AJ Said Goodbye and St. Maarten

Saturdays are Pink amd Sightseeing memes so get ready to have some fun! I hope you do not mind me posting early because I will be traveling tomorrow.
Beverly of http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/ graciously hosts Pink Saturday every single week and for that I thank her! Please go over her blog and catch all the pink beauties for this week.

This was AJ's old room in my Florida home. Her mom bought a house so she had to say good bye to it. Yes, it was mostly bright pink with a little blue.


They left the bed here b/c she has outgrown it. My youngest daughter Tina and Scott are picking it up for Brendan. It used to have a tent underneath cause AJ loved to play tent with bedsheets when she was small.

It is mostly empty now cause they moved most of her stuff to the new house but there are more to move and they promised to get everything out by the end of this month. My friend will be renting the house from me and I am happy to have her take over and I am sure she is painting over this wall because she has no small child.

I wasn't sure I would have anything to contribute for Pink Sat. since most of my stuff are in MS and I am still in FL. right now, until I noticed the walls when I was cleaning this room. Hope you enjoyed seeing it.

Because it is a Saturday, we get to go sightseeing too! If you want to participate in Sightseeing Saturday, please enter your name and your permalink below, AFTER you have published your post. I appreciate you joining me.

Another island on the Caribbean we visited was St. Maarten. St. Maarten is divided into 2 territories, the Dutch, which is a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and not considered European, and the French side, which covers about 2/3 of the island. It is more expensive to shop in the French side than in the Dutch side because of the euro.

This part below is on the Dutch side.

Now, we are on our way to the French side.

Can you tell that I like going to flea markets when I am out of the country? This is on the French side and it is where I bought those 2 French toile tablecloths.

Look at the mangoes! Yummy! I eat them green too.

Yep! I went to the nude beach with my son in law (I was curious, lol!) while John went to the other side with AJ, but I couldn't take it, I was grossed out so I went back to find AJ and John to join them. Picture taking was not allowed but my camera accidentally went off a few times and I was able to smuggle some, but sorry, I am not showing you, LOL!

Beautiful blue aqua colored water and a beautiful blue sky.

I don't know what kind of lizard this is but it was huge.

Even the horses have a good view to look at.

AJ was exhausted and fell asleep in the taxi after swimming and snorkeling.

I hope you enjoyed our Saturday tour. Thank you so much for coming along and a double thank you to participants.

My Daughter's Shirley Temple Collection

I am still in Florida with nothing to do and I am a little bored so I thought I'd join in "Three or More" fun which is hosted by Tam at http://gypsycorner.blogspot.com/. Please visit her and all the other participants so you don't get bored either.

Last weekend when we visited my daughter, Tina, in Cape Coral, I went in their home office and decided to rearrange her furniture. While still planning where to put what, the other people who went fishing came home and it got busy, so I did not get the chance to do it. Anyway, I saw these Shirley Temple figurines that I collected for her when she was a little girl so I took pictures of them. They are sitting in her curio cabinet in their office.

My sister gave this to her one Christmas and that started the collection.I found this on Ebay so I bought it for her and gave it to her one Christmas. It is even signed by Shirley Temple herself.
Then, my sister gave this to her again on another Christmas.
And finally, I found this again. It is also signed. This is giving me an idea. I should start looking for the others and I can save them for her future Christmas presents. I wonder if there are any more. Each of them represents a movie that she starred in.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my daughter's Shirley Temple collection. Thanks for coming and thanks, Tam, for taking the time to host the event.

A Glimpse of Our Blue Sevres and Meissen Collection and Lamp Transformation

I am out of town and most of my pictures are on my desktop computer and my possessions in my first home, so it's not too easy to post something new. Luckily, Chari of http://happytodesign.blogspot.com/ thought about this SundayFavorites idea on reposting one of our favorite posts on a Sunday, since it is really a day of rest. And you know how long it takes to upload new pics for a new post. I originally posted this for Met and Blue Monday but now it's a Sunday Favorite. Please visit Chari and all her participants who won't disappoint you.

Welcome to Blue and Met Monday! Blue Monday is hosted by Smiling Sal at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ and Metamorphosis Monday is hosted by Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/. Please visit their blogs and then go to the others who are also participating. You'll be glad you did!

I will begin with my Met Monday post. Blue Monday will follow soon shortly. On Saturday, dh and I went to an auction,. This was only the second auction I ever attended. The first one will be in my Blue Mon. post.

