Inspiration: Red

My love affair with the color red began in high school. Things were great until my senior year when I got a job at Target, which I had for the next four years up until my senior year of college. After being forced to wear red shirts several times a week for years, I was sick of the color and actually donated every red shirt I owned as soon as I got a new job. But red and I have slowly been falling back in love ever since. Red is such a bold, bright, eye-catching color and so many different shades fall into the red family. I'm excited to share some of my favorite red things with you this week for the Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop.

Most of our furnishings are neutral shades like tan, but red is my favorite accent color. Even Conan likes red!

I'm planning to buy this adorable red sign from Barn Owl Primitives for my kitchen.

This is one of my favorite places on Oahu, Makapu'u Lighthouse. Many of Hawaii's lighthouse have red domes like this.

Because I'm a military wife (and daughter), red makes me think patriotic thoughts.

This is one of my favorite family pictures. It's from Fourth of July 2010.

The Byodo-in Temple is a gorgeous Buddhist temple on the east side of Oahu. You might recognize it from "Lost."

With my brother when I went home to Colorado for a visit this summer. We're at Red Robin --YUMMM! (Sadly, there are no Red Robins in Hawaii.)

Red cinder cones at Haleakala Crater on Maui. Hawaiian dirt is red (and notoriously hard to get off clothes) because the volcanic ash and lava that formed the islands has a very high iron content, which has been oxidized (basically rusted) over time.

This awesome pencil urchin is one of the neatest things we've seen snorkeling in Hawaii. I love the red color in the center.

One of the only things that grows in the lava fields of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island are these small trees with red flowers. They're called ohia trees.

Hawaii has an amazing variety of beautiful red flowers. It was tough, but I managed to choose just one picture to show you. (Otherwise, we'd be here all day!)