Christmas!!! Coming so Soon?

I am so happy because I accomplished a lot at home these past few days. I was able to put up 5 Christmas trees and decorated a little. So, I would like to share all my hard work with you and decided to join Mary of http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/ for Mosaic Monday. And I am also very excited to join a brand new party, Deck the Halls, which gives us a chance to show off our Christmas decor. Susan of http://thoughtsfromovertherainbow.blogspot.com/ is hosting this fun event so come on and join and also visit these 2 lovely ladies and their participants.

I am only showing a few of what I have done. This way, I can join more parties in future Tuesdays.

When you come in through our front door, our carolers will greet you in the foyer. My sister gave them to me for Christmas in July 3 years ago. I found the lantern in a yard sale last month and it costs me $10. It still had a tag of $89.00 on it.

In the living room, I have this pair of lanterns that we won at an estate auction. I really like them. They have claw feet. The lit wreath is a Thomas Kinkade with a Nativity on it.

Now, let's go see more by visiting the hostesses and their participants.

Thanks a lot for coming by! I hope you all have Happy Holidays!

Announcing the 200Th Post Winner Makes Me Happy!

Sorry I am a little behind in announcing the winner. But I had top make time today to cut up all the comments and for the followers, I wrote their names also on a separate paper for their 2nd entry. Then, my mom and I rolled the papers.
I mixed them all up and then I asked my mom to pick one.

Can believe that she picked Kerri of http://princessmommychronicles.blogspot.com/? LOL! Sorry, Kerri, your dad said you are disqualified because you are family. LOL! For those who do not know, Kerri is my stepdaughter.

So, I asked my mom to pick another one.

And we have a legit. winner this time and it is Kathy of http://kbeau.blogspot.com/. Congrats, Kathy! I hope you like my give away.

I also got 2 awards from Maria of http://personalizedsketchesandsentiments.blogspot.com/. Sorry, Maria, I am so behind in posting these awards but I want you to know that I really appreciate you thinking about about it when you gave away the awards.

With the Happy 101 award, I am supposed to list 10 things that make me happy. It really does nto take much to make me happy but here are 10 of them.

1. Announcing my 200th post giveway makes me happy.

2. Seeing our kids and grandkids makes me very happy.

3. Having my friends over

4. Shopping

5. Going on a cruise relaxes me and therefore, makes me happy

6. Decorating and tablescaping are 2 of my favorite things to do at home so they make me happy.

7. Going to auctions with my hubby makes me happy.

8. Traveling and shopping with my sisters

9. Playing guesstures

10. Karaoke, singing with my friends and kids.

Maria also gave me a "You're the Sweetest Award". Thank you so much, Maria! You are so sweet. And I would like to pass the award to all my followers too because you are all very sweet.

Thanks again!

Pinks for Pay It Forward and Roatan Island

Pink Saturday is being hosted by Beverly at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/ and Met Monday is hosted by Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/. I hope you will visit them after you view Sightseeing Saturday below.

It is such a busy week that I decide to combine these 3 posts. I hope you don't mind and enjoy them instead.
Aside from the holidays, I have been busy shopping for my Pay It Forward gifts, not to mention preparing the package for my 200th post giveaway. I will announce the winner on Thurdays.

My friend Nit and I went to Alexandria today to go shopping. We went to Hobby Looby and I saw these green simple mini wreaths. An idea came to my head and I bought 3 of them and also bought little pink balls and tiny fuschia balls.

I strung the balls to the wreath and this is how my first one turned out.

Do you like it? I hope my PIF recipients like it cause each of them is getting one among other things.

To my PIF recipients, if you prefer the plain one, you can just take out the trimmings, lol.

And here are all 3 of them.

I hope you enjoyed my mini metamorph. and pinks.

Well, of course I did not forget to take you on a trip.

Today, we will go to Roatan Island. Roatan Isl. is 30 miles off the coast of Honduras. It is not very big, only approximately 4 miles wide and 33 miles long.

We went on a cruise and when we docked on the port, these natives greeted us with their lively dancing.

Here is the traveling trio awaiting for the tour bus to pick us up. We decided to go snuba diving.

The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful, with the mountains overlooking the Caribbean Sea.

We went to Gumbalimba Park where they had monkeys and parrots. Do you see AJ on the suspended rope bridge? I wouldn't go there because seeing the water below made me nervous. I wanted something solid to step on but AJ is very adventurous.

AJ and John went for a swim before we all went snuba diving. Snuba is a combination of scuba diving and snorkeling. We were given a 20 ft. airline which is connected to a scuba tank mounted on a raft at the water surface. The raft followed us so we always had air and we could breath under water. We also had a professional diver with us. But in spite of all these, I was nervous so I stayed up swimming on the surface holding on to AJ's line so I could pull her up in case something happened to her. But she was fearless. The moment we got in the water, she dove right in, all the way to the bottom while I watched her from the top, lol. Sorry, I have no pictures to show you because we had to leave our cameras in the locker room.

After swimming, we walked through the botanical garden where they had many colorful exotic birds and monkeys.

We had a fun excursion. I hope you had fun following along too. Thanks for joining me on another tour.

Thanks to Beverly and Susan for hosting more fun events.

Tea and Cream Cheese Cups with Mr. Peacock

Tablescape Thursday is brought to you by Susan of http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/. Go visit her site, especially if you are looking for inspirations. I know you will not be disappointed.

A friend of mine brought me some cheesecake cups and I placed them in a server with a dome. The mini cakes looked so pretty which inspired me to do this tablescape.
"Home is where the heart is" and I truly believe in that. I used my bamboo flatware since they match the border of the tray.
and isn't this is so true also?

