A Luncheon with Friends Before Karaoke

Cheri of http://itssoverycheri.blogspot.com/ is so kind to feature our home again. So if you missed it last time, you have a chance to see it again. Thanks, Cheri! You can also find it here.

http://christineshomeandtraveladventures.blogspot.com/2009/01/welcome-to-our-home.html

It's time for another tablescape with Susan of http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ as the host. Thank you, Susan, for another day of fun! If you want to have more fun, go over at Susan's to see more creative tablescapes.

I am linking with Gollum at http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/ for Foodie Friday also. If you want to see lots of delicious food and beautiful presentations, go check out her blog and her participants'.

Last Friday, I had 3 friends come over for lunch. We wanted to have some karaoke fun but of course, we had to eat first. I set the table in the breakfast nook for the 4 of us. John said he wouldn't be able to join us cause he has surgery in the morning and then have a full office in the afternoon.
I used leaf appetizer plates on my everyday dishes on top of black leather plate chargers. Turkey taper candle holders.
Bird placemats

Then, John showed up while I was cooking and said he cancelled one surgery so he can eat lunch with us. I was stressing out trying to move the setting to the round table since it comfortably sits more people. Between stirring my pot, I moved one plate at a time. Luckily, I got done in time before the guests arrived.

Below you will see a chicken dish with mushroom that one of my friends brought and a crab omelet that I made.

I also made fried green tomatoes for appetizers, with ranch sauce in the green bird container.

And of course, we eat rice with everything.

Here are my dishes for dessert all ready for the Bananas Foster.

The ingredients:

4 bananas, sliced
1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup Banana liqueur

1/4 cup Myers rum

Mix the butter and sugar and cook.

I accidentally dropped a little part of the butter wrap in the pan and one of my friends just had a good time snapping pictures. I was taking it out here. LOL!

Add the bananas and liqueur and cook until brown. Then add the rum and cook some more until the rum is very hot. Tilt on one side and torch to light. Be careful not to burn anything else or anyone.

I did not have a torch, used a lighter instead but unfortunately, it did not work but I think it is because I did not wait until the rum was hot enough. Bummer! LOL!

But, it tasted really good. We topped it with vanilla ice cream. One of my guests even said it is better than the restaurant.

And here we are afterwards just having fun singing and dancing. I am taking the pic so I am not seen here.

I hope you enjoyed what I shared today. I certainly enjoyed having you all. Now, let's all head at Susan's and Gollum's.

Happy Birthday, Jed!!

I am linking this to Susan's Outdoor Wednesday since most of the pictures are taken outdoors. Please visit Susan at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/and enjoy more outdoor pictures. I would like to wish my son a very happy birthday! It is so hard to believe that it's been 35 years since I had him. Time sure does fly, especially when you are having fun and I am having a lot of fun, for I have a wonderful family.

Jed loves to fish even when he was young. One day, he came home with his cousin, with a little alligator hooked at the end of his fishing rod. He said he was not about to put his fingers in the alli's mouth to take the hook out and did not want to leave his rod, so he dragged it home instead. LOL!

When he went on a honeymoon in Cozumel, he caught a 150 lb. swordfish. Too bad I do not have a picture, but I have a video that I uploaded below.

Good thing his wife likes to go fishing too or she'd get mad at him fishing on their honeymoon and everytime he has a day off from work.

Picture #1: Jed as a newborn. Wasn't he a real cutie?

#2: when he caught an alligator

#3: catching a fish in the Caribbean

#4: With his 2 sisters, my daughters, Rochelle and Tina at Tina's wedding

#5: with Becky, his beloved wife

#6: Yep, that's him and his mom (me!) at his wedding

Happy Birthday, Jed!
I love you very much!

Here is the video showing him catching the giant sword fish.

Awards: Thank YOU!!

Maria of http://personalizedsketchesandsentiments.blogspot.com/ gave me this award while I was on a Florida trip and somehow I could not download it then, and it's been a while so I almost forgot about it.

