Anniversary Musings

My husband and I celebrated our anniversary last week. After looking at this photograph, I think you can understand why I chose him!!

I have mentioned in several blogs that he is a “keeper”. My gift from him this year was a new china cabinet. It was meant to help me find more storage for my ever-expanding collection of china and linens. We ordered it from North Carolina and it arrived earlier than expected. Perhaps, you have already noticed it in a couple of recent blogs.

Most of the wedding gifts that we received long ago are still being used today! We were so fortunate that our family and friends gave us pieces that have stood the test of time. The only things that I can remember that we eventually gave away were some melamine dishes, which I believe are now becoming popular, again. Who knew??

One of my favorite gifts that we received was from my Aunt Mable (yes, she spells it that way!). I wrote in my Valentine’s blog about my husband’s and my decision to marry much more quickly than we had originally planned. We were both in college some distance away from one another and thought it would be easier for us to be in the same place. We married in a month and gave my poor mother almost no time to plan. Obviously, we had a small wedding.

The Christmas before we made that Valentine’s Day decision to marry in March, I had visited my aunt. We were searching for treasures in an antique shop (she, too, loves old beautiful things) and I spotted a darling chintzware coffee demitasse set. As I was already engaged, but thought the wedding was some years down the road, I jokingly told my aunt that when I did get married, I would love to receive the coffee set. Then, I completely forgot about it.

Of course, you have already guessed what happened! My aunt did not forget and the coffee set found its way to me on my wedding day. What a thoughtful and wonderful surprise!!

I had the pieces for many years, when I discovered a matching condiment set at an antique show. It consisted of a tray with salt and pepper shakers and a jam pot with a tiny sterling spoon. The chintz pattern is “Devon Rose” by Royal Crown China.

My sister contributed the “Virginia Carvel” sterling demitasse spoons.

After putting the china cabinet in place, my husband suggested moving our old dining room buffet to our study. It works perfectly there and makes a wonderful “tabletop” to serve after dinner coffee and showcase my “Devon Rose” demitasse set.

I began by using a white on white embroidered placemat, which was a Tuesday Morning find.

Is there anything more beautiful than white on white embroidery?

I, also, used white on white cocktail napkins. I bought these at a wonderful store that has been out of business for years. I still miss finding treasures there!

The creamer and sugar were set on the condiment tray and I surrounded them with the coffee pot, demitasse cups and saucers.

For an after dinner chocolate treat, I melted white chocolate and drizzled it onto Hershey’s chocolate nugget with almond candies - half milk chocolate and half dark chocolate. What could be easier than that?

I served them in a tiny bowl that was originally my mother’s. I do not know the name of the pattern, but I plan on doing some research, after using it here. The bowl is so pretty that I think there must be more pieces available somewhere.

I love the way my old Mikasa glass candlesticks repeat the vertical lines in the little bowl. Candlelight is an absolutely must for after dinner coffee!

I always enjoy celebrating our anniversary. We are getting older, but marking the day reminds me that we have somehow traveled through this life together and made it work. In today’s crazy world, I think that is a real accomplishment!

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Fifteen-minute Frosted Potpourri Experiment

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I have heard people get roses for Valentine's Day. You might be one of those lucky people. What are you going to do with them as they die? Just throw them out? 

Maybe not this year. Why not try to make your own potpourri? 

Being that I had no handy rose petals lying around, I bought these rose petals at Kroger. There they sat, unused on the shelf after Valentine's. Pitiful. So, being a person who has never made potpourri, I decided to would see if I could do it JUST with what I had around the house. Let me preface this by saying I know that there are better and more professional ways to accomplish this for potpourri aficionados. However, the goal of this post is for those of us who sort-of want to save the flower petals but who aren't going to elaborate expense or effort to do so. :)

There are many websites that tell you how to dry roses or make potpourri in the microwave or just by hanging them somewhere out of the way like your laundry room. They require - or strongly suggest - silica gel, (which I don't happen to have saved from my shoe boxes), or orris root powder, (which I didn't bother trying to buy). Salt was suggested in addition to either to help flowers retain their color.

Search Amazon.com for rose petals

Search Amazon.com for orris root powder

 Also, I had read an article about achieving a glossy look with high-gloss hairspray. I had hairspray, believe it or not. ( I have children who perform on stage - dance, theater, etc.) But, I still didn't have a drying medium other than the microwave alone. It seems the experts think the microwave needs some help. The idea of glossy rose petals made me think of frosted, glittering rose petals. So, thinking about what I had on my shelves, I decided to see what would happen with salt by itself.

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I removed the rose petals from the box and placed them in a bowl. I poured salt over them - maybe a third of a cup. I confess. I didn't measure. (That's what makes me a great cook of main dishes and sides and a terrible baker; in baking, measurements MATTER.) Anyway, I threw away the petals that had any obvious brown or dry areas. That turned out to be a good decision. The parts that I missed had to be removed later anyway.

