Birthday Blessings

Hello everyone.  I had planned to share an Easter card with you today, but I had such a lovely birthday yesterday that I thought I would tell you about my day instead.

I was greeted with this amazing floral arrangement when I walked into the living room this morning!  Doug went to our favorite florist and had them put together the arrangement for him.  I promise you that the photos do not do justice to the flowers.  When I saw them I actually gasped.  My poor photography is not gasp worthy!!

My friends Kathy and Susan had me over to Susan's house for a lovely, lovely luncheon. Susan set a lovely table with white, pink and gold china, lace tablecloth, fabric napkins, fresh camellias, etc.  Susan prepared a ham and cheese quiche, spinach salad, and rolls. The food was delicious! Not to be out done, because she wasn't (!), Kathy made a fabulous strawberry trifle!!  Most importantly, I had a wonderful time with Susan and Kathy. I have said it before and I am sure I will say it again, I have the most wonderful friends!!

In the afternoon Doug and I went out to visit a new store that opened in Aiken - Fresh Market.  It is a grocery-type store with wonderful produce and fresh meats.  The store carries a nice selection of coffees and organic shelf items.  They have rotisserie cooked meats and great prepared foods.  And their bakery is to die for!!!  While there I decided that instead of going out to dinner as we had planned I wanted to pick up dinner and take it home.

After much debate I decided on sesame garlic split chicken breasts, freshly made twice baked potatoes, and spinach salad.  The Fresh Market tossed in some fabulous yeast rolls and I added a loaf of Olive bread.  Along with the rest of Kathy's strawberry trifle, this made for a fabulous birthday dinner.

And because it was my birthday, I dug through my dishes and decided that we should dine on my pink Portuguese Bordallo Pinheiro dinnerware.  I added silver, French glassware, and toile napkins in shades of pink. Doug and I invited Bethany's beau, John, to join us for dinner. All four of us truly enjoyed the dinner and dessert and I told John that he was going to have to suck-it-up on the "girly" table as it was my choice for my birthday.  He agreed that this dinner should be all about me.  Smart man!!!

I finished the evening sharing Bethany's life in scrapbooks with John - who actually asked to see them.  Bethany was a bit embarrassed but John had the sweetest smile the entire time he was looking at her scrapbooks.  Have I mentioned that Doug and I like John??

I had a truly wonderful birthday.  I enjoyed hearing from my children, extended family, and so many friends.  It was a lovely day.

Downton Abby Layout with the Cameo

Hello everyone.  Remember back in March when I shared the photos of my Downton Abbey Birthday Get-together with the girls?  My blog post was actually about the great moustaches and treat cones that I had made for our Downton marathon, which you can read here.  Well, fast forward to yesterday....

I finally made time to sit down and scrap my Downton B-day photos!!!  I used my Silhouette to cut the embellishments and letters used on the layout.   Have I mentioned that I ADORE my Silhouette Cameo?  I honestly cannot believe I took so long to begin using it.  I am completely hooked and could only be happier if I discovered that I could use the Cameo and my Expression 2 at the same time (technically I should be able to do this, but I have not actually tried).

I found a great cut at the silhouette store - the "Nice stache" cut pictured above.  I also found the fun film strip during the same silhouette store shopping trip.  I had some of the moustache photos printed in wallet size and they *just* fit the frames in the strip!  How perfect were those cuts for this page?
 

On another trip to the silhouette store (I do like browsing there!) I found these three vintage women - Perfect for Downton Abbey.  Those who watch the show on PBS know that there are three adult daughters in the show.  I have named the women in the cut after the characters: the woman with her hand on her hip as Lady Mary, the defensive posed woman in the middle is Lady Edith, and Lady Sybil is on the right - looking to her future beyond Downton Abbey.  I "had" to add the three women to the page.

I used several flourish cuts to embellish the page, as well as a really pretty font to cut my title phrase:  Downton Abbey Night.

I hand trimmed a photo of the popcorn cones and added it to right-hand page.  After I took the photographs I went back and found one of our moustaches and added it to the right hand page, beside the 5 x 7 inch photo, over the swirls. 

My friends and I had decided that for scrapbookers, we needed to be better about documenting our time together.  Well ladies, I am making a start!!!

Thanks for stopping by today and viewing my Downton/Birthday layout.  I will be back tomorrow as I have more new projects to share with you....

Flowers and Antiques

Hello everyone!  Since yesterday was my birthday I thought I would share photos of the amazing floral arrangement my hubby gave me!  He spoke with our favorite florist, Cannon House in Aiken, SC and ordered a spring colors centerpiece for our dinning table. 

I photographed my hand with the flowers in an attempt to offer a size reference.  The arrangement is 30" wide x 16" tall.  I absolutely love the colors and the unusual flowers.  One of the new flowers (new to me) is a green-eyed rose.  It is a white rose with a light moss-like center.  Very unusual and very pretty.

The cabinet above is a new antique piece I purchased for our home.  I have decked it out as a bar - filled with alcohol, glassware, bar tools, etc.  It is heavy dark wood, but I do not know what type.  The cabinet is just under 7 ft tall and is 56 inches wide and I LOVE it.

Spring Steeplechase and Birthday Bash ... What a Saturday!

I have to tell you that I am wiped out today.  Yesterday was such a full and wonderful day.  We attended the Aiken's 44th Running of the Steeplechase, T H E spring event in Aiken, as well as hosted a 50th birthday party my husband threw for me. 

Steeplechase is a day of tailgating, horse racing, sun (!), friends, food and beverages.  We had such a nice time attending with a few friends, my mother, and two of our three children. We took our E-Z up canopy, tables & chairs, and tailgated from the backend of my minivan.

We then came home and set up a couple of round tables with chairs in our backyard.  We served a selection of food, beverages and of course, birthday cake and ice cream.  We finished the night off with funny rounds of Catch Phrase and Apples to Apples.  It was seriously so much fun.

Today is my actual birthday and it has been a slow lazy day... Now that I am 50 apparently I need a recovery day! LOL. 

I just wanted to share some of my birthday weekend fun with you.  I hope that you will stop back on Monday for the BBTB2 new projects (hint - BBTB2 is celebrating with me also).