Updated: Covetable Celebrates – First Reader Giveaway!

Hello!

When we first decided to move to Dallas from London, I was walking on air.  When I left Texas to go to school in Chicago, I never dreamed that I would be leaving it for so long.  While I never wanted to live back in my hometown of Amarillo, during the years we lived in Tokyo and New York, especially the early years of our marriage, I longed to live in Texas.  I missed the people, the food, the “big sky”, the sun that never disappears for too long.  But over time, I gave up hopes of living back in Texas.  As my husband’s job has always been on Wall Street, it looked as though we would never live any place other than a financial center.  Living in New York, Tokyo and London has been truly amazing, don’t get me wrong.  But those places never felt like “home”.  I had missed small things, like freshly brewed iced tea in bottomless glasses, the occasional country music song on the radio,  and the smell of pinon wood burning in fireplaces. And I had missed big ones – like being close to my family.  When we decided to move to Dallas, I was so happy that I teared up constantly because I couldn’t believe my good fortune.  The winter and spring that I commuted several times between London and New York was full of joy and anticipation.  We were looking at schools for the children, finding a lot for our new home, and beginning to draw plans for our house.  Heady times, indeed.  I was here when the crepe myrtles burst into bloom, of which Dallas has so very, very many, and the smell was indescribable.  Every spring since then, when that scents wafts in the air, I am taken back to that time of great joy and happiness.

So, as this is a new beginning of sorts, the crepe myrtle scent seems appropriate for my first reader giveaway.  This has been such a full few weeks for Covetable!  First, the post by Cote De Texas, then all the new readers, then some new clients, and all the while behind the scenes we have been working on this new look for the blog.  It is not radically different, admittedly, but it does give you some new links and features, and a little bit more of my style comes through, hopefully.  Because this feels like the beginning of some great adventures, I decided that it is high time that I preview for you a little bit of what is to come, take a quick peek at what has come before and ask for your input on what you’ve enjoyed reading and looking at, and what things you hope I write about more often.  So, please leave a comment and I will be using number three and four sons to fight to the death over who draws the winning comment number.  And what will the giveaway be?  This beautiful Nouvelle Candle Company candle pictured above, scented with that fragrance so evocative for me – crepe myrtle.

Now for a walk down memory lane.  It’s a short one, so no need to grab your sneakers.

This is the photo that opened my first blog post.

This was my “hello” to the blogosphere and it is a photograph of the Tablescapes table that I did in 2007.  Frankly, the photos from that event were the only halfway decent ones I had at the time.  I was waiting on the professional photographs I had taken of the house to arrive, which they soon did, thankfully.  Then, I was able to invite  you into my house….

And I began the “Story of a House” series of posts, which is ongoing.  And I think probably will be for quite a while, since I am always updating and renewing.

I wrote about gorgeous flowers,

Yummy food,

Shopping,

Primping,

and partying.

Through it all, I have had a blast. And I hope that if you read some of these posts, that you did, too.

So, what’s ahead for Covetable?  I’d like to profile more designers.  I also want to show you more about Dallas architecture,

some client’s projects I am working on,

some gardens,

and some changes at Maison Mullen and the continuing “Story of a House”.

I am going to be starting a series about “The New Classics”, my very opinionated guide to what I believe is fresh and new, yet will stand the test of time.  Look for more “how to” posts on everything from hanging pictures to setting tables to updating photo collections.

So, here’s the deal.  You should let me know what you want to read more about, and I will be happy to oblige, if I can.  Leave me a comment about posts you liked in the past – and go back and read some if you like – and things you’d like for me to write about in the future.  Comments will close at midnight on Sunday, April 25th.  The boys will draw a number on Friday morning, and I will e-mail the lucky winner of this truly divine candle. ( if you are an anonymous commenter, I can’t e-mail you, so please let me know who you are…)  The candle is really a great shape and size – large enough to stand on its own on a table, pretty enough to put in any room, neutral enough that it will play well with others, and the scented in a subtle but unmistakeable way with a burn time of 160 hours.  Here it is again:

Kristin

P.S.  You can also let me know what you think of the “new” look.  I love input, even if it’s a critical comment.  Criticism makes us better, I think.

UPDATE:  You can see that the theme is changing almost before our eyes as my technological wizards are hard at work.  Thank you, Brent and Paula.  Which is VERY nice.  What is NOT so nice is that I have a person commenting persistently ( 33 comments and counting) with pornographic links that I cannot seem to block.  And I can’t stay by my computer all day to delete them as they come up.  So, I am going to have to turn on the comment moderation for this post.  All that means is that I will see your comment and need to approve it before you will see it.  No big deal.  But it will keep the offensive stuff from appearing even for a second.  So sorry!