MacKenzie Childs Pie Plate Winner

Happy Valentine's Week to the lucky winner

of this giveaway of a 9.5 inch 

MacKenzie-Childs pie plate (or dish,

or bowl, or whatever you want to use it for.)

I used the random number generator to

choose the winner, and the lucky lady is....

Bonnie

at

Living With Thanksgiving.

I think she is going to love this.  I know

I love mine!

I love how the pattern changes on the underside,

and the gold rim.

And I am even including a couple of

bags of these fun mega-sized

Valentine M&M's with messages on some.

Speaking of Valentine's -

hubby gave me this gorgeous box

of chocolates - lips, heels, lipstick

and gold - how girly and gorgeous and

delicious too!

Visit Bonnie to tell her congratulations

on winning!

Happy Valentine's Table and Surprise Giveaway

Happy Valentine's to the cutest couple I know!

They turned 90 this last year, and they are

still romantic, and kissing, and holding hands,

and even dancing together.

I created this surprise tablescape for

my husband.  He loves to come home to

a romantic table for two in front of the fireplace.

It makes him feel special, and I always

get just a little giddy setting it.

It is easy now that there are only two

of us at home, but we used to pull the

coffee table in front of the fire and

do a fun dinner for the kids too, as they

sat on the rug.  There are so many ways

to create special memories around food.

Since we just got home from a Valentine's

celebration Disney trip for the two of us, 

I decided to create a Mickey and Minnie

Valentine's Day table for us in front

of the fireplace.

Everything is set in signature red and white

with heart placemats, one of my favorite white

wood chargers, red and white alternating plates

and Minnie's signature red with white polka dots.

I have several red goblets to choose from,

but I chose these that I bought years ago.

The table is featuring my new Mickey Mouse flatware

that I purchased at Disneyland.  As much as we 

love Mickey and Minnie, these are a perfect 

addition to our home.

Despite pouring rain that I mentioned in my

last post, we ventured out to get these on our

last day.  I could have bought all kinds of 

dishware.  They had some new plates - maybe

next time!

The Mickey flatware looks cute on top

of a heart-shaped napkin fold.

Also brought home from Disneyland this time

were these wonderful Disney "Kitchen Sinks"

that we had sundaes in.  I just had to feature

them on our table.

Of course I ordered Minnie's,

and hubby ordered Mickey's.  

They are large and make quite the sundae.  

We got them at Clarabelle's in California Disney.

I had actually been wanting them for some time,

but we were always too full to order them,

so we had them for our lunch.

Hubby hasn't seen the table yet.

I can't wait to see his face when he

walks into the living room.

He is so cute - he sends me pictures

via text to remind me of a fun vacation,

or to say, "Let's get away" again.  He

really does appreciate things like this.

Now on to the giveaway mentioned in

my post last week

The surprise giveaway is this great

MacKenzie-Childs 9.5" pie plate (or serving bowl).

To qualify to win just click here,

leave a comment on that post, guessing

where my MacKenzie-Childs pieces

traveled to for my birthday in January.

Be sure to enter before midnight February 8, 2019.

The winner will be chosen from the correct

guesses - pretty easy - you can even look at

the other comments (haha).  If you don't have a

blog where I can contact you, leave your email.

Remember you can't win if I can't get ahold of

you to get your address!!!!  Then another random

winner will have to be chosen.

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Dishing It and Digging It

Happy Valentines Day Disney Style

Are you all decorated for Valentine's Day with

hearts and flowers and fun?  We are ready here

at Purple Chocolat Home!!

We decided to run away for a couple of days

to get out of the cold and celebrate

Valentine's Day since we will be entertaining

a houseful of our

 Young Single Adults on Valentine's Day.

We loved seeing Disneyland at Valentine's Day.

There were hearts everywhere.  We had never

been for Valentine's Day before so it was

fun.

The truth is, we had looked at the weather the week

before and we would be exchanging the 20's and 30's

for high 70's.  As luck would have it, we ended up with

rain, rain, and more rain!

Now Disneyland can be fun when it is raining

a little, because a lot of people stay away, but

when it is a deluge - wow!!

We got there the first day, and fortunately they

had our room ready, so we hung out in the room

until the downpour was over.  It was quite a sight

seeing little families dragging back to the hotel

dripping wet.  We were lucky and the rain stopped

for the rest of that day and the next.

So off we went to enjoy all of the Valentine's Day fun.

I just loved all of their great displays and windows.

Minnie was in this darling dress I have

never seen before.  This dress is for Mickey's

Get Your Ears On celebration.  She was

just adorable.

There were Valentine's banners and hearts all up

and down Main Street.

We celebrated by signing

 up for another year's pass.  We are just

two kids at heart, and it is just a short

plane flight for us. 

But in the end, I think it may be all about food!  

As long as Disney keeps coming up with

fun foods, we will probably keep coming back!

Their seasonal flavoring on their Mickey Beignets

for Valentine's Day is Chocolate Strawberry.

Wow, this was such a hit!  (We try to share everything

so we can try more things!)

The new Tropical Hideaway, just around the corner

from the Tiki Room has a Raspberry and Pineapple 

Twist float that we ordered and Loaded Pineapple 

Whip with fresh fruit and those little chocolate

sticks!  There is a really nice place to sit and enjoy

that now and at night it is beautiful with the Tiki torches.

Of course, on the first day - rain, rain, rain, there was

no line for the Dole Pineapple Whip.

Last time we discovered Harbour Galley,

right across from the Haunted Mansion.

It is so tiny that I never even noticed it -

but wow - their lobster roll.  I couldn't get

enough of that.

We discovered these Garlic Cheese Breadsticks

after we watched a kids' show at the Royal Theater.

They are warm, so great on a colder day and they

come with a marinara dipping sauce.

