Coastal themed Father's Day

Tablescape Greetings Sweet Folks,


Seems like ages since I have done one of these!


Hope you are well,  and that you all had a great
Father's Day weekend spoiling your sweeties
or your Daddies...........
....
This was my attempt,  too bad I had planned
Mexican fare,  should have had seafood,  but
as you will read...........didn't know I was gonna
go Postal  Coastal......

When I started out it was just a blue and brown

color pallette,  and I was gonna use yellow, and

white flowers in a blue vase, but didn't really want

to use flowers just didn't know what else I could

use at the time,  but when I got the napkins out to

start on the table,  I found these silver napkin

rings I had forgotten about,  so thought oh,

I'll use those that will be a different look.

Once I putthe napkins rings on,  I sort of fluffed the ends and

then was just playing with them, and I thought hey, that sort of looks

 like a fish, and if he just had an eye it would probably definitely look

 like a fish,  so I went in search of something for fish eyes and I found

 some white buttons, and they did the trick.

Actually,  I thought later about using the candy with both sides
taped back and it looked good,  but asked advice and she
said the buttons,  so I was good I went with the buttons...

Then I thought okay, I could use shells to go with the fish,  so

drug my shells out and thought putting them in a glass container

would work, so found my trifle dish and I had a yellow candle

in my bedroom,  so grabbed that, stuck it in the center and

placed the shells all around it.  Then I thought I could use my

new lil candle jars I got for the porch since they are just the

right color,  so thought it needs a little something else.

So started adding the bigger shells but only had about 5 big

ones, so thought I will just add more candles,  so went in

search of those,  so used 2 different styles,  had some

yellow tealight candles the perfect shade of yellow, so

stuck those in the candle cups,  put them around the

main centerpc,  then added some more small shells,

and was so happy since it looked a lil more guyish,

for Father's Day.

Do you see the lil goldfish,  they are candy,

sort of like werther's candies,  and I just

tapes on end back underneath,  and put

them at each place setting and then added

some to the centerpc area as well. 

I have had this starfish for ages,  think it is so pretty!

A look from the top down.  Don't you just love
 the beauty of shells................

Been trying to remember where I got this big
one every since hubby asked me!  Still can't
remember.................I knew about all the
others.............

Shot from opposite end of the table.

photoshop affect,  colored pencil

 Great reflection of the table in the window..................

Cute lil goldfish type tail.

 colored pencil again!  This affect has become
another favorite.

 overhead shot.  The yellow dishes were for salsa

I took these and forgot I didn't have the silver
ware on yet,  as you can see it was set for more
people,  originally 7 of us,  but since Scott and Megan
wound up having to come on Sat. it was just for 5 of us.

 You can see the true color of blue that they are
in this picture.  They were $1.20 each.
Can't beat that...........

posterized

 Gradient map affect, 
 thought I would make him look like a goldfish!

 from opposite end of the table,  was able to put
gifts there since we downsized the amount of people.

 from same end of table just the other corner.

 love that candlelight,  took this at night as you can see....
too bad Father's Day dinner was in the daylight,  but we
still lit the candles just not as pretty as at night!

colored pencil affect


and

That's All Folks.....................
you are probably saying.....Thank Goodness!


I always take way more pics that I need to, as some
times I have not taken enough and missed something
I wished I had gotten, then feel like, oh well, took them
might as well use them................lol


Thanks for bearing with me and my logic!!  lol




Have linked up to Kathleen over at Cuisine Kathleen
and if you would like to see more beach themed 
tablecapes Just click Here.


Also linking up to Susan
 over at Between Naps on the Porch and if you 
want to see some more great tablescapes
Just click here




Also linking up to Yvonne over at Stone Gable
for Tutorials, Tips and Tidbits.
check it out Here.


Just got invited to link up with the style sisters
for centerpiece Wednesday,  they have some 
4th of July ideas as well..............so
just click here to see!




Glad you could drop by,  and look forward to hearing
from ya!  


Hugs and Coastal Blessings,
Nellie

Vacation - part 2

Afternoon Sweet Friends,

So how was your weekend? 

 Did you spoil your  hubby and/or Dad?

