Tea Time!

 Yesterday I went with 19 friends to the Shakespeare's Tea Room here in town.

 We took Stefanie, our Curves instructor to tea! She had never been there before.


A few other pictures of those who attended:

Here I am with Doris

Stef was very happy!
 

Some of the food we enjoyed, The Afternoon Tea with tea sandwiches and pastries:


Here's the a quiche with soup and salad. Their food is always fresh and delicious!

 Angela, Carol, and Doris outside the tea room

 This beautiful tea room is up for sale. The owner has health issues. We are hoping someone will buy it and keep it running as it is such an enjoyable experience every time we go. They have already sold most of the things in the gift shop, but the dining room will continue to serve.

Thanks to Stefanie for two+  fun years!

Pink Valentine Party

 I decided to have pink for a Valentine's Day engagement lunch celebration. I've had these pink dishes so long I've forgotten where or when I bought them, or were they a gift?? I've had them stored waaaay up in the top of our (high) kitchen cabinets. My tall husband even had a hard time reaching them.

The pink color isn't this dark, they tend to look darker stacked together.



The sun was shining but I still had a hard time getting a picture of the true pink color.

The pink dinner and salad plates and bowl are on top of a clear plate. The delicate white lace tablecloth is layered over a pink tablecloth. The clear plastic handled flatware is from Ross several years ago.

The "diamond" rings are used as napkin rings. The napkins are white sheer voile.

The centerpiece is simple, but pretty, a crystal bowl filled with pink faux peonies and hydrangeas. One of my favorite figurines I call Valentine girl also graces the centerpiece.
 

 These miniature pink heart shaped salt and pepper shakers are at each end of the table.


Some of you always notice the Old Country Roses china in our china cabinet.  

 I have changed the OCR Christmas plates to these OCR topiary plates.

 I have two types of the OCR topiary plates:

 I  haven't done an Old Country Roses tablescape in a long time, maybe I will do one soon.

 
This is an imaginary engagement luncheon.I wish I had thought to do this one last year after my grandson became engaged. (They married in October!)

I found the "diamond rings" at Dollar Tree recently and couldn't resist buying them for a tablescape!


The silk pink flowers also came from Dollar Tree. The rings and the flowers were the only things I bought to do this tablescape. Very inexpensive!

This light tablescape is a welcome sight during our winter months. It fits in just fine here in Florida with our sunshine sometimes daily. We have had some gloomy gray chilly days the past month though.

The "crystal" goblets are also from Dollar Tree a few years ago.

 I'm linking to Susan's Tablescape Thursday, click on her name for lots of inspiration.
I'm also linking to Diane's Valentine Party, click here for lots of fun!

 Here's a place for you! Enjoy!

Cozy Plaid

I've been reading several blogs with cozy themes for the winter days. Here's my version of cozy here in Florida. 

Recently I found this Ralph Lauren tablecloth at Home Goods. I have a weakness for plaids and even though I have two other plaid tablecloths, I bought this one!  It was on sale for $15. I usually like to pay a little less, but splurged on this one! LOL!
 
I call this type plaid a Christmas plaid, but I wanted to use it now and not wait a year for Christmas.

I used my butterscotch colored china with it to bring out the gold in the plaid. These dishes were from Marshall's a few years ago. The flatware is from Tuesday Morning.

The initial napkin rings were from Michael's this past year.

The etched amber goblets are from TJ Maxx.


The centerpiece is a terrarium with vintage figurines from the 70s inside, a gift from a favorite aunt back then.


I had a problem with the lighting and didn't get many true color shots.

The picture below is pretty close to the true color of the tablecloth:

What do you think, is it too Christmasy looking?

 I like to think of it as a warm cozy plaid blanket look!

It also goes really well with the wall color in our dining room:
 

 I hope you like it as much as I do!

I'm linking to Susan's Tablescape Thursday, thanks for hosting! Click on her name for lots more fun!

Gingerbread!

 I'm a little late, but wanted to share my gingerbread men tablescape on Cuisine Kathleen's Let's Dish this week!  Thanks, Kathleen, for hosting (and taking late posts), click on her name for lots more fun! I'm also linking to Susan's Tablescape Thursday, click on her name for lots of inspiration.

I've had a small collection of gingerbread men (and women) for a while, but haven't used them in several years. I decided to decorate the breakfast nook with them this year since our granddaughter would be here.

The centerpiece:

I found the resin gingerbread house at Dollar General several years ago. The styrofoam gingerbread man is from the 70s!

Don't remember where I found the garlands, they are different, and so cute!


I think the mugs came from Cracker Barrel a few years ago. I can't remember where I found the napkin rings, or the candlestick in the tray, or the placemats!



I hung a lot of gingerbread ornaments from the chandy:

Couldn't get a good picture with the bright light from the doors and windows (flash was too bright too.)

 Little ceramic gingerbread people on the drop-leaf table:

How cute is that!

 
                            A few on the floor:

and here and there!




We found the time to make some gingerbread (Betty Crocker mix!) and use this gingerbread house pan!

They came out pretty good!


Granddaughter, Elisabeth, enjoyed decorating them:


We also made some gingerbread men (cakes) and trees:

It was fun and she enjoyed it a lot. We had to stop in time to go see the movie "Frozen" (a very good movie, highly recommended.)

I hope you enjoyed seeing our gingerbread fun!
 

Take a seat and join us!

 We had apple cider with the gingerbread!

 Do you like gingerbread? What do you serve it with? My favorite is lemon sauce on top, but I've also served it with Cool Whip, or applesauce is also very good with it! Yum!

I wish I had taken pictures of the food after it was served.

 I have promised Elisabeth all these gingerbread decorations, but they didn't have room in the over-packed car, so I will save it for her!

Don't want to forget Ginger and Brad!
 

Happy New Year!