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I’ve started this blog to share with my friends and family my journey with food and my passion for cooking, baking and entertaining in my home in Central  Virginia and for my waterfront sanctuary, Moonstruck Cottage, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia–with a back door that is 50 feet from the shore of the magnificent Chesapeake Bay! Like most people fortunate enough to be a homeowner of a home by the water, I have found that there is really nothing out there for those of us without six figure design budgets or a gourmet farmer’s market around the corner! I cannot imagine EVER paying $200 or 300 for a throw pillow and while I can certainly dream about being able to buy, prepare and eat Red Spanish Prawns–I am far more likely to be able to find an abundance of quality frozen shrimp! Lakefront, beachfront, riverfront, pond front—whatever your waterfront—I want to create a forum for sharing ideas for cooking, entertaining, gardening, design and décor that is unique to those of us fortunate enough to own, rent or even dream of living by the water! I do not subscribe to huge resin lamps with old salty dog sailors or moorings as their base, however. I do not judge those that do—I just abhor most things “plastic” and prefer my little cottage by the bay to be just that…a little cottage that just happens to be by the water. So, you will see things in my cottage that relate to the heritage of the bay but you won’t see Palm Beach or the tropics or the Bahamas or the Hawaiian Islands reflected in its décor. Around a thousand square feet, I am told Moonstruck started out as a turn of the century gas station. It is small and wonderful and without pretention. In parts colonial, reflecting the long history of the local history and lore dating back to the 1600s, it is also romantic, rustic and even “country” in the bits, pieces and corners of my little cottage. You will see gentle blues, touches of misty sage, greys, blacks, worn natural browns, chalky whites, muted mustards, soft pinks and sand in my home—all the colors of the mid-Atlantic. You will not see palm trees, neon starfish and such on the walls, tables or bookcases of my Moonstruck—only the colors and treasures of my little heaven on the bay. Please join me in my search for recipes, entertaining ideas, design, decor, art and lifestyles that reflect real people and “everyman’s” dream of waterfront living!