Sette Design

I love Christmas in Italy

Il Vischio- Mistletoe

I love Christmas in Italy.

Today is the day after the Winter Solstice, from now on in our hemisphere the days are getting longer, brighter.

I think this will be our tenth Christmas in Italy and I must say I love it.

Alfredo my park ranger boyfriend found Mistletoe (Il Vischio) in the forest and brought it home to me. If he had hung it in our short Medieval doorways we would have to crawl under it. Now we have a chair for kissing under. Italians believe it brings good fortune.

It rarely snows in our valley in Umbria, as it does in the mountains around us. We always are hoping for snow.

Hope brings joy.

downtown

A foggy Christmas is lovely too.

It makes everything blurry and the colors soft and bright.

Christmas in Italy

Here is proof we really do live the simple life. Just bliss pushing the tree home on the bike with gloves on and sucking on candy canes. Ellie my little one refused to let them rope it up, as they like to do here in Italy.

Medieval wall, bike and Christmas tree

Since our living room is my paint studio this means the Christmas tree is in my bedroom. It’s pretty fantastic to snuggle in bed with the Christmas tree a glow.

Christmas in Umbria

I saved a baby sock from when Lucia was a baby

some of our ornaments are from my childhood
MANY years ago they are antique now!

I recommend it.

This year we had a party with Elisa and her-ten-year old girlfriends. They made cookies with mashed up candy canes inside. The hammering part was fun!

mashed candy canes and dough from
a chocolate chip cookie recipe -YUMMM

Pink roses and a red candle.

crazy yellow ring on the candle

The girls seem to check on an hourly basis to see if more presents are put under the tree.

Art in progress, books to read, cyclamen and vintage Christmas balls.

art in progress

I hope you are all happy and warm and savoring every moment.

Cheers,

Natalie

I'm linking with:
Between Naps on the Porch

Letters of Love - Good Design

The simple life

a packet of words

I’m a bit of a romantic. You may have figured that out by now. When I went back home to California recently I decided that I wanted part of my heart to be in Cali (silly since a big chuck of it is always there). I brought back a bag of letters of love. When I put them all together in a big heap, it struck me how beautiful they were, what good design. How maybe the art of writing letters is being lost. Will my daughters find themselves at some point with a heap of letters of love? I hope so.

traveling with love

I say letters of love because these letters were letters that girl friends had written to me, my brother when he traveled the world for two years, my sister when she was away at University, my parents. There were a few love letters from boys and men of my past. In this travel bag there were also letters I had written. These letters were brought back to me after a best friend committed suicide. Her sister brought my letters back to me! My own letters saved me and made me sure I had shown this friend I loved her. My own words of love gave me the strength to carry on. Isn’t that gorgeous how the past can come back and help us in our present journey.

I’m writing this now not to bring you all down, but to encourage you to write a letter, just one letter to someone you love, hand write it, stamp it and mail it with a kiss on top.

letters of love

It might just be the best present you give this year.

With affection,

Natalie

I'm linking with:
Romantic Home
French Country Cottage
Between Naps on the Porch

Napa Valley Winter Garden

The simple life

I’m back in Umbria after our trip home to California. When we arrived to our city there was thick cold fog socked in deep. It was so pretty, I thought to get fog in San Francisco and didn’t and it made me feel so happy and that Christmas was on it's way.

We got the heat on right away and it lasted a couple hours, then broke down. It had been left off for three weeks and let me tell you if you have any romantic ideas about how we live in this Italian Gothic Palazzo that is 800 years old you can give them up, because Gothic equals bone chilling cold, two feet thick stone walls are very good at keeping the cold in. Those Medieval princesses suffered in more ways then one.

persimmons and a candle

The heat is now fixed I have a glass of red wine by my side and a few candles lit and I am ready to show you the Napa Valley Winter Garden that I talked about. When you think of Napa Valley you probably think of the grand rich wineries or fields of grapevines and mustard flowers. Since I love the simple life I just want to show you some of what I consider to be peace.

A winter garden brings peace because often there just isn’t much work being done. Bareness can also feel peaceful and sleepy.

I love how persimmons remain on the tree while the leaves fall off.

A t-shirt drying on the line is hoping the sun will come along. Plus I think that is the compost pile. I saw a funny sign on the gate in another town outside S.F. that said, "trespassers will be composted".

My nephew is Walker Ryan and he is a professional skate boarder, they stuck the old decks of his skateboards onto the garden fence. I think it is a nice tribute to all the hard work it takes to become a professional athlete.

