Tablescape Thursday...De La Mer

Welcome to Tablescape Thursday, hosted by Susan at Between Naps On The Porch. Please visit Susan's wonderful blog to see what creativeness she came up with this week, and to visit the other participants.

Since my tablescape this week includes a lot of pink, I'm linking to Pink Saturday also. Please visit Bevery at How Sweet The Sound for more lovely pinkness.

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I'm calling my tablescape this week De La Mer, or From The Sea.

The tablecloth is Ile D'Aix by Yves Delorme. It features shells and coral.

The starfish taper holders are from Colonial Candle, as are the pink tapers and pink champagne votives.

This is really a bonsai tree candle, but I think it kind of looks like coral, so I used it for my seaside 'scape.

I painted some "coral" and stuck it in shell vases.

A soft Sea washed around the House, by Emily Dickinson

A soft Sea washed around the House

A Sea of Summer Air

And rose and fell the magic Planks

That sailed without a care --

For Captain was the Butterfly

For Helmsman was the Bee

And an entire universe

For the delighted crew

Crockpot Wednesday & Foodie Friday

Welcome to Crockpot Wednesday and Foodie Friday! Please visit Debbie at Dining With Debbie, our hostess for Crockpot Wednesday, and Michael at Designs by Gollum, our hostess for Foodie Friday.

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Today I made round steak in the crockpot. This same method/recipe would work well for a roast too. First I seared the meat.

Then I placed it in the crockpot. I mixed up a packet of onion soup mix, a can of cream of mushroom soup, a soup can of water, sherry, sliced mushrooms, and Kitchen Bouquet. I then poured it over the meat and cooked it on low for approximately seven hours.

And here's the end result.

And Lucy helped too!

Three or More Tuesday...Fish Floats

Welcome to Three or More Tuesday! Please visit our hostess, Tam at The Gypsy's Corner, and be sure to check out the other participants too.

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I used my glass fish floats as part of a tablescape last week, and I thought they would make for a good Three or More Tuesday post. I've only got these small ones that I keep in an apothecary jar, but there are larger ones out there, some as big as bowling balls.

Pink Saturday...The Olde Pink House

Welcome to Pink Saturday! Hop on over to visit our hostess, Sally at Smiling Sally, for more pink.





A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to spend a night in Savannah, so hubby and I ate at The Olde Pink House. It's a beautiful building, and the food was wonderful too. It's allegedly haunted, so that really piqued my interest. Alas, none showed themselves to us that night.

The Haunting of the Olde Pink House Restaurant and Tavern
Today, this charming five-star restaurant is said to be haunted by Mr. James Habersham, himself.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/372464/the_haunting_of_the_olde_pink_house.html

Foodie Friday...Sangria!

Welcome to Foodie Friday! Please be sure to visit our hostess, Michael at Designs by Gollum, for lots more yummy food.

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One of our favorite pasttimes is boating, and a couple of weeks ago, we took along some peach sangria. The Mason jars are not only cute, but very portable.

PEACH SANGRIA

1 bottle white wine (I usually use chardonnay)

1 cup Peach Schnapps

6 ounces frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

Mix together and set aside.

Slice nectarines and divide them among your jars (this recipe will make four pint-sized jars) and then add sangria, leaving a bit of room in each jar. Refrigerate overnight or at least a few hours. Next, wash, dry and freeze green grapes. I add the grapes in when we're ready to pack them up/drink them, so they also serve as ice cubes without diluting your sangria down.

Tablescape Thursday...The Wind in the Willows

Welcome to Tablescape Thursday! Our hostess for this event, Susan at Between Naps on the Porch, is extremely talented, so be sure to check out her blog and the other participants.

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I bought this little Wind in the Willows teapot a while back and thought it would work great in a tablescape/teascape.

When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one's ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender; of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries. Toad sat up on end once more, dried his eyes, sipped his tea and munched his toast, and soon began talking freely about himself, and the house he lived in, and his doings there, and how important he was, and what a lot his friends thought of him.

(Excerpt from The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame)

My centerpiece is a jar of glass fish floats...

I mixed green lily pad chargers with the white "Gollum" dishes from Big Lots...

Cute froggy napkins I found at T.J. Maxx a while back...

Bees have landed on the flatware...

I mixed in my Red Cliff ironstone sugar and creamer...

Outdoor Wednesday...Bahamas!

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. Please be sure to stop by and pay Susan a visit.

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A couple of weeks ago, we took a cruise (our first, yay!) to the Bahamas. We left out of Jacksonville, Florida. This first picture was taken as the ship was pulling out of the port.

There were a TON of dolphins that kindly gave us a show as we were leaving the port.

Here are the kids and I checking out the pool.

Our first stop was Nassau.

We went through the straw market. Wow, was it hot and crowded in there!

There was a street festival going on while we were there. There was lots of food and we chowed down on some conch fritters.

The next day the ship pulled into Freeport. We took a snorkeling trip there. Here's hubby Gary.

Our kids, Nick and Ashley.

These last two pics were taken on the boat ride back from the snorkel trip.