fearless

chez ami ~ florida!

i've loved patsy aiken designs for years...long before i had little ones.

her children's clothing collections have been sold under a new name for a few years, which i love because it's french. french is good. my dog has a french name. my firstborn has a french name. i miss living in france. every...single...day.

but, i digress...

chez ami is divine...classic, sophisticated, whimsical...enough to make mamas and their babes (and even tweens!) squeal with fashion happiness. my firstborn is getting these for her birthday in a few weeks...i can't wait.

the pieces are so pretty. and the rash guard with ruffles? lovely...and so perfectly florida.

how to miss a childhood

i didn't plan to link to anyone yet. i'm just getting my blog mojo back and don't have all my gidgets and gadgets and images done. i've been away for years, after all.

but this link was included in a post from simple homeschool (which i love) and i needed to ensure that i saved it. and shared it.

please read this very moving reminder. it's good to be digital, but not distant.

in memory

*none of these images are my own, but i love the quiet, powerful messages of courage on this memorial day.

a time for peace

i'm back. i needed a break.

i didn't get one, really...as a committed philanthropist who can never say 'no' and {more importantly} a wife to one very busy man and a home~educating mum to four wee ones, there is never rest. ever. *but* pulling back from my design business, closing down blogs, reassessing what my immediate priorities *really* needed to be...it was a good thing indeed.

one year ago, we moved to the country. i never thought i'd say that.

i was a city girl, through and through. although i was born in southern california and spent my childhood in a small florida beach town, i leaped at the chance to go to university in atlanta. then came new york city, then paris, then london. it is there that i met my husband, and after marrying in scotland we relocated to new york city. two city children later, we were out of there. goodbye to the management career that i spent fifteen years nurturing; hello suburbia and motherhood sans nannies. but suburbia was....strip malls. homeowner's associations. *business.* business in a way that seemed busier than the big cities.

finally, we have found our balance.

the best part of life in the country? the trees. the land. the space. the room to breathe. the horses. the rolling hills and farms and cattle ranches. i absolutely, positively, completely love it and find that my soul is being nourished in ways that i never imagined. the city girl that still lurks deep inside of me can be appeased by the neiman marcus that is only 50 minutes away ~ even though i don't have the slightest inkling to go there. not now.

there is a certain peace that is slowly and gently seeping into my daily routine. not to confuse peace with 'calm' ~ after all, i do have four children ranging in age from 30 months~9 years. {where oh where oh *where* has the time gone???}

i'm dusting off my beloved canon, reacquainting myself with my very favorite lens (a 50mm macro) and have decided to re~ignite this one blog. it will be a place to share the beauty found in a life of peace, to communicate inspiration, to keep in contact with the friends and customers and boutiques that were the foundation of une petite etoile {the creative enterprise, not the business} and to pass along the wondrous things that inspire me and bring grace to our lives.

because life, after all, is about inspiration and grace and giving.