My happy place has to be our front portal. Not only are the chairs comfortable, but whether I'm sitting out there reading by myself, visiting with our friends. eating a meal, watching a gorgeous sunset, or cozying up in front of a crackling fire on a cold Autumn or Winter's evening, it always feels cozy and welcoming to me. And to my family and our friends. My chair is the one right next to the red one. Ahhh! In front of our main seating area is one of my many flower beds. The birdbath, seed and hummingbird feeders are very popular and well-used. That's my Knight in the bed, probably watching a lizard (LOL): Our dining area, and beyond that another seating area with my porch swing: Off to the other side of the portal is an adobe banco (bench/sofa). It's a nice place to watch the sunset. With a margarita makes it even more so! And, finally, just one more reason why I love this place, the views and sunsets here:

Here's a family portrait that my family members hang, although I do not display it in my own house:From left to right: DB Mike, DS Karen, DB Kevin, and me (in the black tank top). Photo was taken at my sister's house in Austin in April, 2001. I do not have any more recent than that. I have an autographed photo of Marc Singer (in Beastmaster costume) in my bedroom; I bought it at ComiCon in San Diego, I think. The only other photographs I have in my house are on calendars - one calendar is of exotic cars and the other is of Roman gladiators, which I bought in Rome. I do have this poster featuring one of my roommates at the time in San Francisco mid 1970s:Her name was Valerie; she is on the floor on the left, and she gave me this flyer. She was working as a model at that time and was photographed for the cover of Eerie Magazine as Spider Woman. A photo of me was featured in a San Francisco calendar for 1982 - I was between June and July. I never got a copy of the Eerie Magazine, although I have looked high and low for it. Perhaps it never got published. Here's the "Beastmaster" photo: Here's how the family homestead in central Texas looked circa 1870: This is the house where my father was born. In 1932, my great-grandfather and grandfather tore it down and built the house where I grew up. I never met my grandfather because he died a couple of years before I was born.

I'm a day late with these and was only going to post the first two. Then I saw everyone else had posted pics of their beautiful fur babies getting cosy, so thought I'd add a couple more. Justerrilyn, so sad to hear about your darling boy. Hugs to you guys :( Our snug - some might consider it cluttered, but we think it's cosy - taken just now....... Raffi doesn't really stay still long enough to relax, but I did find a photo from a couple of years back when she decided to chillax on her old puppy bed.....for five seconds! Rossetti is much more laid back, lol!

I spent this morning repainting some of the wrought iron furniture out on our bedroom portal. Please overlook the partially missing brick flooring, as we're getting ready to do some renovating there. Anyhoo, this furniture was white, while the wrought iron furniture on our back portal off the family room is green. Back portal furniture (off the family room): As you can see one portal from the other, I wanted them to match. Now all the furniture is green, and all the seat cushions and throw pillows coordinate. So, newly painted furniture, new throw pillows for the bench, and a new pot of succulents for the table. Much more still to do, but that's my "New" for today.