Cabo Birthday Table

Happy birthday to me!  

Since I turned 40 we have always gone 

someplace warm for my cold and dreary 

January birthday.  

Now that we have our home finished 

in Cabo, and since Mexico is so 

welcoming to tourists, we have been 

coming here for my birthday.  

This is my first tablescape that I 

have created at our Cabo home.  

This is out on our deck overlooking 

the ocean.  

If you follow me on IG you 

may have seen the surprise my 

husband gave me with a tub 

full of gorgeous roses.  

He was actually the one who suggested 

that I use the roses for a tablescape 

before they wilted. 

I asked him when he got the roses 

and prepared the tub filled with 

roses.  He had also gifted me a two 

hour massage at the house, so he 

slipped away to get the roses and 

filled the tub and the room with candles 

while I was having my massage.

What a guy!!! 

We tore down our old house and rebuilt on 

the same lot.  We had used the house for 12 

years and had originally planned on 

doing this within 3 years, but when the 

economy crashed in 2008, we put off 

the tear down and were glad we did.  

Friends drove a 15 passenger van down 

for us as the house was getting 

finished and we filled it to the 

roof.  That way I was able to bring 

down 6 sets of plates, glasses and 

flatware.  These plates were from 

Home Goods.  

I love the flatware, but I have to say 

that the white hasn't held up.  It has 

chipped off and now is actually peeling 

off and we have only had a year and a 

half of use.  

These gold glasses were purchased online. 

I placed the roses in gold 

plastic bins that I got from 

Home Goods.  They adorn my 

pantry shelves.  

The gold placemats were from Amazon. 

The built in granite table has 

soft blues and golds in it so it 

is beautiful near the ocean. 

And as a special treat for you, 

while I was taking my photos 

a cruise ship passed by.  

The marina has been filled with 

3 cruise ships at a time on most days.  

This time of year is whale season, 

so along with the cruise ships, 

we get a good show of whales 

with adults teaching young whales 

how to jump and to slap their fins. 

Thanks for stopping by to visit. 

I will be posting with 

Tablescapes Thursday

Love Your Creativity

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 

Lemon Raspberry Wow Cake

Birthday time for one of the Crafty Girls -

Jann, from Have A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson,

that I featured on my last post,

and I volunteered to make the cake.

I decided to make my 

Lemon Raspberry Cream Cake,

but I wanted to jazz it up a bit.

I played around with some white chocolate

coating, cutting it into triangles, and

making swoops with the back of a spoon,

and then dusting it with pink praline powder

that I got in Paris.

I dolled up some lemon and raspberry macarons

that I found at Costco ($15 for 36) with a little

glitter.

Some pearls and fresh raspberries finished off

the top of the cake.

I love the look of these wing-like swoops.

Just dip your spoon in the white chocolate

and smear it onto parchment paper.  Make

extras in case the thin chocolate at the edge

breaks when you remove it.

The frosting is a lemon whip cream, so we took

a quick picture and then put it back in the

fridge until we served it after dinner.  

Jann's birthday cake was lit off with these amazing

Sparkler Candles.  

I had seen them years ago in a fancy restaurant in

town, and tried to contact the company to purchase them,

but no luck!  Now you can buy them online!  

They are the perfect topping for this showstopper cake.

Posting this with

Share Your Cup Thursday

Dishing it and Digging it

Hometown Roadtrip Tablescape

Let me take you on a roadtrip tonight halfway

across the United States and back to visit

all of the hometowns of my friends in the

Crafty Girls group.

We are gathered for the first time this summer

at Joanne's again in her beautiful back yard and

her huge gazebo.  She has set the table for

us celebrating our home states.

Pack your vintage suitcases and come along.

(Notice the vintage state of Wisconsin hankie that

she has sewn onto a pillow - my home state!)

Each place setting started with a road map

place mat to anchor the stack of plates, featuring

the lady's home state plate.  I love her use of

these vintage state plates.  We had several from

Utah.

Isn't the plate from Oregon great?

The napkin rings were oversized tires tied up with a 

travel ticket.

Chargers were black with gold rim metal platters

from various states.

The centerpiece was filled with fresh flowers - as if

picked along the roadside.  Banners between two chippy

garden towers were made out of postcards from the lady's

states and hearts made from maps.

The back of each garden chair was adorned

with an airplane folded from a map,

and a postcard from that state,

along with a car, so we could travel in style.

Of course, we need to don a pair of sunglasses.

Joanne doesn't miss a detail, so each placesetting

had your initial done up as a souvenir magnet

featuring a roadmap with your hometown.  Mine

happened to be the longest trip!

We each got a cookie featuring a postcard from

our home state too!  They were so fresh, they were

bending in the summer heat.  Amy made the adorable

and delicious cookies.

Of course Joanne decorates the huge shed turned

into gazebo with the travel theme.

I love these road trip hearts made into a banner.

Tonight's party was in honor of Jann's birthday.

Jann has a wonderful blog at

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson.

Go and meet her if you haven't already

become friends with her!  So fun to have

a real blogging friend!!!

I made the cake, which I will tell you more about in 

my next blog!  

After the fun and festivities, we sat down to work

on a crazy quilt pin cushion, demonstrated by Brenda.

This is her sample!  We all had fun starting to embellish

ours, but the project will have to be finished at home.

Thanks for an amazing party Joanne.  Everyone 

contributes to the dinner or craft, so thanks to

Laura, Jann, Brenda, Natalie, Karen and Amy too.

Of course the birthday girl doesn't have to do anything

but smile!!  Happy birthday Jann.

I will be posting this with 

Tablescapes Thursday

Share Your Cup Thursday

Dishing it & Digging It