Hello all, Welcome! I hope you all got your WILLARD (if you didn’t, don’t worry, you will, it’s going out today but it takes three days for them all to go). I wanted to have everything ready for you when you got here, so yes, in the vernacular of the day, I’ve been “tidying up!” I have lots to show you, but let’s start with the little things that make life sweet with background MUSICA perfect to energize us for the job ahead . . . 
I love this time of year! Time has slowed down, a lovely long January is gone . . . our Island outside my window is cold blue sky, leafless trees, old houses, quiet and colorless (except for the cardinals, our flying Valentines), and in complete healing-mode from the Summer onslaught. No cars going by, no one on our walk in the morning but us. 😁
If you read my last post, you’ll see my sideboard looks very different than it did over Christmas! I’ve been putting my house back together. It was fun decorating with all the holiday stuff 🎄, I was a little sad to see it go, but then felt huge relief to have it all gone! It’s usually around the 5th of 
January, when suddenly all the sparkly, pine-needly things I LOVED in December, begin to drive me crazy. The wreaths on the kitchen doors block the light and drop needles every time we go in or out, then leave a Hansel and Gretel pine-needle trail from the kitchen to the studio. Time to say goodbye to the old year, and hello to the new. The tree came down (we don’t drag it through the house because then vacuuming takes forever ~ Joe takes the branches off to keep the mess confined, and tosses everything out the window!), ornaments were boxed up, bows and ribbons are back in the attic, dusty mistletoe is gone from the doorways, my house is peaceful and quiet with only the sound of wood falling to ash in the fireplace, joy is sparked to the nth degree! 
So, in case you can’t tell, we’ve been watching Tidying Up with Marie Condo. Have you seen it? It’s about a woman who loves to organize, she wrote a book about it, I think more than one, and now has a show on Netflix where she comes to people’s homes and teaches them how to de-clutter their things. Watching someone else clean is inspiring ~ and it’s catching! It makes you want to jump up and get organized ! My eyes suddenly see the chaos around us. How can we live this way!!! If you need help getting going I highly recommend it. Even Joe’s gotten into it and that’s saying something!
She has all sorts of tips ~ she teaches people how to fold things into tiny packages (something I will never do because I choose speed over neatness), and file them on their sides in boxes in drawers to make them more visible. Which was thrilling to see, because it meant I was doing something right!! I’ve always done Joe’s shirts that way (except for the tiny-package folding!) . . .
. . . filed them in a row so he can see the logos and know what he’s getting into without unfolding. It’s not perfect or tiny, but Joe loves it!
I don’t know if it was Marie, or if it was because it was January, but as I was cleaning up the Christmas things, suddenly I couldn’t stand to see boxes or bags parked conveniently next to a wall, did not care for piles of books anywhere but in the bookcases, didn’t want to see folded market bags piled on my little red kitchen chair, or any little bits and pieces dropped here and there that added up to clutter. 🚫 I needed clean walls I could walk up to like a starving man needs a ham sandwich. I couldn’t even work until I got this house under control!
I did it! Everything’s in its place (well, not everything!) with sunshiny face . . . now it’s February (rabbit-rabbit💛) and I’m back to work! Of course, now my studio is a complete mess because as you know creating is not neat, but the rest of the house is heaven. All my best intentions fulfilled, lightheartedness returned!
Most of my table tops have barely anything on them! It won’t last long, but right now I see this and go “Ommmmmm.”
Candlesticks & votives, glass, wood and brass, are sorted and put away, Christmas 
books are back in the hutch, tablecloth and napkins are starched and ironed, on hangers, in the front closet, floors are swept and vacuumed, we’re dusted and ready for the next event. I think of my house sort of like a movie set . . . once Christmas is put away, everything is organized, I leave it smooth and plainly cozy until the next season or event, then I change the throw pillows, add flowers, bunnies, bunting, garden books, and voila! It’s spring!
There’s a big difference between clutter, and decorated. I do not see these shelves as cluttered! I think it’s because everything up there gets used on a fairly regular basis. I could never be a minimalist and hide everything away. Serious minimalism looks heartless to me. Life is too short not 
to set out my Beatrix Potter figurines, hang my teacups on hooks, fold cute dishtowels over the handles of my stove, or put a paper calendar on the wall in my kitchen. Real life is not going to allow me to hide away our family photos, or baskets of rosy apples, or old quilts just for some crazy fashion that will change in an hour anyway!
