Hello 30, I Have Been Expecting You

Tomorrow I turn the big 3-0 and that is just fine by me. I started this decade of my life as a junior in college and I end it in such a different place it is crazy to think about. Looking back: There was the last year of college and graduation which seems like a lifetime ago. Somewhere in there I called a lot of places home: Oxford, MS, New York, Destin, Vail and Memphis before landing here in the 'Ham for the last 5 years. I was lucky enough to start dating Patrick at 22 and we made it through a lot (very long distances at times) but we have had so much fun together through it all. There was a lot of travel, most to see friends around the country, some more exotic-Africa, Chile a few times including Patagonia and Peru. After moving to Birmingham and working for the best mentor, life brought me my next big adventure- starting my own company. Who would have thought something could be so hard and yet insanely rewarding at the same time. I don't think the past decade could have possibly been more fun or exciting. It has been a wild 10 years and one of the best parts has been the friends I have made along the way. (I had plans to post a series of pictures throughout the years but that would involve more scanning than this girl has time for at the moment)

But as my ole pal Tom Petty says, "It is time to move on, time to get going, what lies ahead I have no way of knowing". My 20's have ended with a very settled and happy exsistence and I look forward to continuing that into my 30's. I love our little house, our quaint neighborhood and our easy going ways and routines. I can't believe how far the business has come and I can't wait to see where it goes. I spent the majority of my 20's with Patrick and I can't wait to spend next decade (plus) with him. And last but not least I can't wait for the changes that are awaiting us come the end of August....

So come on 30, I have been ready for you for a while now. Thank you 20's, you leave me feeling so blessed and very grateful.

Thank You

I just wanted to say thank you for two things. First, thank you for all your calls, texts and e-mails yesterday regarding the tornados in Alabama. We are okay, the really bad tornado missed us by a few miles. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for so many others, including a really wonderful client of mine (they are physically fine which is such a blessing). Also, I wanted to say thank you for all the childcare comments and e-mails. I needed the advice, trust me! To take time out of your busy days to send me the wealth of information you did is really awesome. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and if I have not e-mailed back yet it is not because I am ignoring you, it is because the computer virus that won't quit is still having a blast in my computer.

I hope you have a wonderful and peaceful weekend.

PS- Anyone have any idea what why my right sidebar is not showing up? If you click on older posts it is there but not with the newest posts....

Image found She Takes Flight via Emphasis Added

Baby Strong Is A....

We are adding another male to the household...Baby Strong is a boy and we could not be more excited!!! I had numerous requests for a pregnant picture, this is one we took yesterday...
After months of thinking it was a girl I was shocked to find otherwise, Harry was in shock as well (or maybe relieved that someone will be coming along soon to take the unwanted attention off of him)...
So now it is time to start thinking about a nursery for little baby boy! I am not sure what I am going to do yet but I know I would like to use wallpaper is some way so that will probably be the jumping off point. I will keep y'all in the loop as I find inspirations and ideas.

A Few Answers

I seem to be behind on e-mail (what is new?) so I wanted to answer some questions I have received multi times. Some of these are repeats, sorry!

