Daddy and the kids made ginger oatmeal cookies yesterday.

My stepmom, Donna, and I have very different design aesthetics when it comes to colors.  She prefers the deep, rich Mexican palette and I prefer the bright, soft pastel palette.  So, even though her house is painted very different colors than I would choose to paint my house, her home is still my primary source of inspiration when creating my own home.

And this is for several reasons:

• Her home is always clean and tidy.
• Even though they have three dogs that live in the house, her home always smells fresh which immediately relaxes the visitor when they come in from a long drive.
• Her home is not cluttered.  She follows a clean, open design and puts out only a few knick knacks that she cherishes.
• She keeps what I call “happy books” in the bathroom.  These would be books that you would find in the self-help section of the bookstore.  They are full of self-affirmations and self-introspection essays.  Whenever you come out of the bathroom, you feel just a little happier than when you went in because of reading the happy essays.
• Her home, decorated with all its Mexican colors, is very pretty and enjoyable to be in.
• She uses subtle, bright, lifting smells everywhere — the hand soaps, the body soaps, shampoos, the air fresheners throughout the house. It seems like such a small thing to have a lovely-scented handsoap, but it makes such a difference.
• And finally, the topic of this blog, she has “happy signs” everywhere in her house.  Signs like “Live well. Laugh often. Love much.”

I was reading the Lifetime Fitness magazine today, and everytime I read it, I feel motivated and empowered — ready to make positive, healthy change in my life.  And then I go do the dishes and the laundry and tend to the needs of small children, and that feeling slowly ebbs away into the hard and repetitive work of the day.  And that is why I like that particularly design feature of Donna’s home so much.  Her plaques on the wall remind you of what is important while you are feeding children and vacuuming and folding the laundry.

Words are thoughts, and thoughts are actions.  I like the idea of self-programming my thoughts with beautiful wall decor.