I wrote about it in my Girlfriends Book. How when I was 11 or 12 I would try and get my girlfriends to play, “Let’s go home and decorate our bedrooms.” A game I mostly ended up playing all by myself! I still redecorate the way I wrote about here . . . and put back one “joy bringer” at a time.
Marie suggested that as we sort, we shouldn’t be looking for things we want to throw out, instead we should look for things we want to keep! It does make it easier! Gather everything into a pile, keep just the things you love and get rid of the rest! She sees organizing as a spiritual endeavor … believing there’s a divine spirit in everything. It feels like that to me. A sort of gratitude for all we’ve been given. It reminds me of a quote I put in my Autumn book by Joe Friday (respected elder of the Alaskan Yup’ik Eskimos) . . . who’s gone now but should should be remembered for this lovely thing:
So glad to the wood. Everything is related. Touch one thing, you touch it all. I say thank you as I oil my wooden cutting board, imagining the people who made it, remembering all that chopping for all those dinner parties, as I oil the wooden handles on my old pots and pans,
and my wooden cooking spoons (my dad made the one with my name on it 💞 ). I want them to last forever. I starch and iron my curtains, shine my windows, make my stove sparkle with plain hot water, refold my old quilts, and dust my bookcases. Because things we use every day have character. Makes me happy.
These things aren’t just merchandise, part of a throw-away world. They’re gifts. When my Grandma died, the only thing I asked for, since I had always gotten her very best when she was alive, was the old wooden spoon she used to scramble her eggs and mix her cookie dough. Because that spoon had her in it. That spoon and my grandma had cross-pollinated their DNA, while alone in the kitchen, beating brown sugar, butter, and walnuts, a long time ago.
It’s why I love old things and that includes this old house of creativity filled with kindly ghosts of the past. As I was tidying up, it was easy to know which of our things “sparked joy” as Marie says, and which ones made me sing out, 🎵 Yaaaard Saaaale 🎶 as I packed up boxes to go. Our busy lives and this modern world do not naturally provide us with the peace and sustenance we need to grow, space for creating, a gentleness for our families. But we can make it for ourselves. We have all the power. As the Chinese proverb says, “Outside noisy, inside empty.”
One more thing, in case you find yourself in a cleaning-emergency on a day when deep tidying and tiny folding is not going to be possible, with possibly just ten minutes to clean your house for guests, here’s what you do:
So, in-between the tidying up, what have I been doing in my studio? Lots. I guess I should say, “we.” We’ve been busy!
Here’s the other half of “we,” my partner-in-crime who plunks his righteous self down in the middle of my art table any time he wants and gives me this look. Like, “What?” Requires belly rub, many kisses. Petty pet of my dreams.
I made a soft little embroidered doll of Jack. Put his heart on the outside. Gave him a little quilt all his own. He’s only 6″ tall (extremely gentle, for children) ~ he and his quilt will come in a sewing/embroidery kit. We’ll have the kit in the web store soon, so some little child out there, maybe yours, can put Jack to bed someday. ♥️
And a quick update, for all of you who pre-ordered and are waiting patiently for your little vases, butter dishes, tea bag holders, and all the others, we are being told to expect them soon. I keep asking, when, when, when, they keep saying soon, soon, soon 😜 . . . so have faith and know the SECOND they arrive, yours will be first to go!! We won’t forget! Soothing MUSICA to make you forget. 🎵 And this:
And, despite kitty distraction in the Studio, new cups are on the way! At the end of the last post I asked everyone what cups they’d like to see and did the best I could to make you happy! So here we go: Four new cups, Fine Bone China, made in England, coming late March! This one, the large 16 oz, is “Bella Luna!” For all you moon-watchers like me! 💛
Every time you use it you can wish on a shooting star! I never painted a shooting star before!
The moon and constellations in a sea of stars . . .
And here is brand new Cup #Two, “Home Sweet Home” . . . this is for you who love the smaller, 11 oz. size, a bunting-draped celebration of . . .
Here’s the side, says it all.
Here is the other side…. a little house of my own . . .
