Just a Little Touch of Easter

Playing with dishes is always fun for me. I don't enjoy cooking as much. When I used to live in FL closer to my kids, I would host Thanksgiving dinner but I did not cook. I would order a whole thanksgiving dinner from Boston Market but I would set the table really nice. My son would always say that his mom is the only person he knows of who could make Boston Market food look good and attractive on the table, lol.

Well it's playtime and I am ready! I am linking with

Susan for Tablescape Thursday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

Lady Katherine for Teatime Tuesday at http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/

Wanda Lee for Tuesday Tea for Two at http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/

Go visit these gracious ladies and their participants for more eye candy.

I have a set of Johann Haviland china in a Brown Rose pattern that I have never used. I won them on Ebay about 3 years ago. I also have a table cloth in a lilac tone that I bought from the French flea market in St. Maarten about a year ago, which I have never used. I decided to use both, finally!

I borrowed this lavender planter from my mom's bedroom. She is staying with my sister right now.

I took a bejeweled bunny from the living room, a natural amethyst stone tea light candle holder from the family room and a triple candelabra from my mom's altar and I got myself a centerpiece.

The bunny gives the table a bit of an Easter touch.

Everything today is kinda matchy-matchy for a change.

Pinzon plate chargers in saffron color were from Amazon a long time ago.

I borrowed the roses from the living room. I thought they had the right color.

Here's a close up of the tablecloth design. It has plants on urns around the border.

I really like the coffee pot set that came with the set. It has that graceful look.

The Bee flatware were from Horchow or Neiman Marcus. The napkins belong to a tablecloth set that I bought from Grand Cayman. I am not sure if I used the tablecloth yet. I always buy table linens when we travel (and we travel a lot) and they accumulate so I never get to use them all. It's an obsession and I can't help being drawn to those stores. John does not help either cause everytime we see one, he points it to me and says, "for your tablescaping". I tell ya, it's hard to resist temptation.

I keep showing this lavender in the urn. Can you tell how much I like it? This picture shows the candelabra too. Actually, I added this picture because it makes my 14th. I don't like to post 13 pictures, sounds unlucky to me.

Here's a mosaic of the accessories. The bunny S & P shakers add to the touch of Easter.

Thank you so much for your visit. I really appreciate it!

And thanks to our 3 lovely hostesses!

Cruising on the Carnival Dream

I am so glad to be able to join Susan for Outdoor Wed.

Before I go on to my cruise post, I just want to show you our blooming tree and camellia bushes. Our guest room for kids have 2 windows. I hardly ever go there unless we have grandkids visiting, but today, John told me to look out from there. To my surprise, I saw the tree full of white flowers in the front yard. I am not sure what it is but I am guessing it is a Bradley pear. It is so funny because I did not know we had one because it is farther from the driveway and we usually just turn left into the driveway. The camellias can be seen from the other window. They sure are pretty and so full of blooms.

Since I am posting a cruise, I am also kinking with Watery Wednesday.

Go visit their blogs at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/ and http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/.

We just returned from a Caribbean cruise last weekend. I will share the places where we went to on my Sightseeing Sat. posts.

I love the hanging bouganvilles. They look so real.
The ship had so many pools and jacuzzi tubs and would you believe that I forgot to pack a swimsuit?

We left from the port of Canaveral in FL.

Taken before we sailed off of Port Canaveral.

The big water slide.

They had smaller ones too for the little kids.

Can you spot me? I'll give you a clue, I am fully dressed.

This was taken from the rear of the ship.

Looking out from our cabin balcony. The sea was pretty rocky the first night.

Isn't that a beautiful sunset? Too bad it went and disappeared so fast.

I hope you enjoyed the watery outdoor pictures. Thanks for coming and many thanks to our gracious hosts for taking the time to host these fun events.

Foyer Tabletops

Hello all! I am finally back and I have missed you all. And I got back just in time for Tabletop Tuesday (Yippee!!), which is hosted by Marty at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/. To see more creative table creations, go check out her blog and her participants.

Since I did not have much time to prepare for this but still wanted to participate, I will just show you our foyer as it is, I have not spring-i-fied it yet. I am not sure if I will have time to decorate for Easter cause most of my Easter stuff are still in the attic. It will depend if our maintenance guy stops by soon. I do have 2 wooden bunnies on the floor but they are there all year round.

Below is the cabinet that you will see as you enter the front door. The mirror has a black slate frame which matches the black slate floor. Here is a little peek into the formal living room.



On the table is a Lladro figurine called "Karina". She is 17 inches tall. I place the 2 teapot candle holders there when they are not being used on the dining table, also the orchid. On the right side of the cabinet is a Limoges plate with Madonna and Child by Raphael and a pair of Meissen figurines.
This cabinet doubles as my storage for napkin rings in the top drawer.

The bottom cabinet contains various plate chargers, flatware sets, place card holders and more napkin rings.

Across the cabinet is a Buddha fountain, a wooden bunny and Bird of Paradise with bamboos flower arrangement.

The sound of the water is relaxing as it welcomes you.

Next to the door is a cherub on a columnar pedestal, another bunny and a faux palm which my hubby watered while I was in Florida. See how healthy it is? LOL!

Across from the cherub is a bench and an elephant planter with another faux plant. I used to have real plants here but everytime I water them, the water runs into the floor and messes up the floor. And it is not easy to clean and wax black slate floors. The water turns it white. So, I replaced the real plants with faux, for practicality.

Thanks for your visit and thanks, Marty for hosting this event. I wanted to join Teatime Tues and Tuesday Tea For 2 also but ran out of time to set up a tea table. But I plan to link my Tablescape Thursday with them.

A Casual Dinner Just For the 2 of Us

I am away but I do not want to miss Tablescape Thursday so here I am posting in advance. and since I am showing you what we ate, I am linking with Foodie Friday too.

Tablescape is hosted by Susan and Foodie Friday is hosted by Michael. Make sure you visit them at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ and http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/ respectively. I can guarantee that you will enjoy their posts and those of their participants.
Now, this is what I call simple. I changed my tablecoth to make it look bright and springy. Actually I just put it on cause I usually don't even put a tablecloth on this table. It's where we eat dinner everyday unless we have company. I used Polish pottery and the rooster yellow chargers that I just got from Ebay while in Florida.

I grabbed this Polish pottery duck from the hutch and moved it

on the lazy Susan.
We had baked pork chops that I marinated with balsamic vinegar, garlic salt and pepper.

I bought this cobalt blue glass basket from TJ Maxx in Cape Coral and it was only $3.99

Goblets with yellow lemons (forgot to take a close up picture) and Polish pottery wine glasses. They can be used for candles too.

Polish pottery salt & pepper shakers.

We had roasted asparagus salad with avocado. I just read the recipe from Southern Living magazine, March, 2010 issue) that I bought from the airport. John really liked it.

I really like using these chargers. I have the red, green, blue and yellow colors and the yellow ones are my favorite.

I hope you enjoyed this simple tablescape. So far, I have posted 3 entries to be published next week while I am gone. I hope you all have a nice week.

Thanks Susan and Michael, for hosting these 2 fun memes.