A Tray of Tranquillity

Hello all!  I hope your week is going well.  At My Place, Renaissance Man and I are still busy preparing the exhibit for this space I told you about HERE ...

But since I'll probably be busy working on it until the day I die of the event, I'm taking a little sanity break to write this post ... and saying a big thank you that we have a couple of other people working as hard as we are!  Projects like this take everyone, don't they?

If I could do what I reeeaally feel like doing right now, I'd pull out this tray ...

and some pretty dishes ...

Then I'd pick some dahlias from the garden ...

... and add the current Southern Lady magazine that just came in the mail ...

... and disappear into this room for awhile.
Yes, of course, I'd include food, too!
I'm not really an "eat in the bedroom" person, but today it just seems like it would be the calmest, quietest place to be ...

Hmmm ... my last post was about de-stressing, too. Are we seeing a pattern here?  I guess we all just have to figure out when to give 200% and when to take a break. Today, I'm giving 100% and thinking about taking a lonnnng break.
A very long break ...


How about you?  If you could plan a long break -- without any budgetary constraints -- what would you do?  Would you take a trip, decorate your house, go back to school, read a long novel?  Would you make plans by yourself, with a friend, or take along the family?
Think about it ... then leave a comment and tell us!

If you'd like to know the back story of my mosaic tray, keep reading ...

I bought the tray on a recent trip to The Big House in Brazil.  You can read about my visit HERE.  The tray was made by prisoners (known there as "recuperees") who are serving their time in the most secure section of the guardless prison.

Most of the men's crimes are easily traced to involvement with drugs. In order to help them in their rehab, it's important to keep them busy ... and working with mosaics is one way to do that. 

Even the table they're working on has a mosaic top!  The men were all very proud of their work, as well they should be. Believe it or not, I would have loved to join them for a little craft session.

They'd have made really good teachers ...

... don't you think?

 I'm linking to Tablescape Thursday
at Between Naps on the Porch,
Inspiration Friday at
At The Picket Fence,
AND
Pink Saturday
at How Sweet the Sound 

 Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you'll come again. You're always welcome at My Place to Yours!

DE-STRESSING with Simple Pleasures ...

I learned this week that Dayle at A Collection of This and That is ending her wonderful Simple Pleasures series ... just as I was thinking how much I'd love to join the party!  Even though I've never participated, I've often enjoyed reading about the simple pleasures that she -- and some of you -- have found ... and it's caused me to open my own eyes and look around my own world a little more closely. I'd say Dayle's mission was successful.

Unless you are as relaxed as Little Man, I dare say that some (most?) days you're so busy that you have to make a conscious choice to de-stress.  Am I right?

How do you do that?

Do you take a long soak at the end of the day?

Pick the green one ... It's great for stress relief!

Sometimes I sit on the porch for a few minutes.

I'm so glad cooler temps are finally here!

Other times I just want to get away from home entirely.

I'm fortunate I only have to drive five minutes to find wide open spaces.
No mind clutter here ...

Other times I go shopping.  I often don't spend a penny.

I just like to see what makes me smile ...

It's all about finding the simple pleasures, remember?

I only dream of being a napper ...

Maybe your simple pleasure is a treat ...

This is my treat (probably a leftover from childhood).
Pick the one on the left.  There's only one real flavor ...

Sometimes I don't do anything except adjust my attitude ...

... and pay attention to the things around me.

Little Man helped me learn that lesson when he was only a year old.  When the sunlight through the blinds screamed "dusty floor" to me ...
he saw a zebra!

It's nice to have a grandson who looks at Life with eyes wide open! 

So how's your life going today?  Do you need to slow down a bit and look for some simple pleasures?  What kinds of things do you consider to be "simple pleasures?"  What are the things that help you go from frazzled and unfocused to peaceful and productive?  Tell me!  I'd love to know.

I'm joining Metamorphosis Monday at

Between Naps on the Porch.

I want a day like this!

I would be stress-free for sure ...

Source

A New Friend at My Table

Finally ... a tablescape I've been dying to do! 

Back in July (where DID the past two months go?), I had the fabulously good fortune of winning a one-year-of-blogging giveaway at the beautiful tablescape blog Entertaining Women. The blog host, Cherry Kay, generously gave away a set of 12 (yes, twelve) antique Theodore Haviland pink floral luncheon plates from her vast collection. They're my newest friends in the china pantry!

When blogging about her giveaway, she used some of the plates in a "girly" Spring tablescape. After you finish reading this post (shameless, I know), you should click on her blog link above and check it out.  It's gorgeous!

Oh, all right.  Here's a peek ...

Notice how the luncheon plates have little pink and purple flowers? I decided to challenge myself to do a Fall tablescape with this very softly-colored, feminine china.

My first thought was to pull out the purple in the plate by using ornamental cabbage, grapes, eggplant, leaves, or mums.

But, surprise, surprise ... It was late at night when I was playing with these dishes, and when I noticed the little butterscotch gold flowers in the pattern, all of my daytime plans were quickly forgotten.

I decided to start with a woven-look gold charger and add a Lenox Stanford dinner plate. Both give some nice texture for Fall.  (Check out THIS post for other decorating elements I like to use during the Fall season.)

Then, I grabbed some Osage oranges (the green ball), hydrangea, berries, and wheat-looking things from a "fresh before I left for Brazil" arrangement that a sweet friend shared with me.  A few flowers from the garden were gathered, and everything added to a favorite woven-look centerpiece bowl. (Are you noticing the "woven-look" thing I've got going?)

Of course, since this is a Fall tablescape, and cooler temperatures are finally on their way, I decided that a Lenox Hanover bouillon soup and saucer was perfect for the occasion.

Vintage damask napkins ... with beaded gold napkin rings (more texture) and green goblets -- both from Dollar Tree.

The gold flatware was purchased a few years ago on eBay.

This salt and pepper set was given to Renaissance Man's grandparents on their 50th wedding anniversary making them true "antiques."

Finally, I couldn't resist adding floating candles to amethyst with gold brandy snifters ... and a pair of geese. (Please don't ruin it and tell me they're swans. They may be ... I don't know for sure ... but I love the sight of geese in the Fall, and these just had the right "feel" for what I was trying to achieve. So, at least for this tablescape, they're geese.)

All of my chosen pieces were set atop a heavy butterscotch gold tablecloth.  Then an eggplant-colored tablecloth was folded and placed like a table runner down the center.

I'll just let you look now ...

It's easier than you might think to use a pastel floral in a Fall tablescape. You just have to deepen all of the colors ...

Here's a good close-up of those gorgeous butterscotch gold flowers ...

Thank you again, Cherry Kay, for my new friends! I'm going to share them with everyone at Tablescape Thursday.

Some of you already noticed that July was my lucky month in Blogland. Besides the fantastic dishes in this tablescape, I got another package in the mail ...

It was from Linda at the wonderful blog A Toile Tale. She had a giveaway to celebrate her 100th Post ... and I was the winner. The gorgeous package?  It contained a copy of Joe Nye's book, Flair. Linda, I have thoroughly enjoyed it!  Thanks again. Now if only I'd thought to design a beautiful invitation and place cards to use with today's tablescape.
Mr. Nye would have been so proud ...


Do you have any new friends at your table?
Leave a comment and tell us about them!

 Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you have a great rest of the week and a wonderful weekend.