Featuring Liberty Blue and Flower Blossoms

I was not sure I could participate with the tablescape memes this week because I am overwhelmed with things to do at home. I was away for over a month and just got back the other night. You can imagine how the house looks after leaving the hubby all that time. Yep! The house looked like Ground Zero, well not exactly but pretty close, lol.

 

But a package greeted me at home, the flower Blossoms kit I won from Sarah of http://hyacinthforthesoul.blogspot.com/ and I was so excited to use the flower blossoms for my centerpiece so I just had a create a table.

 

 

Thank you so much, Sarah. I love everything that came in the package, so unique! I will have so much fun using these.

 I opened the book and was so surprised to see all these beauties. Please visit Sarah's blog and see how she used hers, which was the first time I have seen these paper blossoms. Aren't they pretty cool?

The paper blossom set of cards also came with the package. I might not be able to give these away though, lol. They are just too pretty.

Sarah also posted about Staffordshire's Liberty Blue dishes, which reminded me of mine so I dug them out from storage and used  them with the paper blossom centerpiece. As you can see, this post was all inspired by Sarah! It is also timely since the dishes would be appropriate to use for Independence Day, which is approaching soon. If you want more info about these dishes, visit Sarah's post.

See my paper flower blossom centerpiece? I had to pick one with blue in it. Doesn't it perk up the table?

I also pulled out my vintage blue glass salt and pepper shakers.

The blue wine glasses are from Mikasa and the bubble glass with blue and white stems are part of my Polish pottery collection.

I like to use my pewter flatware when creating an Americana table. It makes me go back to the federal period.

 I complemented the paper blossoms with 2 terracotta colored tin pots with silk flowers. The place mats are Spode's Blue Italian.

You can see the small bowl on top with Betsy Ross and the American flag. The dinner plate features the Independence Hall and the dessert plate shows the Old North Church. I thought I had salad plates and cups too but they could be in another box, because the box where I took these from was already full.

The ceramic blue rose napkin rings are by Royal Albert.

I leaned a flag by the window and added a red, white and blue candle on the table to be more patriotic.

Isn't the paper dragon fly so cute?

Thank you so much for everything, Sarah, and thank you all for stopping by. A special thanks to the hostesses.

Centerpiece Wed

http://thestylesisters.blogspot.com/

Kathleen's Let's Dish

http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/

Paula's What's It Wed

http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

Katherine's Favorite Things Thursday

http://katherinescorner.com/

Susan's Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Ready to Waltz, It's Party Time

http://www.pret-a-vivre.com/

 

New Orleans Aquarium

Hello everyone! Time flies when we are having fun and weekend is here again. That means it is time to go sightseeing and show off our pinks.

I am linking with Beverly for Pink Saturday at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

For my pink contribution, I am sharing a mosaic of some presents I bought for my daughter's unborn daughter. Yep, Tina is having a girl. I have another daughter who is also pregnant, not with one but with 2 (twins) but we do not know the sex or sexes yet. I bought a few stuff for the baby girl but these 2 are the pink ones, a baby's first frame (No, that's not her in the picture!) and isn't the tutu just the cutest thing? I can't wait to see her in it.

But wait, that's not all! My stepdaughter is having a baby too. I bought some gifts for her baby too but I am not showing them because they are not pink. She is having a boy.

That's 4 grandkids coming within 4 months of each other. It's going to be really, really busy very soon.

For sightseeing, I am taking you back to New Orleans. This time, we are going to the Aquarium.

Guess what they have in there! Lots of fish, lol!

I love this picture!

Sharks

The penguins were so cute!

Colorful fish!

Sea horses

Hard to see them cause their color blends with the plants.

Can you spot the Jacknife fish in the tank?

Gorgeous Lion fish

Hey! Here's a new unidentified species. LOL!

I was surprised to see an aviary in the aquarium.

Awww, look how romantic the parakeets are. Do you see them smooching?

AJ had so much fun feeding them.

After AJ fed the birds, it was my turn to feed my sweaty companions. They really enjoyed their ice cream.


I hope you enjoyed the tour of New Orleans Aquarium and Parakeet Pointe. Thank you so much for coming along! Thanks Beverly, for hosting again!

500 Posts and a Giveaway!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and

especially to my beloved mother, who brought all 5 of us with lots of love and perseverance.
She will be 93 this coming July and still going strong. I hope I still have at least 20 more years with her.

Time flies especially when we are having fun. And I am having a lot of fun blogging.
I cannot believe I have reached my 500 posts. I think this is actually my 502nd post. I still remember when friends from RMS kept telling me to start a blog. I hesitated at first because I did not think I would have anything to post. I was in Florida a day after my daughter's wedding, sitting in my Florida home alone with nothing to do. That's when I gathered all my courage and started writing and uploading photos of the wedding. It's all been history from there. And of course, it would not be fun without any of you. Reading all your comments is such a joy. Everybody is so nice and kind and I love visiting your blogs too. I think I will be lost with you.

And so, to show my gratitude, I am having a giveaway. I hope you like them. I selected items that would not be too heavy to send out.

The winner will get

a magnolia painting that I did myself (so don't expect it to look like a pro did it, lol)

a basket that was made in the Philippines

a "Friends" picture frame

a vintage set of Sheffield pewter coffee pot (federal style?). It has a few dings but I think it is still cute and functional.

a rose brooch pin

If you want to have a chance to win, which is open to all my blogspot followers (old and new), just leave me a comment in this post. You do not have to have a blog to enter as long as you follow and post a comment. I should have a way to contact you though so I can get your address to ship the items to. Good luck!

I printed the first 3 months of my blog into a book. If you are interested in doing this, you can go to http://sharedbook.com/ to get more info.
I would have printed more but it only allows a maximum of 1500 photos per book. I ordered the first 3 months to see how I like it and I do like it very much so I will be ordering the next three months when I have time. I would like to have a complete library of it. You can pick your own cover. I thought my family would like to have it after I am gone. AJ saw it when she came for a visit and wanted it, lol.

Since this is a happy post, I would also like to share our birthday presents. As you know, John and I share the same birthday so unless we get struck with Alzheimer's disease, I don't think we will ever forget each other's birthday.

John gave me this sterling silver omega type swirly chain and pearl pendant. I love it!


I gave him a physicaan figure and a vintage doctor bag in alligator leather skin. I have been looking for one for quite sometime and I finally found one. He loves it! He said he has never owned one.

The figure is now sitting on his Asian file cabinet.


We bought ourselves a new Apple I pad 2. We will share it but the only time he wants to use it is when we are going somewhere and I am the one driving. He likes to use Google maps. So, I get to use more often, yippee!

We bought a smart leather cover for it from Apple. But I thought it wasn't enough because it only covers the front and the back is not protected. It's convenient though because it opens automatically when you flip the cover. I saw this case with a shoulder strap at Marshalls in Houston and got it. I really like it because it makes it so easy to carry it too. It fits right in it even with the top cover.

John also bought me a white gold emerald ring with diamonds. Diamond is our birthstone. I have rings with smaller emerald stones but I have been wanting to own an emerald solitaire and finally own one now. So needless to say, I LOVE IT!

I bought this emerald bracelet. It's only sterling silver because I cannot afford a white gold this thick but I think I can wear it to match the ring. It's my birthday gift to myself, lol.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you will leave a comment to get a chance to win the giveaway. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms again!