foreigner and I find it funny when people even women say they love my accent.

Magnolia and Tulips Inspiration

The Simple Life
End of May beginning of June.



I can't believe it is actually June tomorrow. This means crazy end of school activity, exams and ballet recitals and my little family heading off to Umbria for the summer.  We are all overwhelmed and thrilled.


Espresso con Panna



The Simple Life 

Once the mercury hits 80 degrees (27 Celsius) I feel the need to make espresso with whipped cream.  I even believe in having a spray can of whipped cream for a topping on the hot espresso.  Honestly the cream in a can is gross but the girls love to spray their mouths full.  In our city in Italy it is quite easy to get  homemade whipped cream at the bar and when it is a hot summer night that Panna just magnetically pulls me helplessly toward the bar.

Here in California I use this simple recipe.

A Still Life of Flowers




The Simple Life
Decorating

I’m quite infatuated with the trend of massive amounts of flowers displayed in a still life with many framed paintings of flowers shown behind.  To me, it evokes a past era when people studied and painted flowers.

“If you could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.”

-Edward Hopper

What Makes You Feel Good Lately?


 
The Simple Life

Good Evening Everyone

I am excited because I am in a very creative phase in my own life and work and somehow this is translating into not much creativity for my blog.  I’m sorry about that, today’s post may not make up for this lacking either, but I’ll try to get better.  I do believe that creativity is endless and the more we use our creativity the more it grows.

Hope





It is raining out and I’m drinking peppermint tea and I have just turned on the white lights that are strung high above the garden courtyard.

Sometimes when I’m feeling blue, it is so silly (or desperate?) how one inkling of hope can give me that jolt to the heart.  It is enough to wake me up, at least for that moment and I become utterly certain that-- to quote Prince “joy lives round the corner”.

Embellishment at Sette Design




The Simple Life
Embellish
Verb (used with object)

1.  To beautify, by or as if by ornamentation; ornament; adorn.

2.  To enhance, (a statement or narrative) with fictitious additions.

Rise Early Quotes and Mustard Fields



 
Good Morning Everyone

I’m on a new plan to try to wake up early and start to work on my business before my girls or the sun has risen. This morning for me the sun rose at 6:56 am so each day there will be a little bit more light in the sky.  Does anyone want to join me and give it a try? I already feel kick-ass and I only began this morning.  Laugh with me not at me o.k.

DIY Wire Heart




Hello my beloved readers
Buon San Valentino

Today I have a quick DIY heart.

Winter Bouquet Inspiration




I’m back in California and the rain won’t quit.  We have little breaks and the sun tries to come out, but the air and ground are always.  We are all thrilled, after 4 years of draught, the rain is a big celebration.  I like to go for long walks and then scavenge for a winter bouquet.  It is easy just to pick up Lichen, branches of Rosehips or fallen Camellia blossoms.  They are often covered in dirt or mud.  At home I rinse them off and put them in a crystal bowl and an old olive oil bottle.  Even if they faded or browned at the edges the effect is still stunning.

Guess the Photo - Italy or California



It is a rainy day somewhere in the world, now since you don’t really know for sure if I am in Umbria or California today we are NOT going to play a little game, NOR are we going to take a test.  I don’t like to do either of the above, in fact my friends and family think I should begin to like to play games.  I would rather read a book or go for a run, than play a game.

Design View Modern and Antique




I love this photo for its beauty and feeling of solitude.  It may be just that January feeling.  This is a palazzo in our main Piazza in Foligno, Italy. I know the view well.  I like the contrast of the modernity of white lights with the antique façade behind.  It warms my heart.

Warming our hearts of the Holidays



I love December and the Holidays, it warms my heart.  Tomorrow we leave to go back to Umbria for Natale in Italy with my darling Alfredo and all our friends.  I still haven't packed!  It would be lovely to return dressed elegantly, instead of the painters whites that I usually bicycled around the city in.

Pretty Festive Photos




I’m feeling excited for the festivities and to be home in America for Thanksgiving, everyone is heading out to the beach house, the whole big family together.

I have been working so hard and just finished painting an apartment in San Francisco.  Soon I’m going to show you all the amazing houses in the neighborhood I was working in, each one looking like a jewel.  

Happy Third Anniversary Sette Design Blog




Happy Anniversary Sette Design Blog

#3

To tell you the truth.  I forgot and I got the date wrong.  I'm that bad.  I actually love this blog and so I should have remembered her day. To be honest I just have too much going on right now.  It was November 5th 2012 when I took the leap and started it up.  I was living in Umbria, Italy then.  Click Here if you want to flash back and view my very first blog post.

Pendant Pomegranate



I can’t believe it is raining right now in California as I write to you.  The ground is quenching its thirst from months and years of disappointment.  It is November first and it is raining!  Happy November everyone.

These photos I took earlier in the week.  I wanted to pay tribute to this pendant pomegranate.  I have been tentatively watching it remain, consistently hanging low for weeks.  To me here at Sette Design it is poetry.