And here is the cute handle! These are only paper mockups, I promise the real things will look much better!
And #3, You all asked, so Yes! A great big 16 oz. Birthday Cup! Because everyone has a birthday and what would be a better celebration than “Having your cake and eating it too?”
There is singing . . .
. . . balloons, a hat, and suggestions for fun!
And another perky handle! Happy Birthday Girlfriends! 🎈
And one more large, 16 oz. cup, due to popular demand, it’s the “English Corgi” cup . . .
With the perfect T.S. Eliot quote surrounded by blue forget-me-nots:
An empire of imagination!
And the side . . . complete with Union Jacks, lamb and castle.
And would not be complete without an English rose on the handle.🌹
And, extra exciting news, guess what? For the first time, the actual BBC website is going to carry one of my cups, this one! For their print catalog and web store! And also my book, A Fine Romance, Falling in Love with the English Countryside! So honored! Secretly extra-thrilled as it is one step closer in my diabolical plan to get to the National Trust. Would love for them to carry my book someday. At least now we’re in the same neighborhood! 🇬🇧 👍
They’re already in production in England, and up for Pre-sale now… as you know, I try to make sure there’s enough for everyone, it helps so much when you pre-order, that way, when I give the factory final numbers, I’m fairly sure everyone who wants one will get one! I usually add on some extra for those who forget, but sooner or later they’re gone. So if you have a special birthday coming in September, be sure to think about it now!
Movie News: I keep promising you an update on the “movie” ~ the project in the works to get my book Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams onto the big (or even little) screen … and every time I think I will just blab what I know, the person working to make it happen sweetly warns me not to!!! 🎬 Grrrr. So all I can say is that it’s still a possibility. Which is better than saying it isn’t! Seems so easy! Movie about starting over, woman and three cats in darling cottage in woods? What could be better? Just say Yes!
Okay, back to the drawing board, 🎨 but before I go . . . I was thinking, what would be a really special giveaway for today? I thought of the perfect thing, then another idea popped up, then another, I didn’t know which to do! I finally gave up and decided to do all three! It’s almost Valentine’s Day! 💖 All you have to do to enter is leave a comment at the bottom of this post (click at the tiny word “comment”), and you’ll be automatically entered for all three gifts! In a few days, Vanna, our resident “Random Number Generator” will draw the names of three lucky winners and I’ll announce them here. So, here’s giveaway number one, very rare . . .
A brand new copy of Girlfriends Forever! When I find out the winner’s name, I’ll personalize it before I send it. They’ve been out of print for a long time, but during my “Tidying Up” phase, I found a small pile of these books in the back of a closet! Buried treasure! And timely, because what could be better for a Girlfriend’s Valentine than a book about best friends! You may have one, but perhaps a special Valentine girlfriend of yours doesn’t! So anyway, this one’s for YOU, and Sheri put the others in our web store for however long they last!
And then I was walking by my newly decorated stove shelf, and was suddenly reminded of this timeless Valentine . . . charming old words I found carved on a stone on a dovecote in England.
Here’s a closer view! Giveaway #2, Love Stays!
And, last but not least, this luv-lee 16 oz, fine bone china cup that asks, “Have I told you lately that I love you?” Is there a better Valentine Message? This one will be going out to some lucky winner in honor of our Girlfriend Dee Lamphear and her husband Brad 💞, to celebrate their forever love and happy marriage.💖
This is the back . . . it says it all, cup-wise, winter-wise and love-wise.
So don’t forget to leave a comment! Remember, you have much better chance of winning here than if you played the lottery!💖
Last but not least, here’s a delicious recipe to help keep your house warm . . . I wish I could send out smells from my computer, so when you opened my page on a freezing cold morning you’d find the cozy smell of baking biscuits. That’s how you would know it’s me. I wish someone would invent that. Unfortunately, under the circumstances, you’ll have to make them for yourself!
Make them in heart-shaped pans and they’re the perfect Valentine gift.
Cut them in half, toast them, add orange marmalade or yummy Christmas Jam and bring them to a lucky Valentine near you. For more Valentine’s ideas, plus a link to get a Valentine Bookmark, go HERE.
If you haven’t signed up to receive my Blog in your mailbox, and you’d like that, or you’d like to surprise your mom, sister, grandma, or best friend, please go HERE.
