YOUR GUIDE TO INSPIRED LIVING
FEBRUARY 2014
L Unconditional
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Kathryn Severns Avery Design and Layout Hallie Davis Special Projects Manager Robert Sawyer How to contact us: My Life with Style 787 Kendall Court Lakewood, CO 80214 (303) 725-2301 Info@mylifewithstyle.com www.mylifewithstyle.com Cover photo by John Robinson, Good Karma Photography Copyright Š2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Unauthorized commercial use of this publication is strictly prohibited.
DYLAN AND GRADY are
shelter cats. Dylan (the ginger colored one) was one of 120 cats rescued from a hoarder in Missouri. After our other cats died, my husband Chris and I decided to visit a local shelter to find a new cat.
Love
A Letter From The Editor
The minute we walked through the door, Dylan started meowing loudly as if to say “I’m here! Come find me! I’m here.” He was quite a sight with a large burn on his back and feet splayed from malnutrition. A shelter volunteer opened his cage door and Dylan immediately crawled into my lap. I was in love and he came home with us that afternoon. After his experiences with an animal hoarder and at a shelter with at least 30 other cats, being the sole feline in our home was quite a shock. Dylan wandered from room to room meowing loudly hoping that other cats would appear. Although we absolutely doted on him, Dylan clearly needed a feline friend. We returned to the same shelter to find him a companion. We looked and looked, but none of the cats we saw struck us as the right companion for Dylan. The manager of the facility approached us carrying a cat that had his head buried in her arms. She placed the gorgeous gray bundle of fur in Chris’s arms and he immediately buried his head, afraid to make eye contact. She went on to explain that Grady’s two siblings had been adopted, which left him heart broken and traumatized. She asked us if we would take him. “I don’t know,” I said. “He seems so damaged. I don’t know that he’ll ever come around.” Chris gently stroked the fur on the back of Grady’s head which was still buried in Chris’s arm. “What chance does he have if we don’t take him?” he said. I knew he was right. At home we placed Grady in our master bedroom closet with a litter box, food, and water. For two months we never saw him. We knew he was in the closet because the food was eaten and the litter box used. Where could Grady be? I accidentally discovered his hiding place when I pulled a bin filled with clothes off a closet shelf and it dropped to the floor with a “thunk”. Carefully lifting the clothes, I saw two terrified eyes staring back at me. Grady leapt out of the bin and ran under our bed. He would stay there for more than a month. During that time something remarkable happened. Dylan discovered Grady. They bonded like long lost brothers and with
Kathryn Severns Avery coaxing and encouragement from Dylan, Grady began to venture out from under the bed. Today Grady and Dylan are best friends. They play wonderful games of “Stalk and Pounce,” curl up together for naps, and groom each other. In the last month, Grady made a quantum leap and now delights us by curling up in our laps. It may not be convenient to have him take up residence in my lap when I’m trying to complete an article for My Life with Style. But the love that swells within me when he does absolutely mandates I take a moment to shower him with affection and let him know he is safe and loved unconditionally. Loving our animals unconditionally is easy. It’s also a wonderful training ground for learning to love ourselves, family, friends and others in the same manner.
Photo by John Robinson, Good Karma Photography
Ask friends over for a meal and invariably they end up in the kitchen.
Why?It’s the heart of the home.
Entertaining styles have gradually changed over the past few decades. As a result, so have kitchens. In the 1970’s and ‘80’s, food was customarily prepared in advance and guests were served in the dining room. Rarely were they truly welcome in the kitchen. Today, most entertaining happens in and around the kitchen. Guests often lend a hand with food preparation. Or, they sit on bar stools at an island or peninsula, sip wine, and talk as the host and/or hostess cooks. Preparing and eating a meal together is a powerful way to bond. There are other benefits as well: • Food is prepared to your liking • You know what ingredients are in the dish • Recipes can be altered to accommodate special diets • Communal cooking is great fun Growing up, the food served at home was rather plain. There were lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, but seasoning was pretty much limited to salt and pepper. Foreign foods? Lasagna was considered exotic and Chinese food came out of a can. I didn’t always love to cook. My sister, Barbara, and I used to joke that our mother invented “blackened” dishes after experimenting with spices and then burning the entrée. Becoming a good cook was a form of self-defense. Over the years I experimented and improved. Today, my husband, Chris, and I love to entertain and cook together. There is a rhythm to our cooking. Chopping, measuring, sautéing, tasting, and serving become a carefully planned and beautifully choreographed dance. As Chris likes to say: “If you can read, you can cook.” The more you cook, the better your understating of cooking techniques and subtleties. Cooking classes abound and entire television networks are devoted to food preparation and entertaining. It takes patience and perseverance to cook well, but it is so worth it. Need a little inspiration? Turn on The Food Network or watch the move “Julie and Julia” and fall in love with cooking.
Photo by John Robinson, Good Karma Photography
Kitchen Trends
Previously available only to the wellto-do, gourmet kitchens are now commonplace and sport high-end accessories like warming drawers, induction cooktops, wall-mounted pot filler faucets, wine fridges, and specialty spice cabinets.
Photo below courtesy of David Bovard, Scholarship Real Estate
Photo by Carol Grape, Grape Imaging
Photo by Carol Grape, Grape Imaging
Emerging and Continuing Kitchen Trends for 2014:
● Stainless Steel Appliances
● Engineered Stone Quartz
● Thicker Countertops
● Butcher Block
● Customized Drawers
● Contrasting Colors/Finishes On Islands And Cabinets ● Decorative Vent Hoods
Love these Kitchens A Gallery of Inspiring Photos
Photo by John Robinson, Good Karma Photography
Photo by John Robinson, Good Karma Photography
Photos below Courtesy of Dave Kirchner, Real Estate of the Rockies Photo by Jeff Davis, JWDImagery
Photo by John Robinson, Good Karma Photography
Photo by Carol Grape, Grape Imaging
Photo Courtesy of Okie Arnot, Keller Williams DTC Photo by Carol Grape, Grape Imaging
Photo by Carol Grape, Grape Imaging
Photo by John Robinson, Good Karma Photography
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