We were craving warm things so this 

yummy treat from the Cozy Cone just hit the spot.

We don't wait in line at Car's Land - we go

for the single rider line.

Have you had a chance to try the

Nom Noms in Disney California?

They sell them right after the

Incredicoaster - Jack Jack has been

chasing them all through the coaster.

They are heated right before you buy

them and that makes them so soft and

melty!  Wow, they were great on a

cooler day.

At the last minute hubby wanted to try and get

in to The Blue Bayou.  As you may know, those

reservations are made months in advance, but

they do have space for walk-ins.  We got lucky.

We enjoyed our gumbo 

and Monte Cristo sandwiches,

but we had to try the Passion Fruit Pillows for

dessert.  

Oh wow!  Happy Valentine's Day to us!!!

This dessert is just for Valentine's, so you

would have to try it pretty soon.

Imagine layers of passion fruit mouse with

a thin layer of cake, covered in what I assume

is a white chocolate spray, and then topped

with a raspberry mousse heart.

It really does look like a pillow with a heart

placed on it for your Valentine!

Notice the garnish of gold on the heart and the

mini candy hearts all over the plate.

It was truly amazing.  We loved it so much

that we ordered one to go and took it back

to our room to have the next day.

The chocolate layer cake paled in comparison,

and only had a few bites taken out of it.

What a great Valentine's Day celebration,

despite the rain.  It was fun to do it

early and see what Disneyland had to offer,

and to kick of February in such a fun way.

We had to agree that if you were going there

to celebrate Valentine's Day, and wanted to get

engaged, or wanted a romantic photo in front

of the castle, you would be truly disappointed.

The Castle is all covered up for painting right now.

Fireworks with that were a bit of a let down,

but everything else was a lot of Disney magic!

Tales of the Traveling Tote Special Edition - Where In The World Is...And A Giveaway

Today we have a special edition of our

Tales of The Traveling Tote, or

what we affectionately refer to as

TTT.

We each have taken some pieces of our

MacKenzie-Childs along with us somewhere

and photographed them on location.  We

brought a bowl, dish, cup, mug or whatever

piece we wanted to.

Your job is to guess where we went

and for followers of 

Purple Chocolat Home

there will be a surprise giveaway

of a MacKenzie-Childs item!!

Hooray!!!

Of course, Miss Madi K, my Traveling Tote,

came along to help carry all of my goodies

on the plane - clue #1 I had to fly there.

I decided to go all out and not just bring a

piece of MacKenzie-Childs, but a tablesetting!

Ahh, you know me!  Let's set a table wherever

we go, and these gorgeous scalloped MC's

plates are enamel, so they travel quite

easily.

We went there for my birthday which was in

early January - we always try to get out of the

snow and cold to make getting older a little

easier.  Clue #2 It was somewhere tropical.

Since only hubby and I were going it was easy

to pack two of everything I needed.

The plate stack was anchored by silver ruffled

placemats, and topped with silver salad plates.

They were the only breakable things, but I

wrapped them in the napkins.

I brought along my beautiful starfish napkin rings.

Black flatware went perfectly with the MC enamel plates,

and a couple of plastic goblets completed the

setting!  Those had to be plastic, as I felt the

goblets would be most vulnerable to breaking.

Clue #3 We have been here before, last spring

with some friends.  Our favorite spot to camp out

during the day by the pool was greatly discounted because

my birthday is after all of the holiday vacationers

have gone home, so we got a cabana every day.

We ordered lunch by the pool everyday

and of course it was made more beautiful

by being served on MC!

Fabulous pool side shrimp cocktails,

and yummy nachos.

For those of you who follow us on 

Tales of the Traveling Totes, it would

be so fun for you to see how supportive

our hubbies are in all of our craziness!

They help us tote our bags, and set up

our items and even take photos sometimes.

They can even be hand models!

This picture will probably give it away!

Yes, we took the Leap of Faith,

a 60 foot drop, and we have the wristbands

to prove it.

Last time my friend and I waited in a long, long

line and when we got to the front of the line

we looked down and chickened out.

This time there was no line, so we

didn't have time to get scared.  Of

course hubby blazed the trail and I

figured it went by so fast that I was

going to do it!  I closed my eyes so I

wouldn't freak myself out!  Let me say,

it was so smooth and easy.  So glad

I tried it.

Yes, you go through the shark tank

but you are going so fast you don't see

a thing.  The milder slide right next to it

lets you go slowly through the shark tank

so you can see them milling about, waiting

for dinner....hopefully not me!

Clue #4 This is the iconic view you would

see advertising this resort, although I am

giving you a night view.

My birthday week was a blast filled with sun and

fun, water and good food and being with my

best friend, hubby dear, who took this

photo on the Rapid River. (He got a

great waterproof phone cover at the resort.)

Take a guess as to where we were and leave

a comment below.  I left a clue throughout

the pictures if you look closely.

The MC prize and the prize winner will be announced

February 8th.  If you don't have a blog where I

can contact you, please leave an email.  This 

giveaway will not be limited to just US addresses -

woohoo!

Now we are back to more snow than we have

had in years and years (hooray for the water in

the spring).  This was a controlled avalanche

up Provo Canyon that closed the road for

two days.  

Take a few minutes to visit other members

of our Traveling Totes Group.  Some of 

them might also be holding a giveaway!!!!

I can't wait to see where they have gone, and

what MC dish, mug, bowl, etc they brought 

along with them.

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Katie with Miss Daisy @ Preppy Empty Nester

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women  

Come back and visit all of us on March 1st

for another regularly scheduled 

Tales of The Traveling Tote 

and another giveaway.

I just love giveaways! 

I will also be posting this

with

Dishing It and Digging It

and 

Tablescapes Thursday