Spring, Glorious Spring!

"Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world."

--Virgil A. Kraft

'Til Next Time!

Kathryn

www.KathrynBechenInk.com

"Where Beauty, Order, & Business Bloom!"

Spring Flowers

"No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow." --Proverb

'Til Next Time!

Kathryn :)

www.KathrynBechenInk.com

The Luck of the Irish

May the Luck of the Irish be with you today!

Love,
Kathryn :
www.KathrynBechenInk.com
"Where Beauty, Order, & Business Bloom"

Of Broken Arms and Writing Books

As we all know, this thing called LIFE sometimes gives us beautiful doorways to walk through, like the one above, and other times, well, not-so-much.

I received a beautiful email letter just the other day from a long time loyal blog reader who is going through a rough life patch, (she remains anonymous below to preserve her privacy), and her email touched me so greatly that it prompted me to share it and then also share with you a personal story, in the hopes it will motivate you to bloom the best you can, in spite of life's challenges.

Letter from my blog reader:

"From reading your blog, it seems you strive to make each day extraordinary. That is how my husband and I have tried to live our life and raise our family. We are doing well, but like many others, we have walked some extreme difficulty with the economic situation, and I suppose one of the things I am pondering most is when to let go of dreams and when to hold on. I pray and study God's word for His leading in my life. However, I find new thoughts and inspiration when I read your blog. For this, I thank you. I admire you and your desire to live an extraordinary lifestyle, and to get to meet or talk to you would be an unbelievable experience for me."

What a sweet lady; I emailed her that I would indeed be willing to speak with her on the phone and would feel privileged to meet her as well!

Now for my personal story:

Of broken arms and writing books...

As most of you know, last year I signed a book contract with one of the largest (Christian) book publishers in the world to write a home-related book. Now for those of you who know me well, it's no surprise that I take my writing deadlines very seriously as a professional writer. So seriously, in fact, that I have never missed a deadline in my 20+ years of freelance writing for magazines, newspapers, and private clients. Yes, really.

But then, I had never broken my right (writing) arm during that time either! Well, as the old cliche goes, there's a first time for everything, and on October 1, 2010, right during the middle of writing my book, I tripped on a broken sidewalk and took a very bad fall after just coming out of my hair salon (at least I had a good hair day!), and there I laid, unable to get up on my own, and in excruciating pain. In physical shock, I faintly remember hearing several people yell, "Oh no, she fell!" from a nearby open-air restaurant, and most thankfully, four Good Samaritans came running to help me.

Hmmm, now I had a broken writing arm, two bunged-up knees and shoulders that were badly bruised and very sore, and my book to complete for a major publisher who had already invested a great deal of time, staff, faith, and money in me as an author. Hello, stress!

Here's what I chose to do:

First of all, I know, no matter what the circumstance, that it is my choice in life, to choose what I will focus on, even when things are tough. I always choose to focus on beauty, and have it around me physically. I choose to also focus on beauty in my mind. During my broken arm recovery, I chose to surround myself with flowers. (With the help of my husband.)

Life Principle: "I will make everything around me beautiful; that will be my life." --Elsie de Wolfe

After my hubby Steve arrived at the broken arm scene to take me to Urgent Care, I chose to ask him to dial 1-800-NOW-PRAY so they could pray me through the situation and hold me in their prayer vigil for the next 30 days. They did, asking God for complete and total healing of my arm. And then, I thanked God for cell phones, Urgent Care, and a devoted a husband who was willing to drop everything during a work luncheon and come running to my aid.

Life Principle: "I am with you and I will help you because I am your God." --Isaiah 41:10, The Bible.

I chose to marshall all my resources, and focus on visualizing the end result rather than the problem, seeing in my mind, my finished book in the home section of bookstores everywhere, fueled by the fact that I was writing a book to help people live a better life.

Life Principle: Focus on the doughnut, not the hole, and realize right answers will come to you.

Some people are flowers in the garden of life. So during my healing time, I chose to email friends and aquaintances I enjoy and admire who I knew would send me positive, uplifting thoughts and prayers, as I have done for them before. They did indeed, and true to form, they also made me laugh, (what a gift!), in spite of some big challenges in their own lives. I admire them as people for a number of reasons, one being that I've observed them come through their own personal and family adversities with fortitude, and grace.

Life Principle: As my hubby Steve says, "When adversity happens, you just never know who'll step up to help you in some way, large or small. And then, you should always pay it forward." Yep. :)

I thanked God for my organizational skills! Because of them, my hubby Steve and I were able to keep things running smoothly at home, albeit with the help of hiring two (very kind) home health care aids. Strangers I had never met, the home health care aides had to help me shower and dry off, go to the bathroom, shop for and cut my food, (I couldn't drive), wash my hair etc. while my hubby worked...and yes, it was humbling for an independent and high-spirited Type A personality like me, but I considered patience another life lesson I needed to learn, and I thanked God daily for the opportunity for that lesson. Easy to do? No. Necessary? Yes!

