Remembering Joey - A Year Later
The Four-Legged CEO from
Heaven
by Linda Applewhite
It was a year ago June 24 at our
Design Among the Vines seminar, as many of you will remember,
that guests gathered at our offices in Sausalito for a Friday
night
kickoff to the exciting weekend we had planned. We drank
wine, got to know each other, and then went off in different directions
for
dinner. A few hours after midnight, Marshall and I discovered that our
beloved 14-year-old Peekapoo, Joey, who had attended the kickoff with
me, had
been killed by a hit-and-run driver in front of our home. We were
utterly devastated. On Saturday morning, my eyes swollen from
sleeplessness and tears, I couldn't imagine how I was going to get
through the rest of the weekend - an event I had planned and
looked
forward to for months.
To
this day, it's clear that I never
could have done it without the support of all the wonderful guests
who attended that weekend. I could not believe that I felt so
loved and
comforted by people I never met before, and who knew me only
through my work and my website. I believe that things happen
for a
reason, and if it had to be Joey's time to go, I was lucky to
have it happen at a time when I was able to focus my energy on the
seminar
and be surrounded by so many loving friends. In the days and weeks
that followed, the calls, notes and e-mails I received helped me
make it
through.
At
one point in my sadness and
desperation, I contacted an animal psychic and sent her a photo of Joey
(pictured here on a jobsite) with some questions I wanted to ask my
beloved
pet. In our session, the psychic contacted Joey, who
answered all my questions. But when we were finished, she said,
"There's one
last thing Joey really wants you to know -- he feels he was
primarily responsible for the success of your business! He says that he
has always
been the CEO of your company and will continue to be from the other
side. He wants - no, he insists - that you ask his opinion on
everything, and
he wants his picture on all your marketing materials." Then she
whispered, "He has a bit of an ego!" If nothing
else, this made me laugh and, I must admit, sounded just like something
Joey would say - he had a huge personality and had gone to work
with me
just about every day of his life.
So
now Joey's picture is the
screensaver on my laptop, is prominently displayed on our website, our
seminar and booksigning presentations, and is here in the
newsletter. His
spirit is alive and well and with me everywhere I go.
A New
Beginning
A
few months after Joey's death,
Marshall and I took a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico to escape the
reminders of Joey that were ever present at home. Though we still
had our
other precious Peekapoo, Biff, we knew we needed something in our lives
to fill the emptiness in our hearts left by Joey's absence. We
both
loved Santa Fe and had dreamed of buying a home there one day. It
wasn't long before we bought an old adobe and started a
restoration
project that filled our lives with excitement and represented a new
beginning. We are now putting the finishing touches on our
historic adobe,
and the house will be the subject of my Design in the Desert seminar in September. I can't wait for you all to see it!
So
here's to Joey, my "Canine Executive Officer," who is always with
me,
and to new beginnings. Something good comes out of even the saddest
times in our lives. And thanks, Joey, for making me laugh even from the
other
side!
Blessings,
Linda
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Design In The Desert
September 28, 29 and 30,
2007
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Just Added:
Attend a Private Gallery Reception and
Tour the Santa Fe Design Center with Linda!
We are continuing to add exciting events to the schedule, including a
reception at Jane Sauer's Thirteen Moons Gallery on Santa Fe's infamous
Canyon Road, and a visit to some of Linda's favorite shops at the Santa Fe Design Center. Keep reading for details...
Friday, September 28
5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Jane Sauer, pictured above, has invited Linda's guests to a private reception at her Thirteen Moons Gallery to
kick off the weekend of Southwestern design. We'll enjoy wine and
cheese among the gallery's collection
of innovative works of art in a variety of media by
internationally recognized artists. Each artist heavily explores the
potential of his
or her material, creating pieces not only in traditional materials such
as wood, glass, bronze, ceramic and fiber, but also in adventuresome
and
interesting media such as agave leaves, citrus peel, cedar bark,
and woven newspaper. That night, the gallery will be highlighting
the work
of Kay Khan, whose stitched narratives are
constructed from cotton, silk, felt, wire and grid into elegant quilted vessel forms that have become known as some of the most innovative sculpture of
today.
Saturday, September 29
Daytime
Linda will lead a tour of Santa Fe's Design Center, home of such wonderful
stores as Designos, which carries exceptional Spanish and South American furniture and accessories; Sparrow Antiques,
which offers antique textiles and crafts from across the U.S.; and the Gloria List Gallery,
home to an amazing array of
ethnographic or sacred art from throughout the world. These are just a
few of the many shops and showrooms located in Santa Fe's Design
Center.
Evening
Linda
will take seminar guests on a private tour of
her recently remodeled 1930s adobe home on Santa Fe's historic
east side. The next day, the home will be the subject of her
presentation.
We will tour the old adobe, which Linda has remodeled using many of the
concepts demonstrated in her new book, "Linda Applewhite's Architectural
Interiors," while we sip margaritas and savor New Mexican specialties.
(Exact times for Saturday's events to be announced shortly.)