Anyway, these small lampshades were thrown in with other items that we were bidding on and won. I did not know what to do with them at first but on our way home, the bulb in my brain started flashing. The yellowish ones are made out of capiz, a mother of pearl shell found mostly in the Philippines.
This is our hanging lamp in the home office.
This is how it looks lit.
I replaced the old shades with the capiz shades.
another view
with the lights on. How do you like it? I think I like the capiz shades better. They give out a warmer glow, don't you think so?
and here it is, a general view.
Hope you enjoyed the simple transformation of our hanging lamp in the office. Thanks for joining me. Now, don't forget to visit Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ and check out her wonderful post. I don't know about you but as for me, I am always looking forward to what she is going to show us next.


And then check out the others who are posting for Met Monday too. See you all there!


But wait......don't go yet! Please check out my Blue Monday post below.

Welcome to Blue Monday! Blue Monday is hosted by Smilingsal at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ Be sure you visit her blog and check out her amazing blue surprises and then visit all who are participating this week. I know you won't be sorry.

For this week, I would like to share our Sevres and Meissen centerpieces, compotes and urns. We won all these at an estate auction in one day. We lucked out because there weren't a lot of bidders and we got them at very reasonable prices. That auction also started my hubby's interest in Sevres and Meissen pieces and other European pottery. I can blame my dear friend Laurie from http://bargainhuntingwithlaurie.blogspot.com/ for that, since she was the one who told us about the estate auction that was being held. Well, maybe I should be thankful since I am actually glad she did because it was HUGE, even the auctioneer said it was the biggest auction that he has EVER handled! The late owner owned antique shops, 2 historical antebellum houses and warehouses that were full of these magnificent pieces. So, I can't really blame dh for getting hooked. It's so funny because now, when we tour historical or antebellum houses and he sees similar pieces, he flips them over to check for the pottery mark to see who the maker is. The tour guides look at him like he is crazy. LOL!

This is a porcelain Sevres blue lidded vase with an ormolu pedestal. This vase is very heavy and it has a hand painted romantic design on the other side, which you will see in the next picture. I just love these signed pieces. They are two of my favorites. But then again, I have a lot of favorites.

Here is another one and you will see the courting couple in the next picture.

This is a Meissen "4 Seasons" compote. I just love all the details. Click on the pictures so you can see them too.

Here is another view.

Here is a Sevres porcelain compote

supported by 3 cupids. The following 2 pictures show more views. Don't forget to enlarge them.

This one below has a funny story. This auction was actually my first experience. DH was with me when it started and he was the one placing the bid, you know, raising his hand with our numbered card. We got there bright and early, even before the auction started. Around noon, he had to leave to see some patients in the clinic and told me to just raise that numbered card whenever I see something I like. I was nervous but my lusting for all those gorgeous displayed items overcame my fear, so I started bidding. When I won the item below, I thought I was bidding on a chair. Was I ever surprised when the auctioneer announced that I just won this Meissen blue musical ladies compote! I guess I need more experience. LOL! But you know, I was glad I did because it really is very pretty. It's one of my favorites too. I told ya I have a lot of favorites. :-) All these compotes are big and heavy. They are over 20 inches tall.

We have a pair of these lidded vases. I am not sure if they are Meissen or Sevres. We were running out of place to display all the bulky winnings so we ended up putting this pair on top of the tall French provincial cabinet in the dining room. I forgot to check the signature and maker before we put them up there and I am not about to climb up to check now. I am afraid to break them. Just as I said, they are real heavy.

Don't you just like the cherub on the lid?

The auction lasted from 8 AM to 5 PM. Before it ended, I called John to tell him to call our maintenance guy and ask him to bring a truck...LOL! That must have made him nervous! I ended up winning 8 Chippendale chairs, a massive Victorian hunt centerpiece with a stag, hunters and hounds (you'll see it in between the 2 urns above the French cabinet. The base is dark blue so it can count here too), a pair of gold leaf torchiere lamp posts, a pair of oil paintings on canvas, a wrought iron framed Italian scene painting, a pair of wall oval mirrors, a Canterbury magazine rack, a pair of marble top Mohogany side tables, a pair of huge Sevres eggs (I will blog about them one of these days, another one of my hubby's obsessions, LOL), a Tiffany style table lamp, and all the items I just showed you above. The lady who checked them out asked me if we have a store. We filled the truck, John's mini van, my SUV and our maintenance guy had to call his wife to bring another vehicle. That's what happens when you turn your wife loose. But you know, I was just being obedient. If you recall, he told me to raise my numbered card everytime I see something I like, right? LOL!

Thanks once again for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed this post.

And thanks to Sal for hosting this fun event. Don't forget to visit her at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/.