My watch- Several people wanted to know where it is from, I am asked about it a lot outside of the blog world as well. It was a gift from my husband 4 years ago right before we got engaged. It is one of my favorite possessions, I never get tired of it. It is nothing fancy, it is from Guess. I knew I wanted a black men's watch but at that time they were hard to find and options were very limited. I am sure this design is long gone but I would check any department store and I am sure you will find something similar.
Several people have asked what happened to the upholstered coffee table project.....Well I have decided to scrap it. I liked where it was going but I did not have time to complete it. It really needed the nail detail around the edges. I like to think I am a DIYer but these days there just doesn't seem to be enough time. Also, as much as I like a good project I love the look of professionally done work (just waiting for the wallet to agree). As far as the table I had it custom made about 4 years ago as well but similar tables are available from Restoration Hardware. If you are near Birmingham and would like a quote for one please e-mail me.
The mirror- This was a wedding gift from Jenny, the decorator I started with. She purchased it from a company at Market. I am not sure if it is still available. I will check for those of you who wanted info about it. The bowl on the coffee table is McCarty Pottery. I will have to do another post on this since I could go on for a while. Paint is Benjamin Moore Wheeling Neutral.
My Christmas Decorations- First, I would like to say THANK YOU for all the e-mails and comments from the Southern Flourish piece. Y'all are too sweet. I was surprised to open a few e-mails asking what my actual mantel looked like. Sigh....
The sad, sad truth is that we don't have a mantel. It depresses me to be honest. So for now all we have is a tree. And well, it is kind of sad too. Space was tight this year.
We don't have that many ornaments, slowly we are building up our collection. There are fillers on there but I would like to get to a point at which every one is special. This year we have added a few like this boy from our trip to Peru.
For those of you who asked for pictures of the trees lined up on my street here is the best I could do. Boooo. Sorry, I just couldn't get a picture. It is special though. I am not sure how other streets do it, but on ours there is a woman who is in charge of everything. We get an order form in our mailbox the first week of November and then they are delivered by volunteers the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It is nice to come home and have the tree there waiting for you.
I hope this answered some questions. If you have e-mailed me and have not heard back yet I promise I am getting to you! Thank you for your patience. I hope you have a great week!

To Peru & Back

I'm back from 10 wonderful days in Peru. My Husband and I love to travel and we had been saving for a big trip. A lot of locations were discussed but Peru was on the top of both of our lists so away we went. Joining us were my younger brother and Dad (on either end in the picture below).At some point I will make a complete list of all the places we went but I have a lot of catching up to do first! With over 1,000 pictures these are just some I picked but probably more are coming. We started off at Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world which is home to a whole community living on an island made completely out of reeds.
We took several train rides, most on the Hiram Bingham through amazing and mind blogging landscapes ( I will be back with better pictures).
We stayed at the most wonderful hotels like the Monasterio (below), Casa Andina and The Inkaterra...
Met so many interesting locals along the way...
Saw very remote places that constantly reminded all of us how lucky we are to go on trips like this one...
Snuck in a date night in Cusco, a truly hidden gem of a city.
But the whole reason we went was....Machu Picchu, ruins hidden the Andes Mountains that are beyond words.
I have been so blessed to travel to some amazing places- Africa, Patagonia and all over Chile (my Dad's home where that whole side of the family still lives), Europe and more and I can say that Machu Picchu is indescribably special. There is nothing I can type here that could begin to describe the spirit of this place.
We spent two days there and the second day we went really early to catch sunrise over Machu Picchu, I will never, ever, forget that moment. Ever. Watching the sun come up (over mountains 8,200 ft in elevation) onto ancient remains was moving and emotional...
The remains were astounding and on there own would have been impressive. However, the very remote setting surrounded by the Andes made it that much more unique (picture taken from high above)...
The trip covered Puno, Lake Titicaca, Cusco, Machu Picchu/Aquas Calientes, and ended in Peru.

I would recommend this trip to anyone. Peru is a wonderful country full of unique and special places. More to come at some point but I wanted to share were I had been. Now it is back to the real world, sigh.

A Story...How Marianne Strong Interiors Came To Be

After this POST the last week, I had several people ask me how I came to where I am now. So, I thought I would give you a quick history. Growing up I knew I wanted to run a business, from an early age in fact. This newspaper clipping was given to me by my Mom FOREVER ago, I'm talking about 15 years or so.
I went to Ole Miss ( I am from Nashville) where I graduated with a Business Management degree and it was off to the real world. Well, not immediately. I decided to take a year off and I lived in Destin, FL and Vail, CO. It was a dream and I highly recommend going away for a while to everyone. I scooped ice cream and skied, life was good.