Sunday, September 30
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. - Presentation and lunch
4:00 p.m. - Cocktails
La Posada Hotel, Santa Fe, New Mexico
The
seminar will be held at La Posada de Santa Fe near the city’s
historic downtown Plaza. Guests will learn about creating "good
bones" or architectural character in their rooms, whatever their
home's
style.
Linda's
slide presentation will include before and after photos of her home's
transformation, showing step by step how she updated the floorplan and
function of the living spaces, while respecting the original
architecture
and retaining the character of the old structure. Her discussion will
include:
-
Uncovering the home's "character potential" and good
bones
-
Connecting all the rooms, both indoors and out
-
Finding your way through the "F" maze: selecting and
combining fixtures and finishes
-
Identifying and executing your personal color palette
-
Furnishing from the floor up - where to start, how to layer textures,
fabrics and colors
-
Secrets for selecting and placing accessories
for a "wow" finish
-
Transforming your life through beauty - both inside and
out
A delicious New Mexican buffet lunch will be served in La Posada's garden, and
we'll end the day with cocktails at 4:00 p.m.
Seminar Registration
The registration fee is $250 per person and includes ALL of the above
events. To register, please visit our website's Seminar
page. You can register online via PayPal or credit card, or print the
registration form and mail it to us with a check. If you have any
questions,
please call us at 415.331.2040. We will be happy to answer them!
Hotels
PLEASE NOTE: Hotel rooms and reservations are not
included in the seminar registration fee. Please make your hotel
reservations as soon as possible, as we will be there during Santa Fe's
popular Wine
and Chile Fiesta, and the city's hotels will sell out quickly.
We have set aside blocks of rooms at discounted rates at two hotels for
this event, La Posada de Santa Fe and the Eldorado Hotel and Spa. For details, please visit the Seminar page on our website
or call the hotels
directly, and tell them you are with our seminar. Blocked rooms are
available to registered seminar guests on a first-come,
first-served
basis.
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SAVE THE DATES
for Linda's Upcoming Book Signings
If you will be in Santa Fe for the 4th of July weekend, come and see
Linda!
Friday,
July
6 Garcia Street Books in Santa
Fe 5:00 p.m. Come
and join us for wine and a celebration of
Linda's book in the
"City Different's" historic east side.
376 Garcia St., Santa Fe, NM 87501
More info:
505.986.0151
Tuesday,
July
17 Tiburon Library Speaker
Series
7:30
p.m. Presentation and book
signing
1501 Tiburon Blvd., Tiburon, CA 94902
More info: Helene 415 889 4102
Friday,
July 27 Sloan Miyasato Design Showroom
5:00
p.m. Wine and cheese reception,
presentation and book signing among
an elegant
collection of this exquisite showroom's furniture, fabrics,
floor coverings lighting, antiques and accessories - normally open only to design
professionals.
San
Francisco Design Center
2 Henry
Adams, Suite 207/212, San Francisco, CA 94103
More info: 415.431.1465 or www.sloanm.com/
Press Clippings for Linda Applewhite's
Architectural Interiors
The Press Democrat
Building Character
Even if yours is a generic tract house, Marin designer Linda Applewhite has ideas to make it unique
By MEG MCCONAHEY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT, SONOMA
June 2, 2007
When
lovers of old houses speak rhapsodically about "good bones," they're
not bragging
about the advantages of balanced posture and plenty of calcium. "Bones"
are the architectural details that give a building character. They are
the
windows and doors, the arches and niches, pitched ceilings and beams,
moldings and railings, the bannisters and columns. Bones, says Marin
interior
designer Linda Applewhite, represent all the finish work that can turn
a plain box into a jewel box. And to prove her point, she's come
out
with a new book, "Architectural Interiors" ($29.95, Gibbs Smith), that
shows how to create character in a home -- whether it's a brand-new
custom
house or an ugly "rancher."
The stellar woman of design, whose animated face is familiar to HGTV fans for her work on "Sensible Chic" and
"Curb Appeal," says even the dullest old tract house can be retrofitted with elements that will make it look positively
custom.
"Unfortunately,
so many homes have been remodeled to death or all the architectural
character has been stripped away," she laments.
"Even in the more expensive spec houses, there is no character to begin
with. "This is not a designer book that is so high-level it's out of
people's
reach. It really just takes some imagination and creativity," she
maintains. "A lot of people can do these kind of things and really
transform their
homes. I'm a big believer that people deserve to live in beauty. It
transforms people's lives."
You
can achieve the open-beamed look by simply
tacking decorative old beams onto the ceiling. And columns, she said,
don't need to serve a structural function. They can be added for visual
interest
or to help define a space.
Respect your architecture,
Applewhite says. "Don't put in big dramatic things that don't make
sense, like a big
tall niche that's 8 feet high and 2 inches deep," she cautions. Do
inspect whatever bones might be there and do what you can to show them
off. And
where they're missing, apply some clever additions that look as if they
very well could have been part of the architectural drawings.
You can
reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at 521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat. com.
(The above is an excerpt from McConahey's article. To read the entire
article, please click here.)
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See you
in September
in Santa Fe!
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