Robyn Harry 1/29/20 Robyn Harry 1/29/20

On new beginnings

It’s January and like many others, I find myself in a constant state of evaluation. Not only am I thinking about how I can improve things in our home or for our family, I am considering the state of my business. My business title and mission has been constantly evolving since I started this blog in October, 2011. (PS- you can find my older blog posts under the Archives tab.)

When I first started this blog, I had an infant and two elementary kids that I schooled at home. Decorating and crafting were outlets for me and I enjoyed sharing the process on my blog. I never had the intention of monetizing my blog or turning this thing into a business. As my children grew more independent and my free time grew as well, I found myself wanting more. I had a deep desire to take this creative gift and share it with others. I jumped feet first into launching my own decor business. I had several clients before I landed what I thought was my dream client. She wanted me to redo her entire home.

I learned some hard lessons. I learned being a decorator is a full time job. It took a couple of months, but we finished her home. She loved the results and I was proud of my work. I also discovered I was not ready to put that much time and effort into anything that takes so much time away from my family.

I completely recognize that I am coming from a place of privilege when I say that we do not need the income. So, what is my motivation here? This is the question I have been mulling for a few years now. And every single time, my answer is the same without fail: my family. Those four beautiful people below are my passion.

I still love being creative as an outlet. Shopping, painting, and furniture makeovers are a necessity for me much like reading, exercising, or napping is a necessity for some. It gives me life and energy. It helps me refill my cup so that I can pour into my family. Creativity is the equivalent of breathing for me. Yes, that sounds dramatic. And yes, it is one hundred percent true.

So now that I have these two key parts figured out, what do I do with them? My family is the drive behind what I do from day to day and I MUST create. How do I marry these truths? I think this is what I have been trying to figure out for years. I just didn’t have a name for it. (and I still don’t!)

The short answer is this: Virtual Design Consultation

In the coming weeks, I will be sharing more of what this is and what it will look like. The reason this is so important to me is because I want to help others create spaces that give life to their loved ones. My time and availability will be quite limited because my priority is and will remain my family. I still homeschool my children and most of my day is devoted to them. However, I can’t help but feel this calling to share this gift God has given me. I am still piecing all of this together and I am sharing with you as I do. Once again, I cannot thank you enough for supporting me in this space and cheering me on. Much love to all of you.

Robyn Harry 1/8/20 Robyn Harry 1/8/20

Simple Winter Garland

If you are anything like me, you probably aren’t ready to say goodbye to the feeling given by the extra greenery and lights of the holiday season. I packed away all of my Christmas decor this past weekend and I decided I still wanted to have some garlands up around our home. I came up with a simple swag using the boxwood garlands and dried eucalyptus I already had on hand from the holidays. The only new items I purchased were two lambs ear vines from the Target Dollar Spot. (they were $5 each.) I put together a little tutorial for you below. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me!

I started by removing the pine from the boxwood garland. I had twisted together two inexpensive swags to give the appearance of a more lush garland.

This is what the boxwood and lambs ear garlands look like on their own.

I simply twisted them together. These are both wire based, so they are quite easy to manipulate.

I twisted until the end of each garland. I tried to alternate the boxwood bunches with the lambs ear leaves.

I attached the combined garlands to my dining room shelves using command hooks.

I carefully removed the dried eucalyptus stems from my Christmas floral arrangements. It is pretty delicate after being dried for over a month.

I stuck the dried stems into sparse looking areas of the garland to give it a fuller, more lush appearance.

Make sure to get the leaves of all the garlands and stems facing in the same direction to give a more unified, natural appearance.

And that is it! Super simple and the perfect little winter pick me up. Please share your designs with me when you do your own!

Robyn Harry 11/25/19 Robyn Harry 11/25/19

What it’s really like having a child with anaphylactic allergies.

*disclaimer: I am not a doctor, a nutritionist, or an expert on anaphylaxis. These are my personal experiences. If you have any questions regarding your health or that of your child, please consult your physician.

According to the dictionary, a haven is a place of safety or refuge. While much of my blog is devoted to sharing how I make our home into a retreat for my family, today I am sharing more of an insight into what it takes to keep my family safe; in particular, my son Sam.

