Nesting

Nesting : in.stinct

Function: Noun

...the burning desire to create a sanctuary for ourselves and families.

...the yearning to plant our roots in a refuge filled with warmth, solace, comfort and joy.

...the energy of life, the beauty of place and the peace of home.

Color your life

Celebrate your home

Build a nest

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked"-Bernard Meltzer



(I just had to add the last quote. I love my friends because they laugh with me when I have those crazy moments.)

Come celebrate the first day of Summer at

Ella Elaine.com!
Drop on by, I have extended the Sale items for one more week.

Food for the Soul

Anthropologie. Food for the Soul. A store where you not only shop, but you experience the ambiance of the mixture of the music , the scents and the merchandise. I am fortunate to have three stores within driving distance of my home. My daughter and I visited this Anthropologie a couple of days ago and I just had to take a few photos with my cell phone to share with you.

Can you guess what the wall treatment is made out of ? I know what it is. Leave a comment if you know too.

These look like mini shades, but they were huge!

A little tempting spot for an afternoon nap....

Patio - Phase One

Welcome. My house is a new home built from brick and stone. My husband and I decided to add a patio on the back of the house to match the front .

If you go back to my March 21st, 2008 blog entry, I had some photos of a stone walkway and church. I mentioned that I wanted that look in my own backyard . I think publishing this on the World Wide Web was the little nudge my dear hubby needed.


Fast forward through a ton of hard work and tons of rock...



Before ~ Kinda blah, right?

Before, looking down from an upstairs window. As my kids would say,

"B-o-r-i-n-g".

My husband took off work early several days to come home and start digging.

We have clay soil here. What a messy job. This photo is the second layer of the crushed granite we put in and then tamped it down. No power tools used here!

The boards were placed so we could run another board acrosss the top and get an even layer of granite. I am glad I was not in charge of this. It would have been lopsided.

Annie could not figure out why we were tearing up a perfectly good yard...

Morgan, my youngest son, came home from college just in time!

My dear hubby John, Morgan, and my oldest son, Ryan, trying to fit the stones together just right. It was a giant mosaic. I must say these three are perfectionist and the process took much longer than I would have ever imagined.

Mary Beth, my beautiful daughter-in-law, and my grandson, Jackson, cheering the work crew on.

I bought the gazebo at Target. The box said it would take 1 1/2 hours to assemble. This is not correct....


The chairs sitting on the edge of the patio are from the 1920's. They came with an old home we bought in Waco, Texas. I am planning on having them sandblasted and then painting them, adding wooden arm rests and new cushions.
We are eventually going to add another tier of patio stepping down from this one and have an outdoor fireplace and wooden gazebo. That will be Phase II.

My daughter's dog, Lexi, testing the coolness of the stone.

I love my new flowerbed! I planted Texas friendly plants with a natural look.

We enjoy having a cup of coffee or dinner Alfresco.

Relaxing.

Tickled Pink

My mystery rose bush finally bloomed. If you have read my April 10th post about my trip to the Antique Rose Emporium you will know my husband surprised my with this bush.

It is a Caldwell Pink and blooms in clumps of several roses together. I love it!

Is it Summer yet?

The kids are out of school. Temperatures in Texas are in the 90's. I have a tan line. Summer does not start officially until June 20th, but it has arrived in the South. This is not unusual. We have very little Spring weather and then it just takes a plunge for Summer.
The shells pictured above are on a shelf in our Master Bathroom. The jar on the left has blue shells from the Hamptons sitting on pink sand my daughter and I picked up near the lighthouse on the tip of Long Island. The middle jar has shells and finger coral from the Cayman Islands. The right jar has Hawaiian shells. I pick up sea glass,shells, sand, sticks and rocks on every beach I visit. I find God's creativity and sometimes even His humor when I am on the beach. All the beaches have their unique treasures. It doesn't matter if they are on the same Island or not. Some will have sea glass of all colors, and then the next beach may only have coral pieces.

Coral I found on a Hawaiian beach many years ago sits on a corner of my bathtub. I took the photo in 2006 on the North Shore of Oahu. I don't need Calgon to "Take me away", I have my sunset to send me to the Islands!

My last beach trip was to Florida where I bought this large finger coral for $12.00. It was a little tricky getting it back on the flight home, but it made it in one piece. (I actually bought a cheap $8.00 suitcase just to pack it in....)


Sand and shells I picked up on the beach at Destin, Florida. The pink and brown shell in front I bought at the same Antique Mall where I bought the finger coral. These apothecary jars also came from the Destin area.

Destin antique shops are so different from those here in Texas. It was very refreshing to see a mix of the sea with Shabby Chic. I just had to come home and try it out for myself.