I like the one blue tile as a step into the shed and that it isn't in the middle.

garden shed in Napa Valley

Inside the shed the walls and ceiling are painted Pompeii red.

corrugated tin roof and Pompeii red door

I absolutely love a corrugated roof. It makes me knees weak.

I know my painting studio space here in my home is fantastic and I do appreciate the space, but I have always had the fantasy of having many sheds that have different purposes. If I had property and I lived in the U.S. (because you sure couldn't do it in Italy) I would love to build sheds all over the garden and make guest bedrooms, a paint studio, a music room shed, maybe even a library and one big cozy chair to read in.

A simple tribute to life in Napa Valley is an old dried grape cluster draping a birdhouse roof.

Cheers,

Natalie

I'm linking with these lovely parties:

The Shabby Creek Cottage

French Country Cottage

Romantic Home

Between Naps on the Porch

Flowers for the Festivities

I can’t believe it is December already. I am very excited. I love December, it is my birthday month and I have a bunch of cool friends born in December also. Plus I'm still on the California Coast so that to me equals happiness.

December means festivities.

My sister is a natural born entertainer. It comes naturally to her and she has a worker bee attitude and knows how to prepare for the party so when the party happens there is less work to be done and she can enjoy herself. It’s that the best kind of party.

She is also talented at displaying flowers as you can see.

Plus she brought some Pamelos which the girls and I had never seen before, they taste yummy too. They are kind of like a sweet grapefruit.

Candles and flowers and fruit and of course food and wine, family and friends and the holidays shine bright.

With affection,

Natalie
I am linking with:
French Country Cottage
Romantic Home
Between Naps on the Porch

California Coast

long hallway with five tiny bedrooms on the sides

Simple Life
This San Francisco girl living in Umbria has made it home with her girls and we are lavishing every moment here on the California coast.

Oh how I love the smell of the Pacific Ocean, the twinkling orange lights of San Francisco.

I have so much already that I want to share with you, but I am limping along with other's computers, as mine is having problems, it makes it hard to work and to write. So if I disappear for a while you will know that I am unable technically to handle much, but also we are enjoying the much needed time with friends and family.


this is not our house, I do love the faded hydrandea

I do have to show you a winter garden in Napa Valley, a cool alternative houseboat community in Sausalito and some cottage style houses that the California coast is known for, it is all so old and solid in my heart, then fun and fresh to bring to this Diario di Design.

I hear that it is snowing in Umbria. Life on the California coast is supreme, people in the sand, in the shower, chatting on the deck, the hills settling into water, American coffee, something cooking, the holidays are brewing. I am excited and filled with gratitude just to be home and breathing in the air.

I am also so thankful for all of you, my friends and readers around the world. I want to inspire you all to slow down and savor the moments that bring you joy and peace. To keep your creativity going, and take time to relish in it.

To those in America Happy Thanksgiving and to everyone else I wish you tranquility and happiness.

Simple as that, embrace it.

how cool is this house, I couldn't find this in Umbria cheers!

With affection,

Natalie

Velvet Ribbons

I love it that the holidays are coming and we can wallow in the moments of joy.

I searched all over my Medieval city for velvet ribbon, I got it in my head that I must find velvet ribbon. I did finally find bright red and rich earth brown in the sewing store.

velvet ribbon for the holidays

This way we can wrap up things in velvet ribbon and it instantly becomes a little present.

I made homemade pain au chocolat, butter and dark chocolate stuffed in yeast bread with a little sugar. Yum, then wrapped them up in aluminum foil and a velvet ribbon for school or a work snack.

homemade bread with chocolate

I like the ribbon used as fastening for a love note.

on second thought
the love note would have been cooler
inside the bottle

Hot chocolate, brown velvet ribbon and a hot pink azalea, The holidays are here!

Decoration on a bunch of berries left on my baby girl's cushion.

strawberries from a tree

Doesn't velvet ribbon just start up the holiday season with a touch of festa?

Cheers!

Natalie

I'm linking with:
French Country Cottage

Romantic Home
The Shabby Creek Cottage.com

Creativity Prevails

“Creativity is a wild beast, it feeds on harmony.”

I didn’t write that I wish I had because it is so true. There is something about creativity that is out of control, raw and free yet when life is out of control it feels hard to be creative and to have innovative thoughts. To me that lack of creativity doesn’t even matter when life if weighed down by horror, shock or hardship. Then when the harmony creeps in again and creativity follows those moments in turn seem paramount, true, fresh and invigorating.