A Winter Picnic

It's my motto!

I learned it from my mom!

My Aunt Judy, see her wonderful blog here,

gave me this little plate...

isn't it the "sweetest"?

Under the sky blue sky...

we gather ....

With the warm winter sun....

casting it's glow all around.

China cups and

 a silver pot with steaming hot tea.

A "room" with a view.

My Mom Mom's candlewick dishes...

add the sparkle I love!

Mom Mom's Sheridan silver reflects the world around!

China cups are marked

3541- Georgiana

M Japan.

I found the sugar container at a local thrift store.

My mom uses one like this for my grandma's powder creamer....

It makes me smile each morning to get my sugar

out of something so pretty!

The candlesticks and candles 

were all gathered from different

thrift stores over the past few months.

Home Made Auntie Annes

(thanks to Wayne and the kids!)

My friend, Elyce, surprised me last year

with this wonderful handmade picnic blanket!

The pink edging is simply

the icing on the cake!

Thank you for joining me today on my Winter Picnic!

I am linking to 

Tablescape Thursday

at Between Naps On the Porch!

It's a small, small world

My family has always enjoyed a good

music show.... and now

with the onset of reality TV there is plenty to choose from!

The X Factor

The Sing Off

America's Got Talent

and our favorites...

The Voice

and 

American Idol.

Last week

 American Idol announced

their top 24!

How cool that out of the top 24

we have connections with two!

Eben Franckewitz

lives locally and goes to my church!

We saw him in the lead roll of

Tom Sawyer, this past fall!

Sing

Act

This 15 year old can do it all!

Phillip Phillips

is my friend Amanda's cousin!

Phillip is ultra talented too.

His voice and personality

shine every time he sings!

What a small world!

Both photos are from the American Idol website!

Sneak Peek

New Project!

My Three Chairs

Wayne and I have been on a quest for

new side chairs for our dining room table.

We finally found what we were looking for...

of all places...

in our shed!

These mismatched chairs belonged to my

Pop Pop and Mom Mom.

Some sanding...

and a few coats of White Satin spray paint

and

some material to match our "blue print blue"!

And we ended up with...

this!

Each chair has it's own personality!

We are looking for one more chair

to complete our set!

I am linking to the following parties:

Metamorphosis Monday at

Between Naps On the Porch 

Wow Us Wednesdays

at Savvy Southern Style

Winter Blues Wednesday

at DYI by Design

I  finally got my Linky Followers up and running!

I would love if you followed either by

Linky Followers or traditional GFC!

Thank you!

Downsized

I never would have thought just little over a year ago,

that we would have

downsized.

Downsized our house

 from this to

this.

Our old house had

6 bedrooms

4 full baths

2 laundry rooms

2 kitchens

you get the point

bigger than these

4 people and 2 dogs needed.

(Wayne was taking the photo!)

Funny when we started to evaluate

what rooms we lived in, I mean really spent time in,

we narrowed it down to

the family room

the kitchen

the breakfast room

and of course the

 bedrooms.

We were blessed to have been able to design and

build our old home!  And it served us well for 7 years.

But two years ago I started

hearing God speaking to my heart...

downsize.

So we started looking for where

He would lead us to go.

In His wisdom and grace

He led us here

Our 3 bedroom

2 1/2 bath

HOME!

We have been richly blessed!

In keeping with a recent blog trend of

"keeping it real"

the journey hasn't been all rainbows and unicorns!

If you regularly follow my blog,

you know that we spent most of last year

gutting and rebuilding the new house.

We encountered...

termites

asbestos scares

exploding grinder blades,

rust in the eyes... not once but twice,

fatigue like I've never known before,

misordered doors and windows,

kids who lived on Ramen because

the parents were "at the house",

the 6 of us "practiced" downsizing

by cramming into a 

small 2 bedroom apartment

for 5 months,

multiple leaky ceilings

to name a few.

Just keeping it real!

Through it all God provided!

His strengtht, His love, His healing

and in the end

we were better for it.

Stronger

Wiser

 I might even add 

Happier!

Now, on any given night of the week

you can find us here

watching reruns of NCIS.

Or here

whipping up dinner, cupcakes

even an art project or two!

or here

 at the table eating together!

Life is an adventure and whether

we were in the big house,

tiny apartment

or

 our new "just right" home

we are a family.

And

We are Blessed.