How do you make a silk purse out of a sow's ear?

This is one way ...

I had the pleasure of helping a few really talented women decorate the inside of a barn for a wedding reception.I think it turned out so rustic lovely.  These pictures were made before the reception started.

the gift table was just outside the barn door, with a vintage suitcase used to hold gift cards

the flowers on the bench belong to the bride's attendants and her little flower girls

The bride's colors were blue, green and white

The dessert center

about 100 pom-pom's were made and hung from the rafters and all around the barn, lots of white lights, and a couple of chandeliers.  It was so pretty and especially after dark with all the lights

A dance floor that glowed in the dark for the bride and groom and anyone else that felt like shaking their tail feathers.  The hay bales filled up with little children when the dancing started.  

This was where the food was set up.  They served a couple a hundred people BBQ, and the fixings

It looked really pretty after we got it all set up

a beverage center.  there were lots of mirrors and lamps used inside the barn, which reflected a lot of light

center pieces

The dessert center was a piece of work! and so delicious!  I think I tried all of them!

But first, the wedding cake.  The cake topper was appropriate for this couple as they love to dance.

The bride wore white cowboy boots, and all of her girls wore brown boots

From a little girl's playhouse to a Honeymoon Suite ...

I think the bride's brothers may have fixed this up for her?

 and their get-a-away tracker

It was fun.  I am so glad I was asked to help.

He makes mother's day gifts too

a few years ago I saw one of these potting benchs at an antique store in town

it was so cute, but WAY over priced.  I took a couple of pictures of it and showed it to my mister, electrician, carpenter, padna in crime kinda guy and asked, will you make me one of these?

This is what he created one afternoon ..... he made it out of scrap wood he found in garbage piles in our neighborhood.  we live in a new subdivision and when a new house is built a lot of lumber is thrown away.

a couple of years later I painted it with a couple of colors that I mixed together. 

it has served us well and I've had fun decorating it

then .... I saw another one in the Pottery Barn catalog.  It is smaller and even more expensive than the first one I saw at the antique store.  I asked if he would modify this one?

his response was, you sell that one and I'll make you another one.

WHAAA???  It was game on!  If you know me, you know how I love to sell my stuff!

 I put on craigslist - of course, it sold it pretty quick. 

last Saturday night, a girl called and asked if we still had the potting bench listed on craigslist?  I told her that it sold.  She said her mother really wanted it.  Jeff said, tell her I'll make her one.  So we worked out the "deal" and this is what some lucky mama in Bartlett is getting for Mother's Day.

I am going to show it off at Savvy Southern Style's WOW party. 
Y'all should check it out.  Over 300 amazing post so far. 

Happy Mother's day this Sunday

xo, g

sometimes no just doesn't make sense to me

but, I've been know to do a lot of things that don't make sense to me, much less to anyone else

This soda shop table and chairs just spoke to me the moment I saw it.  $35.00.  Yes please.

I could so easily invision my three little grandgirls playing around it.  I might clean it up a bit, and maybe recover the seat bottoms, and maybe try to push it off on my DIL, but for now, it is on my back porch looking so sweet and cute .... and waiting for someone to come over and play

Thrifty Treasures

http://southernhospitalityblog.com/thrifty-treasures-4-22/

a few Saturday mornings ago

 first up .... this lovely french chest that I found at an estate sale 

A great candidate for a make-over  - she is clean as a pin and in great shape

 I just knew my bestie would probably love to add this piece to her french collection

I picked this up at my favorite antique store in Slayden, Mississippi

I can't decide if I should paint it or refinish it.  I think I like the dark wood 

this would be easy to sand down and put a couple of coats of stain on it  

for $1.00 - I couldn't resist

and a buck for these flip-flops ...  they have already served me well

more on that left foot soon... brace yourself ... the pics are ugly scary

good luck "sailing"  this Saturday!
I am posting this to Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures party - check it out and see what others are finding

we went back

I have to show you the BLT we ate at The Tomato Place 

 and a little more funkadelic I noticed while we waited on our sandwich and fresh fruit smoothy

 I wasn't sure what to order, so I asked an ole man sitting around killing time, what was good?

Without hesitation, he said the BLT.  I wish I had taken his picture.  Features that stuck with me are that he was old, a little heavy, bald, smiling, and a toothpick.  You get the idea...  But, I felt silly asking him.  

However, after spending about 10 minutes with the man, I silently wondered if we would be eating our sandwich with him.   I should have just asked him.  He was a perfect live fixture to this joint.

This was the BLT club and it was so delicious

But, I love tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches, and bacon is a bonus

we stopped by after a hard rain storm and sat in the back of the place

windows open, cool breeze blowing through, Jeff across the table from me

yes please!

okay, enough about this place... hope you find your own little road side stand this summer

or at least fry up a pound of bacon and make BLT's for supper one night soon

xxoo

The Tomato Place

I will make a u-turn in the road for a roadside fruit stand  ... and "The Tomato Place" did not disappoint.  Jeff is working in Vicksburg, MS, and I motored down last Friday and spent the weekend with him there.  

this little place was listed in the local newspaper as a site to see - fresh produce, boiled peanuts, fresh lemonade, and fresh fruit smoothies.  We got a strawberry/banana smoothie that was so delicious

it was warm and sunny outside and bright and cheery inside

a wall of homemade marmalade

I wondered if these pecans were left over from the fall harvest?

peanut butter and banana anyone?  Occasionally they have live music - and you can eat a simple lunch or "get a bite to eat" as so often said in the south 

a shout out to my Ole Miss buddies

I think this is a Martin birdhouse.  One of those you would put on a pole up high in the air

it starts getting good for me when the funky and unexpected is just hanging around 

it was a cozy little place that had a radio playing in the back and was certainly worth the short ride over from our hotel ...  next time I want to eat a tomato sandwich, and corn on the cob.

Good times in Virginia

Amzie is a 1st grader this year, and wears these pink and brown converse shoes

Camryn loves to be outside, and loves her daddy

  

but she is crazy in love with her mama!

Marlena is adorable pregnant ... almost 6 months along here

We had lunch with Amzie at school

Evan goes to Kindergarden next year ... he sure looked small next to those 1st graders

Now I need to work on getting over to California to see my girl!