Art, Nature, Family and More!

I've been such a slacker this week and last week, totally M.I.A. in the blogging world.  Sorry!  Halloween took over and then we went out of town for some much-needed family time (my side of the family, that is).  I took a long-overdue trip to my hometown of Cartersville, Georgia this past weekend for and event that is very close to my heart--An Evening Under the Stars to benefit The Pettit Preserve.  My amazing and spirited Grandmother was such a true creature of this Earth, it was in her bones...and she was fortunate enough to have some amazing property close to the Bartow County/Paulding County Line.  She has dedicate 60 acres of that land to found The Margaret & Luke Pettit Environmental Preserve, Inc. (a.k.a., The Pettit Preserve).  Every other year, the Pettit Preserve holds a Silent Art Auction Fundraiser.  I was so excited to be able to make it up there this year for the event!  Thanks to Sally Sparks Edwards, and amazing Atlanta artist who also happened to be one of my Grandmother's closest and most cherished friends, we had some absolutely stunning art donated by some of Atlanta's greatest talents.  We also auctioned off a Getaway at the Preserve (to stay in my Grandmother's peaceful cabin on the property) and a Getaway at "Windswept" on St. Simons Island (our family beach house that we just recently renovated--see my Before & After photos for a little glimpse!)  The fundraiser was a fun success and I just can't tell you how wonderful it was to be back in the North Georgia mountains for just a few days.  I needed that breath of fresh air.  Here are a few photos from An Evening Under the Stars to benefit the Pettit Preserve.  Enjoy!

I believe the piece in the middle is still available, Contact Me  if you're interested!  Aren't they all beautiful?!

I really loved this piece, it reminded me of the creek that runs through the Pettit Preserve.  I'm not sure who bought it but they sure are lucky!

This piece is still available, Contact Me if you are interested!  It's gorgeous!

That's me on the left, with my back to you; didn't realize I was in the picture or I would've smiled for the camera! 

The centerpiece was auctioned off as well, those flowers are hand-sewn and made of felt!  They were amazing!

Hand blown glass by a local Cartersvillian, Daniel Hart.  Purchase his amazing work HERE

Everything's better with live music!

Handmade wooden art by Julia Speer (I have to brag...she's family!) Purchase her work HERE

Pettit Preserve VP Hil Harper (left) and my amazing mother, Dee Bishop (right).  Hil and mom both did the most fantastic job with this event.  It could not have been a more beautiful night.  Kuddos to them both for working their tails off for the Pettit Preserve!
Side note:  Hil is coming out with a blog specifically for the guy in your life soon, I can't wait to be able to share it with you!  Please check back!  Oh, and he's also the brother of the incredibly talented Lindsey Coral Harper of LCH Interiors, She is all over the design world these days, I'm obsessed with pretty much EVERYTHING she has done!

One happy bidder!! I hear that piece has found a home in his bathroom now. Nice!

Some lucky bidder won this Getaway at the Preserve...4 days, 3 nights in the  most peaceful place on Earth!  I'm a little biased....

(From left to right) My aunt Marlu Smith, Dianne Pike, Larry and Helen Taylor .  Helen was one of our amazing artists, and anther one of my Grandmother's closest and most cherished friends.  Helen does the most vibrant, inspired work.  The blue fish painting below is one of her pieces:

Some of the amazing art we auctioned off, Contact Me to find out more about the artists!

My beautiful mother, Dee Bishop, on the left with her youngest sister, Marlu Smith.  They did such an amazing job preparing for this event!!!

Hooray for new artwork! 

More happy bidders!  Melanie Collier got the pear painting I really wanted, and Erin Stepp ended up with a gorgeous  Rothko-like painting!  Love them both!  The picture in the background is by Sally Sparks Edwards and my mom bought it for the beach house, I was so excited!!!  I can't wait to see it hanging over the bed in the master bedroom.

A HUGE thanks to everyone who attended this year's Evening Under the Stars event and opened their wallets for some beautiful new artwork!  It is because of these donors that the Pettit Preserve can use the land to host school tours and educate children in North Georgia!  For more information on the Pettit Preserve please click HERE and to "Like" them on Facebook please click HERE.

Because this place is so special to me and was so very special to my late Grandmother, I am including some pictures of her cabin (and of her) below:

The open concept Living Room;  this was the original cabin (it has since been added onto but this front part of the cabin remains untouched)

The view into the kitchen and up to the loft/sleeping area.  That paper rainbow has been on the ceiling in the loft since I was a little girl.  There is enough room for a mattress on the floor up there and that's about it, but that's all you need when you're in a cabin in the woods!  Don't you just LOVE the old ladder???  

The heart of the cabin, the kitchen.  Some of the most wonderful meals have come out of that kitchen.

To me, THIS is what a kitchen in a cabin should look like.  I know I'm 100% biased, but come on....isn't it just perfect?!  Ok, maybe I would change the old 70's brick flooring....but that's all!

One of the most beautiful women I have ever known, and the one who named me Gussie.  If I can be half the woman she was I will feel like a huge success! This was Thanksgiving 2009, a year before she passed away (Damn you, cancer.  Damn you.)

There she is making her famous salad in the most gorgeous wooden bowl...she was adamant, you ONLY make salad in a wooden bowl, and you never clean it with soap.  For those of you wondering, that's Light Extra Virgin Olive Oil, chives, avocado, lemon juice, salt and pepper to get things started....

Can't you just see her spirit?  We were on a swinging bridge that crosses the creek at the Pettit Preserve.  Ava Gray (now 4 yrs.) was 2 at the time, asleep on my shoulder.

Can you tell it was cold that day?  She let me borrow a hat and a vest....super stylish,  huh?  

I didn't mean for this to be a post about my Grandmother, but she was (and still is) such an inspiration to me and I am so grateful to have had her in my life for 26 wonderful years.  She will be sorely, sorely missed every single day; she is one of the main reasons I started my business and I can still hear her pushing me to do more.  Daily, I feel her spirit.  She may not have known it but her style and design sense may have been where I first got the interior design bug.  One day I will share pictures of her beautiful home (this cabin was not her full-time residence).  Her home and her cabin were both filled with things that she loved--things that spoke to her.  She surrounded herself with beauty, nature, pictures of family, and things that made her feel good.  The trip to Cartersville this past weekend and the time I was able to spend out at her cabin in the woods gave me the extra nudge I needed to keep pursuing my dreams....and even though I don't have any pictures of them, the fall colors all over the North Georgia mountains on the drive up were just breathtaking!  Thank you, Mother Nature (and thank you to my Gandmother) for the continued inspiration each and every day!!!