LaBellaMaison

If You Haven't Noticed

If you haven't noticed by now.........I love visiting new cities, shops, & areas and sharing them here with you!  I actually keep one of my two camera's (my small one) in my purse to snap random pictures at a moment notice.    Some days I just want to go out and snap pictures around the cities where I live.  Photographing sight and scenes give me such inspiration and I love it!!!

 I recent had the opportunity to visit Lafayette Square which is downtown St. Louis's oldest historic neighborhoods.  

The name Lafayette Square really describes a neighborhood of over 300 gracefully designed residences surrounded by a 30 acre Victorian park.  When entering the brick gate of the district you  are immediately in awe of the Victorian styled mansions, row homes, & town houses.  The central square district boasts restaurants, shops, services, & art galleries.

Lafayette Square is  really an urban neighborhood that is being restored to its grandeur of its golden years.

There is a variety of different architectural styles throughout the neighborhood.

A very friendly urban environment........people gathering in the central district visiting shops and restaurants.  The district surrounding the square has a Mexican restaurant, wine shop & tasting bar, yoga studio, & coffee shop to name a few.

Fun restaurants and bars.

A row of buildings on the main street housing businesses and condo's.

Many of the buildings are large in stature; but, still have a quaint appeal.

This home reminds me of New Orlean's  french design.

Beautiful gardens adorn this home.

I'd pick this one for myself!

One of several historic churches.

This grand home reminds me of St. Louis's Central West End.  This is just a glimpse of the wonder you will find in  this neat neighborhood.

My Messy Thrilling Life

I love this blog:  My Messy Thrilling Life.  I just happened to click on it on my blog roll and began catching up of the life of this beautiful young women.  No, I have never met her or could tell you about her outer beauty.  It just as simple as this...........her words which are so eloquently written really touched my soul.  The author Brin most recently writes about the the loss of her grandfather, her business, & her home.  Now, you might think this all sounds depressing but it is far from that!  Brin provides a beautiful realistic perspective on life grounded by her faith in God that can help all of us stay in the light.  I encourage you to take some time to check her out.  Her blog is as they say "chicken soup for the soul."

I also wanted to share two of my favorite wall art in my home.  Remember when I promised to show you the pictures I purchased at The White Rabbit my first visit to St. Louis?  Well, here they are hanging in Camille's room.  She spotted them in my pile of pictures and mirrors when she was home, & claimed them for her room.

What do you think?  I think her taste is slowly becoming more like mine..........and that is a good thing.  I also love this piece of old tin that finally found a home (also in Camille's room).

I seem to buy things I love and worry about finding a home for them later on.  This definitely is not always a good thing when you have too too much stuff.  So this is the situation I am in now.........

A garage full of furniture and stuff that has to be gotten rid of!  And this is just a small sampling!  Wish me luck.....

Making Progress Amidst Chaos

Hello friends..........  I know I have been absent for sometime.  Lots going on here with moving into our new home.  Everyday is focused on unpacking and bringing order to our new surroundings.  

I am sad to say that it doesn't appear that there will be a vacation on our agenda for this summer.  Unfortunately,  the years where we move (every two years lately) we never manage to squeeze a vacation in.  Especially, this year when our moving dates were right during Charlie's vacation and trying to sell two properties!  But, we are happy to be here and we really don't miss getting away.  Actually, if we did squeeze in a vacation we would feel stressed about our projects like this:

You can see some of my  unpacked art supplies...........   I took this  picture outside of my new studio.  I don't dare show you inside this room just yet!   I promise I will post more  pictures when a little more organization occurs. 

But, I will show one of our guest rooms that is almost ready for visitors!  I am sure there will be many friends visiting us this football season.

The furniture in this room was previously used in our master bedroom in Seattle.

And we were also lucky to have Camiller visit us for a week.  Camille is taking on-line classes this summer in Orlando, so she was able to sneak away for a quick visit.  We wish she could have stayed longer!  She was so helpful in  assisting us with projects around the house and teaching us how to use our new Iphones!