Sam on the day we moved into our new home in Albuquerque this past summer.

My husband and I have long been fans of all kinds of nuts. It seems so arbitrary, really. Who cares, right? That love was passed on to our girls and we always had cashews, pistachios, pecans and walnuts at home. We used them in salads, in baking and even on our fish! One day in August, 2011, my girls were snacking on cashews. My son, who was 19 months at the time, put one in his mouth, started chewing it, but immediately spit it out. I remember laughing and saying, “I guess he doesn’t like them.”

He was toddling around our on-post apartment and playing with his sisters. He left the living room for a minute and when he rounded the corner back in, I noticed he was hoarse. I assumed he was getting a cold, but I thought it was strange how it came on so suddenly. Shortly after that, I went to lay him in his crib for a nap. When his head tilted back, I could see welts forming all along his neck and under his chin. My mind flashed immediately to allergies.

I picked him back up and called the nurse advice line. We were living in Germany at the time and this was something provided to us by the military. The nurse I spoke to advised me to give him Benadryl and keep an eye on him. I gave him Benadryl and he took a two hour nap in my arms. I did not want him out of my sight. Knowing what I know now, he should have been taken to the emergency room and been given epinephrine immediately. I thank God every single day for His protection over my baby that afternoon.

Food allergies have become somewhat of a controversial thing lately. With the surge of food “intolerances,” it is easy for the subject to become muddied. For example, I have several food intolerances. I have abstained from eggs, lactose, and gluten for three years. If I did eat one of these ingredients, I would be struck with a migraine that would leave me bed ridden and useless for upwards of five days. It sucks, but eating one of those ingredients would not kill me. And I did not have to worry about cross contamination at all.

With someone who has a food allergy, such as my son, ingesting even a microscopic amount of that food can quite literally be deadly.

After the cashew incident, we had blood tests done and they revealed my son did indeed have an allergy to cashews and pistachios. We re-tested several times over the next few years in hopes of him outgrowing the allergy. Unfortunately, his allergy only grew to include all tree nuts. Tree nuts are any nuts that grow on trees including cashews, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, macadamias, hazelnuts, and Brazil nuts. We are extremely fortunate that his allergy does not include seeds… for now.

So, what does this mean for us as a family? And what does it mean specifically for Sam? For starters, he obviously cannot eat or use any product that has any type of tree nut in it. Do you realize how many shampoos, conditioners, lotions, etc have macadamia and almond oil in them? I never paid much attention until my child was diagnosed.

Sam also has to abstain from anything processed or manufactured in a facility that also processes tree nuts. Like I mentioned before, a microscopic amount of a nut protein can send him into anaphylactic shock. This means we are pretty limited when it comes to foods we buy and restaurants we eat out at. Even bread is getting tricky to find. I used to prefer organic, but it is impossible to find one that is not processed in a facility where nuts are used. All of these things are inconvenient, yes. But they pale in comparison to the terror of an allergy scare or the anxiety I feel anytime we eat out or travel.

We recently flew to Chicago for a family vacation and the idea of being 20,000 feet in the air away from any type of emergent medical care terrified me. Yes, we had two epipens with us, but they have been known to fail. I am so thankful we did not have to use them. Either I or my husband pre-boarded the plane to wipe down the entire seat, armrest, window, tray, anything Sam may touch. We have no idea what was eaten in that seat before us and the airlines will not guarantee our safety.

Speaking of safety, there is a grand misconception about epipens. I admit, I did not understand until I had to. Epipens are not always guaranteed to work. There have been landmark cases of children losing their lives after several epipens were administered. Sadly, I read these stories several times a year.

Because of these incidences, the standard protocol for an allergic reaction has changed. Doctors used to say if an allergen was ingested, take Benadryl and monitor. Then epi, and finally go to the ER if necessary. Now, they have learned if epinephrine is not given as soon as an allergen is ingested, it may not be effective. The guideline now is “Epi first, epi fast.”

