I was tweeting with someone who liked my post late last night about already decorating for the Christmas holidays. I replied to his tweet stating I think I might be the first in the Silicon Valley to already go nutzo with my holiday planning and decorating. I love collecting arts and crafts and spending way too much time (and money) on sites like Horchow. When Horchow has a seasonal sale, I am there, practically glued to my computer studying each whimsical piece and asking myself do I really need this. So often the answer is a flat out no but I can’t help myself and I love pretty things… 
Here is a glimpse into my living room at home….I love LOVE my fireplace and had it built literally from hand (it look the masons weeks to construct my “old world” look). This season I am doing a silver glitz look with soft hints of blue and quite possibly chocolate too. Pinecones, twinkle lights, berries, and more.
We’re hosting Thanksgiving this year and I already warned my family members that the table will not be decorated with sweet little autumn gourds, carved out pumpkins filled with seasonal flowers, or Turkey napkin ring holders (yes I have those too) this year. The food will certainly be all about Thanksgiving and I might even bring my Vietri turkey sculpture out to grace us with her presence but that is it! Instead, Christmas has arrived at the Andersen home and at the Linx office too. Oh my! I’m already listening to Jazz holiday music and lighting my fire at home- nesting to say the least. Who wants to go out when home is so cozy?
Stockings for Santa….
I‘ll be posting more throughout December about my holiday decorating and festivities but thought I’d mention a great source of inspiration for any of you readers who are in the seasonal decoration mood like me! Today one of my dearest friends, Renee, and I headed up to the city on a perfectly clear day- lots of surfers out along our drive to The Legion of Honor where my adorable and creative mom had purchased us tickets to see the floral guru of floral deities, Mr. Ron Morgan, speak. 
The ladies ooh-ing and aww-ing over Ron’s incredible glitz wreath made from bottoms of water bottles. He painstakingly spent months with a razor removing the bottom of water bottles and cutting each one in the shape of a snowflake. Afterwards he covered the edges of these hundreds of snowflakes in white silverly glitter. “I stared at the bottom of my water bottle one day and said OMG, I see a snowflake.” And that is how Ron’s creation developed- don’t you just love that?
The legion’s auditorium was packed full of friendly, festive ladies wanting to see Ron’s latest holiday creations for wreath making. Ron, who is apparently 80 years old (and looks maybe 60), stood on the stage having all of us girls giggle as he joked (but not really) about being covered in glitter half the time, how epoxy glue from ACE smells SOOOO fabulous (and for those note takers not to ever use a glue gun when doing your creative projects as the glue turns yellow, looks bad, and doesn’t have the stamina that epoxy glues does), and the basics of wreath making from the master himself (buy a styrofoam circle for your wreath at a shop like Michael’s or Fantastico in San Francisco http://www.fantasticosf.com/, cover the back in cardboard as styrofoam breaks easily, and wrap the majority of the wreath in floral tape. The back of the wreath will be ugly but who cares when the front is a magical wonder and will last for many years to come!) 
Hard to view but a vision of chocolates and white. Ron loves using two colors. He started with a gorgeous rich velvety mocha ribbon and worked the wreath from there…adding sweet doves, acorns, and cinnamon sticks too (neat huh?) His advice is to always start with one source of inspiration and play from there. Play, have fun, don’t get too tense about it looking one way or the other. He shares that wreaths should not be perfect, instead they should have irregularities, have depth to them (never flat), and your heart poured into them.
60 ties, yes 60 red and green ties went into the making of this festive wreath fit for a man. Ron went to a zillion resale shops and the Alameda flea market (his all time favorite spot) to locate all of these ties. Ron said he has boxes and boxes and hundreds (I bet you thousands) of boxes in his warehouse. If he isn’t needing those ties he just bought (or whatever it is at the time) he shoves them into their little home and told the audience he knows where each and every item is in his warehouse- how amazing is that? This wreath would be so sweet to do for a hubbies’ work, boyfriends home office, or beau’s master bedroom or closet. Handsome and elegant does the trick.
Ron admitted to the audience that one of his biggest and scariest thoughts would be to wake up one day in his physical body but not have any creative genius left in his mind. Good point and scary thought! Keep creating Ron! I suggest for anyone wanting to get into the holiday spirit to purchase one of his books such as The Center of Attention by Ron Morgan. I think I’ll be borrowing my mom’s next time I see her.
Renee and I at Ron Morgan’s talk today….
Wreaths on display at the lecture and Ron showing off his snowflake wonder….
Standing just shy of 5 feet, these gorgeous calla lilies grace the Linx office
Modern elegance….these flowers are stunning! 
Vintage looking candle sticks with artificial flowers and greens with little accents of crystals and white pinecones adorn the Linx zinc pedestal table. Behind these candlesticks is an artificial rosemary tree (looks very real) standing 5 feet or so. I love constantly mixing up my home and office to shift and always evolve the experience for client and for my team. 
An easy way to create a happy atmosphere anywhere is to use florals. I raided Michael’s yesterday….luckily for me all silk flowers are 50% off. Since I rent my office space, I don’t necessarily want to have to paint walls to change a look. Instead, I always update the space by moving objects, mixing, matching, and adding lots of color everywhere! I spent maybe $30 total on these flowers here. They come on very long wire stems that are extremely hard to cut unless you have some serious gardening shears. Since I didn’t want to buy shears, I simply pulled the flowers off the wire stem. They’re fake and really easy to manipulate this way. Pull off, stack on top of one another for depth, and mix and match. You can’t go wrong! Immediately when I put them up my assistant asked if they were real. Wink wink! 
It is hard to tell what that “thing” is next to the roses but enter my new find from Mexico….el corazon. It has a pretty grey and white finish and is made of what appears to be ceramic, finished with a silver flame looking top. 
Linx Line 