Winter is king of intimate delights, Enjoy the quiet, light the candles, make a fire, pull on toasty socks, feed the birds, eat hot biscuits. Life is good. Have a wonderful day Girlfriends, kindred spirits. Bake and stay warm! More surprises in the next blog!
Always a treat to discover a new post from you. It is definitely the time for tidying up, clearing out the clutter and making room in our homes and lives for new people, new treasures and new adventures. Merry Everything & Happy Always!
Love reading about your life as always!
Love your blog as always!
We are celebrating 50 years of loving each other in marriage and any gift with love on it would be appreciated. My Joe is very special. Love Marie and her tidying up. My friends’ Moms would always want me to come for sleepovers for I always straightened and tidied their room.May you and Joe have an adorable Valentines.
I have watched all of Maries new tv series. I read her book when it first came out. Love her ideas. However, I love your books and everything you do for us so much more. I’d be blessed and lucky to win any of the 3 beautiful items. Thank you.💕
Your email in my box brightens my day! The beautiful artwork of the English countryside sparks joy in my life!! Thank you for sharing your talents.
To me, I do more heavy duty cleaning after Christmas then in the spring. January is my hibernation month so I deep clean. Then in the spring, I Do outside cleaning, getting the garden ready for planting
The mugs are beautiful, especially the moon one. I am a moon watcher and I consult your moon bookmark when a new moon comes around. Can’t wait to order it!
OMG your blog always cheers, inspires and motivates me. . . not to mention makes me want your life! Love to see the world through your eyes and all the pretty things you surround yourself with! Can’t wait to check out Tidying Up! I gave the Girlfriends Book to each of my most treasured girlfriends after finding them on a used book website. They loved them. Of course I looked through and wrote down lots of ideas before I gave them away. So Thanks for everything – and now I’m going to write down the biscuit recipe and give them a try!
I am in the midst of a clutter emergency! Thanks for the inspiration to start wading through the weeds. Keep what I love, donate what I don’t, and (thanks to your sage advice) hide stuff in the closets if I run out of time before guests arrive. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Thank you !
Hi Susan,
Here I am again….Did my 1st comment vanish again?? Don’t see it anymore….
Thanks for the lovely give-away!!
Lots of love from Holland and HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR to you both!
Nicoline
xxx
Ooooo…new cups!!! I love love love the one with the moon and stars. I might need 2, one for me and one for my BFF! ( and I said I was done buying cups 😂😂😀)
I think everyone gets the urge to purge in January. I mean really what else is there to do besides look at seed catalogs? There is just so much Christmas decor that when it is over I think we all want a clean slate. I read Marie Kondo’s book a few years back and I have seen one or two episodes of her Netflix show. I AM NOT A MINIMALIST! I love my stuff! It brings me joy! That is why I have all this stuff in the first place! So I just try to organize it a little better so I can find it when I want it!
Still keeping fingers crossed for the movie #susanbranchbooktomovie
It is already February, the groundhog says an early spring! Here we go!
The new cups are lovely
Like you Susan, I have been tidying Marie Kondo style. I am tidy by nature but I was amazed at how many books we were able to let go of. I didn’t part with a single one of yours though as even simply looking at the covers sparks joy! The new mugs are beautiful. Thank you for a great post yet again.
I’ve got a lot going on in my life right now that makes my heart hurt. Your posts always manage to make me smile…thank you <3
Thanks for the chance to win. It’s always a fun surprise to wake up to a new blog post.
I have been bitten by the tidy bug too! And February light…the kind the snow makes here in PA always sets me to spring cleaning. So this post was an added motivation…knowing Susan is doing the same thing as I am….wow! And I love the Bella Luna cup…it makes me swoon over the moon!! Thanks so much for brightening my day!! O’ and I love Jack the kitty doll….I have been making similar little joys for my 4 year old granddaughter while watching TV on these long winter evenings.
Love your writing. ..captures the subtler tones of the seasons, & your new creations seem imbued with your magic! Thanks for sharing your gifts. I find beauty & comfort there, in your perspective!
Susan… Good thing I don’t live near you. I think I would get arrested for stalking! I stop everything when your latest blog post pops up in my email. Your simple pleasures are so inspiring and your words are such a breath of fresh air. You make me feel that all is right with the world. Thank you for being such a good girlfriend!!!