A few days ago, I got another award from her and it reminded me of the first one, this time it is an Over the Top award. And it just so happened that it is also the same award Debby (Just Breathe) of http://skyesofblue.blogspot.com/ gave me so now I can kill 2 birds with one stone. Yeah! Being a multitasker, I love it when I can save some time.


Thanks, Maria and Debby for thinking of me. I truly appreciate receiving these awards.

This post is so long overdue and I apologize. There is always something going on here at home, projects and more projects!

These awards come with certain rules and I have to pass them along to some bloggers but I have such a hard time picking who to pass them to, so please if you are my follower or if I am your follower, just grab them if you please!

The second one includes a survey for me to fill out and I only should only have one (1) word for the answer, so here comes....

1. Where is your cell phone? desk

2. Your hair? long

3. Your mother? forgetful

4. Your father? heaven

5. Your favorite food? shrimp

6. Your dream last night? none

7. Your favorite drink? coke

8. Your dream/goal? cruise

9. What room are you in? office

10. Your hobby? painting

11. Your fear? snakes!

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? home

13. Where were you last night? theater

14. Something that you aren’t? scubadiver

15. Muffins? blueberry

16. Wish list item? maid

17. Where did you grow up? Philippines

18. Last thing you did? typed

19. What are you wearing? pajamas

20. Your TV? Sony

21. Your pets? none

22. Friends? love

23. Your life? happy

24. Your mood? relaxed

25. Missing someone? yes

26. Vehicle? three

27. Something you’re not wearing? shoes

28. Your favorite store? Ross

29. Your favorite color? aqua

30. When was the last time you laughed? today

31. Last time you cried? forgot

32. Your best friend? hubby

33. One place that I go to over and over? garden

34. One person who emails me regularly? spammers

35. Favorite place to eat? Castle

Thank you so much again, Maria and Debby, for these awards. I am deeply humbled that you thought of me when you had to pass them.

You should visit these 2 kind ladies' blogs for they are the most creative.

More Blue Sevres and Stepping Stones Met

For BLue Monday, I would like to show you a pair of Sevre urns on ormolu pedestals. I saw them in an antique shop downtown and I gave them to John for his birthday last April.

They are quite tall, about 2 and a half ft. The store owner gave me a good deal or I would have never been able to afford them.

And John liked them!! Now, don't miss going to Sally's at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ so you can see and enjoy lots of amazing blues!

It is also Met Monday, hosted by Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/. Today, I have a very minor metamorphosis.

I have been looking for anything to grow in between the stepping stones to the arbor and between the brick floors on the gazebo. I bought 800 seeds of creeping thyme on ebay and would you believe that not a single one sprouted?
Anyway, yesterday, John and I went to Lowes and asked the lady at the plant nursery about what we could plant and she suggested ajuga so we bought some and I planted them this morning.

This is the before.

And this is after. I hope they spread fast.

Before

After

I like it, do you? But I don't think this will work in between the bricks on the gazebo floor. I need something with smaller leaves. I transplanted a few Irish moss. I hope it grows. But that will be a post for another day. I also bought more creeping thyme on Ebay but I bought plants instead of seeds. I can't wait for them to arrive so I can plant them.

Thank you all for coming by. Thanks to Susan and Sally for another fun Monday!

It's Broadway Time in NY!

If you do not want to miss seeing a lot of beautiful pinks, go to Beverly's site at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/ I know you will enjoy them.

Sightseeing Saturday is also happening every Saturday. You are all invited. If you care to join me and you want to show your sightseeing and travel pictures, please enter your name and permalink at Mr.Linky's. I will have him uploaded at the bottom of this post and I thank you in advance.