I am thankful for that guideline. But there have been several times recently where it caused me and my son great distress. What do you do when you don’t know if he had ingested an allergen? Two times this fall, I was struck with this impossible situation. You are literally trying to make a decision between grossly overreacting or letting your child possibly die. It sounds dramatic and it is. If you don’t use the epipen and it turns out they have in fact ingested an allergen, there is a risk the epinephrine may fail. But if they didn’t actually ingest it, well, you’ve injected your child with a powerful steroid and they still have to be taken to the ER and be monitored.

After these two occurrences of possible reactions, I made myself have a clear plan of what I would do in the next case. First of all, we got a lot more strict about what is in our home and what we allow Sam to eat.

The first scare was at a resort in Taos while we were on family getaway. My husband and Sam got up super early and had coffee and a bagel at a local shop. We didn’t think to ask the shop if that bagel was produced in a nut free environment. Hours later, Sam started complaining of an itchy throat. I will tell you the next couple of hours were terrifying. He ended up being fine and did not have any anaphylaxis, but we stayed near the hospital in town for the remainder of the day.

The second incident occurred in our own home. After Sam brushed his teeth, he used one my anti-aging lip serum capsules. The problem with this product is that this specific formula had been retired for almost two years and I could not find the ingredients anywhere. I knew without a doubt the new formula has macadamia oil in it and that is why I never bought it. However, I could not recall if the old formula did. When I purchased that serum, I was not nearly as educated on his allergies as I am now. Again, the next several minutes were grueling as I tried to find an ingredients list so I could make a decision to use his epipen or not. We also had to have a hard discussion about never eating, drinking or putting anything on his body without running it by me or my husband first. This resulting in hysterical sobbing from him and his sisters as they feared for him. I finally found an old box with a full list of ingredients and thank God, it did not have any nut ingredients. I still slept with him that night and hardly slept. I cancelled all my plans for the next 24 hours just to be with him and make sure he was okay. Since that evening, we’ve gone through all of our toiletries, skin care, everything. We are much more strict about what is allowed into our home. As I said, my goal is always to make our house a safe place and a refuge for everyone in my family… especially Sam.

I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to read this. If you are a fellow mom of an anaphylactic child, please reach out to me. We need all the community we can get. If you know someone who has food allergies or has a child with food allergies, give them a lot of grace. It’s a scary road to navigate.

Robyn Harry 3/27/19 Robyn Harry 3/27/19

Spring Centerpiece DIY

Happy Spring! I just cannot believe a quarter of the year has already passed. We are definitely welcoming blue skies and greener things down here in the sunshine state. With the pleasant breeze and drier air, spring is my favorite season in Florida by far. Today I’m joining four other home decor bloggers to share some simple, inexpensive, but beautiful DIY projects. I will be sharing a great decor piece that is super easy and inexpensive to make. Aside from the greenery and the paint supplies, it only cost me $4!

Here is what you will need from Dollar Tree:

glittery bunnies on a pick (they look like peeps! 4 for $1 at Dollar Tree)
galvanized “jardin” planter (available in English for my non-Francophile friends)
one bag of decorative moss (Is it just me or does this smell like chamomile tea?)
two floral foam circles (2 for $1)
assorted greenery (I used two faux herb plants from IKEA)

Here is what you need from home or your favorite place to buy paint supplies:

gray chalky finish paint (I used Dixie Belle, but any brand is fine)
antiquing glaze (I used valspar)
gold paint or Rub n’ Buff
chip brush (the more beat up, the better)

The first step is painting the bunnies. My first thought was to try to remove the glitter. It was near impossible and as it turns out, completely unnecessary. I just pulled the little tails off and got to painting. They just need one coat of gray paint.

After the paint is mostly dry, use your chippy, janky brush to start applying the antique glaze. Take your time with this step to achieve the look you really want. Get very little on your brush and dab it on a paper towel before you apply it to the bunny. Try to hit the high points and let the gray paint show through. You can always add more glaze, but it is way harder to remove it. I was going for a faux aged wood look, but they ended up looking more like cement bunnies. Either way, they are a huge improvement on the peep situation!

Next up, I got to work on the planter and it was so easy! I used Rub n’ Buff gold to paint the entire thing. You could use gold acrylic paint, spray paint or any color you’d like!

After your planter is dry, add the floral foam, moss and greenery. Place the super cute bunny picks wherever you like!! I am also going to use one on my front door wreath.