Of everything I loved in this post, perhaps my favorite is thinking of cardinals as flying valentines! That says it all. Such an uplifting post, thank you, Susan!
Seems everyone is on the Marie Kondo train! I heard on the news that Goodwill Stores and the thrift shops are being swamped as people tidy up! I think that might be a good thing for all involved! Thank you Susan, another wonderful post!
Reading your blog in my cozy jammies with my first morning cuppa. It’s the perfect warmer upper on a gray, rainy Midwestern day when my soul needs nurturing and my heart is heavy. These days, given the state of our world and our country in particular, I find I am increasingly drawn to things that spark joy. Your words and pictures are among them. Thank you for sharing the heart of your home.
💕Every thing is lovely; truly a spark of joy! I love organizing; Julie Morgenstern is my absolute favorite. I did enjoy Marie Kondo’s books, but haven’t watched the TV show. My 2019 word of the year is curate, and I am truly enjoying looking at and evaluating my possessions. Like you, every item tells a story. Wishing you a happy, sunshine filled day!
You’ve inspired me to declutter this morning! Also excited for three chances to win an awesome gift!
Thank you, Susan, for the warmth you spread as I sit here on a cold morning in Vermont!
Love those mugs. Wish I could get them all. Thank you for brightening my day, during a difficult time in my life. You are a blessing.
What a wonderful feeling to start the new year with a freshly cleaned home! I so enjoy reading your delightful blog, Susan! I hope you have the best year yet!
Always lovely to read your thoughts and inspirations.
I always look forward to a new post from you; it’s like hearing from an old friend I haven’t heard from in a while. In fact, it was just such a friend who intoduced you to me…my old best friend from high school. I will forever think of her when I hear from you.
Oh what fun–a Valentine’s give away! And just in time to cheer us up in dreary winter. Let’s see–which cup to gift myself? I have been decluttering and deep cleaning room by room this winter which actually leads to all rooms in chaos! I am doing a little painting of furniture items and one hallway wall–by the time Spring arrives, my little castle home will be neat and tidy as a pin and I will be “out the door” to play in the sunshine and flowers.
Perfect way to start my day by reading your latest post! You always give all of that little spark to live a better, happier and more joy filled life. I ask you who else makes someone want to clean their house! 🙂 Sometimes I read your blog and think that we are cute from the same cloth. I certainly have found a kindred spirit in you. Love the new cups and have put in my pre-order. I enjoy using the cups to fit my day or mood – it is the little things that bring happiness to us in our day to day lives. I can’t wait to try the biscuit recipe – the pepper is an interesting twist. Looking forward to the latest Willard so I better get my cleaning finished so I can grab a cuppa and read it when it pops into my in box. Have a lovely February with your sweetheart Joe and of course kitty Jack.
Thanks for the tidy post and a chance to win a lovely present.
Now you’ve inspired me to de-clutter! I’m like you I could never put away things that make me smile everyday. Thanks for all the inspiration!
Thank you as always for the smiles and moments of delight you bring to us all!
Thank so much for brightening my day dear Susan. You are love personified. Have to take my big black cat Bootsie to the vet today, hope he will return home with me. lots of snow here yet in Upstate New York but you have brought Spring a little closer.
A perfect read for a gloomy Iowa evening with “thundersleet” (for real!) pelting the windows outside. Thanks!
Would love an update on your new book. I can’t tell u how helpful AFR was in planning my trip to England and how many times I have recommended it. I’m ready for Scotland.
Hi Sue, thank you for such a LUSCIOUS post! The housecleaning is so timely, we have been working on that. And my Beautiful Aunt Jean was fond of the “Love stays” quote, so I appreciate that (like she was looking in on us again). Happy February – love our seasons – the lilac bush has buds, very encouraging!
I so thoroughly enjoy your blogs, your calendars, your decorating and cleaning up pictures of your lovely home! I’ve read your books, bought your calendars, even shopped your website. You bring a bright spot in my day! Please keep your blogs coming!
As always you are a wonderful surprize in the email/blog arena. Love all the new cup designs and so surious about the movie..I am sure if it is directed and casted correctly It will be awesome!
