Progress in The Garden With Finials As The Finale

I thought of joining Chari of http://happytodesign.blogspot.com/ today for Sunday Favorites. Our backyard is kinda pitiful looking right now except for the sparkling blue water in the pool, so I thought of reposting pictures from last summer, after the iron fence was installed. I am a little late but better late than never. I had a dinner party for 14 lst night and I am still cleaning up.

Thank you, Chari for making this possible. It gives me a good feeling to think that I can possibly make the yard looking like this again after winter.

I am again linking with 2 gracious ladies: Sally for Blue Monday and Susan for Metamorphosis Monday. Please visit these fine ladies at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ and http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ respectively and then visit their participants also. I am definitely sure that you will enjoy them all.

Whew! A very hectic week just went by. My stepdaughter and her 3 little precious children were here for a visit and just left Friday. They sure kept us hopping the week they were here. There was never a dull moment.

Now, I am back to normal so I am back on full swing on my blog (although I never really neglected my blogging for I stayed up late at night to post). But my garden was put on hold and below are pictures of how it looked when I stopped working on it.

I have to apologize because my pictures are a little out of order and I really do not want to redo the whole post. I just added the first 3 pictures so please bear with me. Anyway, here is the finished fence viewed from outside the side yard. The "before" is shown below. Sorry, lol!

John and I went to a garden shop in Baton Rouge and saw this eucalyptus bench. It was marked down from $219 to $89.00 and it is very heavy and solid so I told him we should buy it. And being an obedient hubby, he agreed, lol! So, here it is! Do you like it there?

Here we are all posing in the gazebo.

Noah and Zoe, after picking some basil for our pasta dinner. They really enjoyed doing that, can you tell? Do you see our vegetable garden behind them? Our basil went crazy. It is growing everywhere, even outside the raised garden.

Did you notice Zoe's cute blue top? I think that will qualify for a Blue Mon. contribution, right?

Cute smiles, huh!

You probably still remember when I posted the gazebo being installed.

It is looking better now with plants and sod around it.

We placed some stepping stones going down so we can easily access the secret garden down below.

Here is another entry to the secret garden from the other side of the yard.

Some flowers are still blooming.

We laid bricks under the table and chairs. We need to buy more. It's been raining almost everyday, thus, the puddle there.

Here is the area where you can see our backyard neighbor's house. It is near the vegetable garden. This is how it looked before the fence was put up.

I planted some flowering plants in the area close to the deck.

See the posts?

And now the fence is up. We put a gate there in case we want to go out from the side yard. It would be a good exercise going up and down the hill.

Here is on the side yard after the fence was installed.

Good thing we put a fence up cause when the wind blows hard, it blows the pool toys away. Now, at least they stay in our yard.

This is the side of the driveway going to the backyard. Just ignore the plants. Some of them have already been planted but some are still waiting.

Here is that same area with the fence.
I just love the finials, rings and the gates.

Thank you Sally and Susan, for hosting these 2 fun memes. Thank you all for stopping by!

Tea for Three

My contribution for this Tablescape Thrusday is a Tea for Three. Two friends of mine came so we could just hang out and sing Karaoke. And when we do that, we like to drink tea and munch on something. I like to use a teapot with a warmer cause we continuously drink hot tea during the session. Somehow, we think it opens up our vocal chords, lol. For a lot of creative tablescapes, please visit our gracious host, Susan of http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
We do this in our family room, which is the most informal place in the house. With leather furniture, it is meant to be comfortable and worry free. It is also the most funky one combining safari and tribal decor.
This is very informal so I just used paper napkins. Do you like the painting on the wall? I painted that by myself.

I got this pewter tea set and the tray from Ebay a long time ago, when I still lived in Florida. It was made in Holland and I like it very much. In fact, I like it so much that I searched for more and I found a set that I gave to my daughter and another I gave to my friend, Nit. They are very similar except I could not find the same kind of tray. Too bad cause I really like the pierced scroll design. Mine also included a coffee pot not shown here.

I hope you enjoyed my small participation on TT. Thanks for coming and thanks Susan, for hosting it.

Home Sick So I Redecorated

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas celebrations. I had a very nice quiet time with John. I was not feeling too well so I really did not want to go anywhere. But I was getting bored at home so I started working on our guest room for grandkids.

Both old and new are blue so I am linking with Sally of http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/. I am also linking the changes with Susan of http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/. For more, visit these gracious hosts and their participants.

This is how the bedroom looked. Our granddaughter, AJ loves mermaids so I created it with that theme.

But I have had the same look for almost 3 years now and I wanted a change.So, I changed it into this. The idea started with the 2 toile throw pillows I found at TJ Maxx about a month or 2 ago. They sat inside the closet for a while.
While Christmas shopping on line, I saw these matelasse coverlets at JC Penneys and ordered them. Luckily, they were the right color. While Christmas shopping at Belk's, I saw the blankets and beddings and thought they would blend well with what I had in mind. Then I saw the drapes on the clearance table. They were marked down to $19.99 a pair from $69.00 and when I went to pay for them, they were marked down even further to $9.99. Oh boy! Was I happy! They are thick and heavy. All these stayed in the closet cause I still needed bed skirts.

I have been to several stores and just could not find the right colors. I wanted striped blue and yellow skirts but just could not find them. We went to California (where I think I caught my bug from, ugh!!) last week and I was in search of these perfect bed skirts with no luck. I settled for a plain cream colored one since I could not find a plain blue or a yellow one in the right shade either and of course, no stripes. The cream dust ruffles joined my pile in the closet.

I moved that painting from our master bedroom. I think the color looks good here.

