Go Get It, Saints
After 10 straight weeks of football, the New Orleans Saints finally get their bye week. The Saints enter their off week after a 26-23 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons, grabbing the NFC South lead. The Saints are a game ahead of the Falcons and two games ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Owning My Mistake
The moment you sign the papers and the keys become yours, the education begins. It's not so much the information you're learning about the house or equity or basic maintenance; it's an education in how much you don't know.
Color Coding, Revisited
If home is where the heart is, some people probably have heart disease. Just like we sometimes show our worst selves to the people we love the most, we often let our homes become reflections of the worst parts of ourselves.
JFP Top 25: Week 12
This past weekend really shook up the college football world. Oregon spanked Stanford at home, and a kicker betrayed Boise State for the second year in row. Now college football is one loss away from a great debate and two losses from total chaos.
Let Go and Move On
Most people have several reasons why they keep stuff they do not need.
Moving The Bad Stuff With Feng Shui
Feng (wind) Shui (water) is an ancient Chinese art that promotes peace and balance in your personal space by strategically placing items and omitting clutter. The Chinese believe that luck, when created, can enhance wealth and happiness in your life.
The Flat Broke Decorator
Decorating a home can be intimidating. Couple the intimidation factor with budgets so tight that Abraham Lincoln is squealing for mercy in our wallets, and the situation could turn into a crisis in which the would-be decorator is lying in the middle of the living-room floor, staring at the ceiling in defeat.
Peace And Tranquility
Between traveling for work, phone calls, emails and a personal life, my day usually ends with me sitting in bed with a laptop attempting to catch up. The most relaxing thing to me is going to the spa and having a massage and pedicure.
The Joy Of Washing Dishes
In one of Zen Buddhism's most famous stories, a new monk approaches his teacher after a meal.
Kick Your Bleach To The Curb
Maybe I am a little too sensitive. Or maybe I am just weird. But the smell of bleach and other strong cleaning agents makes me want to run far, far away.
Housekeeping Blues
The relationship between you and your housekeeper is a special one. Whether you use a local cleaning company or have one regular housekeeper, you must put a certain amount of trust into this person. You trust them with your most private possessions, to dust the top shelves of the bookcase and get behind the couch, straighten up your papers and clean behind your bed.
Understanding Colors
As a new homeowner or someone looking for a new home project, painting and decorating can be fun but frustrating when trying to decide on the colors and schemes to use. Knowing the basics about colors and using the color wheel can help the process.
Living Out Loud
I love color. I don't always wear a lot of it—I learned in New York City that black (and chocolate brown) makes you look skinnier, more chic and shows less dirt.
The Meanings Of Colors
Colors attract or give off certain energies. They have symbolism, can represent or follow a trend and even heal, according to chromotherapy. It is important to choose the right colors because colors are powerful and can help create the atmosphere you want to achieve. Below are some universal meanings of colors that can help in determining what mood you want to set within your home.
Color Me Bright
If you want to spark up your home or you're looking for the perfect housewarming gift, look to local businesses for bright and vibrant home accessories. Accenting neutral colors with a pop of red, yellow, turquiose or orange shifts your color scheme from boring to exciting without overdoing it.
Mark's Man Cave
When my brother-in-law, Mark, and his wife, Cathryn, were looking for a house a few years back, he knew that she would decorate it as she saw fit. Fortunately, the house they wanted to buy also had a 23-by-11-foot workshop that Mark instantly claimed like an explorer planting his flag on new territory. Mark and Cathryn got the house, and laid plans for Mark to have a man cave.
My Boudoir
With all the talk of man caves these days, it can be easy to forget that it was women who had to fight for the right to have a "Room of One's Own," as Virginia Woolf declared it.
Solar Remodel
I think about my retirement often and how great it has the potential of being. Then I panic thinking about whether we'll have enough, about the best strategy for saving and about where our hard-earned money will be the safest. We are running out of space in the backyard with all the mason jars full of nickels we've buried.
My New Patio
Living in Arizona and Northern California gave me a greater appreciation for nature and enjoying the outdoors. In Arizona, I was able to enjoy the view of the beautiful mountains from my backyard. Arizona's richly colored rocks and mountains provided a beautiful range of colors that I wanted to capture in my home when I moved back to Mississippi.
Everyone New Again
I'm a big fan of old things. Architectural salvage, vintage accessories, old books—I like the idea of things that have a history. Apparently, though, I'm getting to the age where I have a past myself.