One evening, my granddaughter AJ called and asked for Uncle John. I know she wants something when she asks for him instead of me. LOL! She knows she can get anything from him. Anyway, she said Wicked is showing in New York and she wants to see it again. You see, we have watched the broadway, Wicked in Tampa and she really enjoyed it. She could not stop talking about it. She even chose to be Elphaba for Halloween as you can see here below. So naturally, I was asked to make travel arrangements for the 3 of us to go to NY. And here is AJ wearing a Wicked cap. Can't you just see the excitement on her face?

This and the next 2 pictures, actually more below too, are my Pink Saturday contributions. Both AJ and I are wearing pink dresses.

But of course, I take pictures of everything and I never go anywhere without my camera. If you know NY, you know there is a lot of walking to do but luckily, we found a hotel not too far from the theater and Time Square. We were on our way to see the show here.

There she is! You should have seen how happy she was during the show. We were on the second row so she could really see very well and I was enjoying just to see her excitement. She knew all the characters.

We stayed in NY for a few days and toured the city. Here's a horse carriage in Central Park.

My 2 favorite bunnies posing at Central Park Zoo?

We walked through Central Park and boy was I tired! It was really hot too.

And we also watched another broadway show, Tarzan, which was also excellent. AJ's in pink again.

Shopping is always part of our agenda. Do I see another pink there?

And I had to stop to thank NY firemen for their service.

Time Square

Empire State Building

Flatiron Building

We visited the NBC studios.

I thought this was an interesting bar, at least, I think that is what it is.

National Museum of American Indian.

Whoopie! Another pink outfit!

Rockefeller Center

I hope you enjoyed the tour. I will show you more pictures next time from other trips cause we go to NY a lot. Thanks so much for coming along. Now, I would love to see your travel pictures also. Please sign up for Mr. Linky below and I would appreciate you adding the Sightseeing Sat. button on your blog.

Thanks y'all for coming and thanks to Beverly for hosting another fun pinky event.

Welcome to Our Home

I decided to link this to Mosaic Monday. I am not used to creating mosaics yet and it took me a while to create it. I hope you enjoy it. Mosaic Monday is hosted by Mary at http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/. Go visit her for more incredible mosaics. I know some of you might have already seen photos of our home in the past but today, you will have an opportunity to see almost all of it in a more organized fashion. Cheri of http://itssoverycheri.blogspot.com/ is kind enough to feature it today, Friday, on "It's so Very Cottagey". Please go and visit her. She has a lot of exciting news for us.

Our home is not very cottagey (perhaps the kitchen might pass), it's more of a plantation style. but Cheri assured me that it will be ok. It was very hard for me to cut down on the numbers of pictures so I decided to create mosaics. I know the pictures will be smaller but you can click to enlarge them for a more detailed view.

Here are some outdoor pictures. As you can see, the house is situated on a hill, more apparent from the right side. The 3 car garage is on the left side of the pebble driveway. My projects in the garden never ends, even with the help of 2 part time gardeners. We have added an arbor where I planted some climbing jasmines and an iron gazebo and I am still working on the terraced backyard on the hillside behind the pool.

We have a fountain on the back porch right behind the home office. The back porch with the fountain made it as one of HGTV.com's "7 Porches We Love on Rate My Space". You can read about it here if you want, http://www.hgtv.com/landscaping/porches-we-love-from-rate-my-space/pictures/page-2.html

You will also see a wet deck here, which our grandkids really enjoy when they visit during summer vacation.

Won't you please follow me through the front door?

Welcome to our home, my blogging friends!!

The first 2 photos are of the foyer, the first one is what you see looking from the family room and the second one is the view as soon as you enter the front door. To the left will be the formal dining room. To the right is the formal living room. Straight ahead will lead you to the game room portion of our family room.

In the living room above the fireplace is a painting a friend of mine did of my childhood home in the Philippines. Above the sofa is a large oil painting I did myself. Ooops, I forgot to upload a picture. Sorry! I will show you my paintings on "Tam's 3 or More" someday.

