Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Medical Caduceus

This tablescape will probably be more appreciated by anybody in the medical field so I dedicate it especially for  you.
 
My inspiration came from the big heavy pottery that is shaped like a giant beaker that John and I spotted at Pottery Barn while shopping in Baton Rouge when my granddaughter AJ was visiting the other week. It was on a clearance shelf marked down to $29 from $49 but when I checked out, we were pleasantly surprised to see that it was further discounted to $18.00. Yay!
I immediately thought of creating a centerpiece with it. I have other smaller graduated cylinders in various sizes that I thought would look good grouped with it, including a real small beaker that I used here as a tea candle holder.
 
I added a gold caduceus book end and placed them all on a round ceramic platform. I added flowers to the big beaker.

I happen to own a dinnerware inscribed with gold Caduceus (medical symbol) and RX  (prescription symbol) on them. I thought they would be perfect with this theme. I would have much rather used plates with a microscope but I do not have any. Anyway, I found the first few of these medical ones from a local thrift store and completed the set after an intensive search on Ebay.



I have had these plate chargers that I bought from JC Penney's a long time ago.
The beaker repurposed for tea light candle holder.

 
Since the inscription on the plates and glasses are in gold, I used German flatware with gold on them.
Brass napkin holders....I found a dozen of them in a beautiful velvet case from an antique store downtown for $3.00.
Don't you just love my cute little mortar and pestle? I actually used that in the lab. a long, long time ago.
These rings were tarnished when I bought them but I knew they would polish well and I was right.
I thought I would add my Lladro physician as a finishing touch. Doesn't he look like a snob?
I bought the pair of gold and glass hurricane candle holders from a Filipino friend who moved to another state.



The cups came in 2 sizes.


 
The set came with a butter server but the sales girl dropped the top part when she was wrapping it and it broke, so I just use it as a tray for the S & P shakers.

The white embroidered table cloth came from Grand Cayman.
Thanks for your visits. I hope you enjoyed viewing this as much as I enjoyed creating it. Thank you so much to the hostesses.

Marty's Inspire Me Tuesday

Monday, August 19, 2013

A Beachy Luncheon with 2 Friends

I planned to relax all day today. Well, that changed when my friend Brenda texted me last night saying I am invited to a simple early luncheon here at our house, lol. She made some pinakbet, which is an ethnic Filipino food and she wanted to bring it over. Of course, I am always happy to have their company and their food. She said our other friend Noemie was also coming. The more the merrier!

I had some time in my hands so I decided to make the table pretty. Besides, Kathleen is having a "Summer Party" this week so I better get ready for that too.

I started with laying a crinkle soft tablecloth on the table. Then, I just used our everyday placemats. I like using these on this round table because of the shape. Then, I added a blue and white plate charger with shells.
Next, came the grey blue "Abigail" dinner plates and the blue bubble flatware.

I added a little lantern that I won by sharing a link of a store downtown. It also came with a bigger yellow lantern but I only used this white one.
I added the luncheon shell plates I bought from Homegoods on my last trip to Florida. I like how the shells are raised. Then I placed a shell place card holder on each plate.

 I added a 4th plate setting in case John shows up for lunch, which he does every now and then. Sure enough, he did show up.



I like to use this glass salt and pepper shakers for beach themed tables. It makes the salt and pepper look like dry and wet sand on the beach. John bought me this shell compote about 3 years ago from Red Door in Baton Rouge.

This coral candelabra came from Homegoods in FL months ago and was shattered to pieces in my luggage, but I was able to glue it back together.
The stems are some of our everyday glasses.
The napkins have shell prints on them. The beaded coral napkin rings came from Kohls in Cape Coral, FL., on clearance. I believe the napkins came from there too, just from another trip.


I used this covered casserole to serve mussel soup.


My beautiful friends Brenda and Noemie, with their pretty smiles.

We planned to fry some dry fish at first, fish that Noemie brought from the Philippines but we wanted to eat early because Brenda is working tonight and she can take a nap before going to work. So, we did not fry the fish. We will save it for a brunch that we plan to have in the future.
I decided to make some mussel soup, only at the last minute.


And so I added some soup bowls on the place settings and this is how the table ended up looking.
Thanks for coming over. I always appreciate your visits and especially your comments. I also appreciate all the hostesses very much. I know they do lots of extra work to make these parties possible so again, a big THANK YOU to y'all!

Maria Elena's Tuesdays at Our Home
Marty at Inspire Me Tuesday
http://www.astrollthrulife.net/
Centerpiece Wed
Kathleen's Let's Dish
Tablescape Thursday
Katherine's Favorite Things Thursday
Kathy's Home and Garden Thursday
Kathryn's Anything Blue Friday

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

A Very Casual Dinner

Before I left Florida, I had my daughter and her family and a friend and her daughter over for a casual dinner. When I am there, I do not cook everyday. There are 4 of us who take turns in cooking and having the others over and that night was my turn. Nothing fancy, just an everyday dinner.
 
 
I started with my set of plain green Mac Kenzie Childs plate chargers. I won 13 of them from Ebay for less than $100, which I think is a very good price for a big set of Mackenzie dishes.
 
I don't have a lot of dish sets in FL but I have enough to mix and match. In this case, being so casual, I used melamine plates, which I have plenty of, because I have a lot of small grandkids eating there. Besides, we like to eat in the back porch and these plates are really practical to use outside.
 
I bought the dinner plates at Big Lots, really cheap, like $1.99 each and I just love the pop and combination of colors.
 Then I topped them with polka dotted salad plates in the same mix of colors, also from Big Lots and even cheaper at $1.49 each.
 
 
 I brought the napkins from the Natchez home and the flatware are from Homegoods, $14.99 for a setting for 4 times 2. I love the swirls on them. The napkin rings were given to me by my friend Noemie when she came back from a trip to the Philippines early this summer. Thanks, Noems, I love them!

 S & P fish shaker set from Ross. These shakers were actually being sold at my store when I still had it but luckily have not sold when I closed because the colors are perfect for here.
 I brought the birds from the Natchez home but bought the 2 white tea light candle holders from Fort Myers Goodwill for $1.99 for the pair.
 I just left the vase with yellow flowers that is usually on the table since the colors go so well with the plates. I just placed it on a tray with a peacock design.
 


The plates even match the small chest of drawers by the wall. I store napkins and some placemats there.



And here's the table with the food! Our other guests are Germans from Illinois who has a summer home here but they were willing to try anything so I served Filipino food, and they enjoyed it.

Thanks for stopping by. I just enjoy all your visits and really appreciate them. Thank you also for taking the time to leave a comment. They are doubly appreciated. Thank you to our gracious hostesses of all these lovely memes that I love linking with.
Kathleen's Let's Dish
Paula's What's It Wed
Centerpiece Wed
Tablescape Thursday
Katherine's Favorite Things Thursday
Kathy's Home and Garden Thursday
Sarah's Homemaking Weekend Link Up party

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