One More Little Word

Meet the wonderful Ridley's

At the Benini Sculpture Ranch

I just had to mention this incredible home and guest house on a land development very near the Benini Sculpture Ranch in Johnson City.

The picture at right is the guest house and I have spent many a night here with the then caretakers and sellers of land, Mike and Judy Ridley. Their job was to manage this development in terms of its animal population, conservation development, and generally oversee any selling of lots and the building of homes and models on this large land development. I will always recall with such fondness the amount of passion Mike has for developing and implementing conservation land developments. One would not think that this is important to Texas considering most of its land is privately owned. But this development is the product of some people who reside in Jackson Hole, Wy., and they certainly picked a great piece of property, however, it required some major work and some highly intricate detailing of exactly where homes should be situated on the land. Making use of the wind is very important when deciding where to place the house to capture the coolness of wind in summer. Mike did an amazing job at this and Judy was overseer of all the cowboys on the property--a very big job I might add.

The Ridley's remain one of my most beloved couples and I hope to one day live a little closer to them, but one never knows what's in store. More will be revealed I think. In the meantime, should you ever need an expert in conservation developments please contact Mike immediately.

Okay, that's it. Next is Homestead, promise.

Enjoy!

More From Fredericksburg, Texas

Richard's Trademark Outdoor Shower

The Diamond Belle

This is such a wonderful find and is off the beaten trail and well off Main Street, which is really good because it is horrifically loud with traffic noise.

It was built by premier builder, Richard Laughlin and is situated on a small piece of his property. It also includes an outdoor shower, which has almost become his signature. I have spent a lot of time in this little cabin and can safely say it is a dream. My next trip down to Fredericksburg always includes a stay at this B+B. There are major long horn cattle in the area and there's nothing quite like sitting out on the porch and listening to them. I highly recommend this gem of a place should your travels take you to this gorgeous part of Texas.

From this B+B you can then run down to Johnson City where the wonderful Benini Sculpture Ranch resides. Located on the old hunting lodge of President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Benini's have created a wonderful place to show case the work of artisans and their work.

I wish I was a little more savvy on these blogs because I would love to pop in a picture of sculptures by Russ Thayer, but unfortunately, the pictures don't match my words and that really bothers me. Hah! Too much of a perfectionist I guess. Well, at least I am working on that little issue. Russ Thayer is an artisan of the highest order and does many, many custom projects for builders in the area. The last time I interviewed him he was working on two matching lions that will be situated in the pool area of a home in San Antonio. They have holes in their mouths where the water will spill into the pool. Thayer mostly gets his work by word of mouth and there's no better marketing in my book than a good referral by other builders.

As I have mentioned before, this area of Texas is hopping in terms of its real estate market. With this comes inflated land prices and inflated building prices, however, people are still pouring into the area from California, Colorado, Houston, and Dallas. I am confident that Thayer's work will continue to be sought after in terms of his exquisite sense of art. The Benini Sculpture Ranch is definitely a must-see place while touring this area. Here's the link for more information:: http://www.sculptureranch.com or http://www.benini.com.

My next blog will be highlighting the now defunct retail space created by nationally know interior designer, Carol Hicks Bolton. Her shop was simply titled Homestead and was housed in a gorgeous old brick building on the busiest part of Main Street. I am going to have dig out all the pictures I have taken of the wonderful merchandise and visual merchandising that was apart of this store. I believe that Homestead has moved to another town within the Hill Country and will research to find out exactly where it is located for you. Russ Thayer's wife Cecelia helps Bolton design fabrics and she has merged her talents with E. J. Victor out of Highpoint, North Carolina. More to come on this place and hopefully I will locate their new digs.

Have a wonderful day people and I will be digging out my images as fast as I can. I am planning on taking on some additional work and am considering ramping up my magazine, TrendSavvy. I absolutely love writing about what I find incredible and hope you will enjoy the contents of the magazine. I hope to cover artisans and their work, people you need to know, and areas of the country that need to be visited. I can't wait to begin.

Enjoy this prelude!

Thived, hmmm....

Lovely home outside Austin, Texas

Hardship, adversity and suffering :: Very important for spiritual growth in my opinion!

I was just reading my "idea" for this blog. Originally it was to write daily on how I was doing from a health standpoint and how I survived and thrived these years. Well, I just realized that I am still in these years. I am not over these years at all but I want to believe that I am. Hah. Acceptance is such a difficult thing to do, but so important for my health.

