On the Back Porch with Yvonne of Stone Gable

I am so excited about this interview series I'm beginning this month.  I'm interviewing bloggers I admire and want to know better.  

We are here to find out more about my dear friend Yvonne of StoneGable.  If you like Southern Living Magazine, you will LOVE her blog.  I could just sit and look at it all day, the beautiful photography, recipes, tablescapes, and lots of other goodies.  But here I am doing all of the talking. Let's let Yvonne talk for herself.  

Hi everyone, I am Yvonne at StoneGable.






Thank you so much, Anita ! I am thrilled to be included in your  new series...

ON THE BACK PORCH 

I'm ready to sit down with you and have a nice chat...

1.What was the most exciting thing that has happened to you because of your blog?

Do I really have to pick just one? Blogging has opened up so many wonderful opportunities and exciting adventures for me.  I have a wider and more diverse circle of friends and come in contact with people from all over the world. I have had the opportunity to work with many great companies like Mikasa, The Huffington Post and April Cornell and most recently Sara Lee. I have even written for an on-line magazine... things I could not imagine 3 years ago!

But the most exciting thing that has happened to me since I have been blogging is pushing that "PUBLISH" button each day.  It still gives me quite a thrill.

I remember when I clicked on that PUBLISH button for my first post.  You would have thought I was pushing the atomic bomb button! I was so scared and nervous! I was sure no one would interested in anything I wrote!

Now those first feeling have been replaced with sheer joy and excitement. I love writing and taking pictures and having my blog content connect with other.

That's the best!

first picture of my very first post... a lot has changed!



This is my 924th post.. who knew I had so much to say!

2. What is your dream gig?

I would love to write a book...no, BOOKS! I have so many ideas swirling around in my mind. Tablescaping books and painting books and entertaining books and cookbooks and decorating books and raising kids books and  how-to books and on and on and on!

I would like to write it and do my own photography!

Ideas for a spring tablescape book

Ideas for a cookbook

3. What are a few things readers would be surprised to know about you?

I have what my husband calls the "Lucile Ball Factor". Things just seem to befall me! They usually make for a very funny and often embarrassing story... like the time my underwear ended up hanging in the employee lunch room at a local restaurant... or when I accidentally gorilla glued our dog! This has made me a good storyteller... and I have some whoppers!

I talk to myself ... out loud! I don't realize it, but my husband sure does. He thinks it is endearing...thank goodness! I often address myself by my name... example: "Yvonne, put that away right" or "oops Yvonne, you spilled that!". I think I primarily do this at home when I think no one is around. No one outside of my family has ever commented on this ... at least to my face.

My most favorite spot in my home is not the kitchen, although it is a close second. The best spot at StoneGable is my swing on the back porch overlooking the fields. I have never done a post on it..maybe this spring. It's so special to me.

This is something that almost no one in the blogging world knows... I have lost 80 pounds since the end of August! I still have a bit to go but I have completely changed my lifestyle. I swim three or four days a week (I love the water) and have adopted a lo-carb lifestyle. I still love love love to cook... but often don't eat everything I make.

When I hit my goal weight, I'm going to Paris! Wanna come?


4. How would you describe your style?

Farmhouse/traditional/casual/elegant. How's that for a style.

We live in a farmhouse inspired home in the beautiful bucolic farmlamd of Lancaster Co. Pa. We have no close neighbors, only farms and lots of fields. We built StoneGable 18 years ago and it is a constant work in progress. I am always decorating or remodeling... for real and in my mind! I have the next 10 years of projects mapped out already. Please don't tell Bobby... he's a one project at a time guy.

updated kitchen, finished 18 months ago

a tailored guest bedroom... another project


My taste changes like everyone's does. And I can appreciate most styles and trends. But I am pretty definite about what I can and cannot live with.

My natural tendency is to go towards formality that is casual and easy to live in. Right now we are redecorating our dining room, living room, foyer and front stairs. Casual elegance is my mantra!

the dining room... our current work in progress

I have become a huge fan of light neutrals and whites in the last year or so.


I like to buy classic pieces and fill in with more trendy accents!

kitchen eating area

casual family room in summer


5. What are your top 3 favorite posts?

Posts are like children...how can you pick just one?


Here are three that my readers have enjoyed... in no particular order...

COFFEE BAR

Last summer all the kids where home and I set up a coffee bar for them to enjoy when they meandered down in the morning...


I used the same theme and did a fall coffee bar too!

PANSY SHORTBREAD COOKIES

I made these my very first blogging year... and they still are my favorite foodie post! I believe these are my most pinned pictures too.

THE POTTING BENCH








I chose this post just because I love to be out in my garden and at my potting bench on the back porch. My dear readers seem to like my potting bench too!


I hope you will come visit StoneGable... my front door is always open to friends old... and new!

Thanks, Anita! You are welcome to come sit on my front porch for a chat any time at all!

Thank you so much Yvonne for coming by for a chat!! I feel like I know you even better.  I just enjoy you so much.  When you get your books published, and I have a good feeling you will, I'll be first in line to buy one... well if you'll sign it of course!!  

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