My hubby is the only Dad in our family presently,

both of our Dad's are in heaven now,  so hubby

was getting full attention,  but now he has to 

share it again, with the new in-love Dads,  but he

 doesn't mind,  as long as he get to see the kids

that is all that matters.  Everyone was suppose

to be here Sunday,  but Scott ran into a snag,

so they wound up coming on Saturday instead,

which was fine...........then Dee, Jerry and my SIL

 Susan came over on Sunday.  Both days were

 fun and again it sort of drags the celebration out

 a few days, and you know how we love that!!  lol

Guess I had best get on with telling you about

the vacation.  Although, we spent a lot of time at 

the cabin we did manage to get out some too.

We went to breakfast and dinner at Cracker

Barrel on different days and I found this cute lil sign

you saw in my header picture.

  Always like to find a few new things for the house

 while I am away.  That spells vacation to me!! lol

They have a new white collection for all you

shabby chic and white lovers,  and also some

very cute coastal decorating stuff too,  just in

case you haven't visited Cracker Barrel in 

awhile, you might just want to drop by......

They also had a brand new "Old Time Pottery"

that just opened,  so of course, we had to go there.

They had a lot of nice things, seems like the quality

is better,  but the prices of course, are steeper.

Most everything I liked was large and didn't really

want to have to deal with getting it into the car

especially for the drive home, as we were pretty

well packed as it was.  But I did get a few lil things.

 I got a cute lil cream pitcher for my collection,

more modern looking, but different.

Got 2 of these cute lil candle jars for my porch,

 but first used them on our Father's Day table,

which I will show you tomorrow probably.

They are much colorful than this pic shows.

We also got a neat wood sign to put up,  but tried

to take a pic but couldn't fit it all in so will wait till

we decide where we are hanging it,  then I'll show

you a picture.  Also found a cute mug at Cracker

Barrel later that had the same saying,  so just had

to get it..................

We went to a Longhorn steakhouse and our best

place we went to was a historic restaurant in Pigeon

forge called "The Old Mill".  Talk about great food,

oh my,  it really was wonderful.  They give you corn

chowder, corn fritters with maple butter,  your choice

of potatoes, we had mashed and fresh green beans,

and your choice of Meat,  I had grilled Maui Maui,

and was thinking before they brought it,  that was

probably a mistake...........boy was I wrong,  it was

actually the best grilled fish I have ever had, absolutely

delicious every bite.......... strange since I live in Florida!!

They also gave you dessert as part of your meal too.

We had Banana pudding and chocolate cake

 with chocolate icing.  Everything was truly marvelous!

If you ever go to Pigeon Forge, Tenn. try and go there,

we went on a week night at about 8:30-9 P.M. and

only had a 10 min. wait.  I remember trying to go there

20 some odd years ago with our kids and some friends

but the line was very long, so we were all hungry and

went somewhere else.

We know someone who used to live there and they

said weekends were the worst time for going out.

We went into Kroger grocery store on a sunday

when we got into town,  and it was like going to

Disney world, never saw so many people in a 

Grocer store in my life.

a few pics of the old Mill

As you can see it is huge, and see where those railings are
on the right side, it twines around like the lines at Disney
world, and gets pretty backed up if I remember correctly
from years back..

They have a general store there too,  they sell some
of their products from the Old Mill there but mostly
it is just a tourist shop with trinkets.  

I went back and did the auto smart fix,  can you
believe this is the same picture as above!
Amazing what photoshop can do.....................

This is the Old Mill Wheel on the opposite side by the Pigeon Forge
river dam.  This was with the flash!

Same pic without the flash or it could be vice versa!  lol


They have a lot of neat lil shops across the street from the restaurant
 and we went in some of those another day, and got this candy that was
 so wonderful. They call them "Bear Paws",  but they are like turtles,
 just way bigger.  Full of pecans, caramel with dark chocolate on top.
Very yummy, and pretty expensive but worth every penny. 
There was a really cute kitchen shop in there too, 
 with all sorts of samples,  so that was fun!


Then another day we went over to Gatlinburg and drove through
the town, it looks the same as it did years ago, well, maybe a few
lil changes.  We went to a place called "Ober Gatlinburg" where
we had taken our kids quite a few times.  Great memories!
Made me well up for a few minutes wishing they were there,
not sure why,  guess it is just another reminder that those days
are behind us.  We used to take a cable car up to a mountain,
but hubby decided to drive this time,  and it was a fun drive up
there,  then once you get there you take a ski lift up to another
moutain and take a tabogin ride down.  We always did that with
the kids,  so we were watching people get on the ski lift with
there kids and I looked at Jimmy and said, Oh my Gosh, can
you believe we used to do that with our kids,  looks pretty 
scary to me now.  Guess that is why God gave kids young 
people as parents!  lol  We thought about going but decided
NAH!!  then later thought we should have done it for old
time sake!  lol

Inside the bldg. there are shops and food and an
ice skating rink.  I remember the kids tried ice skating
when they were little, and really had fun.