I am doing more than surviving. One of the simplest notions that I get from my wonderful holistic therapist, Julia Crowley, is the notion of writing on my book daily and when I do my mind does not rest in negativity nor is it locked in on my pain scale. It is engaged in something else. It is engaged in creative thinking and that distracts me out of the pain/illness etc and lands me instead in positivity and creativity and miraculously my pain isn't something I dwell on. It is still there, but I am not dwelling on it. When my mind goes elsewhere it doesn't rest in negativity. It is about getting out of myself long enough to think about something besides myself. Wow. What a concept! It is a little more complicated than that, but the concept is accurate.

I still have problems with accepting my health limitations. Limitations are another matter altogether. Limitations are different from feeling handicapped by my health. I have another dear friend who thinks I should consider myself handicapped so that I learn how to slow myself down. Although I know her heart is in the right place I simply refuse to consider myself handicapped. Limited yes, handicapped, no. There are so many things that I want to do with my husband that I don't know if I can do because of my health and it scares me. It scares me that I won't be able to keep up with him and so I may lose him and our marriage. Now, this is the epidemy of negative, fearful thinking because it isn't true. But in my mind it is and that is where fear resides. In the mind. My wonderful primary doctor, Dr. Wilkens often reminds me that there are no more what if's..what if I am on vacation and this happens...what if scenarios are almost always negative and they are a working part of my mind and they are getting in my way. My dear friend Lynda tells me not to board the train those negative thoughts are on and instead let the train pass without getting on board. I think of Casey Jones and I instantly smile and feel much better. Remember Casey Jones?? Gosh that was a great show. My sister still remembers the birthday song of theirs. Round House Rodney was the other character on the show, I think. If you can recall anyone else there please, please, chime in and tell me so that I can post it later. Happy, Happy Birthday to every girl and boy.....remember?? Hah! I have to finish learning that song and I need your help to do it.

And what is thriving anyway? How does one thrive in the face of suffering, loss, hardship, Thriving is to prosper and flourish. Hmm. I am not sure I have done that completely, but I have come a long way in this regard. I feel like I have begun to flourish in the face of all of this hardship. I have begun to grasp the notion of a world where I am not in constant pain and suffering both mentally and physically. I am convinced that suffering is a necessary part of our lives and suffering is needed for our complete emotional and spiritual growth and maturity. I hate to admit to negative emotions but these negative emotions seem to work in a good way for my development. I can understand this completely, completely. As I was pausing here for a moment gray carpeting just popped into my brain box. What a hoot. It is amazing when I am thinking of one thing and then something else happens which connects me with something else and my mind creatively solves a problem. It never ceases to amaze me our minds. Actually, how our hearts and mind work together for our good. Amazing, God is simply amazing.

So, I am going out today to do my physical therapy and I am happy about that. I am learning more about myself through PT. I am learning how I sabotage myself by NOT doing the PT and I end up back at square one physically and I am tired of doing this to myself over and over! I wish I could just stay with it so that I can get better everyday and that I can watch myself doing so. As soon as I am over this nasty upper respiratory sickness I am in the pool baby!! My father is going to join me.

But, thriving is an interesting notion and one that I hope to accomplish someday. I want to believe that I can prosper and flourish during and after a season of suffering. I want to believe the best in myself. I want to believe that I can learn and grow and accomplish wonderful things despite being limited by my body. I mean really, it's not like I am Stephen Hawking. He was an amazing human being whose body was broken, broken. I can do that too. I can have a broken body and still have the shining eyes of Stephen Hawking. Do you remember the shine in his eyes? I do and it was amazing. I can accomplish great things in my life despite my new limitations. I will learn what those limitations are and work with them. What a novel concept. Learning something new and adapting to find a solution. That is thriving in a season of suffering don't you think? Now, I love the word adapt. I am going to look that word up and give you the definition by tomorrow. Adapt. Adapting. Adaptable. What a great word, what an interesting definition.

Have a great day!! Love is all around us even in 2 degree weather. PTL Baby!!

Robin

Red In Fred!

RED IN FRED!

The picture highlighting this missive is of a fabulous retail store in the hub of Fredericksburg, Texas called, Red. Red is a store which is one of a very small number of modern retail concepts in the Texas Hill Country. Let's just, for a moment, think about what one would consider as great, traditional Texas interior design? For me it would be animal hide, dark leather, dark cedar wood, limestone, wool blanket, enormous scale furniture --due to the massive square footage of homes in Texas. I mean, everything is BIG in Texas think of the new football stadium for instance. Gorgeous, no question, but huge! Most homes in the Dallas area are huge, but this is not the case in Fredericksburg.

