Dreaming of Tuscany

Number 2 Son was recently accepted to study in Florence for the fall semester.

What does this mean for Mr. A and I? We get to visit him!

I can't wait to hang out in Florence with him. Since he is minoring in Italian, I'm afraid he won't want to come back!

Meanwhile, I'm dreaming of the Tuscan countryside. Maybe we won't want to come back either!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

These vintage framed Mother's Day poems are a few in my collection found over the years.

They remind us today to stop and honor mothers everywhere. I feel very

fortunate to have my Mother-In-Law and all my children and grandchildren with me today for a family barbeque. Happy Mother's Day to my Mom in Oregon. Wish you were here too!

Wishing all moms and grandmothers everywhere a wonderful day!

I am linking up to Tracey at Notes from a Cottage Industry for Weekly Words to Live By.

I am sure there will be a lot of Mother's Day tributes today so be sure to visit.

A Wine Connoisseur's Dinner

Mr. A hosted a wine dinner last Friday night in our home. He has been collecting wine for years (think baseball cards!) and is part of a"wine club" which meets every couple of months to have tastings and share the wines from their cellars. They call themselves the BNO wine club, short for "Boys Night Out."

When it came his turn to host, he wanted to make the evening special with a full-on sit down dinner. So he hired our daughter Ashley to cater the event.

THE TABLE SETTING:

My contribution was the tablescape. I know I've featured most of the dishes before, but wanted to use these plates again because of the grape motif.

I varied the color of the glasses, chargers, candles and napkin rings: Red, green and purple.

Holding court is this centerpiece of two dozen garden roses in this ice bucket.

I hate to admit it, but I literally threw this all together at the last minute!

I love how this photo shows how the glasses, roses and candles look like gems on the table.

THE FOOD:

Meanwhile, Chef Ashley is in the kitchen preparing the meal.

First, she set up her "Mis en Place."

This thin slice of Wagu beef will be used for an hor d'oeuvre.

Like this quinelle of Wagu beef tartar on a small toasted crostini.

Shots of sunchoke soup with a drizzle of white truffle oil were passed around.

Also, there was a selection of local artisan cheeses to round out the appetizers.

The first course was a little gem lettuce salad with creamy herb dressing garnished with avocado cubes, slivered almonds, radish, and shaved peppercorn pecorino cheese. Aaron acted as her sous chef.

The second course was a Tagliatelle pasta with morel mushrooms, peas and garnished with pea shoots.

Finally, the main course was rack of lamb on a bed of pearled barley with golden raisins, arugula and goat cheese.

Chocolate cake drizzled with blueberry puree and garnished with strawberries complete the meal.

THE WINES:

Everyone brought wine to share. The tasting becomes quite serious as everyone takes notes and rates the wines. I enjoyed listening to the banter back and forth as they discussed the various qualities of the wines.

This is a "flight" of Chateauneuf de Pape, 1988, 1989, 1994 and 1997.

The newest member is also the oldest member. At 81, Ben has been collecting wine since 1959!

He was very generous to bring this 1957 bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape.

Everyone was amazed that Ben brought this 1847 (that's right) bottle of sherry!

It's hard to believe that something this old could taste so divine!

The "Boys Night Out" wine group enjoying a gourmet meal and world class wines.

It was a fabulous evening!

I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

On Friday, I'll be linking up to Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday,

and My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

Saturday, I'll be joining Laurie at Bargain Hunting with Laurie for Favorite Things Saturday.

Be sure to visit each of these blogs for more tabletop and food inspiration.

Check out a new meme called Centerpiece Wednesdays at The Style Sisters.

Designed to Sell

Friday, was the completion of a project I've been working on.

I was brought in to help get this home ready to sell in just a few weeks time.

The homeowners have lived in this house for 26 years, raised three children, and are ready to downsize and move on to the next stage in their lives.

Five years ago, I designed their living room. I had a red living room at the time and the homeowner fell in love with it. So, she got a red living room too, as well as new floral sofa and plaid club chairs and a new rug.

We also chose the yellow and red toile wallpaper for her dining room at that time.

Here is the dining room today, staged to sell. I updated the look with a grain sack table runner and burlap on the buffet. New plants from the wholesale nursery complete the room.

Here is their kitchen with the original cabinet perfectly preserved.

The rest of the kitchen was recently remodeled with cherry cabinets and granite countertops.

A close up of the original leaded glass cabinet filled with the homeowner's beloved Mackenzie Childs glasses.

There is a lovely tumbled marble backsplash.

A den at the back of the house opens to a lovely deck and pool.

I brought in the seagrass rug, coffee table, burlap skirted table, and plants, and had the walls painted Benjamin Moore's Hilton Head Cream.

Miss Molly doesn't know what to think of that seagrass rug!

This was the homeowner's son's bedroom. A new coat of paint, seagrass rug and a lot of pillows from Pottery Barn changed up this room nicely.

The downstairs vintage bathroom was given a coat of deep blue paint. New shower curtain, white towels and a rag rug give it a crisp nautical look.

The upstairs master bedroom also got a coat of Hilton Head Cream paint,

a new seagrass rug, and all new bedding from Pottery Barn.

The sitting room was transformed from an office with built in cabinets. Now it can be visualized by a buyer as a nursery or sitting room.

Miss Molly loves the new bedding.

There is a vintage master bath too. New paint, new white towels and shower curtain give it a spa like feel.

The backyard has a lovely pool and spa. It was spruced up with new deck paint and the bricks were power washed. We filled lots of pots with geraniums and staged the table for an al fresco meal.

Recognize the placemats and dishes? This photo was taken before the finished product as there are now geraniums as a centerpiece to complete the table.

It's not easy selling your home, especially after 26 years. A lot of effort went in to preparing this house to sell. But we did it, and we hit our target date too.

So Friday, the sign went in the front yard, the homeowners left town for the weekend and my friend Maureen held the first open house.

The price? $1,750,000

For more photos and a professional virtual tour, click here.

I'm linking up to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday.

May Flowers

Bouquet of Roses from Friday night's dinner party.

Pitcher of Lilacs from my backyard bush.

Urn full of Foxgloves in my entry.

Pot of Sunflowers and Daisies on my window ledge.

"God loved the flowers and invented soil. Man loved the flowers and invented vases."

~Variation of a saying by Jacques Deval

I'm joining Tracey at Notes From A Cottage Industry for Weekly Words to Live By.

Happy May Day

We're staying around this weekend, cleaning out the garage, making a trip to the dump, and sprucing up the backyard. Sounds exciting, don't your think?

The good news is that it's going to be a gorgeous weekend. Time to put out the cushions and maybe soak up a little sun.

Happy May Day! Wishing you a wonderful weekend!