Christine's Home and Travel Adventures

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Memorial Day, 2016 Fun

It was a fun weekend, hectic but relaxing at the same time. My daughter and her family had a volleyball party at their house on Saturday and then we had a picnic and swimming party at our house the next day.

With some Polish pottery accessories as part of the centerpiece, I set up our table on the back porch.

In memory of our brave soldiers who gave up their lives defending us and our freedom, I used my Staffordshire historic colonial plate set.

The red, white and blue bike napkin rings are perfect for an outdoor setting. I got them from Sur La Table a few years ago on clearance for under $2 each.

It was Tina's turn to cook but I made caprese salad on skewers. I got my idea from Chloe of http://celebrateanddecorate.com/. Thanks Chloe!

Typical picnic food, good ole grilled hamburgers, hotdogs and Polish sausage. They were yummy! I love eating outside, with the dog cleaning up whatever falls on the floor.

The kids had fun swimming.

Thanks you so much for the visit and thanks to our hostesses of the parties I link to. I truly appreciate you all.

Share it One More Time

http://designthusiasm.com/

Anything Goes" Pink Saturday

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/pink-saturday/

It’s Share The Wealth Sunday

http://funmoneymom.com/

Sandi's No Place Like Home

http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/

Christine's Dishing It and Diggingi It

http://www.rustic-refined.com/

Cindy's Amaze me Monday

http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/

Chloe's Celebrate it Monday

http://celebrateanddecorate.com/

Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden Blog Party!

http://blog.bernideens.com/

Tweak it Tuesday

http://www.cozylittlehouse.com

Julie's Talk of the Town Tuesday

https://lovemysimplehome.blogspot.com/

Tuesday's The Scoop

http://confessionsofaplateaddict.blogspot.com/

Show and Share

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com

Sarah's Classical Homemaking party

http://www.hopeineveryseason.com/

Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Home Matters

http://lifewithlorelai.com/

Thoughts of Home Thursday

http://www.athomewithjemma.com/

Kathy's Home and Garden Thursday

http://adelightsomelife.com

Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Share your Style Thursday

http://www.thevintagenestblog.com

Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com/

Kate's Flaunt it Friday

http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday

http://www.frenchcountrycottage.net/

Foodie Fri and Everything Else

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

Friday, May 27, 2016

A Bit of Provence on My Table

We just arrived from a 14 day Mediterranean cruise which ended with a 3 day land stay in Barcelona. I was part of a group of 58, which consisted of relatives and friends and some newly found friends. We all had a blast.

One of our stops was the port of Marseilles, which is what inspired me to create this tablescape.

Unless we take a tour specifically for shopping, tour guides never give us enough time for shopping. Luckily, they had booths selling stuff just outside the ship, so as soon as we got back on the ship, with a few hours to spare before the ship sails away, my sister and I went out again. I saw this tablecloth and bought it. It had "Provence" and its views stamped all over it.

Here is a picture taken at one of the places we visited. They gave us 20 minutes to walk around, eat and do our shopping. One advice I can give you is that if you see something you like in one of the stores, just buy it and never mind thinking about it, because there's not enough time for that. I saw a pair of sandals that I liked, tried it on and it was very comfy but did not buy it and kept walking. I wanted to go back to get it but before I knew it, it was time to get back to the tour bus so I lost my chance. Shucks! I am still kicking myself to this day.

Anyway, let's start tablescaping now. As you can see, I used the Provence table cloth as the topper.

Did you notice some changes in the dining and living area? I added the Persian rug that we moved from our MS home, under the table and you will see various furniture placed all over. John said nobody would ever think I could fit all the moved furniture in this house, which was already furnished to begin with, lol.

And my décor is turning back to traditional.

Since the table cloth was mostly lavender, I picked a set of vintage Bavarian china with that color that I found on Ebay a few years ago, as I was searching for purple transferware. They really aren't transferware but they came up so it must have been meant to be.

They are vintage and labeled with "Edelstein, Bavaria, made in Germany, Maria Theresa, Sunset" in the back of each plates.

It's hard to tell but my flatware are deep purple in color.