I also thanked God for my (pink!) laptop computer and for the fact that because I broke my arm just below the elbow, I could still use my wrists and fingers to type, and had a sling, rather than a cast. Hallelujah! The book could still get written, from my bed, albeit slowly, but written. I asked the Good Lord to give me grace and infuse my spirit and tired and hurting body with extraordinary strength and healing. He did, and like a hurdle-jumper at a track meet, I vowed that I would scale that height!

Life Principle: Focus on what you have, not what you don't. (Kind of like the donut, not the hole! :)

I thanked God that better hair days were ahead! (Now now, my friends, don't think I'm vain until you've never been able to wash and style your own hair for six weeks!) Then, and only then, you can judge me! LOL :)

Life Principle: Only your hairdresser knows. (Oh yeah, and Lady Clairol!)

I thanked God every day that I have an amazingly devoted and kind husband, who after nearly 31 years of marriage, took good care of me and who still brings me gifts like the one above that says: "Swans mate for life. Love, Steve." Now here's a guy who understands the word perseverance: He asked me out on a date six times before I said yes! What was I thinking?! Lucky me that he never gave up! And ditto, I still adore him! :)

Life Principle: "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." --Mignon McLaughlin

Of books, and no more broken arm...

I am happy to report, with God, my hubby, and my arm X-rays as my witnesses, that I submitted my book manuscript several days before my deadline! And I am also happy to report that my book editor liked the book very much, requested only a few edits, and as of today, the publisher has chosen the final title, the manuscript is being laid out to look like a book, and the cover design will be finished in the near future. Praise God!

Oh and one last thing: My arm healed without further ado, and is fully functioning, thanks to Urgent Care, my FAB holistic M.D., and several talented and kind massage therapists who kept my shoulder from freezing up and kept me typing away!

Life Principle: Bloom all the days of your life, in spite of life's challenges, and praise God, from whom all blessings flow!

'Til Next Time!

Kathryn :)

www.KathrynBechenInk.com

"Where Beauty, Order, & Business Bloom!"

A Man's Home is His Castle...

It's no big secret that I LOVE observing married couples and writing about how they "figure it all out" together to create a warm and loving home and lifestyle that's right for both of them as a couple, and as leaders of their family if they have children.

Here's a true "couples conversation" I heard yesterday in a home goods store:

Her: "How about if we buy this pillow that says, 'A man's home is his castle until the Queen arrives?!' "

Him: "Well that's such a given, I don't even know why they bothered to write it down!"

I laughed out loud!

They heard me laugh and rolled their eyes humorously in that sort of connecting way people do when they meet kindred spirits, and they both laughed again out loud with me!

Speaking of couples at home, I tease my DHS (Dear Hubby Steve) that should the Good Lord decide to take me to his big house in the sky tomorrow, judging by the number of emails I receive from women, (who read my blog), where I wax poetic about DHS's easy-going nature, devoted 30+ year adoration of his wife, astute ability to wield a hammer for home improvement projects, willingness to jet off on romantic B&B Inn trips with me, plus his Greek-god-like good looks, that he'll be the next Tom Hanks-like character just like in the movie Sleepless in Seattle, with women from across the globe wanting to marry him! :) (To which he just rolls his heavenly baby blue eyes, grins, and says, "Nah." :)

Well girls, before you get too head-over-heels in love with my DHS, who yes, I have absolutely loved, admired, and respected as a handsome prince of a man/husband for nearly 31 years, lest you think living with him is all bed and breakfast bliss on a daily basis, I think you should know:

He has a decorating dark side.

Yes indeed, it's true...

I called DHS from Home Goods yesterday with "decorator glee" in my voice:

"Honey, I just found two really cool pictures to put above our new beverage bar we just set up!"

And DHS said, with a golf TV show blaring in the background:

"Oh, that's great babe. Sounds like you're having fun."

To which I replied:

"When we get home, can you hang them for me?"

DHS said:

"Sure babe, sure."

(Sounds too good to be true so far, right ladies?!)

Read on!

When I arrived home an hour later and showed him the pictures, DHS, now with a cranky look on his, "When are we going to have dinner?" face, in a tired tone of voice, said:

"Those are going to look too cluttered on that small wall. You know how I hate cluttered walls; they make me feel closed in." (So much for "Sure babe, sure I'll hang those pix for you, no questions asked!")

