A Big Announcement & Change

Hello and belated Happy New Year. I hope everyone's year is off to a good start.  I have finally resurfaced from the holidays and feel like I'm back on a regular schedule. As regular as my schedule can be with two kids and a busy design business, that is.

I haven't been one to share too much personal information on the blog, but a new year calls for a new approach. Over the past couple years I have struggled to find a balance in my career and in my home life. My passion for my job can be all-consuming and at times my family is left wondering if and where their dinner is that evening. I've also been known to be the mom that is running late at pick-up as I'm trying to squeeze as much into each hour of the day as possible. I have to set the alarm on my iPhone or they probably wouldn't be picked up at all (I can admit it). Needless to say, I've had many times where I thought I needed to choose between continuing with my career or focus on my family, as I didn't feel like I was excelling at either. But it really wasn't a choice I could make as I love working and I'm a better mom for it (besides my tardiness and late dinners). I also struggled with working by myself as I'm an extrovert.  I was tired of spending 8-12 hours a day by myself. Not to mention the amount of work that goes into running a business. Something had to give.

Since starting the business, I've had the pleasure to have my sister occasionally work with me part-time while she was in Interior Design school when she wasn't doing internships or working elsewhere. She is 14 years my junior, so she knows acronyms and technical information like how to build a website that a child of the 80's doesn't know, which has come in very handy. She started working with me on a couple of jobs this Fall while she was looking for a permanent job in commercial design. During those months of spending 10-plus hours a day together on-site or trapped in a car driving from client to client, she decided that she wanted to continue working with me to grow Trove Interiors versus pursuing commercial design (despite some tempting offers). I was shocked BUT thrilled. She is the ying to my yang. A perfect complement. She brings the combination of  business experience (she was an accomplished advertising Account Manager prior to going back to school and general over-achiever) with an amazing eye for design. Also, being so much younger she keeps my finger on the pulse of what's current and trending. Not to mention she is one of the hardest working people I've had the pleasure of working with over the last 20+ years.

I am thrilled to announce that Kate is now an official partner in Trove Interiors. She is not just my sister but one of my best friends. I can't imagine my life and business without her. I'm so excited for what this next chapter offers for both of us personally and professionally.

2013 is going to be great!

Join me in welcoming Kate to the business.

15 Years Later: Weddings & The San Ysidro Ranch

This week, my husband and I are celebrating 15 years of marriage. I was 27 and oddly, the last of my friends to get married, so with numerous bridesmaids dresses hanging in my closet it was my turn to walk down the aisle. Thanks to all the weddings I had been to, I had a good idea of what I wanted and stuck to my guns on a lot of things that helped make it special and (in my opinion) as timeless as one can. But I can't help to think about what my wedding would look like if I were 27 in 2012 and could take all the knowledge from my 15 years of fashion, design, interiors and well... just plain old perspective.* 

I was sent a link to a wedding today that makes me think (hope?) it would look a lot like the wedding at the end of the post, but really, it's an ode to the venue: The San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara. Oh man, is it pretty. The grounds overlook manicured gardens and the Pacific Ocean, the interiors make me want to stay awhile and the pool makes me want to get out my magazine and just sit. Plus it's dangerously close to wine tasting. And if it's good enough for John and Jackie's honeymoon, then it's surely good enough for me!!! I must visit it someday.

The grounds - breathtaking.

The Stonehouse Restaurant

Reception: Who says it has to be huge and intimidating? 

A cottage living room

Another cottage

Pretty swell, huh?

Now THIS is a hotel bath!! It's light and bright and that rug just kills me. It's everything a bath in this setting should be.

The hotel is a Ty Warner Property and this is the Warner Cottage -- needless to say, it's the nicest cottage. 

Main Pool

Now for the wedding I mentioned: This just illustrates how beautiful the property is and what you can do with a venue when you let it shine. This looks like a particularly small wedding, but larger groups can be accommodated. The full post is on 100 Layer Cake for more details. 

