Just as I was about to join my husband on a slow cruise around the lake, I grabbed my camera as I ran out the door. I thought it would be fun to get photos of a few of my favorite homes from the lakeside view...often a much more attractive elevation than the street side.

As we trolled along, I just clicked away when a house caught my eye and "spoke" to me. Now, there are quite a few very lovely homes on our lake...but I'm only attracted to some of them. Looking through my photos later that evening, I realized that the ones I liked the best all had something in common. My favorites all had a "craftsman" quality to them...lots of woodwork, wide trim, and often a wide front porch. The ones I like don't feel as grand as this one...

...just comfortable, roomy, at ease, like this one.

Even my favorite boat house on the lake is a Craftsman style...

There's just something about the Craftsman style that speaks to me. I love how classic they are...never going out of style. You can't look at them and pinpoint the decade they were built in, like you can so many homes built in the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's. Of course, many craftsman homes were built in the early 1900's...but they continued to be built well into the 1940's, and then became more popular again in the past 10 to 15 years. If you look at one of my pinterest boards, you will again find many lovely craftsman homes, like these below:

As you may know, we are currently living in an old Craftsman style home, built in 1914...so it's 100 years old this year! I love the beautiful box beams, the built in book cases and china cabinet, the windows, the wide trim, the front porch...makes the house feel sturdy, established, timeless. So, I will love this old home and enjoy each day as long as we get to live here. When we were house hunting back in the spring of 2012, some verses that gave me peace were Acts 17:26-28, "From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out to Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being." He knew all along where we would land and I am so thankful to be here. Happy centennial birthday, old girl, and thanks for the memories!