To which I (sweetly, of course) replied:

"But honey, you always say I have good taste so let's just hang them up and then we can see; I really think you'll like it and it won't look cluttered, but cute, because the pictures go perfectly with our new beverage bar tea/coffee motif."

DHS sighs, (quite possibly figuring, after nearly 31 years of marriage, that he's licked), and says:

"Well I still think it's going to look too cluttered. After we hang them up why don't you take a photo and send it to your Facebook decorator friends and I'll bet they'll tell you it looks too cluttered!" (Spoken by a man who has never once set foot on Facebook, and hasn't earned his interior decorating certificate like I have.)

I smile and say, not (quite) as patiently as the last time:

"Honey, I don't really think I need to run hanging these two little pictures by my Facebook decorator friends; I mean, after all, I've been doing this for 30 years now and I do have an interior decorator certificate. Plus, you always tell me when we're done that you like it."

He grins and says:

"You're just as spunky as when I met you 34 years ago!" and then adds:

"Did you notice while you were out shopping that I changed that ugly black power cord for you that you didn't like to this white one that blends in with the wall?" (This man does indeed know the way to my decorating heart!)

I kiss him and say:

"Yes I did notice, doll, and thanks so much; you do indeed know how I detest those ugly black power cords, don't you?!"

He smiles a smug look of, "Men Are From Mars/Women Are From Some Totally Unknown Planet!" look of satisfaction on his face, starts hanging my pictures, and once again we begin our...

"Please move the picture a little to the left, a little more up, no a little more to the right..." home decorating dance.

DHS then complains:

"Does it really have to go further left? I already made the nail hole! And I'm not using the double-hangers you like because I'm too tired."

Me:

"Yes, please. " No comment on the nada double-hangers; after nearly 31 years of marriage, I (usually) know when it's best to keep mum! :)

DHS replies:

"Well, I think it needs to go further right, and I still think these pictures are going to make this wall look cluttered!"

I say, trying by this time to keep(the annoyance) out of my voice:

"You're doing great love; when we're all done, it's going to look so cool. I just know you're gonna love it!"

"Yeah, right." he mutters under his breath.

Three misplaced nail holes and two pictures hung perfectly later, I hug him and say:

"Thanks so much honey, I love how it turned out and I really appreciate you doing this for me; really I do!"

And then, exhausted by our "decorating tango," I retreat to my "Queen's Chair" (...as in, "A man's home is his castle, until The Queen arrives.")

The curvy/feminine/"Women Are From Some Totally Unknown Planet" chair, with the beautiful silk-embroidered pillow in it...that when I brought it home, DHS said:

"You paid HOW MUCH?! for that?!!

'Til Next Time!

Kathryn

http://www.kathrynbechenink.blogspot.com/

"Where Beauty, Order, & Business Bloom!"

Our "City Slicker Cottage Style" Home

 Welcome to our "city slicker cottage style" high-rise home in San Diego County, California!  Spring means it's home "spruce-up" time so my hubby Steve and I wanted to share our latest home ideas and yes, (inspirational obsessions!) with you, in the hopes that you'll be inspired and motivated to "spruce-up" your own home too, in a style that makes your particular family, happy.

Our personal style of creating a home that's right for us includes weekend "jaunts to junque stores" together, (...the ultimate M.O. in recycled/green living and marital bonding!), to find just that right piece of "beautiful treasure" (a.k.a. trash to some people! :), and combining it with more expensive furnishings we "just had to have," along with mementos we've collected during our many years of travel together. We hope you enjoy our home!

"Decorating is not about making stage sets; it's not about making pretty pictures for the magazines; it's really about creating a quality of life, a beauty that nourishes the soul." --Albert Hadley--

"Every door has its own key." --Swahili Proverb "I believe in plenty of optimism and white paint." --Elsie de Wolfe "I deeply believe that a beautiful decor
can have a beneficial influence on our life."
 --Albert Hadley "Beauty is found in the details." --Sarah Ban Breathnach "Have nothing in your house you do not know to be useful
or believe to be beautiful."
--William Morris My husband and I collect prints when we travel together.

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words. To me, a picture is worth a thousand memories."
--Jeffrey A. Goodman We've recently turned our dining area
and kitchen into our "Bechen Bistro."