Then, it was time for the real world. I decided to move to Memphis because my now-husband was in law school in Oxford, MS which is 45 minutes away and I had several good friends living there. Besides, if it was good enough for Elvis, it was good enough for me!
My first job was in sales and very short lived for several reasons, mostly I hate sales. My second job was with a Technology company and ended up being mostly sales. I HATED THIS JOB. I mean hated it! We are talking the last months I was there I would go downstairs regularly and call my Mom who would remind me I couldn't quit until I had another job, since EVERY day I wanted to quit. This was a bad time. Well, when you hate what you do, you have 2 options-stay miserable or figure out what you really want to do. You know what? Life is too short to be miserable. That is where this book came in-48 Days To The Work You Love. I had heard about it from my man Dave Ramsey (a financial guru who will tell you like it is and trust me, most of the time you don't want to hear it). He endorsed this book and I decided to give it a try. It has been several years since I read it so I can't remember the details but a large part is focusing on what you like and how to get there.

I knew I wasn't cut out for sales. I knew I didn't want to be at a desk all day, every day. I knew that I had a creative side that I wanted to put to use. I had always loved decorating, even as a little kid. While I was doing this soul searching, I took another job doing marketing at BPI, a flooring distributor.

This was one of those moves in life that you know someone is looking out for you. It was a great job, with a great company, with great people, and I was exposed to several brands and products, all home related. While I knew it wouldn't be permanent, I was sad to leave.

As life goes, things were changing and Patrick (my now husband) took a job in Birmingham, AL so I left Memphis. At some point, after A LOT of thought I decided to go back to school for Interior Design. Trust me, I didn't just wake up one morning and say, "I think being a designer will be fun", it was a LONG process.
(image Southern Accents)
That August I started classes at Samford for Interior Design and a few weeks later I went looking for a part time job in the industry. This is the part of the story where my whole life changed. My adviser at school had written down a list of names (from the phone book) of designers I should go talk to. I was on my way to one in particular and suddenly changed course and ended up in a different office first.
(Image Southern Accents)

My future boss, Jenny, shared an office with the person I went to go see and when I told her why I was there she said, "I don't know if she needs help, but I am hiring an assistant". So I was hired then and there. It was a trial run because as Jenny put it, "you either have it or you don't". Jenny is a decorator, not a designer, and I quickly learned that I wanted to decorate, not necessarily design, so I dropped out of the program to work full time for her. (I would love to be a designer, but 4 more years of school that I was footing from my own pocket was not worth it, and decorating is what I love).
(Image Southen Accents)

Let's pause to say this, and I am not trying to be cheesy- I truly believe God has a plan for each of us and you go in life where you are supposed to. Finding Jenny was one of those things I know he had planned. That job was the most crucial step in my career to date. Not only is she a great decorator, but she was a great friend in a new city, and she and her sister (our office manager) have a strong faith that made an impact on me. The things I learned there would have taken me years to learn on my own and for that I am grateful.
(Image Southern Accents)
So after about a year of working for her, different people started asking for help and I started my own company on the side. It started with 2 clients and grew from there. It wasn't easy and there have been many tears along the way. All my business is basically word of mouth. I am very lucky because while growing my business I have been able to continue working for Jenny a little which has made a huge difference.
(my first yard sign, it is ridiculous the joy little things like this can bring you)
So, that is how I got here. A few years later, I am still growing my business, which as we all know is not the best timing, but so far so good. I think one thing that has helped me is that since I am young and fairly new to the business I am not as intimidating as decorators can be. I love small and big projects and I understand budgets as well as anyone does.

If you are thinking about starting your own business I say go for it. There has not been an easy moment since I started- I didn't even sleep the first 3 months, seriously- but it is very rewarding. If you currently hate what you are doing, you need to change. I know, it is not that easy, but take one step at a time and it will get easier.

So that is it in a nutshell. Feel free to e-mail more specific questions. Sorry for the mini novel, once I got started I couldn't stop! As for the future, who knows. I love to help people but I hate the business transaction part of it, I would much rather do it for free, but that is not an option. I would love to own a home store (I know this contradicts the last sentence), but that is a big step......