Tea Time!

Today I'm excited to share some pictures with you from the Mother's Day tea that I hosted over the weekend.  A few weeks ago I shared the invitations.  My sister Larissa came down on Saturday and helped with all of the baking and decorating.  I couldn't have done it with her.  Thanks, Riss! 

We used a simple piece of burlap as a table runner.  I mixed and matched the dishes for the place settings.  I used my wedding china and some plates that I picked up at TJ Maxx.  I used some colorful tea cups that were a gift a few years ago.  The napkins are from Target.  

We decided to give each place setting a personal vase of flowers.  Larissa put all of those together.  

The first course was tea and scones.  We served cream scones and strawberry ricotta scones.  I forgot to take a picture (grrr!) of the second course, a spring salad with an herbed white wine vinaigrette.

I used this recipe to make tea punch.  It is a great recipe!  I'll definitely use it again.  It's a little sweet.  I might not use so much sugar next time.  The recipe calls for orange juice which I used, but I'm thinking it would be delicious with pomegranate juice.  It will be fun to experiment with this drink this summer.

The third course was a potato leek soup.  Larissa garnished the soup with a few dots of cream and some fresh chives from my garden.

The fourth course was an assortment of finger sandwiches.  We had a spring ham sandwich with sun dried tomato aioli, cucumber canapes, white cheddar cheese and pimento sandwiches and broccoli salad roulades.  I would like to point out that I did not serve Easy Mac at my tea party.  My adorable 3-year old niece was sitting across the table from me.  She's the one eating the Easy Mac.  How low brow!

Finally, it was time for dessert!  Larissa made this gorgeous strawberry lemon bundt cake.  It was amazing--not too sweet--not too heavy--perfect!  She's a wonderful baker, which is great, because I don't really enjoy baking all that much.  I handle the savory, she handles the sweet.  We make a good team!

A few more shots for your viewing pleasure!

Syncopated Sundays

I'm highlighting a few of my favorite things from around the web!  Enjoy!

Bryn Alexandra found some great side tables on Overstock.com.  I really love Overstock.  They have some great prices, and don't forget to sign-up for special deals via e-mail.

Check out this pretty outfit from the ever-fearless Beth Jones.  I know I could never pull off her ensembles, but I love how creative she is!

A Beautiful Mess has a round-up of 20 of their favorite cocktails.  Hope you have a great start to your week!

Dreaming of Tea

This weekend I am hosting a small Mother's Day Tea.  I've been busy getting the house ready.  I've also been spending some time planning the menu and thinking about the tablescape.  I can't help but get lost in pictures of pretty tea cups and vintage china.  Take a minute and dream with me.

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How will you be spending Mother's Day?  Do you have any special plans?

Full Bloom

Spring is in full bloom here in Central Pennsylvania.  My mom sent me a picture of my favorite tree in their backyard.  It's a crabapple tree, and it gets the most beautiful flowers.  I wrote a song about it.  Get out and and enjoy this gorgeous weather!

The answer to my entryway problem?

I've been trying to come up with some sort of entryway in my house.  I think an entryway will really help to keep my things organized when I come in the door, as least that's what I keep telling myself.  I wrote a post with pictures of the type of entryway I might like.  Here are a few specific things I'm looking for.

1.  A few hooks to hang coats and/or bags

2.  A place to drop a bag that is too heavy to hang

3.  A place to put mail or keys

4.  A place to keep shoes

5.  It must be small.  We don't have a lot of space to work with.

6.  It must be affordable.

I researched benchs, tables, and hooks on Overstock, and I came up with a few ideas.  Then I happened to run across this. . .

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I don't even remember where I saw this.  I don't think it was from the original source, A Beautiful Mess, and I know it wasn't Apartment Therapy, although they did feature it later.  When I saw this,  I  thought, "that's it!"  I'm going for a bohemian vibe in my kitchen, and this is perfect.  I've already picked up the crates using my 50% off coupons at AC Moore.  That brings the crates down to $5 a piece (affordable, check!).  Now I just need to get the boards, hooks, and stain.  I can't wait until it's finished!  I can't wait until I have the whole kitchen finished, and I can share the before and after pictures with you.  I still have a few more projects to complete.  I'm working on a roman shade right now.  I think I'm well on my way to a happy kitchen.

Syncopated Sundays

Hello!  Today I'm starting a new series called Syncopated Sundays.  I'll be featuring a few of my favorite finds and blog posts from around the web.

First up is this adorable nursery from The Hunted Interior.  This room floored me!  It's gorgeous!  I love that it's a space for mom and baby.

This easy-going outfit from What I Wore is great.  Have you discovered the maxi dress?  It's feels like going out in your pajamas, but looks put together. 

Dana from House *Tweaking showed us some updates she's made to her laundry nook.  I love the new mirror, and she looks cute too!



Hope you have a great start to the new week!

Watercolor Crush: Watercolor Curtains

A few weeks ago I started my series Watercolor Crush.  I've already shared with you my DIY Ombre Watercolor Art and my Watercolor Invitations.  Today I'm going to share my dining room curtains.

You might remember that I was looking for fabric for my new bedroom curtains when I spotted a fabric that I fell in love with.  It looked a little bit like a watercolor painting.  I took a swatch of the fabric home and held it up against my herbal green walls and loved the way it looked.  I made two sets of curtains: one for the bedroom and one for the dining room.  Normally that wouldn't be so bad except that our windows are very long.  You can get by with two panels on many windows, but our windows take four panels.  That means that between the two windows I made eight panels.  It was a lot of sewing.  Some people like to use the no-sew curtains, but I decided to use my sewing machine.  It's just a few long straight lines.

I decided that I wanted curtains that pool on the floor a little bit for this room.  It's a bit more dramatic.

Here's a close-up of the pattern.

I think they add some much-needed color to the room.

I hope you enjoyed this series.  If you've done a watercolor project recently or have a favorite from another blogger, leave a comment with a link!  I'd love to check it out!  Take a look at this post from one of my favorite blogs The Little Green Notebook.