"Dining is always a great artistic opportunity." --Frank Lloyd Wright

And God said, "Let there be light!" --The Bible

We like to offer our guests a welcome beverage, so I turned our brand new "Old World" style buffet into a beverage bar. A.k.a. "Cafe Bordeaux," courtesy of this $3 plate I found in a "junque" store. "Offering a cool drink is a gracious act." --Alexandra Stoddard "Entertaining is about giving to people and sharing with them."
--Valentino Couturier
"If you invest in beauty, it will remain with you
all the days of your life." --Frank Lloyd Wright"Kitchens should be designed around what's truly important--fun, food, life."
--Daniel Zoulud "Flowers are God's poetry." --Kathryn Bechen "Anyone who has a library and a garden wants for nothing." --Cicero "Nothing else smells like home." --Janine King "Home is the comforting nest to harbor the soul." --Anonymous"Your home should be a greenhouse where you flourish to your full potential."
 --Vicki Kraft
"It's all about editing one's life--refining, simplifying, constantly editing."
--Bill Blass "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." --Leonardo Da Vinci "To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul." --Cicero "Prayer and housekeeping; they go together." --Gunilla Norris "I wiped away the weeds and foam, I fetched my seaborn treasures home."
--Emerson "When friends enter a home, they sense its personality and character,
the family's style of living."
--Ralph Lauren "We read books to find out who we are." --Ursula LeGuin "The beautiful is as useful as the useful, perhaps more so."
--Victor Hugo "The true spirit of hospitality is about sharing the pleasure you derive from living with beauty."
--Charlotte Moss "The essence of a house resides in its details." --Anonymous "Comfort is a room you love being in without knowing why."
--Ruth Graham Bell "An interior is the natural projection of the soul." --Coco Chanel "Your home is a sacred space; a space with your address."
--Kathryn L. Robyn "Ample make this bed/make this bed with awe." --Emily Dickinson "In the softness of pillows one finds renewed optimism and strength."
 --From the book Victoria: Bedrooms
"Ah, there is nothing like staying home for real comfort."
--Jane Austen "Life is too short to sleep on low threadcount sheets." --Leah Stussy "Beauty does not depend upon magnificence."
--Lucy Abott Thorpe: The Home of Good Taste, 1910 "Why do we love certain houses? Why do they seem to love us?"
--T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings "The most important things in your home are people."
--Amish Proverb "Little things mean everything." --Samuel Johnson "There is a certain majesty in simplicity." --Alexander Pope I found this picture in a "junque" store recently for $28!
Oh, to me...it's beautiful!

"Work toward assembling a nest that will hold you gently but firmly,
as you might cup a bird in your hand."
 --Sarah Ban Breathnach
"The spa lifestyle is...simply respecting the body and emotions."
--Sunamita Lim in the book Spa Living "In a place for beauty, a woman looks for leisure to her appearance and increases her allure. Such a pleasurable time deserves
surroundings filled with grace."
--Victoria magazine
"Order is the shape upon which beauty depends." --Pearl S. Buck "The house is but the externalized man." --Frank A. Parsons
"To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition,
the end to which every enterprise and labor tends.
--Samuel Johnson "Lucky is the woman who courts the muse at home."
--Victoria magazine
"Why beauty? Because there is a kind of harmony that
allows the spirit to come forth."
 --Natalie Davenport "Home is a communion of the spirit." --Peter Megargee Brown "When your home environment is pleasant, you're more likely to be."
--Emellie Tolley "I am going to make everything around me beautiful; that will be my life."
 --Elsie de Wolfe My hubby Steve and I share a home office and this is his gig!
"You can't have everything, where would you put it?!"
--Steven Wright
Our tiny little urban terrace gives us joy.

"A small house well filled is better than an empty palace."
--Thomas D. Haiburton

"Home should feel like a sweet embrace." --Kathryn Bechen "When at last I took the time to look into the heart of a flower, it opened up a whole new world...as if a window had been opened to let in the sun."
 --Princess Grace of Monaco When you step outside the door of our San Diego County high-rise home,
here are some of the sites you'll see....

"Still round the corner there may wait, a new road or a secret gate."
--TolkienThere's a FAB bookstore ...with a HUGE section of decorating books!

"By harnessing the power of design, we enrich our lives everyday."
--Joan Kohn
"Keep a green tree in your heart and
perhaps the singing bird will come." --Anonymous
"Where the good things are, there is home." --Euripides
"A flower-less home is a soul-less home." --Vita Sackville-West "Beauty is after all, simplicity." --Einstein "Happy is the house that shelters a friend." --Emerson "I had three chairs in my house: one for solitude, two for friendship,
three for society."
--Thoreau "We shape our dwellings, and afterwards, our dwellings shape us."
 -Winston Churchhill

We hope you enjoyed the tour of our "city slicker cottage style" San Diego County, California home!


"Our house had a heart and soul...it was of us...and we were in its confidence and lived in the grace of its benedictions." --Mark Twain


'Til Next Time!

Kathryn :)