All Things Bright and Beautiful

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful:

The Lord God made them all.

-Cecil Alexander, 1848

When Laura Bush decided on the theme "All Things Bright and Beautiful" for the White House Christmas of 2005, I was enthralled. While All Things Bright and Beautiful is one of my favorite church hymns, I also think it's the most divine-sounding mantra ever. Bright and beautiful... It's lovely, right? After all, who doesn't want a home... or a life... like that?

Bright and beautiful. The little phrase has planted itself in my daydreams. It sweetly taps me on the shoulder every time I spot a pretty fabric or pillowcase or dish. The past few months, I've unwittingly come home with yards and yards of powder blue and pink cotton paisley and bloom-green organza ribbon. It's bright and beautiful, I tell myself when I hesitate over buying it.

Egad. I now have mini-mountains of pretty, fluffy, ruffly things. I have designs for library and ballet and hand bags, dreams of aprons and pillows, and thoughts of hair pins and ribbon corsages. My sketches are bursting out of file baskets and my ideas are clouding my good (ha!) judgment.

So the moment was upon me. In the midst of being a girly cowgirl and cooking a lemon and rosemary something-or-other this weekend, I suddenly said out loud, "I have too much. Freeman House can't hold all of this. I need to open an online store." Out loud. Just like that. And although one side of my brain was saying lotsa luck, the other argued that lotsa bright and beautiful girls out there just might want a taste of the sunshine and roses and beauty and charm of this place. You know, until I can get Freeman House finished and start renting out beds and breakfasts. [Smile]

It was decided. Therefore around Easter, Freeman House will open its online store on etsy.com. No sooner had I begun thinking of all the lovely things I would beautifully wrap and send out, than my phone beeped with an internet message. It was from Cherry Menlove, who along with Alicia Paulson, is my all things bright and beautiful hero. I nearly choked from excitement when I read her note. So it was re-decided. I would open a little online shop. A shop with all the prettiest things I can possibly dream up from within my chipped paint and rose-covered Freeman House.

I'm so excited I can hardly sit still. (Of course, that could also be on account of the low-fat Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies I perfected yesterday. I found they go great with a Vanilla Chai Latte. Now I'm as tortured as that girl on MSN who's had the hiccups for two straight weeks.) Go figure.

Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know what's going on here at Freeman House in case you try to smoke signal me and I don't immediately smoke back. It appears I'll be wrapped in roses and dragging ribbon behind my shoe (like toilet paper) for the next several weeks. Good thing Maebelline has an automatic cat feeder. I have a feeling I'm fixing to find out just how busy being bright and beautiful can make a girl!...

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all..