Dreams Do Come True.....

The Countdown is on for HGTV's Dream Home Giveaway..... You have to be in it to win it!.... as they say......  What would you do with it if you won?  Come on, let's dream!  I haven't been to California since I was 16!  So, I would keep it as a vacation place.....   And you?

   

CHERUBS IN THE MIDST.....

I happened to mention in an earlier post that I love to collect Cherubs..... Angels, too.  But, since this is the Season for Love with all of its Cupids and Cherubs, I thought I would take a little trip around my house and just see how many I have.  It's funny, when you start looking, you realize just how much your collection has grown.  There are several others sprinkled here and there in the garden.... resting on rock walls or sleeping amidst the plants, but.... since it's freezing outside I thought I would just share my indoor collection, and save the outside Cherubs, Garden Angels and Fairies for warmer days.... 

Let's start here with the tiniest one.  This little friend I stumbled upon in a shop while on vacation in Palm Beach.  It is a wine stopper, and since I so love my glass of wine after a long day, he's kept very busy keeping the bottles fresh.  Isn't he just the cutest?

Next, is another tiny cherub perching on a shell in my conservatory.  The shell is filled with glass seashells, starfish, and other sea creatures....

Next is a tiny Cherub which was a gift from my Mom.

Look closely.... she's sucking her thumb.... a favorite

pastime of mine when I was a tiny Cherub in my Mom's

eyes....

This sitting Cherub is perched at the base of a Grandmother clock in my foyer.

This one sits on top of a bookshelf.

Remember these?  This vignette was featured at Christmas.  See the tiny

Cherubs on top of this family photo.  This was a photo taken at

my son's engagement party last September.  One day

I will do a post about the house in the background....

 it belongs to the man that I am dating......

And last, but not least.... this huge wall hanging that sits over

my tub.  It looks like it's made of stone,  but ..... surprise

it is as light as a feather it's made of that faux stone...

I've fooled many people.... especially 

the man that hung it for me! 

 

Love.....Love....Love

What do you love to collect?

HORMONES....... ANYONE?

BIO-IDENTICAL  VS. HRT

Has anyone been following the shows on Oprah with Robin McGraw (Dr. Phil's wife) and  her newest book "What's Age Got to do With It",  Dr. Christiane Northrop "The Wisdom of Menopause" and tonight's show with Suzanne Sommers and her newest book "Breakthrough".  I would love to have an ongoing discussion with all of you ladies out there in Blogland..... What are YOUR feelings regarding the debate,  Bioidentical Hormones vs. HRT (synthetic hormones)  Anyone with any positive or negative experiences you would like to share with all of us that may be sitting on the Perimenopausal/ Menopausal Fence?  

Younger ladies.... join in as well!  

Let's Chat!

P.S. Oprah's live webcast with Dr. Northrop that aired this evening can be downloaded for free starting tomorrow by going to Oprah.com.  It was extremely informational and should be viewed by all women of every age.

TIME TO WAKE UP......

Please let it be Spring......

BUY, BUY......

I'm off to the New York International Gift Show!

 I'm going to "shop till I drop"

Need anything from the market?  :)

See you in a few days!

 

                 

GOOD-BYE SANTA....

~Hello Cupid~

Hearts and Flowers....

Love is in the air at Meadowsweet!

~Love for Sale~

~Cherub~ $110

All because ...... $21

Heart Wreath~ $45

~Heart Wreath~

$52

~Love Bunches~

$12

MY CONSERVATORY...... BUILDING A DREAM

It was at an orchid exhibit at the New York Botanical Gardens where I was first bitten by the conservatory bug!  As you may know the magnificent Botanical Gardens are known for their grand conservatories.  Though it was a really cold and windy day when I was there for the orchid exhibit, inside the conservatory was tropically warm and the smell of the plants was intoxicating!  So began my dream to someday have a conservatory albeit a much smaller one, but a conservatory nonetheless,  where the feeling is always tropical, no matter what the thermometer says!

This shot is how the house appeared from the outside before construction began. The conservatory was constructed off the back of the house.  These windows would be replaced with French doors leading into the conservatory from the living room.  The project took two years from start to finish with all of the necessary permits, plans and manufacturing.

Finally the day arrived,  and so did a huge back hoe to dig the foundation, followed by the cement truck.

The foundation of the house also had to be broken through to create a crawl space under the conservatory foundation so all of the air conditioning ducts could be fed through.

The project remained like this for a few months while waiting for the structure to arrive.  The conservatory was manufactured from mahogany and shipped over from Ireland.  It then sat at the piers waiting to go through customs.

I never took photos of all the stacked pieces after they were delivered, so there is a gap in showing the construction.  But here are some shots of the final outcome.  This is the sideview of how the conservatory sits to the side of my patio.  It has French doors leading onto the patio as well.  I also found a company that manufactures retractable screens, so on a lovely spring day, I pull the screens down from their rolled up mechanism and it become much like a screened in porch..   The doors have retractable screening as well.

And finally the finished project.  The roofline has a lovely decorative piece that sits across the top.  For some reason it is not visible in this picture.  

This is the view from the conservatory and throughout the back of the house.  The stonework was another major project the first summer I moved in.  I wanted something that looked old with a Tuscan feel.  The stone walls are constructed from granite.  The roses are carpet roses in deep pink that spill down the walls from early summer until fall. Giant sunflowers and Endless Summer Hydrangeas serve to cover the stark white vinyl fence.  Fences are nice for privacy, this fence is my neighbors choice, but my intention is to hide the starkness of it by creating a natural screen.  The huge slab of slate shown in the corner of the picture where the gravel is, is a fountain where the water spills over that slate and gathers in the gravel where underneath a huge pump is housed to gather the water and recycle it up and through the garden again.

Just looking at the flowers makes me long for those summer days in my garden!  It snowed AGAIN today!