This time of year, I have no need for an alarm clock. The birds awaken as the sky begins to light and there is no sleeping through their cacophonous greeting of the day. It is odd that in a world where most city dwellers are awakened by traffic noises, I am awakened by birds!

Color has always trended. From year to year, the palette of clothing and interior design lurches this way and that in a seemingly random way. You can clock the shifts with the seasons at your neighborhood Target or Pier 1.

Last fall purchased an electronic reader. A nook color from Barnes and Noble. I had resisted for a while, after all, you can’t turn the pages. One of the reasons (justifications/rationalizations) was it might be a novel way to engage the kids with reading. In reality, I decided I just wanted it! Isn’t that enough?

Right before Christmas a friend of mine working for the local office of a national design magazine called to tell me the office was closing. The staff had been given leave to take the books from the library if they desired and she wanted to know if I was interested.

I tend to tuck things a way. I was reorganizing some books and came across a photo album from long ago and far away. Glancing through the pages, I found my self reliving events that had fallen far away from my active memory.

One of the reasons I love Georgia is that it is about as far South as you can go (north of the equator) and still have 4 distinctly different seasons. I find seasonal rhythms important. They help mark the passage of time.

For the last couple of months, treehouses have been a major topic of household conversation.

As I approach the first anniversary of this blog, it seems appropriate to do some tweaking. The new graphic on the right side of the page is a detail from a triptych I created for a visual communications class in graduate school many, many years ago.

This year, we opted for a staycation for spring break. To give the kids something to look forward to, we decided to join the newest urban phenomenon sweeping our neighborhood and acquiesce to a request that we raise chickens.

Every now and again, I am asked about “smart house” technology. It is a discussion I’ve followed through the years, sometimes with interest, sometimes with amusement.

It is January.  The Christmas decorations are down and put away. The house seems to expand and breathe easier with the banishment of the trees and garland.

As 2010 ended, I felt overwhelmed by the volume of “stuff” oozing out of every corner of the house!

The day after Christmas proved to begin very early for me. As is often the case, I took advantage of the quiet time to peruse the blogosphere. I was amused to stumble across the following press release from Pantone…

This is the house that Jack built… in the late 1940s after he returned from the war and started working for his father. It was a smart 3 bedroom house with a side porch designed to appeal to young men like him. It was an optimistic time.

The remarkable thing about the design field is that it is a lifelong journey. When you are young and idealistic, you are insistent that life match your design. As you mature, you come to realize that your design should match life.