Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

Joanne from Sea Glass Cottage

 Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger is a feature done each Saturday that introduces you to a blogger you may already know or a new blogger for you to get to know. This feature gives you a peak into the personal life of the blogger.  Getting to know the special person behind the beautiful blog.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland so enjoy getting to know these talented bloggers each Saturday.

Hi Everyone.  Happy Saturday this week I have a wonderful and sweet southern blogger for you to meet.  You will love getting to know  Joanne from Sea Glass Cottage and seeing her beautiful coastal home and style.  Be sure to hop over and say Hi on her beautiful blog.

Hello, everyone! My name is Joanne from Sea Glass Cottage blog, and I am thrilled to be invited to tell you a little about myself. Thank you so much, Kris, and it is an honor to be here at Junk Chic Cottage! (Don't you all secretly wish you could spend an afternoon at her house and just "oooooh" and "aaaah" at all her beautiful creations?!)

I was born and raised in one of the most colorful cities in the world.....New Orleans. We love living here where every day we find something to celebrate! Food, music, culture, architecture, festivals, the French Quarter, Mardi Gras, football....you name it, there's always something fun to do or a place to visit.

This is our home in a suburb of New Orleans, and I have had fun doing some remodeling and decorating since we moved into this house about ten years ago. 

This is my wonderful and supportive husband as we celebrated an anniversary at Antoine's restaurant in the French Quarter. (He's the one who said, "Sure, if that's what you want!" when I mentioned it was my lifelong dream to have a house on the beach.)

And these are my two precious squirts who have grown up on me despite my best efforts to keep them babies. 

And Buddy, our Cavalier King Charles, is a typical New Orleans dog -- always ready for a party. (Hey, what happens at Mardi Gras stays at Mardi Gras!)

My husband and I recently began a whole new chapter in our lives....we are empty nesters. I know there are many positives that come with the freedom of having your children away, but it's still a little fresh and I'm here to say it's a big change for me. Clean bathrooms? No clothes on their bedroom floor? What's up with that? I miss them. 

My son is now away at college near us, and if it's Saturday night, you will find us at the LSU games cheering on the Tigers (back in the day, my husband played football here). My son is in the drumline of the marching band, so we get two for one entertainment -- football AND the joy of watching him play his music!

And our sweet girl is following her dream and has recently moved to New York to finish college and pursue a career in the technical side of theatre.

A few years ago, I became interested in the world of blogging and actually had a book blog. I reviewed books for some publishing companies, virtual book tours, and even met some authors personally who sent me their book before the publishing date for my review. I traveled to a few conventions around the country, meeting other book bloggers and authors, and it was so interesting! I met some of my favorite authors such as Diana Gabaldon, Susanna Kearsley, Ciji Ware, Karen White, and Lauren Willig, just to name a few, and I still keep in touch with some authors and meet up with them when they come to New Orleans on book tours.

Now, my blogging days revolve around the new adventure in our life -- our beach house on the beautiful Gulf in Gulf Shores. Sea Glass Cottage is a very comfortable, beach-style cottage just steps away  from the white sands and warm waters of the Gulf. It's a completely new style of decorating for me and I am enjoying soaking up all the coastal/cottage inspiration in local shops, pinterest boards, and other bloggers. 

On my blog, I mostly talk about coastal style, beach cottage decor, vintage style, and other topics related to living in a beach community. You probably won't find too many recipes, as usually my cooking efforts wind up looking like an episode of I Love Lucy! But I invite everyone to visit, even if your style is not coastal, as I love all styles of home decorating-- farmhouse, traditional, shabby chic, country, cottage, modern -- it's all good and we can all learn from each other!

Thanks again, Kris, for introducing me to your lovely readers, and I look forward to making some new friends at Sea Glass Cottage! The front door is always open, and if you're wearing flip flops, you're overdressed!

Thank you Joanne for letting me feature you here today.  I love your life style with coastal living.  Ahhhhhh!!! Have a great week end everyone.