This is the tram coming...... we would typically ride that
up to the mountain.

We saw lilies like these all over the place while we were driving,
tons of them all at one time along the roadways. Tried to get
a picture of them.....but it was just a blur of yellow.

The scenic view from up there.

Hubby up at Ober Gatlingburg

View of condos and cabins nestled on the mountain seen from
Ober Gatlingburg as well.




We also did a lil exploring in Pigeon Forge,  found another area
where they had log cabins and happened to see this cute lil
wedding chapel.

We also went out to dinner at a long Horn steakhouse
and another local Italian place called "Carina's"  I think.
It was pretty good,  but we were mildly disappointed with
it............there marinara sauce was just kinda blah really,
fortunately, they gave you lots of food, so we took our
 leftovers home and put some Barilla marinara sauce on
 it and it was wonderful!  lol
So if you go to Pigeon Forge I would recommend
 Olive Garden over Carina's for sure!


Will stop here.................To be continued...........


Thanks for coming by,  


Look forward to hearing from you!


Hugs and 
Fun Adventure Blessings,
Nellie


In case you missed Part l
and would like to see it
just click here!
or see some scenery from
the back porch of the cottage
Click Here.

Welcome to Thankful Thursday - June 14, 2012

All the pics you will see were our view from the back porch of the cottage.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the

 wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of 

mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on

 his law he meditates day and night.

  He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields

 its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.

 Whatever he does prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3

(This above pic reminds me of this verse)

Greetings Sweet Peas,

So.....how has your week been going??

Well,  I hope..........also hope there has

been lots to be thankful for,  course, there

always is whether we recognize it or not!

Have just been trying to get back into the swing of things,

got all my unpacking done and clothes washed,  wasn't

too much washing to do cause I did a load at the cottage

 before coming home. The house is all nice and clean 

cause we did that before we left,  really hate coming

 home to a messy house.  So just got to get my recipes

 out and figure out what sort of mexican food I am

 making for Father's Day.

Well, on with Thankful Thursday...............

#1

I am thankful

for such a restful and relaxing week of vacation 

with just hubby and me. We have taken our kids to

 that area on vacation many times when they were 

younger, so we have some great memories from

that area,  so it was fun to reminisce and see all

the changes to the area. Pigeon Forge has always

been a touristy area,  but it is triple or quadruple

that now.....................we were shocked, we

hardly recognized the place.  Gatlinburg was

the same tho..............

If you missed my post yesterday about our 

vacation and would like to read about it,

Just click here.

#2

I am thankful

that tho our vacation started off with a bit

of trouble with hubby and his blood pressure

that we had faithful praying friends that lifted

us before the throne of grace and the rest of

the time was about as perfect as it could be

on this side of heaven.

#3

I am thankful

for my sweet sister-in-law who took such great 

care of our kitty Molly while we were away. 

 We have never been gone for more than a week, 

 so it was comforting knowing she is in good hands, 

 course, we feel that way anytime we have to go

 and  leave her, cause cats aren't like dogs, that 

you can just take them over to someones house.

So Susan you were such a blessing as always.

#4

I am thankful

that hubby celebrates his first Anniversary on

his new job today!  They even gave him a gift to

 commemorate it,  a very nice pen.  Guess now

we can start calling it an old job!!  lol

#5

I am thankful

that we had rain almost the whole time we were

 gone and our yard and plants all looked wonderful 

when we returned, cause in Florida just 3-4days 

without water things can start looking pretty bad, and

 we hated to have to have Susan fool with all that.

#6

I am thankful

that our neighbor had our yard mowed just before

we got home on Monday.  We were thinking we

would have to be out there Tuesday night getting

it mowed............so what a wonderful surprise

and blessing to come home to a manicured lawn.

This was the area directly across from the cabin across the river that looks

 like an electric light parade in the dark.  Love those Lightning bugs!

