Reserve Coming Home Now

I'm thrilled to tell you that my first book Coming Home: A Seasonal Guide to Creating Family Traditions is now available to pre-order. You can reserve your copy at Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble at an amazing discounted price.






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Holiday Shopping Season

Did you get your tickets to Molbak's Girls Night Out? Space is filling up, and you do not want to miss out on this event. Whole Foods will be on hand dishing up great holiday recipes, tips and dessert. In Spa of Woodinville will be offering up hand and neck massages, so you can relax and enjoy the evening. Then you've got door prizes, 42 varieties poinsettias AND I will be on hand signing my beautiful boxes and doing a couple short tablesetting presentations. Reserve your spot and enjoy the experience of shopping for the holidays this year. When everyone else is standing in long lines and rushing all over town, you can sit back and sip your eggnog next to a blazing fire with those you love. See you there!



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Winter Warehouse Sale Dates

Rosanna's Winter Warehouse Sale
Saturday, December 5th 2009
9am to 5pm

*Get on our email list by emailing a request to monicaf@rosannainc.com and receive updates and reminders.

If you are already on our email list an official invitation will be emailed soon with details of our private shopping event for our email list.

We'll post more info as it becomes available. See you there!






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The Real Big Chill

A few days ago I returned from a small, informal weekend reunion with some of my high school friends from the Beaverton Beavers class of 1972. I love saying that name-- a fabulous and authentic retro high school name.

Spending a few days together for the first time in years, we realized this weekend something all of us desperately needed. Finding ourselves middle-aged and buffeted by the storms of lifes recession, the onslaught of aging, and the loss of our youthful enthusiasm, we clung to each other as we remembered who we once were. I know, I know; it's a bleak picture. But here comes the good part:

The biggest surprise of all revealed itself to us within the first few hours of being together. Even after all these years, we were able to see that glimmer of brilliance we had in our youth; it was still living inside each one of us. We realized that this gathering gave us a great gift: it reaffirmed who we were.

As in the classic The Big Chill, the weekend was not without drama, the rekindling of buried feelings, and healing from the hurts of life. Together we rediscovered the simple happiness and delight in friendships that date back to childhood days.

I believe reaching out to the people who truly know us is one of the most powerful ways to find the strength we need to overcome the challenges of life. It feels so good to be loved and understood. It is a relief to know you're safe.

Make an effort to get together with a group of old friends; you'll be amazed by the miraculous ability of these gatherings to renew your sense of purpose and hope.




























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"Coming Home" Coming Out Soon!

There's excitement in the air around our office these days. Though it's still a ways off, we're all anxiously awaiting the release of Coming Home, my new book by publishers Stewart, Tabori, & Chang in March 2010. A whole team of people have poured a tremendous amount of thought, energy, and care to make this book a reality. Through the process of putting my thoughts down to write this book, I learned so much. It has truly been a labor of love.

Coming Home is the book I've wanted to write ever since my mother passed away ten years ago. In it, I talk about the values she taught me. I use these lessons every day in designing tableware and making a beautiful life for my own family. I'm grateful and gratified that I had the opportunity to put it all down in words and express some of the things that are most important to me in this special way. 

Tradition, ritual, community, and beauty. The cornerstones of this book are the same ones Rosanna has always promoted as a company. The only difference here was that the book format provided me with a palette of creative expression very different from the tools I use when I design tableware. Sometimes the prospect of writing an entire book felt daunting, but the experience was always exciting. In these pages, you'll find some of my favorite recipes that I cook myself, tips on how to beautify your home in aesthetic and emotional ways, and a few peeks into my own family's rituals, traditions, and travels. I've written Coming Home as a seasonal guide in the hopes that organizing the book this way will help readers recognize how simple it can be to live well all year round. 

Keep your eye out for more updates here and on Rosannainc.com. I hope you're as excited as I am!

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Changing Of The Guard

I hate to admit it, but summer is over. School's started and we've made the official transition into fall. I'm always sad to say goodbye to those three beautiful summer months of slower living. Yet fall has its benefits too. For those of us with children going back to school, fall means the beginning of a new year. The fall marks a new year in a variety of religious faiths as well-- Judaism, Ethopian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, a sect of Hinduism, and even a Celtic-based pagan religion. Although the world is preparing itself for a long winter's sleep, this new season nonetheless provides us with a new chapter of life, and with an opportunity for reflection. 

As the leaves and light deepen to the rich gold and copper tones of Indian Summer, I've been doing some thinking myself. What do I want to focus on in this new stage of life? What's important? 

What's most important to me at this moment is getting back to basics. I want to nurture a sense of gratitude and enjoyment for the simple aspects that make me feel blessed, my children most of all. I try to stay mindful of small things I can do to enrich my life and encourage feelings of tranquility and contentment. It's just a matter of training my attention on the things I already have rather than the things I wish I had. This task is much easier said than done, but I find that when I truly devote myself to keeping this attitude, the outcome is well worth the effort.

Good luck with your new year. 

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One More Honorable Mention

This entry was sent in by snail mail on time, but got lost under a pile of paperwork. Ginny Kalchbrenner of Clancy, MT is receiving (a late) Honorable Mention for her "Late Afternoon Tea". Ginny hosts teas for her grandchildren at her mountain home and even travels with her tea set to share afternoon tea with her granddaughters in Memphis. What a wonderful activity and tradition to pass on. This table featuring "Tea's Me" and "High Heel Shoes" is just adorable. What young person wouldn't be excited about sitting at this table. Frankly, I would like to be sitting at this table! Sorry for the late mention, but we couldn't let this table go unnoticed.

Disclaimer: All other snail mail entries were accounted for and were part of our official judging.



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