Oh, I would LOVE any of those prizes!
Once again, your blog arrived in perfect time. Long story, but a little bit of encouragement and cheer was especially welcome today!
I’ve loved everything about your creativity for almost 30 years-and am now loving all your ceramics. Your musings are like coming home to a cozy corner and settling in. (I’m the one who tried to visit you when I was working in MV a few summers ago, but you were frantically trying to finish your book). Hope to win some of your special items 😉
Happy February!! You know in this world of intense crisis, discord, planetary upheaval, and challenge, your books, blogs, and sharing of calmer life where focus is home, loving, simplifying, and appreciating is so welcomed. People are becoming disconnected from each other through busyness, electronics, politics, etc. Thank you for bringing calmness, caring, sharing, connection, reminders of what is truly important, and so many other lovely thoughts and images to all of us.
What a way to start my day! A WILLARD in my email and then I jumped over to my “happy place.” Ahhh…with a mug of tea, sun shining through my windows, and your words Susan, I’d say I’m “off to the races.”
Susan, I too, have adopted Marie Condo’s philosophy these past two weeks. Good feeling!
Keep enjoying your JOYful treasures!
Blissful day everyone!
My dear friend, Susan, I love you! And kisses for Jack!
Love this blog, your art and all the inspiration you provide, Susan!!
Spring will be here before we know it!!
Love from Cape Cod.
So very appreciative of the time, creativity and most of all the love you put into each Willard. Thank you Susan Branch, from the depths of my heart…it is singing!
Dear Susan, I love your blog. I thought I was the only one to save my grandmother’s old wooden spoon. I think of her every time I use it.❤️
“…colorless (except for the cardinals, our flying Valentines)” I love this. I don’t know how you come up with these lovely gems, I’m just glad you do!
Dear Susan,
Your blog made my day! It’s raining and raining all day, I miss the snow we had last week, we had such fun making snowman and ride a sled. the kids are now wet from the rain when they come home from school. A warm cup of tea, and reading your blog warms me up, lovely ideas for valentinesday! We’re very busy with our new house, painting and lay tiles in bathroom. But we’ll make time for the most romantic day of the year:) Love those new mugs!
lots of love from Willemien.
I love reading your “hello letters”. ( I started to write “blogs” and decided that just doesn’t seem like a happy word.) But I just wish they came more often. Love the pictures, quotes, recipes, and pictures of your dinner table before the event. Yes, I love dishes too and use mine. Looking forward to receiving my vase set in the mail. HaPpY HeArT Day !
Love this blog, I’ve been trying to tidy too! Love the new mugs, I always have room for one more xoxo
Susan, 🎶 have I told you lately that I love 🎶…your blogs! When I see that you’ve dropped a new blog, I grab a fresh cup of coffee and plop myself right down to read, and then, reread!
I love your new cup designs. Now…which one do I really need! Or which 2 mugs do I really need!
Happy Valentine’s Day to you and Joe and Jack!
Thank you from a fellow homebody. I just love making my home cozy for family and friends and your books help me do just that. They also remind me what is important in this world.
I always feel warm and cozy when I read your blog. Thanks for offering us a chance to win your stuff!
My friends and I treasure your Trilogy! Can’t wait for a movie. Love your blogs and Willard too.
Always my day gets better when I see your blog has landed in my email. Cold and rainy here – needed a pick me up. Love the four new cups – love drinking from my “ vineyard” cup. Thanks for the cheery break.
Happy! Happy! Happy! That’s how I feel, Susan, as I read your blog posts. Thanks for your beautiful “happy gene” spirit that always shines through.
You have no idea how much I love your blog and Willard…smart to combine! I hail from Arroyo Grande, CA (now live in Montana) and Martha’s Vineyard is on my bucket list (as is England). I have all three of your books. Good luck to all those entering to win a special prize!
“Tidying Up” my problem is getting everyone else on board. I will spend a whole day in the kitchen, and whoosh 5 minutes after everyone is home you can’t tell anything has been done. I love the giveaway ideas, I hope I win one.
Thanks.
So happy there’s a new post and a new teacup coming- I plan on the stars and moon for my special personal favorite! And of course a special treat if I am lucky enough to win the prize..
