Hello!

Hi! Thank you for choosing to spend your time here. I am so excited to share, to write, to inspire and grow with you all.

“RESPOND TO LIFE AS YOU WANT TO LIVE IT”

We have no control over what goes on around us, but we can determine our response to it. With all my strength and help from God, I choose to stay Happy, be Enthusiastic, look for the Lesson in the failure and find the Light behind the clouds. In other words, I am an eternal optimist…except every now and then and we all have those days.

My little slice of heaven in the form of this blog is sharing what moves me to smile, to laugh, to cry, to get more determined and to never give up. In sharing from my heart to yours, I hope it helps you find joy in the midst of sadness, find hope when you’re feeling lost, and find ways to color your life beyond the black, the white and the gray. To Live Life Colorfully!

The photo is my love and I having a Fish Pedicure in St. Thomas. A weird and kooky thing but we will remember that moment in time for all of our lives.

“SEEDS WE PLANT WILL GROW INTO SOMETHING”

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My world revolves around family and that may be surprising when you find out that my husband and I are empty nesters. We both determined when we were going to start a family that our children would hear the words “I love you” often and get hugged on a regular basis. I loved playing with my children. Seeds we plant will grow into something, good or bad. For us the seeds of love, of enjoying playtime together has grown into a beautiful life where we get together for game nights, family traditions, holidays and vacations. So some of what I share on the blog will be about those relationships and nurturing them, celebrations and making them outstanding fun and tough times as well because no family is immune from them.

This photo is one of our newer traditions begun as our children were all adults, the family pajamas. These pjs were from the previous Christmas and then we put them on again for Thanksgiving and took the photo to use for our Christmas cards!

“EXPLORER OF LIFE”

As for a professional background, I have worn so many hats it gets laughable. RN, Avon, Discovery Toys (twice!), Concert Promoter, Administrative Assistant, Ministry Leader for an expressive worship (dance) group, Christian songwriter, Conference Speaker, Interior Decorator, Home Stager, Realtor, Vacation Rental owner and manager and now….Blogger! I think that gives me quite a lot to write about, right? I have loved all of my careers and am still in Real Estate as well as doing the staging for my sellers and interior decor for my family. On the blog I love to share my expertise in these areas with a heavy emphasis on the decor. My most pinned decorating post is Design an Epic Butler’s Pantry. If you enjoy home tours, learning a trick or two for quick decorating dilemmas or have some serious questions on style, I’m your gal!

The photo is from my Christmas Sparkle Home Tour highlighting my decorations for the holiday.

“IF YOU’RE TOO OLD TO LEARN, YOU’RE TOO OLD”

I excelled in school and have found that though I tend towards the creative and artistic side of life, I am a dedicated learner. Starting a blog is a HUGE learning obstacle. You not only become a writer, you do layout, you’re a photographer, editor, graphic designer, marketer, web designer, code writer, networker and in the end you will probably end up with a product that you get to develop and market as well. I have read more books than I can count, listened to podcasts, watched webinars, paid for course after course and watched youtube videos like I was addicted to them to learn anything I could about being successful in this venture. I get excited to share what I have learned and so you will see an entire section of my blog dedicated to helping new bloggers in their quest to add their voice to the crowd. I could create graphics all day long and if I knew how to design a website, well I would probably have a new one every week. I continue to take classes and do all of the things I mentioned above and once I learn something, I write about it so my readers can get my take on it. If you are even thinking about a blog, come take a ride with me and see what you think. 

The photo is a shot of The Gluten Free Twins and me at The Enlighten Retreat which they are two of the hosts of. They were working hard to get the table settings ready for the evening meal and I asked for a photo and there they were. This was my first blogging trip and it was so great, I am registered to return next year.

“NO ROCK IS GOING TO OUT SHOUT ME!”

More than 20 years ago after several years of misdiagnosis, I was finally and conclusively diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. More commonly referred to as MS. It is a disease that eats away at the protective sheath around the spinal cord and then results in damage to the transmission of signals to the body. Everyone will likely display different symptoms. It is progressive and many times has taken people’s lives at a far younger age than had they not had the disease. At the same time, I was also diagnosed with Depressive Disorder as my psychiatrist referred to my testing…”off the scale.” He said the same as he diagnosed me with Anxiety Disorder…”off the scale.” But my story had a dramatic change as I was completely healed of all three in an instant. I share about that in Do I Trust You, Lord Part 1 and Part 2. Obviously, that impacted my life like nothing else and has stirred up a voice in me to share about Jesus Christ. I am not favored any more than any other person He created and so I know that there are miracles and wonderful journeys out there for anyone who wants to walk in a relationship with Him. My blog will also share the stories of everyday life where I am touched by the heart and hand of my Savior and I will share what I have discovered while studying His Word. In 2017, I wrote 40 says of devotions for Lent.  If you have never heard of Jesus, let me introduce you. If you have, then my words will be a reminder of the love you have at your side at all times. I have removed those devotions to update for a 2021 Devotion Book.

This photo is me “Shouting from the Rooftop” sort of as we are currently building a new home in a active adult community.

“LIVE AS YOUNG AS YOU FEEL”

I am going to be honest with you. I feel much younger than my age dictates. I have memories of my grandmothers at my age and they really looked like a grandmother. Thankfully time and technology, medicine and health disciplines have come a long way in allowing us to embrace our older years with vigor and not look too shabby doing it. So, if you are in that time of life or getting near it, I am going to share some things that you don’t hear most people talk about. Bio identical hormones, cosmetic treatments and even surgery. I have thought a lot about this because I really don’t want to get the “haters” telling me how vain I am or that I should just grow old gracefully. Who says I’m not? The reason I have decided to share this is because I wish someone out there had shared it for me. I had to change my rating of my site from G to PG! I hope you enjoy the journey.

The photo is my Mom in the middle and my husband and me by her sides, celebrating her 90th birthday in 2016 at a 1920s themed party. She has taught me to live young. Unfortunately, she left us to be with Jesus in 2018 just shy of her 92nd birthday.

“RETAIL THERAPY COSTS LESS THAN A THERAPIST AND IS SO MUCH MORE FUN!”

Part of being a decorator, stager, practicer of hospitality involves SHOPPING! I love to shop, maybe a little too much. But I know many people don’t like to shop, so I have a page called “Retail Therapy” where I pop in collections on a pretty frequent basis. If you are looking for gifts or need something very specific for travel, outdoor, entertaining…chances are I have something for you there. I also will have links to products I show or similar ones within the blog post. If you shop using those links, I receive a commission and you don’t pay one single penny more. I appreciate you doing that. Please see my entire disclosure and policy statement.

This photo is me and my grand baby and daughter not seen out shopping the outlet shops for Janie and Jack. Shopping always improves my mood but shopping with them takes me over the top!

My Shoppes! 

If I could do anything it would be design. I love working on Canva and if I could design social media, banners, websites, etc. that would be a dream for me. So to feed that passion, I have opened up some shoppes online and designed things I love to buy so I can own them and so can you. Here is your exclusive invitation to My Shoppes

I truly hope we get to know each other. I realize that with thousands of readers that isn’t always possible, but if you write in the comments, email me or subscribe, I will soon become familiar with your voice too!

Joyfully!

Debbie