All around Blogland (and in the "real" world, too) I've been seeing Valentines. You, too? It's that time of year! As I worked this week, I thought about Valentines Day and my own growing up years. I suppose my earliest memory is of giving Valentines to my friends at school. The list of friends' names that the teacher sent home ... and addressing a card for everyone in the class. Decorating a shoe box with a slit in it to serve as a "mail box" for collecting the Valentines. You, too, perhaps? Hearts and Cupid became favorite "early" Valentine themes ... And the conversation hearts were always fun! I stopped buying them when I stopped knowing what half of the sayings meant! (I know. ... Keep Reading...
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This Non-traditional Table: Is It Your Style?
Thursday again already? I knew it was going to be a busy week at My Place, but boy has it flown by! Besides all of that busy-ness, I've been blessed with a visit from Little Man and his Mommy ... with more company coming in tonight ... so I haven't had time to tablescape this week. Instead, I'm going to share with you a very non-traditional table. I'm curious if it's your style ... or not. Here's the setting: I'm running errands in Knoxville, an hour away from home. It's lunchtime, and I'm on my own ... but I don't like eating in public by myself. Something about sitting at a table all alone feeling conspicuous. So instead, I stay in my car and eat lunch in a parking lot ... only to ... Keep Reading...
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Well, Hello, Doily
Welcome to My Place to Yours! If this is your first time to stop by for a visit, I hope you enjoy yourself and come back often. If you've been here before, I'm happy you've returned!When last we met, I was layering and sharing the warmth of a simple, cuddly-soft Winter tablescape ... and I used vintage doilies for one layer of texture. Click here to see the entire tablescape. You may remember that I said doilies are NOT old-fashioned -- and that we should talk about that sometime. Well, I already knew that I was going to do this post today (I'm occasionally organized like that), so here we are. Let's talk about these beauties ... As the story goes, doilies were named for Mr. Doily ... Keep Reading...
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Layering the Warmth … Sharing the Warmth
Brrrrrr! It's been cold at My Place lately, and we've had to layer the clothes when we take our walks. I'm not crazy about layered clothes. Too bulky! I do, however, LOVE layering the dishes! I'm featuring pinecones again this week, but the look is totally different from last week's tablescape. These little Harker Pottery accent plates I found in an auction box last Spring were my inspiration. I've been waiting a long time to use them! I think their "pen-and-ink" look is gorgeous. It's a simple, warm tablescape on this cold day ... A warm, snuggly textured throw makes a great tablecloth ... A simple soup tureen evokes thoughts of ... Keep Reading...
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The End of Life As We Know It …
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. I can't help but wonder ... Is the opposite true, too? Is it possible that life in its truest and best form actually BEGINS the day we stop being silent about things that matter? The day we give voice to someone who has none ... When we value the life stories that came before ours ... ... and let the generation after ours be born to tell theirs. When we stop worrying about awkward situations and show hands-on caring to people whose futures are uncertain ... ... who feel like they're carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders ... ... who work from paycheck to paycheck -- ... Keep Reading...
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A Walk on the Wild Side
Hello, hello! When last we met, I'd been washing pinecones (kind of an odd thing to do, huh?) and you all had some fun responses! I told you I'd be using those freshly-cleaned beauties in this week's tablescape. And I gave you a little peek at an atypical winter tablescape. No cold, snowy feeling here ... So what was my inspiration? I enjoy walks in the woods once the weather turns cool. Underfoot ... the rustle of leaves and the crush of fallen nuts. Overhead ... the soft swish of breezes in the trees. All around ... the sounds of birds and scurrying wildlife. Dominant colors of grey and brown pair with amazing textures ... and the mostly barren earth takes on a beauty ... Keep Reading...
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HOW TO CLEAN PINECONES: Authentic Blogging Gets Dirty
Welcome to the second week of 2012! I hope your new year is off to a great start. It's been a touch and go week at my house: Everything I touched had to go somewhere! That's the kind of year it's going to be while I'm de-cluttering and downsizing and organizing ... and I'm loving it! Yesterday I started thinking about my tablescape for the week and decided to use pinecones ... because the only pinecones I used during the holidays were little ornaments on the woodland tree in Renaissance Man's study ... and I missed seeing the pretty bigger ones. I keep a basket of pinecones in the study year-round, so I went to my easy-reach stash and grabbed a few. And then I looked at them ... and saw dust and cobwebs. Yikes! It's ... Keep Reading...
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2011 Favorite Tablescapes: Playing in the Dishes
Welcome to My Place to Yours and a brand new year of playing in the dishes. If you're a new visitor, I hope you'll feel very welcome ... and come again often! If you're a longtime friend, I'm very glad you're back. If you're like me, different blogs evoke different emotions in you. Some make me laugh; some make me cry; some inspire my creativity; some challenge me. There's one blog that causes me to relax and slow down every.single.time. It's Cabin & Cottage. While it's true I was already working on this post when I saw Jacqueline's The Year in Tablescapes, I guess "borrowing" her idea still makes me a copycat blogger. I told her immediately. Other than the "year in tablescapes" idea, however, our posts have very ... Keep Reading...