Fredericksburg is what most people consider to be the epicenter of the Texas Hill Country. It was founded or settled in the late 1800's by German immigrants. The homes in the downtown area of Fredericksburg are small in scale and for the most part look as if they have been periodically remodeled to increase the square footage. You'd be right and here are the reasons ::

When the immigrants settled they purchased enormous tracks of land for their cattle to graze on. With this came the large family home, barns and more. As one would think of in a large family farm estate, the sheer size and magnitude of these ranches made reaching out to your neighbor for a little socialization, difficult at best.

So, the ranchers would hitch up the buggy, throw the family into it and run into town. Unfortunately, running into town took one to two, sometimes even three days to drive to. However, what would happen was that the family would begin their trip to town early Saturday morning, do a little shopping and enjoy some social interaction with their neighbors, spend the night, and then attend church on Sunday. Spending the night was a bit of a problem. However, by being solidly Texans by now, the family simply built a small home in Fredericksburg so they would have a place to spend the night and then attend church on Sunday, which was a VERY important social activity in those days. These types of homes and architecture came to be known of as the Sunday House. And as the family grew, so did the Sunday House, which is why most of these homes look as if they have been repeatedly added on to -- they have been! Hah!

I do wish that I could figure out how to place my TrendSavvy Magazine pdf file on this darn blog. I went into much more detail about the Sunday House and the settling of Fredericksburg in that first issue. You all would have loved it. It could still be on my old website, http://www.trendsavvymag.com, but I am not sure of that either. For health reasons, when I went on my work sabbatical these past few months, I allowed some of my many, way too many actually, websites to perish so that I could make way for the new positivity and energy to flow forward from me, trusting that this process would be an enormously creative endeavor and one that is very important for me to capture and move forward with. That is my mantra you know, move forward--actually it is:: Trust God - Move Forward. I am still somewhat cautious when writing or speaking about God because God is such a HOT topic. Some people are extremely turned off by the subject-for unknown reasons- and simply can't communicate at all about our Creator, but I can't tell you how much enjoyment and joyfulness just this act has provided for me. Speaking about God is an essential act for me. It is in my soul. Plus, this mantra is on my lips constantly through out my day mainly because God saved my life in every way possible. Period. I have died spiritually and emotionally a couple of times and God has literally lifted me out of this horrid and self-destructive place and saved me from being one of the walking dead. What a horrible place to reside. Looking like you're alive, when you're really dead inside is an awful way to live. It is a sad, sad place to be and one that I would not wish on anyone. However, of course, I digress...back to the positivity of the Sunday House and fabulous Fredericksburg retail!

Close your eyes for minute and think about what images come to mind when you consider Texas interior design. Do you think about gigantic square footage, enormously scaled furniture, animal hide, woven wool, longhorn bone, dark leather, mahogany, cedar plank and more. I would wager to guess that this type of home furnishings have been the standard for years in the state. Not bad at all, unless your leanings for home furnishings run more towards cleaner lines and a more creative use of the materials I just mentioned above.

Red is a store which is the epidemy of modern interior design for a smaller scaled Sunday House or any house for that matter. As you can see from the picture the use of materials are creative and interesting, fun, and eclectic. During the time I have been visiting the Hill Country and Texas in general nothing like this type of a retail store has been noted except for recently...meaning within the last two to three years. Seeing a more modern batch of home furnishings crop up in this area has been exciting to watch. Equally exciting is the continued housing growth taking place in the hill country. Red had perfect timing when it came time to open its doors and since I haven't recently been back down to this area of Texas, my hope it that they are still finding success with their business. The manager is a woman who was the visual merchandiser at Homestead {a fabulous retail store by Carol Hicks Bolton}, so Red is exceptionally well merchandised and the selection of merchandise could not be better.

The next blog will be about the store that USED to be in Fredericksburg called Homestead. The store concept was from nationally noted interior designer, Carol Hicks Bolton and was probably one of the most gorgeous retail stores I have ever seen. Similar in many ways to ABC Carpet and Home in New York City, so if you liked that store, you will love seeing Homestead. The other retail store still in Fredericksburg and also a very good retail concept is a shop called Slick Rock. Hopefully, I still have some great pictures from both stores so that you can see classic, but fun, Texas home furnishings.

Enjoy!! Oh, and, http://redinfred.com

Texas + My Health

Hello kind readers. My cat Lily is currently climbing all over me, which makes writing on the computer a little difficult, but so much fun and loving.

I am still not over this darn respiratory illness but keep listening to my body for its inner promptings. Yesterday it was sleep. I slept three solid hours yesterday afternoon. I had no more dropped my husband off at the airport than I went home, ate lunch, and fell asleep for three hours. Unbelievable! But my wonderful doctor Jane Wilkens once told me that I can think what ever I want but my body will call the shots and there's nothing I can do about it. No truer words were spoken.