If you enlarge the pictures, you will see a collection of Meissen and Sevres pieces, that we have either won in auctions or bought from antique shops. John and I both love collecting them. I think the living room is mostly done in French decor with a little Asian touch. Please notice the lion chair sitting in the corner, it is my favorite furniture. It was a gift to me from dh.

The last picture is a short hall with a niche connecting the family room to the kitchen. I use the niche to display my religious items. There is also a door from the dining room leading to the kitchen. Now, let's go to the kitchen. We have a round dining table next to the sliding door in front of a fireplace with a TV above it. We also have a breakfast nook near the windows. I thought I loaded a picture but I think I missed it. Sorry! But most of you have seen it since I use it for tablescaping sometimes. Our island is made out of Corian. Our stove is on it which I like because I can watch TV while cooking. The last picture on the first row is my coffee nook.

Off to the left end of the kitchen is the laundry room. It is so conveniently located that I use it for my kitchen extension. I have my microwave and rice cooker there. Our double oven in the kitchen wall serves as a microwave too but it is more complictaed to use so I use the one in the laundry room.

If you go past the breakfast nook, it will lead you to the garage on the left and a full bathroom on the right, which opens to the swimming pool.

In between the kitchen and family room is a little pass through wet bar equipped with an automatic ice maker and wine shelves.

Ok, now let's go back to the family room. We like to play Scrabble so we placed a game table in front of the fireplace. I like to use the game table tor tablescaping as well. We have 3 fireplaces, one in the kitchen, one in the living room and one in the family room.

The last picture is a hall leading to the office and master bed and bath, if you turn left. But if you keep going straight ahead, you will get to the guests wing.

We have a picturesque view of the swimming pool from the kitchen breakfast nook, kitchen dining, family room, home office and master bedroom. We can hear the fountain water gushing from the master bedroom, office and family room. I love how it is all set up. Ok, so we turned left through the tall Corinthian columns. Here you will pass through the home office first before you can get to our bedroom. It can be used as a receiving room but an office was more practical for us, especially with my blogging:-) We have a wall unit with a return desk in the center and 2 more desks on the wall unit. We have alligator covered chairs. We have a matching chinoserie shelves with filing drawers and a lateral file cabinet.

The door will take you to the bedroom and our bathroom. We have a steam shower and a jacuzzi tub and my favorite feature is the skylight above the tub. The bathroom is big enough to accomodate a settee, which John really enjoys cause he can sit when he is putting his shoes on.

Going back out into the hall, you will see our library. It was actually just a hallway but it is wider than usual ones so we placed bookshelves there. We found this bookshelf in an antique store downtown and we immediately fell in love with the ladder that hooks on the bar in front of the shelves. I just lean it on the side when not in use as you can see here.

At the end is a gun cabinet but I use it to display and keep my doll collection.

I almost forgot, to the left before getting to the doll cabinet, is a really tiny powder room which you will see at the bottom row of the mosaic.

To the right of the doll cabinet is the first guest room. I have designated this for my 91 year old mother who stays with us part of the year. She rotates among us 5 brothers and sisters in 4 states. The room is practical for her because it has its own full bathroom.
When you go out of my mother's room, turn right and you will get to another hallway leading to 2 more guest rooms with a full bath in between them. I decorated the one on the right with mermaids. We use it for grandkids when they visit. My granddaughter, AJ, loves mermaids, which inspired me to use that theme.


The bathroom has a beachy water theme also.


The colors of the other guest room are mostly robin blue and brown. Janie of http://blondiesjournals.blogspot.com/ asked where I placed my first estate auction winnings. Janie, the mirrors above the end tables were some of them. Also, the compote above the computer armoire is another. You will see some of them in the formal living and dining room also.

You wouldn't know that the Oriental computer armoire is a desk complete with a pull out chair unless you open it. I leave a laptop here for guests to use when they visit.

Thank you so much for visiting. I hope you enjoyed the home tour. Sorry for the small pictures but just as I said, you can enlarge them by clicking.

Thanks, Cheri for featuring our home today.