Two weeks ago our oldest Lindsey got engaged to her boyfriend Morgan. He took her to a little winery that has become “their place” and proposed to her in the vineyards. The super sweet owner of the winery helped him with a lot of the details, and then Morgan had parents, grandparents, siblings, and a…
Entertaining
And He’s Off to New York
Last month our youngest, Grant, graduated from Saint Louis University and started a new job in … New York City! You guys, I’m not gonna lie, this development has been tough on this mom, but he is absolutely living his dream, so it’s all good. It’s great, actually. He is living in Brooklyn for the…
Thanksgiving Tables
Are you thinking about Thanksgiving yet? Since the leaves around here have started changing, and the fall temps seem to have arrived to stay, I’ve got Thanksgiving on my mind. Thanksgiving tables to be exact. For our table this year, I know a couple of things for sure. One, that I’ll be using my vintage…
Blue Willow
I have such a thing for dishes. They may be one of my love languages. I’ve written before about brown transferware and white dishes. I also have some green Bordallo Pinheiro plates that I love. Recently I saw some blue and white dishes paired with red and white linens on Pinterest, and the combination was…
A Family Baby Shower
Back in February, my sisters-in-law and I threw a baby shower for our niece Emily. I had forgotten how much fun baby showers are. It was a treat to host this one. My sister-in-law Julie (the other Julie in our family) and I created a shared Pinterest board, started pinning all things baby shower to…
Thanksgiving Table
Happy Thanksgiving to those of you reading in the US. I hope you’re enjoying this holiday week. My parents, sister, and brother-in-law are all in from Florida and we’re enjoying a lot of fun family times. In between I’m planning menus, running to the grocery store, and getting ready for the big day. I’m sure all of…
Winter Centerpiece with Twigs and Floating Candles
Note: I get lots of questions about how to keep the twigs from floating in these clear vases. The key is to choose little “branches” instead of individual sticks. If the branches are just a bit wider than the vase they should stay put nicely. Recently I’ve made a habit of going out to the yard and…
Thanksgiving Tablesetting
This year I’m very excited to be taking part in a virtual progressive Thanksgiving dinner with over 20 other blogs. Today and tomorrow these blogs will be sharing everything from printables to Centerpieces to recipes. You’ll find the links to the other virtual Thanksgiving posts at the end of this post. It all started with…
End of Summer Tablesetting
We hosted our dinner club group in August (four couples, all great friends, always a lot of fun) and after the date was already set, I got an innocent looking email from the Today show and very quickly everything got very crazy. Dinner club happened the night before my daughter Lindsey and I left for…
Easy Cloth Napkin Folding: A Step by Step in Pictures
Several years back I did an internet search for napkin folding techniques and printed off a bunch of them. But this is the one I came back to again and again. I think I like it because it adds some height to the place setting. Plus, it’s really easy to do. Once I get on a…
