The Game of Peace

Buon San Valentino.

I love stones.  You may  have heard me mention this before.  I do not love games, but today for Valentines I'm going to tell you about a Game of Peace that I have created.  It is really simple and fun (classic Sette Design stuff). Secretely and openly I'm hoping all the cousins, sisters, daughters that live on our compound here in the gorgeous Napa Valley will join in and play too.

Repetitive Behavior

I’m always saving little bits of information that I find interesting.  I like to find them again and see what effect it might have on my life.  I do this also with my journals, pick up an old book, randomly open a page and see what I might learn about my life.  This of course is emotionally risky and can run the gamut from depressing to elated joy.

This week I found this note written clearly on a square piece of paper.  It is interesting to plug this information into some sector of your life from HEALTH, MONEY - LOVE and of course DESIGN.

It takes 14 to 21 days of repetitive behavior to form a new pattern in your brain.  Once that pattern is formed it becomes an automatic behavioral response.

What would you like to change about yourself?

Cheers,

Natalie

Inside Winter Garden

I remember when I was young and going to Art and Design School in Brooklyn, I loved to look at the bare black trees reaching for the Winter sky.  Here presently in California the spring flowers are already starting to bloom, even if the Winter rains are still here in force blowing apart the streets and trees and branches falling, rivers rising. It is nice to create a calm sanctuary inside.

Mid January

I like to watch inspirational videos on TedTalk.  I love all of www.tedtalk.com it makes me feel smarter just to take part in it.

I also find it shocking and funny hear that by January, 15 most people have already failed to keep their New Year's Resolutions.  I think resolutions can just be picked up again at the point of failure with new resolve and that sometimes we have to force ourselves, through failing again and again to accomplish what we set out to do.

NEW

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See You Next Year!

I love to say "See You Next Year", it is something we said when we were children and it always makes me giggle.  It will be a New Year. I still can’t believe we are now almost in 2017.  Do you remember when it was 1999 and we were moving into a new century, seventeen years have past since then!

Christmas Eve -Eve Heart in Two Places

Sette Design

Happy Christmas Eve Eve

I love to say that.

My heart is in 2 places this Christmas.

It is also in some Christmases in the past and some in the future too.

It’s funny as the girls grow up, I feel nostalgic remembering back to a Christmas when they were little.  I can remember one Christmas when Elisa was still a little one, she decided to move all the presents from under the tree into the kitchen.  We would go get the tree and strap the Christmas tree on to the back of my bike and push the bike home.

A Christmas Scene

I was creating this beautiful Christmas still life, when Lucia walked by and said, “Oh it’s so pretty.” 

I said,  “It’s my Christmas Scene.”

“No it’s more fall.”

Shocked (and dismayed), I tried to look at it as an Autumn scene and it just wasn’t.  Ok, I’ll admit that I can conger Christmastime out of nothing, for example I have been known to say “Look at the headlights glowing in this rainy night – It’s Christmastime,”  boots by the fire, of course, peppermint hot chocolate, certainly it is Christmastime!

It Is Christmastime

I don’t believe in PERFECT.  It was never something that I wanted to achieve.  There are many cultures in the world that believe if you make something perfect you are trying to imitate god and that imperfection lets the soul in.  In creating art they would intentionally make one color woven off or one imperfect form.  When I look at the wall motifs in Italy, each hand painted motif is not the same as the next.  I love that.  It frees us up to have fun.

Pink Wall- Apricot Wall

Hello my darlings,

It is almost the holiday here in America.  Thanksgiving a day is a day to be thankful.  When I'm in Italy and I explain the holiday to my Italian friends (we get the whole family and friends together, eat a huge amount and fill your hearts with gratitude), they often joke - so basically like every Sunday Lunch in Italy.

Ideas for Holiday Table Settings

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Today I want to show you a few high lights from my Online Shop, treasures from Napa Valley, California and Umbria, Italy.  It might give you some ideas for your table setting for Thanksgiving and there is still time to ship out these treasures before the holiday swings into full glory. www.settedesignshop.com

Return to the Simple Life

Today in America it is definately a day to return to the Simple Life.
I know from past experience that design can be a solice.
I think about form and function, light and color and I feel a tiny bit better.

Patina II

One photo today.  This is our courtyard floor with the rain dripping and the leaf shapes stained into the stone.  The squirrels ate the grapes that hang above the granite tiles, and the grape remnants fell and then the sun and air and dew caused the stone to patina purple-black.

Just gorgeous!

Cheers,
Natalie

Patina

The Simple Life

It’s raining and I’m drinking hot apple juice with cinnamon.  I just made classic old fashion biscuits (out of Bisquick no less!).  It may be a crime to make biscuits from Bisquick in Napa Valley.  It certainly would be in Umbria if they only knew- the crimes of my heart. Oh the lovely starchiness of Bisquick.

Exciting News!

www.settedesignshop.com

Hi everyone!

I have really exciting news.  I have been working on a secret for a long time.  I have wanted to tell you all and have held back waiting for the right moment.

Wall of Grapes - Italian Design

We returned to the Napa Valley to a wall of grapes and streaming grape vines out our kitchen window.  The courtyard glows at night with soft pink sky sunsets and the white lights that are strung above.  We eat dinners outside on our long farm table.   

Abandoned Garden

Do you love an Abandoned Garden, we have one right out our window here in Spello.  The view from the window is magical because it doesn’t look like Italy it feels like some other place I have never been too.

Sette Design  here are the public outter steps to get to a side enterance to the garden

Do you find that with gardens left alone you want to go and fix them up or just sit among the chaos of nature.  I find that when I look at the huge swaying palm trees I waver between wanting to trim the dead furans off and then the next moment I relish in the beauty of the neglect.   It is silly because my mind has battled with these thoughts all summer long.

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.