IT'S 40 DEGREES OUTSIDE

Can you believe all of the crazy weather we have been having? It seems like just a few weeks ago I was walking around in flip flops and a tank top while running errands. Tonight B and I were driving home from an adventure at Costco - which is an understatement considering it was the night before new years eve and EVERYONE in Southern California is at Costco buying champagne in bulk - and saw the outside temp register at 40 degrees {F}.

I logged on to facebook not a mere 20 minutes later to see my cousin Autumn post that it was snowing in Scottsdale, AZ. It got me thinking, all bundled up here in the kitchen about how wonderful the cold weather is. It's a perfect reason for me to bust out my knee high leather boots, brass button down pea-coats and beautiful pashminas wound around my neck when I brave the outdoors. Not only do I look impeccably chic - its just as effortless as my tank and flops.

But fashion aside, the cold weather brings something much more magical that most don't realize. Its a time to stay INSIDE your home and enjoy the company of those who dwell indoors with you. Its a time to play board games with your brothers, a time to watch movies with your parents, a time to sit around the table and eat warm soup with your loved ones, a time to share a blanket and a fire with the person who keeps you warm at night.

Its the little things in life that are free - such as friends and family - that we all seem to take for granted. Just last week I was near complaining myself to death about driving all over the place on Christmas day and, "why can't I just have my own Christmas that everyone ELSE can come to?" but then it dawns on me that these moments are all I have on a lot of occasions to look forward to. I had the BEST time seeing everyone I love within a 30 mile radius no matter how much time I spent alone in the car. The gifts we all give one another are 'nice' and 'fun to use or look at' but the real gift is the one we get everyday; the gift of love.

The cold weather is very easy to complain about, but complaining about too much love is ridiculous. How lucky we are.

DAY DREAMING...

Do you ever find yourself day dreaming about nothing in particular and revel at where your mind can take you? Do tap into those hidden moments alone with just yourself and actually pay attention to how crazy your train of thoughts can be? If you are anything like me, it starts with a picture just like this one: I lay in my bed in the morning devouring wedding and design blogs on my iPhone. {I'm not engaged nor married but who the heck cares, a girl can dream}. I click on each image to open it bigger so I can study the intricate details and 'find' the beauty in things others don't see. I hover my finger over the image and wait for the "SAVE IMAGE" icon to pop up and then greedily stash it away for more private enjoying later on.

A few days go by, and then I open my image library and swoon all over again. Now I'm dreaming up where to put these beautiful flowers in my "DREAM HOME" and where on earth will it be. I now head over to www.craigslist.com and start looking at Spanish Bungalows in Pasadena and Highland Park. I find one or two that tickle my fancy and then EMAIL myself the link. This little beauty is for sale... dream again.

Somehow my mind goes into furniture mode, and now I'm online looking at Elle Decor and Architectural Digest, and Ebanista and finding pieces to fit in this gorgeous imaginary 1940s Spanish Bungalow that I don't actually have.

About thirty minutes goes by and I don't quite understand how I've gotten myself from a beautiful bouquet of flowers on Green Wedding Shoes to a large carved ebony wood credenza at Hudson but it just happens! This is creativity at work. This is EXACTLY the type of thing I have TRAINED my brain to do. To get inspired is an understatement... instead I actually create a different LIFE for myself all from an image I see. What a wonderful gift I have.

Flea Markets

There are few things in life better than buying someone's trash and taking it home as your treasure. I often wonder where these beautiful pieces I find come from... and why on earth anyone would 'throw them out'.