Surprise Early Valentine's

We have big plans for Valentine's Day, but

we are entertaining a group, so I decided to

surprise hubby tonight with an early 

Valentine's Day dinner,

complete with card and gifts,

on the coffee table in front of the fireplace.

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw that

hubby brought home red and white roses

yesterday after watching a Hallmark movie

together.  The movie was Perfect Match

and it was about a man and woman butting

heads while trying to plan his nephew's 

wedding.  You learn in the movie the

meaning of red and white roses, so my

sweetheart showed up with red and white

roses the day after.  He really is addicted

to Hallmark movies, and we both love watching

them.

I decided I would surprise him with a dinner

featuring his red roses.

I just love my fur and gold coffee tables

and a heart shaped fur pillow would be the

perfect seat to use as we eat dinner in

front of the fire.

The placesetting starts with a red woven heart-shaped

placemat.  It is topped with three white plates,

the final one set on an angle.

I tossed a few rose petals on the plates and

the fur.

I picked up a little greenery at the grocery store

and layered that down the center and tucked in

some of the gorgeous red roses.

The were so fragrant.  You could smell them as

I set the table, and later hubby could smell

them as he was eating.

A few red votives were mingled in.

These cute plates set off to the side of

the main place setting.

These heavy ruby goblets were ones that I had

custom ordered in Cabo a few years ago.

 My ruby red flatware worked perfectly.

The red is so powerful, it is offset nicely

by all of the white.

These napkins were Home Goods finds 

last year.

A magnificent cream puff decorated

with Valentine's Day candies topped each plate.

I just love these little domed stems.  They make

any dessert extra special.

Here is a picture without the dome.  

I had to get a shot off the balcony

of our fireside dining. 

Over the years we have loved setting a low table

in the great room in front of the fireplace.  

It always makes dining so special.

I placed a couple of fun and simple gifts

on his pillow to surprise him.  I found this

cute Trophy Husband tee online and had 

made a year review of 2017 on Chatbook

and another trip book from Disneyland and Hawaii.

He came in and immediately told me what a

rough day he had.  He lit up when he saw the

surprise, grabbed his camera and started taking

pictures, and then said that he needed to buy

me flowers more often!

We both agreed it was fun to celebrate early,

so it could be just the two of us.

I will be posting this surprise with

Tablescapes Thursday

Share Your Cup Thursday

Dishing It and Digging It

Desserts Only Valentines Table

Sometimes a table is inspired by one thing

and when I saw these gorgeous placemats

I knew they would be so fun for a tablescape.

We were getting together after going

out for Valentine's dinner, and I was providing

dessert, so I set this simple table without a dinner

plate - just in honor of dessert.  

Pink and gold are perfect to decorate

the Valentine's Day table with.  I really had

a hard time covering up the fun heart in the

middle, so the dessert plate stack sat to the upper

left corner.

See, this is just too hard to cover up!

My darling pink and gold polka dot cupcake

pedestals match perfectly placed atop a white

and gold polka dot plate.

 Of course we had to use some gold flatware.

Love these sparkling pink votives.

 The pink goblets came out for this

table.  My niece gifted these to me.

They were my mother's and she had

inherited them.  I always think of both

of them when I use them.

I have had these pink script blossoms

for years and they were a fun addition

to the table, and they don't wilt.

Company is coming over for dessert and

I am going to share that with you soon!

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Posting with

Tablescapes Thursday

Love Post from Hubby - Happy Valentine's Day

A Valentine Post from my dear husband.

He has totally embraced blogging - his is

just personal, and sent to family and friends

through texting.  I had to share his "post"

that he sent to me and the kids this morning.

Seven reasons you are my Valentine.

#1  You started dreaming with me, and you have never stopped.  

You have given me wings to fly.

#2  You became my teacher and you have taught me

everything, and I love you for that.

#3  You always wanted to be a mom, have a family

and spend time together.

