I love nature and animals and as a poet/writer among other things, Beatrix Potter inspires me, & as luck would have it, I get many animal visitors here.
I live in a 1950 retro home that came with an established cottage garden complete with English Ivy growing everywhere and an enchanting garden gate. Our home story is unique and quite amazing.
I’m a Renaissance woman who has many interests and passions.
Oy, I have such a hard time with About pages because I am not very good at summing myself up in a few short paragraphs. I am a down to earth girl who likes to live the simple life, and yet that’s a bit contradictory because I am quite complex! I am a dreamer and a romantic, which you can probably tell by how I designed this site. As far as my home decor style goes, it is eclectic, elegant and cozy. I also love vintage things and have many antiques I’ve acquired from my great grandparents, grandparents, and even the former owners of this home! French Country, English Country and Cottage style things are what I am most drawn to, but I like to mix a touch of whimsy in and also decorate inside with elements of nature that reflect our outdoor garden.
I wear many hats and have TONS of interests. Call me a renaissance woman, or a Jane of all trades (and some people affectionately call me the fairy godmother, which is ok by me! 😀 ) . I’m working on this page because there is SO much to share about me and the amazingly unique and miraculous story of our home. In the meantime I’ll leave you with a bullet list of the randomness that is me:
Hats I Wear:
- Straw hats, ha! I’m getting literal on you, but for real, I do wear a straw hat when I garden that belonged to the only other owner of our 1950 home. I think it has magical properties 🙂
- Because this house came with an old, established garden, I am now a gardener. I had never gardened previously, but it has become my favorite form of exercise!
- Artist- paintings (mostly oil, but some watercolor and acrylic) and now a newer German paper cutting art form called “Scherenschnitte”
- Graphic Designer/Web Designer/Branding Person for myself and for clients (Everything you see here at Ivy Rose Cottage was designed by moi ♥ )
- Newlywed/Wife
- Pet Mama to one very adorable pug boy named “Toast” and 2 kitty girls that I rescued, Fluffy and her daughter Mickey
- Writer & Poet – I love writing of all forms (English was my favorite subject in school) and on the side I’m working on poetry books and children’s books for publication.
- Mentor- I’ve been mentoring women since 2008 in various capacities because helping/inspiring people is a passion of mine
Stuff I Love:
- Nature!! Gardens, flowers, trees, etc. My spirit is happiest in natural surroundings
- Tea parties and entertaining. I love creating unique and beautiful experiences for people and sharing a good cup of tea and cookies with a friend. Theme parties and Themed teas are my favorite.
- My home
- A good book
- A good movie
- Knitting
- Cooking and Baking
- Flower arranging
- Interior Design
- Pie and Ice Cream (cookie dough ice cream is my favorite). And..desserts period!
- Animals and people
- Beatrix Potter- her life is an inspiration to me
- Jane Austen (all products from my ETSY shop come with a beautiful tag that has a Jane Austen quote)
- Fantasy and Fairytales of all kinds (Harry Potter books and movies are among my favorites)
- Beauty (I love creating beauty and surrounding myself with beautiful things)
- Fairies. I collect the Cicely Mary Barker flower fairies
- Playing my acoustic guitar and singing. Preferably out in nature or around a camp fire
- Music! And my tastes are very eclectic. Alternative Rock, Classical and live cello music, Reggae, Hippie folk music, oldies, Blues, Pop, etc. There tends to be a common trend of stuff that speaks to my soul though. Some of my favorites are the Dave Matthews Band, Andrea Bocelli, Norah Jones, Eva Cassidy, Bob Marley, Guy Davis, My Time Life Flower Power CD set, and classical songs Claire De Lune and Gabriel’s Oboe.
- Funny stuff. I love to laugh!
- Lilacs. They are my favorite flower, color and scent
- Roses and English ivy
I’ll stop there, because there is too much to list. I’m a well rounded girl which makes it easy to find common ground with just about anyone! Let’s be friends, yes?
I haven’t even touched on the story of What Ivy Rose Cottage is all about yet, but I will be back to edit this page with all of that. We have quite a unique home story. While I work on that I will tell you a few tidbits that you may notice design wise from the site. My website header is full of meaningful photos that are part of my home story. Like the miracle rainbow that appeared over this house as I was leaving after meeting with the sellers and finding out what all would be ours (this is the very rainbow from that day!):
And the rose you will see in my logo text and signature to each and every post I write here is a photo I took of the very first fragrant rose I discovered blooming when we got the house (I just photoshopped the background out):
The strip of photos you see in the header are all photos from our secret garden here. Most of them were taken on our wedding day, because we got married in our garden here at Ivy Rose Cottage recently! The center photo is one of our favorite wedding photos from that day:
This place is filled with magic, memories, history and love. I swear the very walls are filled with it and many people tell me they feel a love energy here , like a warm embrace. It is a comforting place to be. The story of “Becoming Ivy Rose Cottage” is a story of merging the old with the new. The history of the only other owners (who were soul mates) that lived here until they passed away in their 90’s, just months apart from each other, and now my husband and I who are just starting out our own journey here living with remnants of the past while adding our own flavor to the place. To be continued….