#7

I am thankful

for all the wonderful  scenery and wildlife we got to see 

while we were away, it just lifts our spirit and makes

us amazed at what a creative and loving God we have

to make all these things for us to see.............

#8

I am thankful

for Sue over at I need Mom.........not only is she a

sweet blog friend,  but unbeknownst to her,  we had

been looking for a condo at the beach and the area

we like to go to.......now only rents condos for once

a month, so we were asking the Lord what can we

do now.........and she did a lovely post on a vacation

they took,  about going toAsheville and the pigeon

forge area and I had a great flashback of all the

wonderful times we had in those places with our

 kids and on family vacations over the years,  so just 

typed in VRBO (vacation rentals by owner, in case 

you didn't know what that stands for). Pigeon Forge, Tn.

 and that is how we decided to found our cottage and 

decided to go there!  So thanks Sue for sharing your life

 with us, cause we do have an impact on one another!!

So you were a blessing to us!

Also, if you have never visited Sue,  please go

over and check her out.  Just click here.

#9

I am thankful

that the Lord protected Dee, Jerry and Rosie

from a bear that was wandering in their neighbor-

hood.  They were out walking and happened

to spot him in between some houses,  and he

was not real far away and he was big!

#10

I am thankful

that Dee was able to do my hair last night,

as it was time,  and got rather bleached out

while we were away, and of course,  it was

great to get to visit with her and Jerrys as well.

They had done a few new things to their house

and yard while we were gone,  so looking better

all the time.

#11

I am thankful

 that we got to bring Rosie home until Sunday.

One of hubbies early Father's Day presents!!  lol

and a welcome home present for me!!  lol

#12

I am thankful

for a phone call today from an old friend that used

to live here and go to our church,  but they moved

away years ago, we email but haven't talked with

them lately, so it was so great to hear from him.

As we were talking I asked about their kids, they 

have 7 adults children.  He was telling me that his

 son and wife had a florist and wedding events

 business and his daughter also works with them.  

Well, to say I was impressed would be an under-

statement for sure, they are incredibly talented.

So if you live in the Tampa, Florida area and

are planning or know someone who is planning

a wedding you should send them to their website.

and if you just want to see some Gorgeous and 

Fun eye candy.

Then Just Click Here!

Once you are there, click on either of the enter

site pictures,  then at the top they have portfolio

or blog.  If you want a quick look go to the blog.

I'll warn you tho,  you will probably want to see

the other pictures too,  they are all of 

different weddings.  Fun stuff!

Well, that completes my list for today!

and hope you enjoyed the view!!  lol

Been a good week here.....

Hope you have your own list,  and if not,

 I challenge you to start making one of 

your own, at least weekly, 

 I promise you.... 

it will transform your life!

Glad you stopped in, and can't wait to

hear from you!

Have a Wonderful Weekend

with your family/ and or friends.

and
Happy Father's Day to all you
Dad's out there,  and especially
to this dad.
My Hubby and Wonderful
Dad to my 2 adult children
and their spouses.

Taken in Gatlinburg, Tenn. while on vacation  6/12 


Love,  Hugs and

Scenic Beauty Blessings,

Nellie

I'm back...............from where I've been!!

Hiddy Ho Sweet Friends,

How in the world are you??  It was so good to hear from
 some of you.  Have missed you....... but it is good to unplug
 for a bit sometimes.

Well, hubby was not only off from work, we went on a 10 day
 vacation. So..... see if you can get any ideas where we went
 from the next 2 pictures. It is in the Southeast,  and as you can
 probably tell  it isn't in Florida!!  lol

These were taken in the car while in route.

It was to Pigeon Forge, Tenn.~~We rented a cottage or cabin,
  I tend to say cottage cause when I think of a cabin I think of a
log cabin,  and it wasn't that!  Anyway, It was a lovely cottage
right on the pigeon Forge River, course, it looks more like a 

creek,  but the babbling and music of the water was
 indeed a wonderful treat!!

This was our cottage, and they had it decorated
so perfectly for a cabin in the smokey mountains.
I should have taken more pics but I didn't because
altho I brought the camera,  I forgot to bring the
charger,  so when I realized that... I wanted to save
up to take pics in the moutains.  But I will show you
some that I took, and you can go here , (but be sure
to read the rest of this paragraph first) then scroll
 down towards the bottom till you see the River Bear,
River pointe 557 cabin,  then click on it and it will
show you all the pics of the cabin,  plus you can
see all the others they have for rent as well just in
case you or someone you know might be interested.


