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Finding the Dream Property : Country Life & Style
Not all of us are born and raised in the country but we get there as fast as we can. If you, like me, spent years or decades of your life dreaming and trying to move to the country, you may have some solid ideas of what you want. Here are some things that I learned along the way that helped me to edit and curate the dream so that I could buy the right property….and I’m still shopping for it. But I have been renting in the countryside for some time now and have a lot of first hand experience on what to be aware of and the nuances…
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A Peaceful Christ Centered Christmas Season in the Countryside
There is a special beauty about Christmas in the countryside at my home. But Christmas everywhere else feels pretty stressful to me. Do you feel uneasy with society’s version of Christmas? I find pop Christmas music played in stores to be extremely unpleasant as well as the stress of shopping and crowds. Here are my 5 ways to create a peaceful Christ centered Christmas season and how you can too even if you don’t live in the country. 1) Shop online instead of big box stores or shop local small businesses. The hyper environment of big box stores with loud pop music, stuff overwhelm and unfriendly crowds can be stressful…
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How to Shop for Boots for Your Country Wardrobe
Ladies, If you are a country woman, you know what it is to live closer to God’s green earth. We aren’t teetering around on spikes out here. We are free range women, breathing wide open air into our lungs and hopefully you will join me in praising God to be surrounded by His creation. So, the fact is, we need real boots. Not fashion boots that shred easily on rocks and can’t protect us from uneven ground. We need a comfortable sole and weatherproof options. I keep a few of these boots in my wardrobe and I wear them back into dust. But real boots can take it. So here’s…
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How to Dress Daily for the Home & the Homestead
Ladies, Do you rarely leave your home? Maybe you, like me, love working, resting, and just being at home. Moreso, country women tend to be at home a lot more than someone in town because we space out grocery shopping trips just for the fact that we drive much further to stores. Infrequent outings seem limited to people who wake up to leave the house every day. But if you are a woman who views full days at home as being wonderful instead of having “nowhere to go” or being “stuck at home”, you are in good company. Dressing for the Day at Home There is this misconception in the…
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Fashion Blogger Diary A Lookbook of Boots with Dresses & Skirts
Ladies, When I look back on vintage photographs, there are certain styles that look so classically beautiful they eclipse the worse trends of that era. Take boots with skirts and dresses as one example that I have admired in photographs of women in the 1970s and 1980s. Their boots were femininely shaped with an almond toe (the best toe shape ever invented for women’s shoes) and a conservative heel, then paired with midi length skirts or dresses. This look has been seared into my mind as the most timelessly beautiful way to wear boots. Style is about combinations Like a painting, style is not just one stroke of color or…
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How to Wear Dresses & Skirts in Cold Weather
Ladies, The mornings have had an icy chill, but I head out for my morning walks anyway. I even wear my pretty dresses and skirts all Autumn and winter because of specific clothing choices that are incredibly comfortable. This sky-blue dress that I wore recently is a lightweight fabric (not my preference for cold weather), but it was only the topper over my insulating leggings, thick socks and tall boots. It was snuggly topped with a thick cable knit sweater. But the key to this seemingly simple formula is in the details. “There is no such thing as bad weather just bad clothes.” I have loved this Norwegians saying ever…
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How to Start Wearing Pretty Dresses Daily
Ladies, Modern society has relegated pretty dresses to special occasions. Yet here we are with more beautiful fabrics and styles than ever before and at price points even low-income ladies can afford and so few women enjoy it. Such was the case for me when we had very little to spend and I found a dusty little thrift shop with $1 dresses on sale days. Yes, just $1. It was probably one of the closest experiences I have had to heaven on earth. I stocked up. It was around this time in my life that I had felt very drawn to dresses and had realized that I never owned anything…
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How to Dress “French Country” Fashion
Ladies, French Country decor is laid back beauty of expensive toile curtains combined with rustic dirty wood floors. A little rustic and a little polish. Fashion is no different. You can combine the practical and comfortable with the pretty. I like pairing my dusty cowgirl boots with my flowy floral dresses. The French use nice things daily. They do not save their nice things for special occasions only. All clothes will get ruined eventually, just wear your nice things. I think it’s sad to make nice things occasional. It is also sad that a simple day dress has been viewed as fancy in modern culture. Women use to wear pretty…
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Shopping for Your Homestead 10 Tips to Buying Land
This article will cover the most vital ten items to question about potential properties. If you are purchasing an existing house check out Top 10 Tips for buying a Country House click here. 1. Road access. You drove up to the property listing. Is the road to access to the property maintained by the buyer, the county, a neighbor? Is it level or steep? Is it narrow or wide? Will this road be dangerous in the winter? Consider the vehicles and the size of any loads you will need to drive down the road to the property and make sure it suits those needs. I caution to not get involved…
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10 Tips for buying a House in the Country
These are the ten most important questions to ask when buying a house in the country. To see the 10 Tips for Buying Land click here. 1. Water. Is it well or city water? What is the age and condition of the well equipment? What is the well water pressure like? 2. Test your water. Test for bacteria, chemicals, minerals, etc. 3. Septic system. Where is the drain field on the property? This would be an area that you cannot plant or build anything. Or park on. How close to the water well is the drain field? What type of plumbing pipes were used? Ceramic, metal, pvc? 4. Zoning. Can…
