Old South Winery

It was a nice day and my friend, Debjani and I had nothing better to do. She has an ongoing list of "Things for us to See or Do" on her i phone and the Old South Winery is in it. The family run small business is right in town and we see the sign all the time and everytime we pass by it for the last 4 years, we always say, we should go there sometime, but never did until this time.

It was a nice experience, although it is nothing compared to the winery I have seen in California.

This is the wine tasting room.

The lady who is the daughter of the owner (Sorry, I forgot her name) was so nice. She gave us a tour and then gave us a taste of their wines. They are all made out of muscadine grapes.

This is where they crush the grapes. The tour guide said they take it outside every night to do it.

Don't know much of anything else that the other machinery does so I will just walk you through.

Here is our personal tour guide getting ready for the wine tasting.

My favorite was Southern Belle, a white wine, which is what I bought.

I think it was Debjani's favorite too.

I am glad we got that one crossed off our list. It's like another mission accomplished. I will definitely go back there when I have guests to take. It has a very southern personalized hospitable atmosphere.

Thanks for stopping by for another Sightseeing Saturday tour.

Happy Birthday, My Forever Baby!

It's my youngest daughter Tina's birthday today! I can still remember when she was born. She was the most perfect baby. I say that because the year and 2 months before she was born, God took my baby Angelino to be one of His angels, 8 days after he was born. I had Tina right away but because of what happened to Baby Angelino, I was so nervous the whole 9 months I was carrying her. But she was perfect and still is! It's hard to believe but that was already 30 years ago. I had to call Tina to verify it cause I just could not believe it.

I still remember this chair that she is sitting on, When she was about 2, she got ahold of a surgeon's scalpel and slashed the seat cushion right in the center. LOL! I just thought to myself, maybe she will be a surgeon when she grows up.

She was in Gymnastics from the time she was 7 until she was 16. She was so tiny that her coach called her Tiny Tina. This Tiny Tina won a lot of blue ribbons, including a State Championship. She also competed on a national level. Before she turned 16, we took her to Las Vegas for another gymnastics competition and as an incentive, we told her we would buy her the car of her

choice if she won First all around. Well, she did, but instead of being happy about winning, she was so excited about getting a car. She picked a brand new Honda Civic and we had to oblige. Unfortunately, she quit gymnastics right after she qualified for the nationals again because she said she just did not see herself giving up her whole summer, day and night, practicing in the gym.
She took ballet lessons too and she is a very good dancer.

She was always very conscientious in her studies. She would be at the gym until 9 PM and be very tired and would fall asleep but before falling asleep, she made sure I would wake her up after half an hour to do her homework.

This was during her bridal shower. My baby was growing and was getting married soon.

After her College graduation ceremony with her future husband and in laws then.

And here she is marrying her childhood sweetheart. Scott. They went to school together since elementary.


Do you like her bouquet? I created it. In fact, I created all the bouquets and boutonnieres of the whole wedding party, sewed her veil and the gowns for all 3 flower girls and made their head pieces and baskets and created 250 wedding party favors and all the table centerpieces. I was working full time then until 12 midnight and I would work on these after work for a year. I would do anything for that girl!


I took the couple with me to Europe when she was 5 months pregnant with her first son. This was in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.


Aj also came along. This was in Athens.

Last December, we had a family reunion on a cruise and me and my 2 daughters were just bonding and relaxing on the deck.

The whole family! Tina and her family are on the left.


Me and my favorite girls.

Now she has 2 boys of her own. She calls me often because she misses her sons when she is at work and thinks about quitting all the time. But she has a hard time quitting because her boss has been so nice. This job was just temporary that is why she took it in the first place. After the project was over, the company let everybody go in that department and she was rejoicing. The next day, they called her back and only her out of the many that were hired for the project and moved her to the position of the assistant to the VP of HR. It took her a while to decide if she would take it, but she did anyway.

Tina and Scott are doing a real good job in raising the boys.
They are just the cutest and happiest babies I have ever seen, with the best disposition.

But of course you know I am biased.

And with the growth of the family, their home kept growing too. Tina bought her first house below right after her College graduation before getting married. To help pay for her monthly mortgage, she took in a house mate who rented the other bedroom. They still own it now and is being rented out. They bought the 2nd one after they had to move when her hubby got an electrical engineering job in another city. They sold that and bought another one after Nathan was born.

I love you very much Tina, and I am very proud of you.

Happy Birthday, my forever baby girl!

As I sat here thinking of what to post for a few of my favorite things, I suddenly realized that I just posted it. Although Tina is not a thing, she is one of my 3 very favorite children.

And so I am linking this for Laurie's A Few of my Favorite Things at http://bargainhuntingwithlaurie.blogspot.com/

Thanks for hosting, Laurie and thank you all for stopping by to celebrate my daughter's 30th birthday.

Easter Table, 2011, Dots Everywhere

I love Easter because of the Resurrection of Jesus. But another reason is that it occurs during my favorite season, spring, when the flowers are blooming and pastel colors, which are very refreshing. 'Nuf said, I would like to share our Easter tablescape. Please come join me in the formal dining room.

You probably recognize the centerpiece. Yep, how easy is that? All I had to do was carry the whole tray from the kitchen breakfast nook.

I am linking with the following parties:
Susan's Tablescape Thurs. at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
Sherry's Open House Party Thursdays at http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com/
Sherry's Home Sweet Home Friday http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/
Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Beverly's Pink Saturday at Pink Sat at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/
The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sunday at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

I used different colored dotted plates in spring colors and mixed them per setting. I thought it made them more interesting that way instead of layering just one color. I bought them on line from Horchow when they had them on sale.

Plate chargers are "Lace" that I bought from JC Penney's on line about 3 years ago.

I shop a lot on line. The mailmen really knows me so well. A new one asked me if we are still moving. When I told him we aren't moving, he asked why I have so many packages delivered all the time. The girl who used to watch our house when we are away said it was like Christmas everyday with the deliveries, lol.
I used 2 types of napkins, one plain green and one multicolored and dotted. I also used 2 types of napkin rings, white ceramic bunnies and dotted rings.

I picked among several tablecloths and the white crocheted one won. I bought it from my favorite linen store in Grand Cayman.

I love those stemware. They are Italian. I wish I could find more of them. I only have 6 of the smaller pink wine glasses and 4 of the bigger ones. So, I mixed another set of 4 multi colored crystal goblets and added 2 Mikasa wine glasses at the end.

Tirschenreuth white bunny figurine with dotted S & P shakers.

A bunny casserole dish.

I picked this particular flatware for their oval egg shaped piercing.

Here is a view with a glimpse of the formal living room.

I hope you enjoyed our Easter table cause I certainly enjoyed sharing it with you. Thanks for coming by. And thank you to our our gracious hostesses!

Have a Happy Easter everyone!!!!