My Romantic Life

I love beauty.  I endeavour to surround my family with beauty every day, whether it comes in the form of an artfully arranged tea table, a plaid blanket tossed over a chair or fresh flowers gracing the dinner table.

One of my favorite ways decorate is using what I have in new ways and incorporating things from nature.  Fir and Pine bows, pine cones, rose hips and even thistles find their ways into vases, baskets and buckets.  A ribbon here, a candle there, and you have a center-piece.

The crisp, sunny fall days have invigorated my longing for romantic nature decorating, so, with kids in tow, we trudged to the woods in search of inspiration.  As we breathed in the exhilarating fall air, we cut fresh pine bows and hunted pine cones.  We also took a little time to examine numerous piles of poop.  Master Hand Grenade identified the sign and took the opportunity to teach Princess Dragon Snack and Master Calvin what a pile of Elk poop looked like in the wild.  (We are country hicks, remember!)

Back up at the shouse, we hauled an old picnic table up from the shooting range and positioned to the side of the front door.  We laden the table down with pine bows, put an old painted wicker basket on the table and arranged a red candle holder in the basket.  It looked lovely, but we decided we needed a little more to add to our decorations.  We found a broken lattice, stuffed it behind the table, wove more pine bows through it and hung a lantern from the sun room beam.  It was just what I had envisioned!

Now, when we are expecting company in the evening, we can light the way to the front door. What a welcome sight it will be!