We told her we were not ready for her to leave............we were still in need of technological help.  Pretty funny, that your child has to come home from college to help you with your computers, cellphones, and media equipment!  What a blessing for us.............  We miss her already!

Heavenly

You just have to try this........  This wonderful cake that my neighbor Cathy brought our family on our moving day. Amidst moving men and tons of boxes she came to our door with this heavenly creation.

Gooey butter cake

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gooey butter cake is a type of cake traditionally made in the U.S. city of St. Louis, Missouri, with a bottom layer of buttery yellow cake and a top layer of either egg and cream cheese, or butter and sugar. It is generally served as a type of coffee cake and not as a dessert cake. It is believed to have originated around 1943.^[1]

The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission includes a recipe for the cake on its website, calling it "one of St. Louis' popular, quirky foods"; the recipe calls for a bottom layer of butter and yellow cake, and a top layer made from eggs, cream cheese, and in this case almond extract. The cake is dusted with confectioner's sugar before being served.

The cream cheese variant of the gooey butter cake recipe, while close enough to the original, is an approximation designed for easier preparation at home. Almost all bakeries in the greater Saint Louis area, including those at grocers Schnucks and Dierbergs, use a slightly different recipe based on corn syrup, sugar and powdered eggs -- no cake mix or cream cheese is involved.

A legend about the cake's origin is included in Saint Louis Days...Saint Louis Nights (ISBN 0-9638298-1-5), a cookbook published in the mid-1990s by the Junior League of St. Louis. The cake was supposedly first made by accident in the 1930s by a St. Louis-area German American baker who was trying to make regular cake batter but reversed the proportions of sugar and flour.

The St. Louis Bread Company makes danishes with a gooey butter filling.

So here I share my neighbor's recipe that was oh so heavenly.  Hope you will enjoy one too........

EASY GOOEY BUTTER CAKE

1 package yellow cake mix

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

GOOEY BUTTER

1 (8oz) package of cream cheese-softened

2 eggs

1 lb. box confectioners sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together cake mix (just the mix, not the other ingredients called for on the box) with butter and 1 egg. Pat into an ungreased 9 x 13 inch cake pan. Cream together cream cheese, 2 eggs, powdered sugar and vanilla. Pour over cake mixture. Spreading to the edges. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes

Happy Independence Day

Fireworks Gateway Arch, Old Courthouse. St. Louis, MO, originally uploaded by Parker Botanical.

My first 4th of July in St. Louis. Wishing everyone a happy and fun day with family & friends. May we feel blessed to live in the best nation in the world. Thanks to our troops who continue to fight to preserve our nation's freedom! Let freedom ring!!!

This Journey We Call Life

Believe it or not........... there is light.  Light at the end of a very long tunnel that I have been traveling for the past few weeks!  I made it and I am here in St. Louis!  So happy that everything has come together almost flawlessly.  As I mentioned in the previous post I traveled from Phoenix to Seattle to meet the movers who would pack up my home there.  I was blessed with an awesome team of fellows that were so efficient that they finished the move a day early.  They showed up at my door ready to get down to business.

The movers packed up everything in two days and had it loaded on the truck a day early.  And believe it or not we filled this truck to the brim.

 I decided to take a few pictures of our home for the past two years before the house was dismantled.

This is the picture of the house when we first bought it.  The house was in much need of care stuck in the 70's with purple shag carpet no less.  The previous owner even had a rake she used to rake the carpet.....  I'm  not kidding so please don't die laughing.  In the bathroom medicine cabinet, she left a note telling me not remove the medicine cabinet with one of those smiley faces wearing a frown!!!  Kinda spooky........but, remove it I did!

This is a picture of the house when we first purchased it.

This is our home today as we say goodbye!

Here is a peek into the inside of the original house.

and after.........

 

A home that was stuck in the 70's that we  gave our own personal touches......

So believe it or not.......I was a little sad to say goodbye to a home that had our personality stamped all over it.

Lots of memories left behind.  But time to make new beginnings and memories on this journey we call life.  And now our home has been sold to family that really loves it.  What more can a person ask for?