#4  Your heart has always been true blue and

faithful to living the gospel, and you taught me to serve.

#5  You have said in word and deed... "Entreat me not to leave

thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou

goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge."

#6  You are the music of my life, spiritually,

mentally, physically, in every way.

#7  You are beautiful, you always turn my head and I feel

like I can fly when I am next to you.

P.S.  I love you, and that means forever.....

Be my Valentine with a golden Kiss.....

Or kisses!

What a romantic, and how beautiful that he 

would share it with our children!

Hope your Valentine's Day is filled with

giving and receiving love!

Birthday, Birthweek, Birthmonth - Birthday Table

Now this is a table for a queen, or at least

I was treated like one!  

You may remember that over a year ago, I was invited

to join a crafting group after we did a Christmas 

Home Tour.  Since then we have also added in

celebrating everyone's birthdays, and since I always

choose to run away someplace warm for my birthday,

and the other ladies have busy, busy schedules too,

this week we finally got together to celebrate

my birthday.  I love extending it, now it has to become

my birthday, birthweek, birthmonth and BEYOND!

The birthday girl always gets this huge crown on her plate.

I am happy to accept celebrations long past the day!!

As I get older, there is so much more to celebrate and

each year is a blessing.

Since it is winter and we can't enjoy Joanne's back yard,

she and Laura put together this royal table at Laura's house

where Laura said she had to get a new dining table and

chairs.  In over 25 years, she said she never had a real

dining table.  Glad I could be her excuse!!! Haha!!

Joanne is magical at festooning everything, even the

window is draped.  

The chairs were also decked out for royalty.  

What a beautiful setting.  

They wouldn't let me go into

the dining room until it was all ready.

The table was done in golds with pink and vintage 

Valentine's accents.

This time, each plate had a crown atop it.

The stack started with Joanne's aunt's scalloped

gold rimmed plate.  They are so beautiful.  She found

the other plates in the stack at thrift shops.  They said they

were glad that I was fancy (think Fancy Nancy), so that

they could do this elegant table in gold.

I don't know why they would say that - haha!!

Each place setting had vintage Valentine's cards too.

A vintage Valentine cookie tops this clear plate, under

which was another vintage Valentine, dated from 1906.

The cookies were made by the beautiful and talented

Amy at _thebakeaholic on Instagram.

Her cookies literally melt in your mouth.

Each of us had a different one.  Some said they were 

too pretty to eat, but you know me, I didn't have any problem 

eating them!  They were fantastic.

The beautiful pink for Valentine's Day was

carried out in the glasses and the raspberry lemonade.

I loved Laura's fun gold flatware, where every

item was a different pattern.

This cherub is eyeing a delicious Shirley's roll - 

a local bakery here.

We each received a Valentine's Day bottle brush tree to

take home with us.

Laura had a virtual forest of the beautiful bottle brush trees,

on her tall buffet,

 that she had made.  Aren't the colors just beautiful?

Click here for a tutorial on how to make those.

I wouldn't have even though to make them for 

Valentine's Day and they are stunning!  

I want a forest of them too.

  

What a lucky birthday girl to be treated like royalty

with friends who all brought dishes for the dinner.

We had Brie en Croute, Pickled Asparagus wrapped

in Ham and Cream Cheese, Strawberry Vinaigrette Salad,

Herb Crusted Chicken Breast, with Broccolini, and

Gruyere Potatoes.

But the piece de resistance was this gorgeous

gold encrusted birthday cake.  Also made

by Amy Perkins.

It was a Raspberry Cheesecake Cake.  It featured

a layer of cheesecake flavored cake, a layer of crunchy

graham cracker, a layer of cheesecake filling, a layer

of raspberry frosting, repeat and repeat!! 

Wow - what a flavor explosion.  

I have never been so amazed by a cake as I

was by this.  And lucky me, I got to take

some home.

With friends like this, getting older is easy!

I will be sharing this royal table with

Tablescapes Thursday