When my sister gets married, she swears she will not tolerate the idea of round tables. Such conviction makes me laugh, but she's another opinionated designer who has been to her fair share of weddings. These long tables are swoon-worthy and, to her point, would help break up the routine from those who have gone before her. 

Beautiful flowers, right?

If I was re-doing my wedding, I would want an outdoor element to  it. And a Vera Wang dress. 

Good pics of the bride and groom made even better by the alley of trees. 

*In addition to perspective, I would also have the ability to predict the future and not have "the best day of my life" on the same day as Princess Di's funeral... talk about a downer. Woof. 

Our Annual Sushi Party

The weekend before we left for Chicago, Brian and I hosted our annual sushi night with our good friends the Dengers. Brian and Mason have what I can only describe as an intense love-affair with sushi, which unfortunately, I don't share. BUT, I will say they do a pretty good job of convincing me once a year, because together they put together an insane night of food -- it's pure madness in the kitchen.

My contribution is getting the house ready for our group of friends and making sure the liquor cabinet is stocked and the table is laid. I don't know if I've kvetched about this year's Seattle summer (oh... I have?) but thankfully the party fell in the middle of a heat-wave and we ate outside. Not going to lie, a table for an Asian-themed dinner is probably not one that springs a ton of ideas to my mind without going over-the-top theme, so I kept it simple. I used potted Kale plants as my flowers and lit the table with lots of tea lights running the length of a long, extra-wide table. There are so many beautiful serving dishes that go along with sushi, that it didn't take much else.

And more than anything, it's a festive but casual night with friends, so no need to go crazy when the food is the star.

I could post so many pictures of food, but I know this isn't a food blog so I'll just show a few that I thought were particularly gorgeous -- Mason should seriously consider a second career as a chef, especially with his trusty sous chef (aka Brian).

Tuna Poke W/ Rice Chips

Torched Hamachi w/ Honey & Green Apple

Torched Salmon & Brown Sugar w/ Green Onion & Lemon

Mango Marinated in Coconut Milk w/ Radish Sprouts & King Crab

Workspaces: When they aren't pulling their weight...

I'm coming off of the weekend after massive organizing. Maybe I should even capitalize that since it feels like a capital-letter change. It's amazing what some tossing out can do to your sanity! I focused my energy on my office which had become overgrown with fabric memos, tile samples, invoices... woof, it was bad. Not to mention that some of my family's belongings had crept in, making me feel like I was absolutely going to go BONKERS because my workspace was feeling like it had too much going on to be productive. So this weekend, I adopted the motto of "Toss it! Toss it! Toss it!" and also created some better organized spaces.

I'm about to head to The Container Store to get the last of my systems in place, but a few huge changes to my office will include a console as you walk in and making my big worktable allergic to miscellaneous crap (It always seemed to find my piles of papers and filing... wonder how that happened...?) The console will hold magazines on the shelves and designated bins on the top for returns to the design center, mail, etc. right as I go out the door for errands and in the door with bags. And not having the magazines on my office shelves frees up room for more of my office paperwork. Things are feeling good... finally!

In the spirit of getting this space together, here is some inspiration pics for workspaces everywhere.

We interrupt this blog...

I'm not fond of tooting my own horn but this one felt like it needed to be put out into the world or it wouldn't be real.

Almost a year ago I had a milestone birthday. If you've been reading my blog for awhile you know that I was running frequently around that time as I was planning to run the Seattle Rock N Roll Half Marathon in June 2010 to honor my milestone birthday. Then in November 2009 I hurt my knee and while I was recovering my running partner moved to Singapore. So, needless to say, I stopped running. It was the perfect excuse. And stopped doing anything else for that matter.

