HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

My husband and I celebrated our thirteenth anniversary on Monday.  I can't believe it's been that long.  We met on line BEFORE there were formal pay-for-introduction companies.  I had just bought my first computer and was on line for the first time; he was thinking of canceling his on-line service altogether.  We had that one day that we were both on line...otherwise we would have missed each other completely.

Long story short, we chatted, phoned, and he came here from England for a visit.  We were married  nine months later and here we are thirteen years hence!!  The time has flown and neither of us can believe it's been thirteen years.  He is my best friend and we complete each other.

Soooooooooo, what does this have to do with tablescaping, you ask?  Well, here is our anniversary dinner table for two!  As I've said before, he's not really "into" the dish thing...but is very tolerant of my obsession.  He did say this was a pretty table.

So it is just the two of us for dinner...

It's early enough in the evening so that it is still light outside...

These are my beautiful new dishes.  There were in Victoria magazine and I tracked them down! This is only the second time that I have used them.  And do I have PLANS!!!

This is the bird's eye view...with my signature crooked silver placement.  I have to work on that :-)

I re-used my birthday flowers...

What did we have for dinner?  Turkey meatloaf, mashed potates, salad for me only, peas (for him), brussel sprouts (for me).  It was delicious.  Ice cream later for dessert!

The floral dishes are "Lily Red" ordered from Iron Accents in GA

The white bread/cake plates are Wedgwood Queensware (cream on cream) on ebay

The silverplate is Oneida Vanessa/Francesca-ebay

Oblong placemats-Big Lots

Round quilted placemat-T.J.Maxx

Damask napkins-ebay

Iced tea glasses-ebay

Waterford champagne flutes-our toasting goblets and a wedding gift from one of my best friends, Bill C. in Chicago

Thank you for celebrating with us!!!!

A Birthday Party!!

My birthday, as a matter of fact...and that number is going up faster and faster!!!  We went to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants because the birthday rule is-the birthday person gets to choose the restaurant.  Then after dinner, it was cake at our house.

My sister gave me the coconut cake (Ina Garten's recipe).  She doesn't bake, but knew someone who would make it.  It was delicious!!!

I love pink and red flowers together and I put them in a teapot that I bought for $5.00 at T.J. Maxx...it didn't have a lid, but I knew I would use it as a vase.  The plate underneath was a Marshall's find...it's Royal Albert English Garden many years ago in Chicago.

Since we were only having cake and ice cream, the place setting was simple.  No one wanted any hot beverages.  (I can't seem to get the silverware straight...it always LOOKS straight before the picture is taken )  :-) 
We had a great time...lots of talking and laughing, as usual.

Some more info...

• The tablecloth is from Linens&Things
• Vintage pink damask napkins from ebay
• The floral dishes were featured in a VICTORIA magazine photo and I fell in love with them!!
• Crystal glasses are a birthday gift from my officemate-stylist...we have lots of tablescape-foodie talk...Thank you Joanne!!
• The silverplate is Oneida Vanessa/Francesca

Welcome to my teacup collection

Well...I AM trying to tie this all together with the name of this blog so today I am going to show you my teacup collection (or at least part of it). 

My mother had a teacup collection and I started one right along with her.  Sometimes, she and  I would choose cups and have tea in the lovely china cups.  They were very special and resided in the china cabinet, but we did take them down and use them sometimes.  I have inherited her collection and keep it right along with mine.  Unfortunately, I don't have enough room to display them all at once so this cabinet has only a part of the collection.  This is a small china cabinet that holds some of my favorites.

The pink and white cup on the right is Paragon's Victoriana Rose.  I LOVE this pattern and have collected cups/saucers, creamer and sugar bowl, dessert plates and a few other pieces.  It is one of my favorite patterns and is so pretty for a tea table.

This lovely cup is Royal Albert "Lady Carlisle" (don't know if the spelling is correct).  It was a gift from a friend over 35 years ago!!  I guess I have been at this for a long time!!!

And here is the famous Old Country Roses by Royal Albert.  I have many pieces in this pattern and love it.  My darling Brit's family gave us (ahem, more for me since he has no interest in china!!) a tea set for a wedding gift.  I love that it was purchased in England!!  And, of course, there is a floral kitty keeping an eye on it.  Wish the furry ones would be so careful with the china!!!!

Hope you enjoyed my tea collection and you will see it in future blogs for sure!  Hope to see some of your favorites too!

Thanks for stopping by...please let me know you visited!

TRYING MY FIRST TABLESCAPE POST!!

Well..I am trying my first tablescape post and hoping that I can link to Susan's "Between Naps on the Porch" Tablescape Thursday.  I have been watching for months now...I love to see all of the lovely tables and the stories that go with each one!

Here's hoping this works.  My first tablescape is actually from a casual dinner that my husband and I hosted for my sister and a friend.  So here goes...wish me luck!!!

I found the black and white toile plates at T.J. Maxx for a mere $2.99 each.  But there were only four.  So I use them for small dinners.  I think the dinner plates and soup bowls are what everyone calls "The Gollum Dishes", though I bought mine at Linens and Things and didn't get the great Big Lots price.

The iced beverage glasses are from ebay and the white wines are from Crate and Barrel at least a MILLION years ago (actually some time in the '80s).  I made the place cards on the computer and they are a black toile pattern-like the plates.  I didn't use a tablecloth since this was less formal, but I did use the green-taupe placemats I got on sale at Linens and Things several years ago.

This is the long-shot view.  Our dining room is neither as blue as this picture nor as large as it looks here.  There isn't a good shot of the silveplate that I got on ebay.  It is called "Vanessa (or Francesca)".  The mums on the table were from the grocery store and are in a Polish crystal vase.  Dinner was comfort food-squash soup, salad,  roasted chicken, roasted potatoes, green beans with parmesan cheese, and we had almond sour cream cake...gee, I 'm making myself hungry!!!

I hope this works and that you enjoyed my first attempt!  Please leave your comments and come back to visit...Thank you!!

Now for the "tabbies" part...

We have three cats and I have to admit, only one is a true tabby.   Though one MAY qualify because of his patterned fur.  Then there is the one that is all black (except for a white patch on his belly).  They were all strays and sort of showed up on our porch (though not all at the same time).

Sidney is the black one and is 7 years old.  He was a feral kitten we found on our porch and was about 8 weeks old when we brought him in.  His is incredibly attached to Peter (my DH).  When he was sequestered from our other cats (now, sadly, gone) until we could get him to the vet, Peter would be with him several times a day.  Now Sidney follows him everywhere and stays with him ALL of the time!!

The other two are brothers.  We found three kittens out on our porch one afternoon.  They were about 9 ounces each...so tiny!!!!  We brought them in and were only going to keep one...I wanted to keep the true tabby and named him Cyril (after Martha Grimes' cat Cyril in her Richard Jury novels).

The other two were given "temporary" names because we were planning to find homes for them.  So one we named Don King...because the fur on his head looked like the real Don King's famous hair-do.  The other we named Frank...after Frank Sinatra since he had blue eyes.  A co-worker (who takes care of her cats like I think they should be taken care of) took Frank.  She had recently lost one of her kitties and was ready to adopt one.  She kept his name!!!  We thought we had a good home for Don King, but that fell through.  Soooooooooooo, as you can see...he stayed with us and I am happy he did.  He still is Don to us.  It turns out that he seems to be part (or mostly) Maine Coon.  He's a huge guy with a tiny voice and is as sweet as can be.  They are four years old now.  It doesn't seem we have had them that long!!!

You can be sure there will be more to come!!!!  Thanks for stopping by!