Kris

:)

Fall Front Porch After The First Frost

Happy New Week.

Even with us getting frost this week end some of the flowers are really trying to stay on.

I did lose my sweet potato vines to the frost and cold.

It was a sad good bye to these sweet vines.  

I also took down the Cottage Nest flower box for the winter.

I moved this fall spray over the brick where the cottage nest flower box was hanging on the brick.

I added a Harvest Blessings sign to my wreath.

I got these $10 mums at Walmart to add to the white urns to keep some real flowers going for fall.  They replaced the sweet potato vines I lost to the frost.

My winter housing for the birds is ready to welcome in a new family for the long winter's stay.

It makes for a nice winter shelter for the birds that stay with us here in Illinois for the winter months.  Hey if I were a bird and could fly I would be sooooo heading south and not staying here!!! Just sayin!!!  The ones that brave the winters need shelter too.  So this little house is there for them.

Angel bird bath got a touch of fall.

Even the Terry's fire truck out by the For Sale sign got some fall decor too.

These summer flowers made it through the first frost so I am letting them stay for a while.  Too pretty to pull out just yet.

These Ivy Geraniums just make me smile.  They love the heat and dryness of summer and now that we had our first frost and chilly temps they want to hang on!!!!  Amazing display of color still.   They are fighting so hard not to leave I just could not bring myself to get rid of them.

The deck boxes  want to hang on.  Still with blooms.

My knock out roses still have lots of unopened blooms.  They are loving the sun filled days.

Here at Junk Chic Cottage we still have a few summer hold overs to mix with fall.
I am enjoying that these plants are hearty and just do not want to let go.
We here in Illinois all know what is coming, the S word!!! ughhh!!! so as long as these beauties want to hang on I am more than happy to continue watering and caring for them.

Hope you are having a mild fall where you are.  The leaves are changing here in the last week.  Soooo pretty.
Have a great rest of the week and be sure to come back for Spotlight on Saturday.  I have a great blogger for you to get to know better.
Kris
:)

Extraordinary Christmas Tree Inspiration

Just a little FYI.  I got the inspiration pictures below from BHG website for their magazine feature on different trees.  They did not have link backs to sources or I would have listed them.  Some of the trees have been watermarked so at least that was good to know which blogger they came from.





I know, I know we have not even gotten through Halloween yet but my decor fun starts with planning out my Christmas Decor.

So today I thought I would post about some Extraordinary Christmas Trees and traditional tree alternatives I found on Pinterest.

If you cannot wrap your head around Christmas decor just yet than it is totally ok to move away quickly from this post!!!!!!!!

Those of you that are starting to think about your holiday decor ideas, please enjoy!

Just a fun alternative to a traditional Christmas Tree.

How about a ladder alternative Christmas Tree.

Creative and Fun

Very simple and different from traditional.

Old green boxes, books, and containers up against a mirror for the illusion of a tree.

Sweet and pretty.

Vintage ornaments shaped into a tree on the wall.

How cute is this tree made to look like a snowman.

Another super cute snowman Christmas tree.  Love the skates for his feet.

Repurposed wood made into a tree.

Book Tree with vintage light bulbs.

Very unique satin pillow tree.

Unique gift box tree.

Is this not super cute and fun.  Love the tutu on the Boston.

How about a sheet with a picture of a tree hung.

Drift wood and shells made into a cute tree to see her post on this please visit here.

Book pages piled into a tree shape in this flower pot.

Nordic version of a Christmas tree.

Sparkles and shinny new with old.

Pretty tulle tree.  Love the vintage silver serving tray this is in.

Old pieces of wood.

Another unique way to make books into a Christmas tree.

Loved this using wine bottles for a tree.

For those of you that stuck around to see all the fun alternatives and extraordinary tree inspiration today in my post, hope you enjoyed the sampling.

I will have a post up soon on different and unique Christmas Tree bases.  I will also show you some of my past Christmas trees and what unique bases I used for them.

Have a wonderful start to the new week ahead.

Kris

:)