Fast forward to 8 weeks ago. My older sister sent me a text and asked me if I'd run the Eugene Oregon Half Marathon with her and a couple friends. I didn't reply to that text for almost a week as I stewed on how I wanted to respond. Then I remembered that I never completed that big birthday goal, and as this run was on May 1st, it would still count in my milestone year.

So we jumped in and started an 8 week running program of 4 days a week and a long run each weekend. It was brutal but nice to have each other for motivation and daily stress release/therapy. We had such deep conversations over those 2 1/2 hour runs! We learned a lot about ourselves and each other.

Any this past Sunday at 7 am we embarked upon our journey. It was a sunny and cold morning. Perfect running weather. AND....it was life changing.

Never has anything in my life made me feel so strong and capable. As each mile of the 13.1 passed, I felt stronger and stronger. I didn't have to will myself to keep going as I did in my daily runs - for some reason my body just floated that day. Hearing my name as I ran through the finish line at the famous Hayward Field was incredible. The whole mind-over-matter saying of "if you think you can do it, you can" is true.

Christy, Jamie, Me, and my sister Laurie after the race.

We are running the Chicago Half Marathon in September and maybe, just maybe, we'll sneak in the Seattle Rock n Roll just for fun.

Never in my life did I expect to do this, but I'm glad I did.

T-Ball Demon

The last few days have proved that spring is trying to make an appearance in Seattle, but oh my gosh, it's sure testing my limits. Yesterday was another gray, wet day and it made me want to throw in the towel and crawl back into bed.

But you know it's really spring when you have to start sitting on cold, wet bleachers to watch your kids swing at a t-ball stand... I mean... When you get to watch your kids play sports and learn how to be a part of a team!!! (Does that second one make me sound more enthusiastic? A little bit? Good).

But my favorite part of t-ball is this little face in those white pants:

Brooks is about to lose a front tooth, it's hanging on for dear-life right now.

Play ball!

No pants, No Shoes, No Service

My family tells me that my house has "no rules." I don't understand what they are talking about...

Hmmmm. This is just a typical day in my house. I turned around from furniture scouting for a client and my six year-old was helping himself to a milkshake. Without ANY pants. Just shirt and black socks. Brooks can rock that look like no other.

The good news though is that my house is the testing ground for all my clients. If I tell you it will hold up, chances are, I know all too well. Because either someone has pooped on it (dog or babies) , spilled wine on it (me), kicked a ball against it (my oldest) or rammed his head into it (my youngest).

This is no ordinary house! It's hard for my neat-nick husband, but good for you. Pray that we make it until college in one piece.

(photo credit is thanks to my husband @directorius -- always johnny-on-the-spot with the camera)

A Blogger's Christmas Wish

My Favorite city in the world, covered in Christmas snow this year.

The holiday rush is winding down and I'm about to settle in to three solid days of Christmas. I say three, because like all modern families, it's a marathon of travel, dinners, present opening at every occasion (what happened to that little window of excitement on Christmas morning?) and lots of cooking. Before I do that, I'm wrapping up things for clients at the office and then jumping straight in to wrapping all these presents I just (now) bought!

Although it's not over, 2010 has been an exciting year and I've really found a great amount of enjoyment from blogging, and for that matter, the blogs that I read every morning while I sip coffee and try to psych myself up for the day. Isn't blogging and the community it creates fantastic? So much great stuff out there and all these people bringing it to our fingertips.

But this Christmas, I'm wondering if you readers can help grant me a Christmas wish? It can get a little lonely on this side of the computer, and I would love to know what you want for Christmas this year. As adults, I think the things we want are much more interesting than what we buy for our kids and yet, we don't really talk about it, do we?

So from this blogger to my readers: Would you grant me the Christmas wish of hearing from you? And maybe we can all see what it is that makes us tick and gets us excited? I know you're out there ;)

And now, I'm off to go snuggle with my kids' Christmas present: Our new puppy, earned throughout 2010 and home just in time for the holidays.

Tilly

Paris Photo Credit: Here