On my doorstep yesterday was “the Book” the one I have been waiting for, for weeks.  Marian Parsons latest book “Feels Like Home”.  I couldn’t wait to take a peak but I had to.  We were getting ready to leave on our epic road trip thru the south on the way to Florida and I just had too much to do.

Today while the husband was slogging his way thru rain storms on our way to our first stop Rogers Arkansas, I read.  

This book is so rich in story telling and just plain good advice for the home design enthusiast, that you will want to attack it with a stack of post-it notes or dare I say a highlighter.  This is a book you will go back to again and again.  It is the best kind of a how-to book even for the seasoned DIYer or designer.  

Marian takes you on a journey, with gorgeous imagery, not only telling you how to create something, but she gives you the why involved in the decision.  

It doesn’t matter what your design sensibility is whether you are traditional, modern, farmhouse, country, or industrial, this book will help you identify what your design style is and help you get there with character and authenticity.  Feels Like Home is a must have for your library.  In bookstores now I’m so glad I added it to mine.

As I write this I’m sitting in a hotel room ironically reading the book.  This room although comfortable does not feel like home!!!  Why Rogers, Arkansas?  Well a sentimental journey for me.  On our way to Vicksburg and Natchez, MS tomorrow, we basically had to drive by.  

In the late 60’s my grandparents built a house on Beaver Lake near Rogers.  Retiring from Minneapolis cold winters to sleet slick roads of AK winters!  They eventually ended up in CA.  I wanted to see the house again and see if it had changed.  Oddly enough the house numbers on the entire street have changed.  When I plugged it into my GPS it couldn’t read the old address.  I tried my phone and that didn’t work either.  I dialed up trusty On-star and they were able to get us there.  Only they didn’t tell us that the house numbers had changed.

We found it and to my delight in the pouring rain we discovered that the empty lot that grandpa had bought across the street to keep their lake view was still empty. 

Believe it or not there is a gorgeous lake beyond those trees.

 It had been 45 years since I had been on that street and there it was.  Changed but absolutely recognizable.  

Thanks for stopping

Shelley