What a wonderful way to start my work! I love the quotes and the artwork…it makes my heart happy!!
This was a treasury! I’m definitely ordering some of your newest mugs! Thank you for a lovely post!
A movie possibility, be still my heart❣️
Love your blog and I’m looking forward to Willard too!
Oh, Susan, I loved this post! Your advice on decorating is brilliant! To empty everything out and bring it in bit by bit after cleaning – I want to do that in each of my rooms! I’ve read Marie Kondo’s book, and that is inspiring too. It’s the paper clutter that I’m now facing. Starting is always hardest…
Thanks also for the moon & stars cup!! I’m so excited – that was my idea! 😉
I adore your style! Thanks for the chance to win some fun gifts for friends!
I need some thank you gifts and the cups will be perfect and one for me too.
Happy Winter Susan! I need that movie to be made…we all do! I love all your mugs and the vases too! I have been decluttering and donating and breathing a breath of fresh air. That mi i quilt with kitty is darling and every child needs one! Love.
Congratulations on your extra exciting news!!
That IS extra exciting. I get the catalog, and can’t wait to see your work there too. Good luck with your plan, I like it!
Well since today is my 37th wedding anniversary, Ithought I would take a chance and submit for a chance to win one of your lovely prizes! I have two of your books, Autumn and Christmas, and bring them out and enjoy them every year. Your blog is just like one of your warm and cozy books! Sue in IL
Love, love the moon cup.
Dear Susan ~
Writing a blog, writing Willards & sharing with us ~ evening reading perfection
Sharing your Marie Kondo “organizing” experiences ~ tiding up perfection
Designing more beautiful mugs for all of us ~ morning latte perfection
Valentine heart biscuits ~ yummy perfection
A give-away ~ hip…hip…hooray perfection ☺️
Between you and Marie Kongo I am so inspired to get things done ! Love you Susan !
I do so love your blog! Before I read it, I get myself a nice big mug of coffee, sit in my most comfy chair and get caught up with what’s happening in my girlfriend’s life! Thank you!
I love reading everything you write
Dear Susan, Thanks once again for a few magical moments to be swept away into your world. Love, love the “flying Valentine” analogy!!!
Dear Susan, So excited to see your beautiful art work and comments today! So funny that you mention Tidying Up. As much as I love all my Christmas decorations after a while it’s time to pack them away again. Everything starts to look messy. I finally removed the wreath and garland off the side fence yesterday and put them away.
I cannot wait to hear more about the possibility of an upcoming movie. Yippee!! That will be just the best! Love the new mugs also.
Susan, I just love reading your blog. It always makes me feel happy and I felt especially happy when I saw these new mugs that you’ve designed! So cute, I want them all, but after much agonized indecision, have only ordered 2–one for me and one for my daughter, who loves England as much as I do. Thanks for bringing a bright spot into my life today!
I look forward to your blog posts and sometimes save them for when I need a “lift” {but often I don’t have enough discipline to wait too long!}
Thank you for being a bright spot in my day!
My daughter, granddaughter and I have been cutting up my husband’s shirts (he passed away last May) to make quilts so my “tidying up” will have to wait awhile. But like you, I really like the idea of less after putting away the Christmas decorations.
Your new cups look delightful! and I love the quote from the Cotswolds, so count me in as one who would love to picked by Vanna.
Thanks so much for sharing your “happy gene” with us. It becomes contagious. Your post was a ray of sunshine in cold, gray Ohio today!
My closet is no longer cluttered as we put in new floors! We took out everything and didn’t put back in everything. I wish I could say I dusted, but what a feeling. Now I know I never have to buy another jacket or top again in my lifetime! The closet is now arranged by weather and color. Every outfit that go together now stay together! Now a trip to Salvation Army! I feel as good as you do Susan in your beautiful blog!
Hello! Thank you for such a lovely post. I too have been tidying up. Where does all the “stuff” come from?
Soon I will be moving three doors up the street into a darling 1920’s cottage, front porch & all. It needs new white tiles in the kitchen & bathroom, but I can’t decide on what to do for counter tops. I really think oak would be nice. Once a long time ago I was a private duty nurse in the west L A area, and went to a beautiful Craftsman home that had an entirely wooden, handmade kitchen with colorful Mexican tiles on the back splash and wooden cabinets from oak. Just beautiful….. I could do that….☺️
Give aways are amazing. I love the cup, it’s just perfect. So is the new corgi cup!! I’m on the hunt for two corgi puppies for my new house too.