Then, while at Walmart 2 days ago to accompany John get his van oil changed, I found a striped blue and yellow material for $8.97 per yard. I pulled out the bolt to pay and then I saw the clearance table and found a small printed flowery blue and yellow material for $2.00 per yard. I debated b/w the 2 but the latter won due to the price.

Yesterday, I started sewing and adding a shirred layer of this flowery fabric into the plain cream bed skirts. Then I started putting the beddings together and this is how the room came out. I was hoping I would have enough material to make window valances but it was just enough for the bed skirts. I bought everything available which is all Walmart had that is why it was on clearance.

I ordered some toile printed valances on line and I hope they will blend with what I have going right now.

I pulled out some iron decorating pieces that I have had but just did not have the right wall to put them before and hang them above the bed. And to think that I almost gave these away on the 200th post or PIF give aways but just forgot to put them in the package. There is a reason for everything, isn't it? I think they are perfect there cause I needed something narrow.

Well sick or not, the long weekend turned out to be a productive one and I am happy. How do you like the changes?

Thanks Sally and Susan for hosting these 2 memes.

It's Been a Very Busy Month!

December has been very busy and hectic for us and I thought I would post a summary of what we have been up to. This is my second post for Monday. I also did a combined Met and Blue Monday post so if you have time, please take a look at my bedroom makeover.

I created some mosaics so I think I will link with Mary of http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/ To see more creative mosaics, head on over there.

The excitement started when we joined the maiden voyage of the biggest ship in the world, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas. The ship was quite an awesome experience all throughout but the highlight of my cruise was being able to watch the Nelsons perform. I have always been a # 1 fan of their dad, Ricky Nelson, and I have always admired their whole family. They had 3 shows in the ship and we watched all 3 of them, lol. Talk about being a fanatic, I felt like a teenager once again. After the show, Matthew handed his guitar pick to AJ and they autographed it the next day. I have it in my safe. AJ asked why she could not have it. I told her it's because it is more valuable to me than to her and that I am just keeping it for her, LOL.
We came home and stayed for about 5 days after the cruise and then flew to California to attend my nephew's daughter's College graduation. Kristin is the oldest great granddaughter of my mother and is the first to graduate from College, with a Bachelors degree in Health Administration. She wants to take masters in Nursing next.

But what I

was most excited about was meeting a good blogging friend, Cindy of http://sisterhoodofthecreativehearts.blogspot.com/ and her hubby, Hugh. Cindy does not blog often because she is extremely busy but she took the time to drive 2 and a half hours to come and see me. Isn't that just wonderful? I really do appreciate that, Cindy! We were so excited that we couldn't stop hugging each other. John and Hugh probably thought we were crazy, lol. You see, Cindy has been a friend since RMS and she is just the sweetest person. Don't I look like a midget amidst all of them? LOL!

And look at the scarf that she gave me. Isn't that gorgeous? Just the right colors, my favorite colors. Thank you Cindy and Hugh, for coming to see us and for the beautiful scarf. The scarf is so soft and feels so silky nice. Here's Kristin! I am so proud of her. She was the first one to get up on stage to speak too and welcome the graduates.

It was so nice to see relatives and friends that I haven't seen for so long. My nephew and his wife threw a party for her the next day and there must have been 150 guests there. Talk about parents who are very proud.

We just got back home last Monday and unfortunately, got so sick as soon as we got home. I was scheduled to have a dinner party on the 23rd but had to postpone it cause I just could not get myself moving to prepare for it.

So, for Christmas eve, my friend brought us some food. John and I had a quiet dinner for 2.

After dinner, we went to attend mass at 9 PM at St. Mary's Basilica. Isn't our church pretty? They are doing some work on the ceiling so ignore the scaffolding.

I immediately got into my pj's when we got home. I forgot I wanted to take pictures while opening presents but I was so lazy to change again. So, I hope you don't mind me in my pj's. John likes his presents. I gave him a Kindle and a case for it, a set of 4 framed ducks, which I hope he will hang in his office, a lit library which will be the first building for his planned Christmas Village for next year, a screw driver X'mas tree ornament and a wooden egg.

And look what I got from him! A black and white diamond bracelet set in 14 k white gold. Of course I like it! Isn't it pretty?

Now, I can start to relax and rest until New Year's eve. I hope you all had a nice Christmas celebration and continue to enjoy the hoilday season. Thanks, Mary for hosting this event.

A Quiet X'mas Eve Dinner

I have been sick so I did not have the energy to cook but look what we ended up having for dinner. Foodie Friday is brought to you by Michael. If you really want to see delicious foods and beautiful presentations, head on over to her blog at http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/have
My friend told me not to cook and she would bring us over some dinner so I set the table, very simple, just for 2.
I took out my Johnson Brothers Friendly Village plates and just used my everyday flatware.

I went outside to cut up some hollies and placed them in a vase.

I couldn't believe how much Nit brought us, 4 different kinds of Thai dishes and rice, freshly cooked from her kitchen. Isn't she just the sweetest? Maybe I should get sick more often, lol.

As you can see from the background, I am getting ready for a dinner buffet party for Jan. 2nd, rescheduled from 12-23 because of the bug I caught from California.

I even lit a fire in the fireplace. DH and I had a very nice quiet evening. We went to church after dinner and then opened presents when we got back home and then watched "Lost" until we fell asleep on our recliners.

I hope you are still enjoying your Christmas get togethers with family ad friends. Have a Blessed one!

I am feeling so much better, must have been the Thai food which I do not know how to prepare.

Thanks Gollum, for hosting FF!