I'm Nikki, a creative old soul who loves tea time, tip-toeing through gardens, mounds of books, swaying to records, watercolors, sunset walks with our three yorkies, and star-gazing with Paul. This blog carries snippets of my life with just us two (five with Rusty, Lucy, & Ethel) - I hope it brings you happiness as you snuggle in with something warm and delicious and begin reading. Enjoy, friends!

the blog!

If I had to choose:

Winter Blues and Spring

I don’t know when it started, but I think I can confidently say that I suffer from the winter blues. All this winter I’ve been unmotivated and lazy. Getting ready in the morning took way too much effort, getting off the couch and actually working in my office seemed like the most difficult task, things that usually got me excited just wasn’t doing it for me, and sleeping was my love. Although it’s been feeling more like spring everyday, the grey skies are back today and like it or not, it took much more effort today to get down to my office than it did all weekend. Blaaaaah.

With the birds singing and the sun shining bright, this weekend was like an awakening for me. It felt like the nasty, heavy, winter doldrums was finally lifted from my shoulders and I – as corny as it sounds – began to see the light (are you singing Tangled in your head now? :)) I’ve always loved winter; it’s cozy, quiet, gives me a reason to stay inside and enjoy all my hobbies…but after awhile it apparently gets to me. So I’m entirely too thankful that spring is officially just around the corner, aren’t you friends?! (Some music for you – what else can make you think of spring but a song about Paris?!)

This past weekend Paul and I had a lovely time. I woke up Saturday morning with a bounce in my step and immediately threw open the windows (I wish I had windows I could throw open like shutters, but alas, the reality is that I turned the locks off and pushed the windows up or used the cranks on the crank-out windows to open them…), turned on Julie & Julia (I’m cooking out of her cookbook tonight, something I’ve been wanting to do for so long!! If all goes well, perhaps you’ll see a blog post about it. :)), pulled out the broom, vacuum cleaner, paper towels, cleaners, all the trimmings!! I opened the front door, let the light shine in on the (at the time) dusty house and felt it warm up the hallway, and spent the majority of my day in domestic bliss. The house needed some love after all those months of being trapped with me in winter blues, and I was right there with open arms polishing it, airing it out, and welcoming spring inside. I’m sure it was as happy as I was. :)

AND if spring coming back wasn’t happiness enough, I’ve officially moved out of my old office!! You may wonder why there’s !! instead of :( :( – well, it’s because it was a genius move and I can’t  imagine why we didn’t think of it sooner. Recently Paul has been working on other projects outside of work so when he should be enjoying down time after his 9-5 job, he’s in the office working his butt off. So we decided it was about time we both had our own offices. Paul works better when he’s shut away from everything, the room’s quiet, and nothing can distract him (I’ll admit, I’m horrible at staying away from him when he’s working. I just always want to say hi. :)), whereas I work so much better when I’m not shut away from the entire house, there’s a TV on in the background, and I have the convenience of moving from project to project without going too far. The conclusion??? I moved out of the office upstairs and took over the basement living room!!!

Remember that beautiful “Garden Room” I showed you awhile back?? Well, now it’s all mine and it works perfectly. I wish we would have thought of this sooner. I moved all my prettiness out of the upstairs office and transferred it downstairs. The result? I have a Haven in this house and I just love it. I have my office desk and work stuff against one wall, the TV is right next to my desk, and then I also have my piano behind me as well as my painting desk! Plus there’s a couch (for when I have visitors over and whenever Paul wants to visit me while I work or paint), soft lamps, flowery candles, all my inspirational books like The Tale of Beatrix Potter, The Secret Garden, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and other gardening books, plus all my photos of my beloved family! It’s  perfect!! And there’s a table for my tea tray (usually I’d have to move around a bunch of stuff everyday in the old office to fit all my tea stuff), and the heater is always down here for little Rusty, and we’re talking about putting an electric fireplace down here for those dreary winter months!! Ahh!! I’m so excited!! It’s a little messy right now so in another post I’ll show you my new updated office. :)

During the day I work, while sporadically gazing out the window to watch the birds escape Rusty’s constant chase (no worries, he has never gotten one. I make sure of that. :)), and in the evenings I turn around and paint to my heart’s content. Sometimes a random song will be played at the piano. This room helps keep me motivated and creative, something I desperately needed in these long winter months that thankfully, are just a few days from being permanently gone (for at least another few months). :) xoxo

  1. Just found your blog from the Susan branch website. Very nice!! I enjoyed it. Thanks!

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