Hello friends!,

Today, I’d like to introduce you to Stacy Curran, a designer who writes Conspicuous Style. Not one to “toot her own horn”, Stacy is a beautiful young mother, attorney turned interior designer and writer of a blog that gives all the design magazines out there, some serious competition! She packs more beautiful images into a single blog than humanly possible, for anyone but a night owl! Take it away, Stacy!

Thank you so much for having me here today Barbara! It is a real honor, although a bit intimidating. I don’t speak about myself too much, at least in a personal way, on my blog, so this is kind of new territory for me. I hope I live up to your wonderful post in this series, although that would be impossible, really. So, here goes:

1. I am a total workaholic and insomniac. You’d think the working all the time would make one tired enough to sleep, but for me, it’s the opposite. I sleep about 4 hours a night. The rest of the time, when everyone else is asleep, I either write blog posts or read. My favorite books of all time are Life of Pi, The Red Tent, Seabiscuit, and Pride & Prejudice. I laugh about Seabiscuitnow, because I fought everyone I knew for so long about that book. People kept telling me and telling me to read it, but I had no interest in horses or racing, so I was never going to read it (see #6, “Stubborn”). I’m so glad I finally gave in … It is an amazing book:

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0329575/

2. I’ve only had one real boyfriend in my entire life — my husband. I had a massive crush in high school, and other little ones here and there, but people in my school didn’t really “date.” I met my now-husband in the beginning of my second year of college and we’ve been together ever since. I never regret not having more boyfriends, though. Instead, I feel lucky that I found who I wanted without a lot of trial and error.

1996

3. My father’s family came over on the Mayflower. On the one hand, it’s kind of cool to go visit the memorial in Plymouth, MA, and see the name there. But on the other hand, it can be a bit stifling — My sister and I and our cousins are the first ones to live off of Cape Cod in the almost 400 years since the Pilgrims came here!

4. Although I did make it off Cape Cod and have travelled in the United States quite a bit, I have never travelled to Europe (or anywhere else exciting). I’ve been to the Caribbean more times than I can count, and to Canada, but never abroad. I must rectify that, and soon. When I was in High School, I was supposed to go on a class trip to Europe, but it got cancelled because of bombings in England and their airports at the time. Later, in college, I was scheduled to study in England for a semester, but I decided at the last minute not to go because I had just met my husband and couldn’t bear the idea of leaving. He was supposed to go, too, but didn’t for the same reason. I think our parents think we made bad decisions, but 23 years and two kids later, I wouldn’t change anything about our history together. I do want to get to Europe soon though!

Via

5. Halfway through my pregnancy with my now 11 year old, I found out he was a boy. I had totally, stupidly just assumed the baby was a girl. I don’t know why, other than that I have a sister and no brothers, and for some reason assumed this meant that I, too, would have daughters (even though I know how the process works, and my genetics have nothing to do with it!) Anyway, I didn’t say so at the time, but finding out that he was a boy absolutely terrified me. I started to panic a little. Near the birth, I got real panic attacks. After the birth, it got worse. A lot worse. Unlike some stories of post-partum depression and anxiety disorder, mine was pretty mild, but it didn’t feel so at the time. I thought I would never be able to adequately take care of my baby, so I went to bed and had my husband do it. It’s a hard time to really remember. What I do remember is the day I felt better (with the help of some very useful medication). I fell head over heels in love with my sweet little man, and I am happy to say that even at 11 years old, he is still very close and attached to me. Here he is, the second love of my life, Bobby:

And the third love of my life, who would be quite jealous if I didn’t brag about her a little too:

6. I am so Type A it is ridiculous – stubborn, perfectionist, etc. A good example of this is that I have been known to paint the same room three times in a day, and up to six times in a week. I know in my head what I want, and I don’t stop until I get there. Self-help books might say this is a good thing, but it’s not really when there are other, more important things to do! I’ve been working on this perfectionism flaw and think I’m getting better. Case in point – my clean laundry has been in piles on my floor for a week. I know, progress, right?

7. Along with being a perfectionist, I’m also extremely impatient. This is a huge problem to have! Because if you want things to be perfect, you should take your time, right? Nope, not me. I’m waaaay too impatient. My friends make fun of me for it. For example, I made wreaths with a group of ladies recently. I’m the decorator, and everyone expected mine to be the best. It was actually the worst, by a long shot. But I was the first one done! Haha. That’s the main reason the DIY is not for me….I haven’t mastered the virtue of patience yet. This is what would happen if I tried crafty-type cooking:

Via

8. I have had blond hair for 41 years and 9 months, until yesterday. After about 30 years of going to the salon every 8-10 weeks, I decided to give it a rest. I think I like it. I certainly am going to love how the brown roots aren’t going to show in 6 weeks! If you’ve ever seen my profile photo on my blog, you’ll see what a drastic change this is for me:

Again, Barbara, it was rewarding and fun to think about some personal things to share, and I thank you so much for letting me be here today!

Stacy