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Happy New Year 🥂! In my personal opinion, I feel like I am allowed to say Happy New Year all the way through January. I just wanted to write to acknowledge all of us being here in 2025. I don’t want to dwell on what happened last year or make any big proclamations for this year. Just a small one 😉. I also wanted to say Hi.

My friend’s dad, Pastor Bobby Welborn, had a watch night service to welcome in 2025 (Yes, the service was on December 31st. Yes, I am also just now mentioning it). Pastor Welborn talked about a lot of things, but what stuck with me the most was the scripture, Philippians 3:13-14.

This year I am forgetting what lies behind and I am straining forward. I am straining towards the life I want to live, the person I want to be, and the impact I want to make on the world. Oh and learning Spanish for real, not this Duolingo stuff 😆.

I hope your year is everything you want it to be. I hope you find joy. I hope you strain forward. I hope you continue to be well and whole. Much Love 🧡💚

Ebony has not been Ebony on Everything lately. Ebony hasn’t even been Ebony on Anything. As the people that know me know, I have an opinion on almost everything. It’s to the point that when I say I don’t have an opinion, my friends don’t believe me. Then there are topics that I feel so strongly about I can’t keep it to myself even if I tried. Today’s topic popped in my head as soon as I opened my eyes this morning.

I love architecture and architectural design. I love houses inside and out. The materials used to cover the structure, brick, siding, or stone. The layout of a floor plan that is well done. The floors, walls, windows and how everything comes together. In Toledo, I used to attend the Parade of Homes each year just to look at houses and their floor plans. I have drawn a very crude floor plan combining elements from a bunch of different houses. Now I just need millions of dollars, an architect to perfect my floor plan, and a builder. It’s doable (I know what you are thinking. I’m manifesting, don’t shit on my dreams 😂).

My favorite architect is Frank Lloyd Wright. He was so ahead of his time. So brilliant. And apparently, kind of an asshole. I am fighting my way through his book, The Natural House. He was an amazing architect, but a terrible writer. Wright does have me cracking up the way he talks about other architects and builders. To be fair, he was right, but he gave them no grace. I guess now I have to highlight at least one of Wright’s houses on here as well. I have one that I drooled over for days that listed recently. Showing everyone pictures and my favorite parts of the house. I am still not over it’s beauty, but I did stop going back to it. However, it is saved in my favorites whenever I get the urge.

I am sure you are probably asking, where is all of this coming from? That house, Castle at Smith Lake, pictured above inspired me, no…more like disgusted me and gave me the overwhelming urge to share my opinion. When that popped up in my news feed, I had to take a deeper look. A castle in Alabama is strange enough, but the picture was what really got me. That is some ugly shit. I don’t feel like I need to say more. What was killing me is what the writers of the magazine articles was saying about the house. TJ Macias, with the Charlotte Observer, said,

“A home called the Castle at Smith Lake is the living embodiment of elegance both inside and out with a very unique twist: Its eye-catching design.”

Now TJ know he was lying. At that moment, I realized I better stick to writing for my blog and Vivyd where I get to express my true opinions. There is no way I could have written that article telling them lies. I’m going to go with what Amanda, my coworker, said, “Frankenstein’s Monster”. Now that is an accurate description.

I just knew the inside was going to be a hot mess. I said as bad as the outside look, there is no way the inside looks good. Surprisingly, the interior is not so bad on the brick side of the house.

The “castle” side needs a refresh.

You can tell the house was renovated at some point in time though. The interior can’t make up for the exterior though. Nor does it justify the $4.9 million asking price. I am going to keep tabs on this “castle”. Which I feel like they used that term loosely. I looked up the definition of a castle and it isn’t fitting it. I do want to know how much it truly sells for. Here is the link to view more pictures of the house, https://www.arcrealtyco.com/single-family/gal/1358642/354-county-road-211-bremen-al-35033.

The best thing about this “castle” is the plot of land it is sitting on. Them views, them views, them views 😍. They are spectacular!

Every time I look at the pictures of the scenery, the lake, the sunset, my heart sings. Just tear the house down, put a few tiny houses on there for me and my people and all is right with the world. Yes, I have my crude floor plan that I want created into a home, but I would want to share this space with people I love. And though I love them, I don’t want to inhabit the same living space. I have also designed my own tiny home. I told y’all I love houses.

It is a must that I receive some comments from you all. I need everyone’s opinion on this matter. More importantly, I need your opinion to match mines 😆. Even if it doesn’t, please share. I promise I will be nice and agree to disagree even as my soul shrivels up inside me. For the people who agrees with me, stay well and whole. For the others, go get a check up, something is off 😂. Much Love to you all 🧡💚