I put my mixture in the microwave, for 30-45 seconds at a time. 

I ended up with something like this after about 4-5 rounds in the microwave. At this point, any brown parts I had missed earlier were pretty obvious as they were mushy. So I removed them. I tossed between each round, separating petals that were stuck together by their own moisture. (This made clear to me why the experts recommend only drying a few at a time and the need for a desiccant.)

At this point, I shook out almost all of the salt and separated the petals onto a paper towel. One more round in the microwave.

Surprisingly, even with the salt, the petals smelled great! But I wanted to add something else. From my reading and available stock of scents laying around the house, I had perfumes and diffuser oils to choose from. I grabbed the nearest one, sprinkling the oil onto the almost-dried rose petals.

I tossed the now fairly brittle petals and shook the salt out in a bag, carefully removing the sparkling petals.

I placed the rose petals in a crystal bowl. They glistened in the soft afternoon light. I never tried the high gloss hairspray, but I bet it would make an especially nice touch around the winter holidays.

Surprisingly, the roses still smell wonderful!  I have let them sit a few days, and they have retained the scent. I doubt they will last months on end, but I could always add more oil or perfume later. 

My little project took about 15 minutes would only cost about a third of a cup of salt and a little diffuser oil - IF you had been given some roses!  :)

- Andrea

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It's So Very Cheri

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All Audrey, All the Time

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If you haven't ever heard of Audrey Hepurn, now is the time to learn!  My grandmother and I just ADORE her! One of our traditions is to watch one of her movies every now and then. I think I have seen all of her movies except one she made when she was older. A good starter movie to watch if you haven't ever seen anything with her in it is, "Wait Until Dark." Beware, it's scary! But it is very, very good! My first was the original, "Charade," which is also great. This is my list of Audrey favorites:
1. Wait Until Dark
2. Charade
3. Sabrina
4. How to Steal a Million
5. My Fair Lady
6. Breakfast at Tiffany's

 So, I hope this explains why I made an Audrey Hepurn tablescape today. The plates, cups, and spoons are from an espresso set my grandmother and mother bought me at Tuesday Morning. They are pink, black, gray, and white. I think Audrey would have liked them. The plates under that are some white accent plates that belong to my grandmother. The pink candles in mini-wine glasses came from CVS. They are the cutest things, and they were the perfect size for the china! The napkins are white. For the napkin holders, I had a creative idea. I found some faux flowers and hot-glued them to new, unused black hair-bands. (P.S- From experience, attaching the flower to the rubber band with a hot glue gun might not work the first time. :) ) It makes just as nice a napkin ring as anything and looks great on the table. You can use other things besides flowers. 

 Also, I used four black placemats. The focal point is a black wire stand from T.J. Maxx. For inexpensive decorations I found pink things I could layer, curled paper ribbon and even a bath scrunchie.  Then we put electric candles from CVS and covered up the bottoms of them as much as we could. My grandmother reminded me she had all of the DVD cases, and I thought to make a DVD tower on the stand. I added a few things to build it up, like more faux flowers. They are just layered on, not even glued. Over all, I love the table! I hope that you and Audrey would, too!

Thank you for visiting my post! I hope you will see some Audrey films soon!


- Emma :)

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Yesterday, Today and Always...dedicated to the one I love.

Forty three years ago, I proposed to my husband. Actually, we were already engaged, but I decided that we needed to set a date. Decisions had to be made quickly, since we decided to marry during spring break, which was only a little over a month away.  I was not interested at all in the wedding plans (is that normal?), but I was oh so interested in choosing my china, silver and crystal.

That was in the day, when the girl and her mother, (no boys allowed), visited the local jewelry store and spent a glorious afternoon immersed in table settings. This Valentine's Day, my table is set with some of my choices.

The dinnerware is Solitaire by Lenox, the sterling silver flatware is Strasbourg by Gorham and the crystal is Argenta by Tiffin. There were so many beautiful designs offered to me that day on the shelves of that little jewelry store, but I decided to pick things that I hoped would not go out of style and could be used on many different occasions, (add a few red napkins, a bowl of candy and some flowers and you have a Valentine's Day table).

I did choose another set of patterns, (more on that in a later blog), but these were the ones that made my heart sing! Speaking of hearts - those darling little heart- shaped plates with the pink and white polka dots are a recent purchase from Cracker Barrel!

I think that I did very well with my choices as a young bride-to-be. I am still thrilled with the tabletop choices and choice of husband - they have all stood the test of time. Happy Birthday (yes, he is a Valentine's birthday guy) and Happy Valentine's Day! Thanks for almost 43 wonderful years and allowing me to feed my addiction to tablescaping!


-Diane

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