Source My name is Susan, and I'm a hopeless romantic. That means, of course, that I'm also a wedding junkie. I love all aspects of weddings. The dresses, the flowers, the invitations, the music ... but especially the details. I once thought I'd go the wedding planner route, but thankfully I didn't, because while I love "all things wedding," I do not love the stress or "attitude" that so many people bring to the planning process. I could NEVER be a wedding planner. Helping my own daughters plan their weddings was a pleasure, and dabbling with friends' kids' weddings is a blast, but that is E-nough to scratch my "wedding planner" itch. These days, if I can set aside the concerns I have about the exorbitant amounts of ... Keep Reading...
Is SPREADING THE LOVE on Your List?
1. Work on writing project - making good progress 2. Tablescape - pics and post DONE 3. "If It's Paper" theme: choose items, take pics (started) 4. Pay bills 5. Send cards/notes to several people 6. Catch up laundry after having company - making progress 7. Work on Valentine Dinner plans for Samaritan House This was my to-do list for last week, but I didn't finish it. (Debbie, you must be having a negative influence on me! Anybody else read the "list" post at Words On Wheels?) The truth is, I felt more like Janette who went to the doctor (five years late) and got all sorts of hassle from the nurse about not showing up sooner. So she's not a sickly person. Good for ... Keep Reading...
Valentines of Hope
Happy weekend, friends! Several of you have blessed me so much by contacting me this weekend about the Valentine Project for the girls of Hope Unlimited for Children. (If you don't know what that is, it's not too late! Just click the link above to read about it on Renaissance Man's blog.) You've been working on your Valentines ... writing blog posts about the project ... organizing groups of friends to help you. Oh, how excited the girls will be when they receive your sweet gifts of love! Thank you for caring. Here are the answers to the main questions I've received ... 1) How old are these girls? Most will be in the 10-17 age range. 2) What language do they speak? How will they know what I ... Keep Reading...
Shadow Dancing with St. Valentine
Thank you to everyone who has told me you'll be making Valentines for the girls at Hope Unlimited for Children. (Some of you have already started!) Others of you plan to gather friends and make it an "event." Bless you! Don't know about the Valentine Project? Check it out HERE. One of you wrote with a request: Would you kindly let your fellow bloggers know that the coming 'heart day' is ST. Valentine's Day; not just Valentine's Day ... no one would say Happy Patrick's Day when it is well known as ST. PATRICK'S DAY. She is absolutely correct that Valentine was a saint like Patrick ... and absolutely correct that most of us (myself included) tend to shorten the name of "heart day" to ... Keep Reading...
Growing Up Valentine: Rites of Passage
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
