Sister's Week at Design Mom

Happy April Everybody! Spring is finally upon us — we spent Saturday trimming hedges and going on walks. Then, we woke up yesterday to find we were April Fools: my husband and I each have a bedside table where we put wallets, cell phones, glasses, books, etc., at the end of the day, and the kids had switched the contents while we slept. Pretty mild, I know. But, then we discovered they'd also switched the entire contents of their two bedrooms except the actual beds. Desks, shelves, clothes, bedding, toys. Everything. They waited all day for us to retaliate, but I confess we were pretty weak — we managed to surprise them with bright blue water in the tub and cream cheese posing as toothepaste. They were satisfied, so all was well.



Now. Enough with April Fools Day because I am dying to introduce our double-dose of Guest Moms this week. Courtney and Stephanie, two incredibly creative sisters, will be indulging us with their presence and I couldn't be happier about it.

When I first met these two lovely ladies (11+ years ago), I was newly married and they were still in high school. And even then I remember thinking that these sisters were more styling than I could ever hope to be. And I was right.

Find two new addictions when you check our their blogs. Courtney writes at Enjoy It! and Stephanie writes at Nie Nie Dialogues. Welcome! Welcome! Stephanie and Courtney! Hooray!!

I asked them to send a intro bio and I'm sure you'll delight (as I did) in the what they wrote:

This is a story of two sisters.
c jane and Nie Nie.

(Of course, they have other names (like regular names) (like Courtney and Stephanie) but they were so afraid of the Internet Predator (that everyone kept talking about) that they decided to go with "code names" that sorta resembled their real names and anyway, you know how it goes...)
These two sisters grew up in a lovely mountainous town called Provo, in a charming cape cod house, on a cozy corner lot with two other sisters and five (f-i-v-e) brothers. c jane liked to sing and dance and Nie Nie liked to shoot the hoops. The one thing that they shared in common was enjoyment in watching their creative mother decorate her home with all sorts of art and pillows and gigantic spring wreaths. And every five years or so, their mother would demand a new canvas.
"Rip out the carpet!" she'd say.
"Paint the walls more gold! More gold!" she'd yell.
"These couches have to go!" she'd protest.
And always, always new pillows to match.

When finally c jane and Nie grew up, and aquired their own house (with a husband to go with it!) they insisted on having bright-colored couches, lots of rugs and just enough room in the budget for something new every month; a vase for the end table, or a bundle of canvases for any spontaneous artistic whims. And to sweeten the deal, there was always a letter to be written:

Dear c jane,
Today I made this pillow for my nursery.
Love, Nie

or

Dear Nie,
I Modge Podged mom's birthday present.
Love, c jane.

4 babies (for Nie) 2 husbands, 7 moves and 2 dogs later, these letters continue. But for this week, they are being publishing for everyone to read here, on Design Mom. So please enjoy (and feel free to add letters of your own in the comments section!)