My mother-in-law let me know that I had not written a blog in quite some time so I apologize for not being more prolific in my blog writing. I do love it and I am starting to realize that you do too, kind readers. The topic of my blog this month is going to center on Fredericksburg, Texas and the Texas Hill Country in general. It is by far and away the most fantastic place on the planet. I think I have hinted at this as a topic for some time, but really feel a yearning to write about it now. I haven't been down there in a long time and my soul misses the place!! I will write about the Benini's, Russ Thayer, great Texas residential architecture, retail in Fred, my dear friends the Ridley's, and how I came to love this place in Texas so very much.

So, I hope you will enjoy getting to know the Benini's and their sculpture ranch on Lyndon B. Johnson's old hunting lodge and property in Johnson City, Tx. Their home is the old huntint lodge and is absolutely gorgeous and full of smatterings of Benini's colorful and visionary work. The quonset hut on the property is where President Johnson housed all his hunting gear and the Benini's have instead created a fantastic art gallery with the space. I must admit I would much rather see the works of Benini and other artist's than see a bunch of ATV's and such. But, it is always personal preference!

Okay, I will get going on finding the right pictures to highlight this area of Texas and my next blog will be on health matters.

Cheers and stay warm...it is awful here in Minnesota and my poor body sure feels it!

Robin

More Interior Design

Four Ikea Bookcases, Sold!!

How great is Craig's List? I think Mitch and I have sold at least 4/5,000 dollars worth of our 'stuff' on that local list and boy does it ever work. Just get your stuff photographed, posted, and priced right and man you can really off-load a ton of junk. I mean one man's junk is another's treasure. Now, I know that Craig's List also has some smutty things going on too but if you ignore that aspect you can really get some stuff sold and purchased at great prices.

Today we have people coming over to purchase all of my white Ikea bookcases. I bought them years ago for my office and they were about $70/each at the time. We posted them and sold them at $30. and they each went within four hours of being posted. Yay!

This weekend we will then purchase the bookshelves for the walls. I have designed how they will look moving from the livingroom into the dining room. I LOVE books and like lots of them in my home. I have also liked the notion of having books in my dining area. So cool. My friend Lorraine Benini (married to great Italian artist Benini) has floor to ceiling bookcases in her dining area. And there's nothing cooler. The Benini's actually live in Lyndon Johnson's old hunting estate in Johnson City Texas. The land is nothing short of gorgeous and they have also use it as a sculpture garden, open to the public most of the time. The house is sensational and is where he wrote his memoirs after his presidency. Anyway, they have a quanset hut on the property is now an art gallery and is house to many fabulous artisans. But, the best sculptures in my opinion are created from Russ Thayer, www.russthayer.com. He is an amazing artisan and probably one of the coolest people I know. If i really get a burning desire I will post some of his work on my blog tomorrow morning. I have a ton of pictures because he became a fast friend of mine during all of my trips with clients in Fredericksburg, Texas. Hence, my HUGE desire to move to the Texas Hill Country. Now, this is actually making me want to do my next blog on my clients in that area. You will not believe how gorgeous the work is and how cool the people are whom I had the great pleasure to work with. I absolutely love it there and the hubby is now looking for his next job in Austin with 3M. He's doing another interview on the first. How great is that??? And the weather is THE best for me too, which is a huge plus.

Okay, so, the next blog will be about Fredericksburg, Texas, count on it.

Robin

Design Fun

Well, Mitch and I went shopping for rugs to put down over our gorgeous hardwood flooring and I got exactly what I wanted. I am in love with textiles from Southern Asia like, Kazakstan, Bhutan, and Uzbekistan. After brightening the walls and adding brightening flooring I was able to purchase these gorgeous area rugs that add such warmth to our living room and the kitchen. This picture is an example of where I am headed design-wise. It goes unbelievably well with my Hans Wegner dining set and woven chair. I will now add a picture of the rug in the kitchen which love so much. It has added dimension to the room that was quite unexpected but very much welcomed. Here goes.... So. the one of the left is in the kitchen and the one on the right is in the living room. Lovely no???

A special thank you to my in laws for their generosity over Christmas. You know what I mean...

I will keep the design coming as we get more and more accomplished. This is so much fun!! I miss designing so I am thrilled to be at it again. The next purchase will be shelving for all my books. Wait until you see what I am doing there. It will be surprising and lovely.

Cheers! Robin