• Establish Sentimental Provenance for Your Furniture and Art
    decorating

    It’s Time to Establish Sentimental Provenance for Family Keepsakes

    What is sentimental provenance? It’s a term I coined to describe a historical record of an item’s origin and ownership for sentimental reasons, not monetary reasons. How many times have you bought something at a thrift store and wished you knew where that item had come from, in other words, its provenance? For me, it’s every single time! I wish I knew that table, painting, or bowl’s back story. Where did it come from and how did it end up on this dusty thrift store shelf? If that item could talk, what stories would it tell? What historical events did it witness? How much did it originally cost? I don’t…

  • gettysburg national military park
    travel

    Travel: Gettysburg National Military Park

    Gettysburg National Military Park is the site of a pivotal 1863 battle during the American Civil War. It is also where President Abraham Lincoln famously gave his Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. We often travel to learn and our trip to Gettysburg National Military Park over the Christmas break was the perfect example of that. Here’s what we learned that might help you plan a trip there because (spoiler alert!) everyone should check it out at least once. WHY YOU SHOULD VISIT If you’re like me, history class was a long time ago. However, there are some topics that we all have a broad understanding of…

  • Five Old Books I Found in Our New Home
    colonial farmhouse,  decorating

    5 Old Books I Found in Our New Home

    Old houses are full of surprises. (I’m a master of the understatement.) Our colonial farmhouse has already given us plenty of surprises – most of them electrical related. I also found some old books and magazines in our new home. That’s a WAY better surprise than realizing you only have one inconveniently located outlet in your master bedroom! Since I previously told you the seller left tons of unwanted items in the house when he moved out, you might think that I found these old books in one of the four gazillion dozen boxes of junk on the premises. Nope. I found the old books and magazines in two places.…