Pencils of Promise

I’m participating in a group effort with a group of bloggers coming together today in a collaborative effort spearheaded by Paloma Contreras of La Dolce Vita..  Some of my other blogger friends, Maria Killam of Colour me Happy and Brooke Giannetti of Velvet and Linen are also participating in order to make a difference for a very deserving charity.  I wanted to be a part of this blessing too.

This past Sunday, our pastor gave a sermon on fearless giving. After the sermon, they handed out $2.00 bils and asked us to donate that money to a good cause. Yesterday, I read a couple of my favorite design blogs an they introduced me to a wonderful charity. For some reason I knew that this was what I was suppose to do with my money.  Probably because I grew up overseas and saw the struggles young children have.  It touches your heart deeply and you never forget visions of people struggling.  Our family put our money we received from the church and donated it to this charity. It's a small amount but it will make a big difference.


Pencils of Promise is a wonderful 501(c)(3) organization based in New York, that partners with local communities and organizations to build schools of early-stage education in developing nations for some of the world’s most impoverished and undereducated children. Sadly, there are more than 75 million children in this terrible situation worldwide.  To watch a small video, go here

Last December, the Pencils of Promise team visited a small village in Laos and by July 2009, they had built a new school for the village children who started attending classes on September 1st. This month, Pencils of Promise will be opening their third school!

All of the money donated via this blog campaign will go to The Champhet Girls Dormitory and Library Project. Champhet is a small village in Laos where high school girls now have to live in mud huts built by themselves in order to go to the only high school in the area.
If you would like to donate to this cause, go here to make your donation.
Thanks for your generosity during this Christmas Season and God Bless!
Ruthie

Keyholes, door knockers and hardware

Not only were the doors in Spain amazing, the hardware on the doors were out of this world as well.
My camera was working overtime zooming in on all these keyholes.
Loved these unique one below that I took photo's of while walking in all the small towns in Spain.  Of course since my slogan is "The key to your decorating needs,"  I was loving the uniqueness of all of them.
Enjoy!

Window Shopping in Paris

The windows in Paris were all ready for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving!  We enjoyed a stroll, join me down memory lane!
The chocolates were divine!
LOVED the chandelier in Cartier's window.
This was gorgeous at night.

Sephora was hoping, I could barely walk by!
The Marriott's entry was beautiful.
Chocolate fountain flowing with dark chocolate.
Oh my!
The kids were in heaven and ate candy as we walked.
Of course, we didn't just window shop......there was lots to buy too!

Windows and Balconies in Spain

After looking at these pictures, you'll see why my neck hurt from looking up.  I was in a trance walking around this village in Spain (Pedraza).  Gorgeous, absolutely breath taking!

The views were spectacular.  Check out these rooftops as we looked out these windows.

Absolutely love this balcony above.  I'd love to frame it!
Here's the whole balcony and look at that door.  I'm going to do a post on all the doors I saw (get ready for a long post).
We at on this balcony overlooking a gorgeous courtyard!
This was our view!  Come on now, it felt like we'd gone back in time.The kids were skipping and playing just like they did in old times while we sipped wine and ate our amazing meal!
Walking back to the car, I took a few snapshots.
The above balcony is Downtown Madrid - gorgeous paintings on the buildings.
Everyone has such a different balcony and you never see dead flowers, always blooming beautifully!  Probably has something to do with not living in Texas.
Love these beams on top of the windows.  My husband made some for my kitchen about 5 years ago and I love them. They aren't inset like this but go on top of windows and doorways.  I've been able to make them work in both kitchens each time we've moved!  I'll never depart with them, especially since they were made with LOVE.
At the top of a castle looking out of the window!
Happy Tuesday to you!