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How to Have Personalized Glassware Without the High Price
Happy New Year everyone! I can't begin to tell you how much I've looked forward to this new year! The past few years have been so full of crazy schedules and projects and stresses that somewhere along the way (8 or 9 months ago) I stopped in the middle of what I was doing ... looked at Renaissance Man ... and slowly said: "2012" He probably thought I'd finally lost it, but then I calmly explained that I'd decided 2012 would be the year I was going to take time to re-group ... before I really did lose it! I was going to do what I wanted to do ... like checking things off of my Sally List (how's yours going, by the way?), maintenance projects (they can only be put off so long when you live in an old house!), cooking more ... Keep Reading...
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CLEANING VINTAGE LINENS: How to Make Your Holiday Linens Love You!
Christmas celebrations are passed ... and I suspect some of you have vintage linens you had hoped to use at Christmas ... but you never found/made time to get out the storage stains before the holiday rush. Maybe next year, right? May I offer a suggestion? (It's also called The Voice of Experience.) NOW is the perfect time to take care of those stains ... while schedules are still offering a few slower-paced days than usual. My favorite all-time favorite linen cleaner.? It's called Restoration, and it's available HERE at My Place to Yours on Etsy. You can read the testimonials -- Click the Vintage Linens tab above, then select Restoration ... or you can just see for ... Keep Reading...
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2012: A Clean Slate
I always love the week between Christmas and New Years. If I'm home without company, I take down Christmas decorations and start the new year with not only the proverbial "clean slate," but a clean house as well. If, however, I am blessed to have after-Christmas company or am traveling, that just has to wait a little longer. This year, it has to wait. After a quiet "table for two" on Christmas Day, Renaissance Man and I drove to North Carolina to visit our youngest daughter and her family (aka Little Man and his parents). We're playing and working on some DIY projects they wanted to tackle, so today's post is a tablescape inspiration board -- because I've had no time to tablescape! (I hope to show you some DIYs ... Keep Reading...
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The Carpenter and the Staircase
Have you had a good Christmas? At our house, we've been celebrating the birth of God's son and our Savior, Jesus. How amazing it is to think that, for reasons I can't understand, the Creator of the universe loved me -- and you -- enough to send His only son into our fallen world of humanity ... and in the form of an innocent, dependent child no less. I always marvel at who God chose to be His son's earthly parents; a young girl and a carpenter. God must have seen really special hearts in those two. Hearts that were both compassionate and strong. Hearts that could recognize miracles while providing earthly love and protection ... yet could endure danger and gossip and immeasurable pain. Just a young girl and a carpenter ... ... Keep Reading...
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The Light of the World …
L u x A u r u m q u e Lux, Light, Calida gravisque pura velut aurum warm and heavy as pure gold Et canunt angeli molliter and the angels sing softly Modo natum. to the new-born baby. The angel said... “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord." (Luke 2: 10-11) The words of the angel still ring true. There's no cause for fear. Our Creator gave each of us a gift in the form of a baby. His birth is cause for celebration and joy. The Messiah, the Lord, is born! Merry Christmas to each of you! ... Keep Reading...
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SEASONAL SIMPLICITY: A Lenox Holiday Tablescape
It seems from your comments on last week's Berry Pretty post that many of you love red berries as much as I do ... So let's continue the theme! You can imagine how I felt a few years ago when I spotted four 5-piece place settings of virtually unused Lenox Holiday china at an estate auction. I'd never owned any fine Christmas china (and I'd long admired the beautifully simple holly pattern of Holiday), so I was excited when I got it for only pennies on the dollar. Obviously, it's the perfect choice for today's berry-theme tablescape. When using gold-rimmed china, you can either turn UP the ritzy/glitzy factor ... or turn it DOWN. This year I'm enjoying simple, so I turned it down. A large pedestal ... Keep Reading...
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HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
Children add a special *sparkle* to Christmas, don't they? I loved watching the twinkle in Little Man's eyes recently as he helped decorate the Christmas tree in "Poppa's room." He loved putting the brass ornaments and antlers and pheasant feathers on the woodland-theme tree. I'll admit it ... and if you are kind enough to visit My Place very often, you already know: Children hold a special place in my heart. Their kindness and innocence and common sense are so refreshing ... and I've always thought that the most important job I ever had was raising my daughters. I'm not a perfect parent (who is?), but I'm a darn good parent -- and grandparent -- and I take that role very seriously. So ... Keep Reading...
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WAITING FOR THE SUN … The Coming of the Light
My internal clock was still on Eastern time ... but I was on the West Coast for The Big Event ... when I had an Advent experience. That was two months ago. Waking long before my alarm, I walked to the window of our 24th floor hotel room, and this is what I saw. In person, it was absolutely stunning. Catching my breath, I reached for my camera. A new day was trying to dawn, and for me it was going to be a very busy one ... but I stood there in awe, just waiting ... waiting for the sun ... while below me commuters, oblivious to the beauty overhead, fought the early morning traffic ... parking lots filled up with office workers ... and passengers on airplanes prepared to land. Oblivious. Yet ... Keep Reading...