Kisses to Jack, he’s so handsome. My Henry kitty (a ginger kitty named for Prince Henry!) acts like Jack, my constant shadow & helper. Actually I am followed by all three kitties & the kitten. I’m writing a book here, goodness! TTFN, happy Valentine’s!
Absolute love your blog…..great inspiration! Wishing you a lovely Valentines Day!
Another wonderful post Susan, thank you. Speaking of tidying, the past two days were like early Spring here in CT, temps at or near 60 degrees, necessitating the opening of windows long closed, and even the back door! It was heaven for two days. Now, the weather is on a downward spiral, with an ice event predicted overnight up in these hills of NW CT. So, back to soup making and baking, it really does not get any better than this sweet domestic bliss! Love the ‘flying Valentines’ description of the Cardinals, we have a male that is redder than red, simply gorgeous, and welcome relief to the bland outdoors. Waiting now for the geraniums that overwinter in our south facing window to brighten our view as well. Love and hugs to you and Joe, rubs to Jack.
I’ve loved you for years and you just keep getting better! May you be blessed in this new year!
I am reading your blog while sipping my coffee from the beautiful mug I had given my fiancee’s mother! I love the new moon mug and am anxious to get one for myself, but am also hoping for the Love mug that speaks to me as I’ve gotten a second chance at love with a long time friend who brought joy back into my life!
Like you Susan, I have been taking Marie Kondo’s advice to heart. I am a tidy person by nature, but I’m amazed at the number of books we have been able to let go of…….not any of your though – just looking at the covers sparks joy! Thanks for a lovely post!
Love your tidying up inspiration! Just the thing to get me motivated too.
I am such a huge fan Susan! I love reading your posts and your books. Keep them coming!
Hugs 🙂
Enjoy all of your posts. They inspire me to do better. Read all of your books and make many of your recipes. Thank you for sharing.
Feeling SO inspired to get moving, declutter, and tidy up! 🙂 BTW, I love the new cup designs, and I’ve already decided the British Corgi cup must be mine. My husband and I just celebrated our 30th anniversary on 2/4–so I think I’ll hint around for that extra ‘that will make me SO very happy, Sweetie’ gift–or maybe I just need to get it for myself as a ‘just because.’ Have a lovely February!
I was so happy to see a new post – I check often and once I see you’ve created one, I go off and do some chore or errand I’ve been dreading, and then reward myself with your post. Thank you!
So nice to see a new post to start my day! You have made a lot more progress with your tiding up than I have, but I keep trying! I agree that displaying things you love is not clutter and always love seeing your special decorating touches. Can’t wait to read your new book!
Thanks again Susan for inspiring us to be our better selves! I always need encouragement & inspiration to clean & declutter shelves, drawers, closets, etc. You & the girlfriends have provided much needed motivation & enthusiasm for such an undertaking. Not sure about the attic, yet! I’m still hopeful we’ll have a “Martha’s Vineyard, Isle of Dreams” movie to look forward to. These days we are surely in need of an uplifting, happy ever after fairytale movie. I look forward to seeing on screen Holly Oak house, Myron, Ellie, Peggie, Gwinnie, Carlton, Girl, Bill & Man kitties, beautiful Martha’s Vineyard scenery, and, of course, your romance with Joe!!! I also hope you would have some part in the movie. I can see you now playing the part of Ellie serving afternoon tea & treacle cake surrounded by Ellie & Peggy. I can hardly wait!❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for your fun blog! I live in Southern California & I always enjoy reading about the changing seasons on your island! Happy New Year!
It is always nice to get your blog, thank you for sharing.
Have enjoyed reading your blog for so many years, and it’s still a thrill when I see “Susan Branch.” Thanks for the tips on tidying up – I do need to do that, and as far as craft rooms go – mine’s never tidy, but I like it that way. I love to paint so I have enjoyed watching you over the years.
Oh. My. I love your musica – always lifts my spirits, calms and soothes my nerves and brings a smile to my heart! Thanks for the chance at the lovely prizes and for being you. 🙂