It really was a delightful stay,  and we spent quite a
bit of time at the cottage as we were really not all that
into the tourist trappings, but if anyone wanted to be...
 there is plenty of things to see and do there.
The cabin also has a jacuzzi tub on the porch and a big
 jacuzzi bathtub,  and cable TV (we don't have any of
these at home) so we enjoyed all these immenities, but
our favorite was sitting out on the back porch having
coffee and listening to the sounds of the river and all
the singing birds, and frog or katydid noises, along
with reading, eating breakfast or lunch out there, and we
 even got some sun as well, and that was an unexpected
 surprise.  We also saw some sweet wildlife.

We made friends with this cute lil guy,  and got to feed
him a few times....................

Got to see him taking a bath in the river at 6:00 a.m.
one morning.....so cute!

 Loved this shot.  It is a Robin Redbreast. There are
tons of them,  and they have a lovely song.

 some sort of crane.  they fly up and down
the river and are all bluish gray underneath
their wings.  Very pretty.

The zoom came out fairly well for a change,
but seems a little washed out cause they are
much prettier than this looks.

and there were fish, turtles, bluebirds, cardinals,
blackbirds, doves, dragon flys (one actually lit on
 me 4 times in the same day.....the day before we
rescued one out of a spider web and we were
 wondering per chance,  if it was the same one,
and he thought we were friendly folk!  lol
and my all time favorite lightning bugs,  a sweet
reminder of my childhood, haven't seen any in
such a long time and defintitely not as many as
they had.  The woods look like a disney light
parade almost.........very cool..............
Oh Yea, and I forgot we saw a skunk and
5 black bears (they were in captivity) and we
got to feed them.  I could have watched them
all day they were so neat.
We just love all those simple lil pleasures!!

 I think we were the only place along most of the river
 that had some rapids, small tho they were,  but at least it
made it possible to hear the water,  not so in other spots.

The neighborhood was so well kept and just beautiful
clean and neat.  It is in a valley and only 4 minutes to
the parkway which is the hub of all the tourist activiies
and restaurants.  So the location was perfect,  seemed
like you were in the country yet the city was right there.
  We took a number of walks around the neighborhood as
 the weather was perfect the entire time we were there,
so really enjoy our walks, as the evening were pretty
cool, in the upper 50 and 60's and it didn't get dar until
9:00 P.M.  One of our friends is from Tenn., but they
 were in Florida while we were up there, but talked to
 her and she said we were having unseasonably good
 weather for this time of year.  The daytime temps were
 75-77 most of the week,  and the day before we left it
 was 82 I think. Which is still great compared to Florida.

The whole neighborhood is full of these lil cabins.  Some people
live there all the time,  but I would say more than half are rentals.
I am sure they have owners who vacation there and rent them
 out most of the time.  As you can see some actually have enclosed
downstairs areas,  but a lot have the open downstairs like ours did,
think it would be hard to live in one without it being enclosed,
cause not enough storage space.

Well, gonna stop there for today,  cause it is already pretty long.

To be continued............................

Thanks so much for coming by and sharing life with me.

Always a joy to hear from you.

Hugs and Blessings,
Nellie

Where I have been and a Cute Sign I saw!

Hello Sweet Folks,

How are ya???? 

 Hope all is well with you.

  Have been missing

you and feel like it has been ages since I heard from

you or read any blogs.

Don't die from shock cause this is so short, or because

 I never post on Saturday, usually I visit blogs on Sat. morning

while hubby is sleeping in but this week has been different.

I know I have been missing and some of you are wondering

 what happened to me this week, so had just a few minutes and

 thought I would explain................ . Everything is fine............

Hubby decided to take some time off for rest and relaxation, 

 so we have been having some R & R and lots of fun.

 will tell you all about it next week when Hubby goes back

 to work.

Yesterday when we were out shopping I happened to see

a sign and it just cracked me up, plus I have never seen it

 before, so thought you would get a kick out of it as well.

It reads.......................

"Shopping with your husband is like

Hunting with the game warden"

Isn't that Hilarious!!  Well,  I thought so.....

have to say my hubby isn't all that bad really,

maybe that is why I thought it was so hilarious!!  lol

Well, see ya soon,  probably Tuesday.

Love and Blessings,

Nellie