Cozumel, Mex. and Favorite Dolls in Pink

The week always go so fast and it is weekend again. For those of you who work, this is probably one of your favorite days.
We get to go sightseeing today. But first let me show you some of my favorites in pink.

Pink Saturday is hosted by Beverly at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

What I am showing you are 2 of my favorite dolls from my collection so I am also linking with Laurie for A Few of My Favorite Things at http://bargainhuntingwithlaurie.blogspot.com/

Make sure you check out these 2 lovely ladies' blogs and you'll be in for a good treat.

The doll on the left wearing a pink lace dress is made by Nippon. Doesn't she have a pretty face and a pretty dress? The one on the right is a Hawaiian doll John bought for me when he went to Hawaii a long time ago. Her face is also very lovely and I like her pink flowery muumuu.

Now, let's go to Cozumel to do some sightseeing. This was taken when we had our cruise reunion at the end of Nov. to the beginning of Dec. 2010. The last port that we visited was Cozumel. We took an excursion to Chankanaab Resort. As you can see in the picture below, there were a lot of us but we weren't complete here. Some of the guys chose to go fishing. We were going to snorkel and swim but it was raining and it was very windy so we weren't able to do that. The guys weren't able to go fishing either for the same reason.

The lagoon had a very nice water. The color was spectacular.

The cousins had a great time bonding with each other.

We watched a seal show.


Our tour guide took us to see the Mayan house.

The tour guide was so nice to push my mom around in a beach sand wheel chair. Look at the size of those wheels!



My brother and 2 of his grandchildren.

Touching this goddess is supposed to bring good luck.
How about a Mayan tablescape? LOL!
Gorgeous yellow flowers. Do you know what they are?

A deep well. My mom's mom used to have one just like this in the Philippines.

You can ride dolphins on the left side of this water.

The rest of the gang walked around on the boardwalk. I did not go because of the winds and I stayed with my 2 small grandsons. John said it was awesome cause there were sharks and manatees on the other side.

After Chankanaab, the tour guide took us shopping downtown. We saw some Mexican kids practicing their dance.

John and I walked around and saw this church and prayed for a while.

That's all for now, until next week again for another tour. Thanks a lot for stopping by. And thanks to Beverly and Laurie for hosting also.

Tablescape for Dinner Party Before New Year

Just as I mentioned a few days ago, I am posting my tablescape of the party I had on Dec. 30th for Tablescape Thursday. I have shared a part of it for Tabletop and Tea Tuesday memes. Check out the other awesome tablescapes at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

I used a gold peacock centerpiece and filled it with feather and mercury balls.

The picture on the right below is my plate charger but I have only found 4 in this pattern, which is "Paradise" by American Atelier, so I improvised to put under the other 4 dinner plates.

I have the lace tin chargers but they were very flat and thin so I used another wooden charger plate to raise the white thin chargers to match the height of the porcelain chargers. I think they came out looking ok.

Since this tablescape is looking a little exotic with peacocks and birds on it, I added a little handmade orchids, sculpted in clay. I bought it in one of the arts and craft show in Delray Beach, FL. a long time ago. I also added a votive candle holder with peacock that my friend from Florida gave me when she came for a visit.

Pewter Peacock napkin rings and Christmas ball name plates.

See the birds on the April Cornell table cloth? The flatware are "Siam" Thailand made brass with mahogany handles. Again, I think they add to the exoticness.

Green goblets with gold etchings and clear Mikasa tulip wine glasses.

You can get a glimpse of the table set for the youngsters in the kitchen from here.

Nippon salt cellar and glass spoon

More pewter peacock napkin rings

Some of the guests

Dessert table in the kitchen breakfast nook

The table for the teenagers

I hope you enjoyed browsing. Thanks a lot for coming by and thanks to Susan for hosting this very fun meme.

Dinner Party Before the New Year

I hope you are all starting the new year safely and wonderfully! It seems like I have not participated in these memes for a while but you know how hectic it is during the holiday season. But I am determined to party today.

Joining the following parties:

Marty for Tabletop Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

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

Martha and Terri for Teacup Tuesday at http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

Wanda Lee for Tuesday Tea for 2 at http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/

WandaLee and Pam for Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday at http://silkenpurse.blogspot.com/

Sandi for Teatime Tuesday at http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/

Michael Lee for Foodie Friday at http://www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

We had a dinner party on the 30th of Dec. I did a formal sit down setting in the formal dining room and served the salad ahead of time there but there was no way the food would fit on the table so I served buffet style and asked the guests to get their food after the salad.

I set the buffet on the kitchen counter. I always start it with white Jazmine rice.
Here is the buffet setting. Looks like I was still preparing the table when my friend shot this. I cooked everything except for the turkey. I ordered it from a local antique dealer and he is Cajun and is an excellent cook.

Chicken Basil and Sweet and Sour Red Fish

The chicken has rosemary, parsley and basil, all from our garden. The basil have been frozen but the rosemary and parsley were just picked.

Turkey and sweet potato casserole



Roasted herbed potatoes using rosemary that I also picked from our garden and crab omelette

Black eyed peas with baby greens salad in the formal dining room. I will share the whole tablescape with you on Thursday.

We had 3 teen-age guests and I set the table in the kitchen for them. I tried to promote the oldest to eat in the dining room but she was too shy and she went back to the kitchen to eat with the youngsters, lol.

Debjani and me by the dessert table. I served flan, macaroons, turtle and mint chocolates.
Well, I really did not make the mint and turtle chocolates either. They were gifts from the staff and patients I think, but I did bake the macaroons and flan.

You can see the dining room from here.

And the youngsters shared the tea table.

I used my Johnson Brothers' Friendly Village set for tea but nobody really wanted coffee so I did not even get to use my Lenox Winter Greetings set.


It must have been a full moon cause after all the other guests left, my 2 close friends lingered and we all got silly, lol. John went on the massager and fell asleep there.

I was exhausted and what better way to relax than putting my feet up on the recliner and do karaoke.
And we did not even wake John up!

It was a fun evening for sure. Today I am getting ready for another dinner party for tomorrow for 16 people.

Thanks to y'all for coming and thanks to our gracious hostesses. See you all again very soon!