Savnnah, Georgia

This time last year.......Do you ever do that?  You know, you think back to what you were doing this time LAST year? 

Well, I did that today.  I decided to look at the pictures I took when we made a spring break trip to Savannah, Georgia. 

 

 

Savannah is a beautiful city. 

 I have been there several times, but it had been many years since my last visit, so spring break seemed to be the perfect time to enjoy this beautiful southern city again with my family.

 

I don't always take the best pictures, so I decided that this city is super photogenic--almost all my pictures were nice!

 

 

Just walking down the sidewalk is a treat!

  I love all the beautiful details in the buildings.

  Also, since the climate is mild in Savannah, plants are

 so pretty even in the chilly early days of spring.

 

 

Just looking down the sidewalks is interesting.

 

 

There are gates and gardens in many neighborhoods.

 

 

 

Wrought iron is everywhere!

 

 

 Many homes feature gingerbread and wrought iron. 

 I took pictures of this porch

 because of the beautiful blue ceiling.

 

 

 

 

Creeping Fig was a favorite vine in many outdoor spaces.

 

 

Public spaces were lovely, too.

 

 

Join me again for my next post! 

 I've decided to write a series on Savannah. 

I'm going to feature the public squares, places to shop, sites to see, yummy food spots and a surprise or two.



Christmas Favorites

     I often decorate things in my home the same way every Christmas.  Do you?  I like the tradition of using some of the same decorations each year.  I do make some changes to a few things each year, so I thought I would share a few of those updates.

I found these sweet little choir boys in my mom's attic a couple of years ago.  I put them out on our kitchen counter with a few vintage ornaments and a doily crocheted by my husband's grandmother.

I love the olive basket that I got this summer in Franklin, Tennessee and it looked so nice under our tree.  You can read about our trip here:      Franklin, Tennessee   and  here:  Vintage olive basket

I found some metal letter tags earlier in December and I hung them on a piece of twine that I tied to the basket. 

I tucked in a green pillow, some greenery with berries and added a bow from some ribbon I got this year at Michael's.  Love it!

My last change that I'll show is the one on the mantel.  I had been waiting all year to see how it was going to turn out.  It was perfect!

Since I don't take down my large oil painting, I like for anything I put on my mantel to look nice with the painting.  My SIL painted the angels for me.  Isn't she super talented?!  Aren't the angels pretty? I tried to vary the height of the angels and then I added the star made from the folding carpenter's ruler.
You can visit her website here: Jane Ann's Art

I loved the changes I made this year and yes, I enjoyed the traditional decorations that I use each Christmas. 

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Joining the Party:



 Be Inspired Friday at Common Ground

Adult Grilled Cheese

We had a wonderful visit with friends at Seaside and Seagrove, Florida this summer.  Everything is fun and exciting when you go to the beach!  Especially when you share it with friends.

Another thing I love about visiting this area are the Airstream food trucks of Seaside.  I had the opportunity to eat at the Airstream food trucks two times during our visit.  Both times, I got a sandwich at The Melt Down on 30A.  Who wouldn't love a day at the beach, sunning, shopping and then a delicious grilled cheese sandwich?  AND have it served to you in a brown paper bag--just like a kid's sack lunch from years ago.

I knew I wanted to make these delicious sandwiches

 at home, so here is my first sandwich from The Melt Down.

The Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil grilled cheese.

Oh my goodness!  Such fresh and simple favors of summer all in one delicious sandwich!

Here's what you'll need:

2 slices Italian bread (I used Publix's 5 grain Italian)

fresh mozzarella

fresh basil leaves

fresh tomato slices

butter

 

I used a non-stick skillet with a little pat of butter in it.

Then, I placed in the pan one piece of bread topped with a generous slice of fresh

 mozzarella cheese so it could start melting.

I heated the bread and cheese low and slow and got the other

 ingredients ready at the same time. 

I prepped my fresh basil-washed it and patted it dry.

I sliced the tomato.

Here's the menu of delicious sandwiches at The Melt Down.

When the first side of the sandwich was golden brown,

 I put the basil leaves on top of the melting cheese.

  I placed the other slice of bread on top and gave it a little pat of butter, too. 

 I flipped the sandwich so the other side could start to brown. When the other 

 side of the bread was brown, I removed it from the pan and placed it on my plate. 

 I opened the sandwich up and placed the tomato slices

 inside and gave them a dash of salt and pepper.

I then returned to top slice of bread to the sandwich. 

 And, to make sure everything was extra gooey,

 I microwaved the sandwich for 20 seconds.

Here are the results!



Yummy Summer Goodness--

An adult grilled cheese!

Fresh mozzarella, basil and tomato grilled cheese.



The Post Office at Seaside, Florida.

The different Airstream food trucks at Seaside, Florida offer ice cream,

grilled cheese, hot dogs, bar-b-que and delightful raw offerings.

I think I've brought home a

 great souvenir from our summer vacation.

Joining the party:

Rattlebridge Farm: Foodie Friday

World Traveler Coffee Table

I love to travel.  Do you? 