I bought this tea set and plates at either TJ Maxx or Marshall's. I have a set of Tracy Porter "Artesian" dishes and when I saw this Artesian tray at TJ Maxx in Florida, I was rejoicing because the price is like 80 % cheaper than that at Horchow's.

Ooops, I need to replace one bulb.

Do you see the long metal candle holder? Lady Katherine gave that to me during our Southern Magnolia Belle luncheon. Actually, I won it in the drawing. Isn't it pretty? Thanks again, Katherine! Please pray for Katherine as she is recovering from surgery.

I cut some fresh flowers from the garden and placed them in 2 little Southern Living at Home vases.

The cake pedestal cake is also an "Artesian" by Tracy Porter. I like how the peacock is holding the tray.

I placed a tea light candle holder duck inside a metal cloche, which I bought from a flower shop downtown. I like the nest with eggs on top.

Look at those yummy cheesecakes! I already had some when I decided to do this tablescape. Who can resist..... lol!

Thanks for coming by and thanks Susan, for hosting this event.

Pink is an Attitude and Historical St. Augustine

Let's show our pinks and then go traveling!

So, go to Beverly's site at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/ and enjoy the pinks while you are resting from our sightseeing trip. Today, we are going to St. Augustine, FL.
I found this set of plate when my friends and I went on a shopping trip last Wednesday at Ross in Monroe, LA. I thought it would be perfect for Pink Saturday so I bought it. I love all the sayings", they are so like me, lol!

"If the shoe fits, buy it in every color."
"Pink isn't just a color, it's an attitude."
"I have no desire for money, it's all the stuff that I want."
"I just love a sale."
I found this set of pink wine stemware on the same day at TJ Maxx (which is close to where Ross is) and I just love the colors and the silver squirly pattern and bought them too. I told ya, I like the stuff:-) It's like a ritual when we go to Monroe. We drive 2 hours one way to get there. We go to Ross first, then have lunch and then we go to TJ Maxx. If we are not tired yet, we go to Pier One and/or Dillard's and sometimes to Home Depot too, if we want to buy plants. Now, let's go sightseeing!!
We worked and lived in Florida before we moved here. One weekend, we decided to take my cousin Hazel, who was visiting from the Philippines and my mom, nephew Valiant, and AJ to St. Augustine. I always enjoy going to St, Augustine because it reminds me of the Philippines during the Spanish occupation. Below you will see Castillo de San Marcos, a fort constructed by the Spanish between 1672 and 1695 The Lightner Museum was very pretty at night. We were there before Christmas so the town was dressed for the holidays.
We rode a horse carriage to tour the town and for the ghost tour. AJ was so excited when we stopped and the carriage girl asked her to feed the horse. We had lunch at Columbia Restaurant.
The buildings are mostly Spanish in style, very pretty and

with a very ornate and interesting architecture. They had really old wooden buildings too.

Thank you all for coming along. I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Thanks Beverly for hosting another Pink Saturday!

Pay It Forward and My 200th Post Giveaway

"Pay it Forward" is a fun game, and when there is fun, of course I am in!If you would like to participate in Pay It Forward, just leave a comment on this post.
The first three people to leave a comment will be my next Pay It Forward recipients. You must have a blog so I can read your postings and learn a little about you. That way, I will know what to gather just for you! THEN, when you receive your package from me, you post pictures of what you received, just as I have done, then add the Pay It Forward button (which is at the TOP of this post) to your post, and wait for three comments on your blog...and the game continues on.
If there are any questions you can ask me anytime! It really is a whole lot of fun! Let's see how far this PAY IT FORWARD can continue."

I lucked out being one of the 3 first commenters in Maggie's Pay it Forward post at http://normandylife.blogspot.com/ and look at the precious gifts I received all the way from France!
Isn't this the prettiest card? It reminds me of the beautiful houses on St. Charles in New Orleans. I love the wrought iron fence. I am going to frame it when I find the perfect frame.
And I just love reading this personal note from sweet Maggie.
Aaah! I have just the perfect place for this. I am going to hang it on the door leading to the bathroom that leads out into the pool. Isn't it so pretty, so shabby and chic! and it is hand crafted by Steve Boyce.

Scrumptious and delicious caramel candies, my favorite flavor! I also got this really cute teddy bear with the prettiest soft print garden design who can keep me company in my office while blogging.

Isn't she just a cutie with the prettiest pink bow?

And look at these vintage looking French postcards! What fun to have them in my possession even if I still have to figure out what they say. Is this supposed to be a Mr. France beauty contest, Maggie? lol!

I don't know how Maggie knew that I love bridges.

And now, I finally took a picture of my 200th post giveaway. Do not confuse it with my "Pay it Forward" gifts. For that, I would personalize them by studying the winners' blogs first, to see what your styles are. The first 3 people who will comment here will receive the "Pay It Forward' gifts. Please let me know (if you are one of the 3), IF you do not want to participate and in that case, I will send the gifts to the 4th person or the 5th, depending on how many do not want to join in on the fun.

Again, the items below are my 200th post giveaway. I will announce the winners next Friday. The winner will get the following:

a set of 4 canapes plates

a little white heart ceramic picture frame

a set of 3 votive candle holders

bird salt and pepper shaker

turquoise necklace I bought when I visited New Mexico

a Christmas night light

Whittard of Chelsea tea

Whittard of Chelsea egg cup set

a little purse

a glass fish from the Carribean

Ooops, I forgot to include them in the pictures but I am also sending a set of small Matrushka dolls and a pen from Russia.

If you want to win the goodies below, please leave a comment on my 200th post, which is one post below. Thanks.

Good luck to the winner!

And thank you so much, Maggie, for the very special gifts that you sent me. I will treasure them.