A Beautiful Setting for Graduation

What a glorious day it was!  Can't think of a better Mother's Day gift!

With James Madison!

Special sorority sisters!

Ready to fly like kites!

Sorority row...

Beautiful young women, ready for the real world!

A Black/White/Red Setting

Graduation No. 1 is this coming week-end.  We will be heading up to Harrisonburg to watch our eldest graduate from James Madison University.  The last four years have flown by, and it's hard to believe she is graduating.  I'm very proud and excited for her, as she begins a new phase of her life.  She will be coming home for awhile, and since she isn't exactly sure what she would like to specialize in, she will work for Dad.  It may, or may not work, but if she is determined, she will make it happen.  If not, she will figure it out.  Life is like that sometimes. 

Not much time for chatting, so I'll get right to it.  Neither my garden nor the weather has been cooperating.  I wanted to tablescape outside this week, but never got the opportunity.  So a kitchen setting it is, sorta rushed, but I like black, white, and red.  I used these colors in a Christmas tablescape that you can see here, and I actually like wearing these colors.  So here we go!

Table runner was a recent purchase at TJ Maxx.  The votive candleholder in the center was a recent gift from my son, who purchased it in Sweden.  It is Orrefors, blown glass, and it's very beautiful!

The place setting consisted of a black somewhat square plate, a white Haviland china scalloped dinner plate, a black and white salad plate (Ambiance by Roscher), and a Martha Steward bowl with red stripe.

Flowers are knock out roses from the backyard.  I put them in a black and white bowl atop a black wire cake stand.

The black and glass candleholders are from Home Goods.  I placed a black and white ball on top of another candleholder, and used the others along the runner.

The wine glasses have a red tint in the stem.  I used plain iced beverage glasses.

I used plain white bowls at the head of the table.

Lighting the candles...

After I saw these pictures, I decided there was too much greenery in the floral, so I pulled some out.

Looks a bit better.

White scalloped plates are Haviland Limoge (don't know the pattern name).  Silverplate is Rondevu by Towle.

Thanks for stopping by!  Graduation No. 2 is June 10.  Can I make it until then???  Lots to do, invitations to send out, parties to plan, whew, glad when June 11th gets here, I'll be headed to the beach--and NOT with the high school graduates! lol   See you soon!! 

A Garden Setting

Just had to show you this beautiful hosta.  The area beside our house and along the sidewalk to the back gets very little sun, so we transplanted a couple of hosta plants to that area.  They are loving it there, and have gotten huge.

It is beginning to shoot up!

Starting to open up!

It might be hard to grasp how big this is by looking at the picture, so hope these pictures help...

This decorative garden stone weighs a ton, so I have to get help to move it.

It's under there somewhere...

The color is beautiful...

Just a few more shots of how Spring looked a week or so ago.  I'm not the world's best photographer, but here goes!

See you soon!

A Setting for Motivation

"You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love."  Henry Drummond.  

“Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm... As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”  Audrey Hepburn

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, It is the only thing that ever has.”  Margaret Mead

“All the really valuable things you own are things you can't photograph.”  Unknown

“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”  George Bernard Shaw

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.”  Vernon Law

"It isn't the big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones."  Jean Webster

"To love what you do and feel that it matters--how could anything be more fun?"  Katherine Graham

"We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us."  Winston Churchill

"The first wealth is health."  Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work.”  Unknown

“There is no failure. Only feedback.”  Unknown

“Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are right.”  Henry Ford

“Do everything with so much love in your heart that you would never want to do it any other way.”  Yogi Desai

“Go often to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke the unused path.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” Abraham Lincoln

Thanks for visiting today!  Hope you enjoyed these motivational quotes.  Did you notice that there were two centerpieces on the table?  One was prepared with white azaleas, and white spider mums, and the second with pink azaleas and dogwood (even though the dogwood flopped after a small amount of time).  I used mini vases of pink carnations and white azaleas on the first table also.  Hope you had a wonderful Easter, and I am looking forward to spending some time visiting with you! 

China--Noritake Veranda

Crystal iced beverages--vintage, not sure of the pattern

Crystal wines--Gorham Crown Point

Mirrored Chargers--Tuesday Morning

Crystal baskets--vintage (one was my Mom's)

Crystal candleholders--Candlewick, vintage

Silverplate--Baroque by Godinger

White bunny and bird vase--Sadek?