Olive colored stems for all the many olive trees all over Europe. I even planted 2 trees in big pots on our back porch. I love the color of their leaves and how they can be shaped into beautiful topiaries. I will just have to wait for the leaves to get fuller.

I was opening boxes in the garage when I spotted the faux topiaries and thought they would be perfect for my table. They are very frenchy, aren't they?

Notice my hall wall turned into a Salvador Dali gallery? I am out of wall space so under the beds in the guest rooms have become storage for frames, paintings and pictures. And this is after I sold and given away some. Someday, I will blog about how this area turned out.

The bust was already on the table, before I even started so I just worked around it.

I think she is very frenchy too.

I even managed to find a pair of olive salt and pepper shaker. I already had it and found it on the garage shelf.

I also found this tea set in one of the garage bins. It was labeled "Frenchy tea set" so what could be more perfect than that? Little by little , I am discovering and uncovering my table items. Now, if I could only have enough room in the house to store them!

Thank you so much for stopping by. I really appreciate your visits and comments. I have missed you all. Thanks to all the hostesses too.

I hope you all have a safe and Happy Memorial Day. I am still working on my patriotic table on the back porch.

Share it One More Time

http://designthusiasm.com/

Anything Goes" Pink Saturday

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/pink-saturday/

It’s Share The Wealth Sunday

http://funmoneymom.com/

Sandi's No Place Like Home

http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/

Christine's Dishing It and Diggingi It

http://www.rustic-refined.com/

Cindy's Amaze me Monday

http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/
Jeanne's Blue Monday

http://backyardneighbor.typepad.com

Chloe's Celebrate it Monday

http://celebrateanddecorate.com/
Kathryn's Make it Pretty Monday
www.thededicatedhouse.com

Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden Blog Party!

http://blog.bernideens.com/

Ruth's Tuesday Cuppa Tea

http://www.antiquesandteacups.info

Julie's Talk of the Town Tuesday

https://lovemysimplehome.blogspot.com/

Tweak it Tuesday
http://cozylittlehouse.com

Tuesday's The Scoop
http://confessionsofaplateaddict.blogspot.com/

Marty's Inspire Me Tuesday

http://www.astrollthrulife.net/

Maria Elena's Tuesdays at Our Home

http://mariaelenasdecor.blogspot.com/
Let's Talk Vintage
http://bellarosaantiques.blogspot.com

Show and Share

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com

Sarah's Classical Homemaking party

http://www.hopeineveryseason.com/

Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Home Matters

http://lifewithlorelai.com/

Thoughts of Home Thursday

http://www.athomewithjemma.com/

Kathy's Home and Garden Thursday

http://adelightsomelife.com

Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Share your Style Thursday

http://www.thevintagenestblog.com

Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com/

Kate's Flaunt it Friday

http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/

Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday

http://www.frenchcountrycottage.net/

Foodie Fri and Everything Else

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Crab Dinner on the Back Porch

We were driving on the way to Lake Worth when I saw a sign "Blue Crabs for Sale". I love blue crabs so when we got back home, John and I went to local seafood market to see if they were available. They only had 11 left and I bought them all.

Eating crabs is messy so I thought it best to set up the table out on the back porch, especially with 3 little kids with us.

Sorry about those 2 cabinets in the background. This is where I painted them but they are now in the second guest room/office combo.

I also made shrimp pasta, in case the kids did not eat crabs.

I have lots of basil in the garden so I decided to make Caprese salad as well.

Kids love garlic bread! Adults do too!

We always eat with rice!

Dragonfly napkin rings.

It was nice to eat out for a change. Plus I did not have to worry about any crumbs falling on the floor. Tina brought her dog and she just cleaned it up, lol.

Thank you all for stopping by. When this posts, I will be sailing on the Mediterranean sea or land touring somewhere in Europe, so I will get back to you later.

Update:

We just got back from a 17 day cruise and land trip visiting different countries of Europe (Dubrovnik, Croatia, Montenegro, Malta, Athens and Crete, Greek, Palermo, and Rome, Italy, Vatican City, Marseilles, France and Barcelona, Spain), so I am just linking this now. We had a great time !

Thanks for the visit and thanks to the hostesses!