Porch Party

Welcome to the Porch Party, hosted by Rhondi at Rose Colored Glasses! Please stop by her blog to see her beautiful porch and a list of other participants.

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Mr. Maison and I have put together a little porch party tonight with some sushi, wine and shrimp. It's so nice to just sit back once in a while and enjoy some relaxing outdoor time.

Young Maison and his girlfriend enjoying a fire in the firepit. He got a wee bit sunburned today. Ouch!

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Breakfast on the porch last weekend...

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Strawberry lemonade on the porch last weekend...

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Lucy says thank you for joining our party. Hope you had a good time! Come back and visit us again!

Sunday Favorites 5/31

Welcome to Sunday Favorites! This is a chance to see some posts that you may have missed the first time around. Please visit our hostess, Chari at Happy to Design, for more Sunday Favorites!

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Welcome to Metamorphosis Monday. Please visit our lovely hostess, Susan at Between Naps on the Porch, for more amazing transformations.

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A while back I found an old, sturdy Ethan Allen hutch on Craigslist. I knew I wanted to paint it, but wasn't sure what color. In it's original state, it's so old-fashioned, but I knew it could be turned into something wonderful. Please excuse our slightly -- okay, extremely -- messy garage. It's a metamorphosis in the making too!

The old hutch was transformed into this:

And here it is loaded up with some of my pretties:

We had a piece of honed Calcutta marble cut to fit the top of the base.

Thanks to our lovely hostess Susan, I am now obsessed with the Herend Rothschild pattern. She posted about this a while back, and I knew I had to have some pieces in this. I had never heard of it before. For now I've got these four dinner plates, and several small pieces that I bought on eBay.

From the Herend, USA Website:

Rothschild Bird

Many connoisseurs consider this pattern, first created in 1860 for the Rothschild family of Europe, to be the epitome of hand painting on porcelain. Twelve different motifs portray a 19th century tale about Baroness Rothschild, who lost her pearl necklace in the garden of her Vienna residence. Several days later it was found by her gardener, who saw birds playing with it in a tree.

Some of my tureen collection:

I am so pleased with how this turned out. Mr. Maison did the painting and I've got to give him kudos. He did a great job! In case anyone is interested, the color is Benjamin Moore Fieldstone.

I hope you have enjoyed this Metamorphosis Monday. Hope everyone has a great week!

Happy 1st Birthday Pink Saturday!

Welcome to Pink Saturday! This is a special celebration since it's Pink Saturday's one-year birthday. Please visit Beverly's wonderful blog, How Sweet the Sound, for lots o' pinkness!

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I've baked a pink cake to celebrate, and also have some soft pink roses for Beverly, too.

Strawberry hearts around the cake...

Foodie Friday...Grill out!

Welcome to Foodie Friday! Please also visit our wonderful hostess for this event, Michael at Designs by Gollum.

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For this week, I'm just offering some simple comfort food... grilled New York strips, baked potato and grilled garlic bread. Yum!

Tablescape Thursday...Just Monkeyin' Around

Welcome to Tablescape Thursday, hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. Please visit Susan's wonderful blog for a list of participants for this event.

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Just as we were about to sit down for dinner, these naughty little monkeys swooped in and ate our whole tray of food!

I folded the napkins into fans. It gets hot in the jungle!

Be on the lookout for these guys as they may show up at your house and eat all of your food too!

Happy Tablescape Thursday!

Outdoor Wednesday 5/27...Walking on water!

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday! Please visit our lovely hostess, Susan at A Southern Daydreamer, for a full list of participants.

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Okay. So this is kind of like a "Where's Waldo?" thing. This past weekend, Mr. Maison and I were on our boat, and all of a sudden I asked, "Is that a man and a dog walking on water over there?" This is the best picture I could get, but you can see the man and his dog doing what appears to be walking out in the middle of the water. They're obviously walking on a sand bar, but I just thought it was kind of funny.

Tasty Tuesday 5/26

Welcome to Tasty Tuesday, Hosted by Jen at Beauty and Bedlam! Please visit Jen's blog for a list of other participants for this event.

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Lately, I've been making homemade pizzas. Okay. So I don't make the pizza dough. I just buy the Pillsbury dough in a can. I'm askeered of making dough! Making pizza at home is a good way to ensure that everyone gets what they want.

My son is vegan, so here is his pizza with soy cheese, mushrooms, black olives and spinach...

This pizza is for hubby, daughter and I. My daughter really only likes cheese on her pizza; hubby can't do without meat; and I like green peppers, which hubby won't touch with a ten-foot pole! So Ballerina Maison got cheese, Mr. Maison got pepperoni, cheese, mushrooms, onions and black olives, and I got cheese, onions, black olives and green peppers.