                                 I thought I would share my

                    world traveler coffee table with you today.  

I usually like to think about vacations to the beach in the summer months. I often like to express those thoughts by decorating my coffee table in my family room with shells, beach pictures and other beach-related items.  This year, I decided to try something a little different. I decided to use some things I have on hand to make what I'm calling a World Traveler Coffee Table.

I haven't painted my furniture, but I decided to lighten

 up the look of my coffee table by adding the linen

 table runner my grandmother made years ago. 

Here's a another view of the table runner.

  It adds a perfect lighter look to the coffee table.

Then I added to the table, this old globe that

 I can always remember being in our home.

  My mom said it is over fifty years old. 

I can remember that this dial on the top always fascinated

me when I was a little girl.  You could see where it was day

 and where is would be night just by the turn of your finger.

I found these vintage-style maps at a store recently.  I thought they might

look good on the table, too.  The magnifying glass came from

 the desk in my great-aunt's bedroom.  I don't know how

 old it is, but my aunt died in 2001 at the age of 100. 

The postcard is from a stack of vintage cards a friend gave

 me several years ago.  It is an old one of Panama City Beach, Florida.

Here are two vintage brochures from The Statue of Liberty

 and The Empire State Building.  I have visited both

 and was happy to find these at an estate sale several years ago. 

 The picture is my favorite one of my

daughter on the streets of New York City in 2011.

Now I have to show you this cute little table that I got for Mother's Day.

  I'd been looking for something like this and was delighted

when I found this on a shopping trip to Birmingham, Alabama. 

I love the distressed look and the yummy turquoise paint on the sides.

I was prowling around at my Mom's the other day, and we found

 this little book from Pompeii, Italy and several Italian coins. 

It brought back memories of a trip long ago that is still fondly remembered.

A piece of vintage sheet music completes the table top.

Here's a final look at my coffee table and the

 new look that I'm so enjoying this summer--Thank you, Blogland! 

What are you enjoying this summer? 

 The fresh fruit?  The sunny weather?  Photos from a recent trip?

I'd love to know what you are loving this summer!

Joining the party at:

Vintage Find

A few weeks ago, we visited Franklin, Tennessee.  We enjoyed the trip.  There were lots of fun shops, spring flowers,  beautiful homes and interesting Civil War history filling this beautiful southern town.  I enjoyed everything we did while in Franklin.

I especially enjoyed visiting several antique stores while in

Franklin and I shared several pictures of the vintage

goodies that I saw while I was there in an earlier post. 

Remember me telling you that I purchased an item? 

 Well, here it is.

You might not be able to identify what I purchased from

 this one picture, so I'll show you a one more.

 

Yes, I purchased the vintage olive gathering basket.

  I had been looking at them on line (for some unknown reason)

 and I was thrilled to see one in person.  The price was much

 better than the ones that I had seen on line, as well.

It has a little bit of rust in all the right places and nice patina. 

 The handles are perfectly rusty.  The sides are very clean
 and surprisingly very smooth. 

Right now, its first home is in our family room.

I think this is one piece that will enjoy being moved around

and serving different uses as it settles into our home.

If you'd like to see the other temping goodies we saw

while on our trip, you can see the post here:

Spring Trip to Franklin

Joining the Party at:

Spring Trip to Franklin Tennessee

It's spring break week for us and since our daughter is out of school, we decided to take a little trip and decided to go to Franklin, Tennessee.  Franklin isn't very far away from us, so we had plenty of time to shop, eat, see the sites and rest.

I love all the fun decor items I see posted in Blog Land.  I enjoy looking, but find it hard to participate at times, since I have a traditional home and some of the things that are so fun right now or that I'm attracted to, aren't so traditional.

There were a number of fun antique and home shops that we got to visit while in Franklin.  Some were high end and very trendy with wonderful repurposed items.  Some stores had nice collections of shabby chic items.  Others just had junky stuff and a few others had country home style offerings.

Would you like to see some of the items I saw this week?

 I loved this display caddy.  It looks like a tool box

of some type.  Note to self, go check out Daddy's tool shed.

This store had a lot of signs and items that were wired to be light fixtures.

Cool idea for a folding carpenter's ruler.

I love containers. 

Containers made out of wire are always appealing.

I love all the light blue bottles seen here. 

I remember digging up bottles like this

with my Dad one time when I was a little girl.

My brother, I remember, later used them for target practice.

Bottles and kitchen scales.

Another tool caddy.

Olive baskets.



Old books, a globe and a type writer.

Wooden milk crates.

A nice collection of ironstone at this store.

Berry crates.  I really looked at these--I just knew I could do 

something with them when entertaining.

I just loved these milk bottles in their carrier. 

What would I do with those and why

 did I secretly want them?  I'm glad they

were already sold.

Large chippy candle sticks.

Well, I did get one of these items! 

I'll let you know later,
when I find it the perfect home.

Blogger Friend, Dawn, from Creative Cain Cabin recently visited Franklin, Tennessee, too.  You can read about her trip here: Front Porch , Plantation Homes , Tennessee Mini Vacation

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