Cruise Vow Renewal Flowers

I haven't blogged much about the vow renewal that my husband and I did last fall. We renewed our vows on a cruise ship on our 21st wedding anniversary. Only our little family present. We bought the vow renewal package from the cruiseline. Most cruiselines and many resorts offer them now. If you are unsure check with the wedding department. Our package included a private room on the ship, a huge two layered cake, champagne and cider, commorative glasses, music ( I brought my own CD) and the ships Captain renewed our vows. There were also staff present to cut the cake, serve the drink, play the music and a photographer to take pictures.

The cruise ship offered flowers with the package but I decided to purchase silk flowers ahead of time and brought them with me.  I got these small bouquets from afloral.com and wrapped them with the tuile and ribbon that I bought at the fabric store. I made similar bouquets for my daughters who were the attendants. Their flowers were burgandy and ivory. After we returned home from the cruise, I put the silk flowers in a small vase on the entry table in my living room. I am able to enjoy them daily. 

This was my bouquet. On afloral.com the bunches are described as 9" small ranunculus clutch bouquet in purple, yellow, citrus and tangerine. They are small. You can sort of see them in my hand in the picture but it was a renewal and I didn't need much. They were regularly less than $10 each at afloral.com. I think when I got them they were on sale for even less.

The Captain asked me were I got my flowers. I guess he didn't recognize them as part of the cruise package and he thought they were real and I guess you can't bring real flowers on the boat or take the real flowers off the ship once it's been out of the country. The photographer was asking me where I got them as well.

I bought the marble in the bottom of the vase at Micheal's. I was going to do some sort of sand ceremoney for the family but the heart shaped vase I bought was too big, I couldn't fit it into my suitcase and I already had so much luggage. The colored sand kind of expensive. I wanted a bunch of colors. Anyway...

Below is one of my girls bouquets. This is two bunches of the flowers for one fat bouquet. I bought four total and wrapped them with the same tuile and ribbon. These are also ranunculus flowers. When we returned home, I put the bouquets in a crystal glass on the fireplace mantel. Those small votives next to the flowers were also supposed to be part of the sand ceremony but as I mentioned above I decided not to do that part of the ceremony. The funny part was I forgot all about it at the renewal. My husband was the one who said "See, we didn't even need to do the sand ceremony."

I didn't even know he was paying attention to me when I was talking about doing the sand ceremony and then cancelling it because I couldn't carry the stuff.

This is a close up of the cake topper. There are a few bouquet jewels (fake diamonds) in a few of the roses but I didn't happen to get a picture of them. When I first came home from the renewal, I kept the topper in the box but then I decided to use the flowers. So this center piece is on my kitchen table all the time. I bought the cute shabby chic cupcake stand on eBay and the topper fit perfectly there. It slides around and one day I'll get some of that two sided tape to keep it in place but right now it does what it needs to do.

 My husband and I jumped the broom on our renewal. Of course, I couldn't fit a full size broom or even one with a shorter handle in my suitcase...so when I found this super cute wedding wisk broom I purchased on the spot for $15. It was on etsy.com. It was pre-made and the colors weren't in my color scheme but actually they matched my bouquet (with the purple and yellow). The broom is hanging on the back of the front door. I read somewhere that it is supposed to be good luck.

This picture is some custom floral head pieces with clips. They are basically flowers that the artist glued beads, pearls, shimmer on. They actually are very pretty.  I purchased a whole bunch from a girl on etsy.com. Three burgandy and three beige. The girls each wore one at the renewal and then never bothered with them again. I hung them on the chandelier in my bedroom. There are also some silk flowers clipped onto the light that I purchased other places.

I guess the morale of this story is.. if you want to invest in a few goodies including flowers for your vow renewal go ahead. You will be able to use the silk flowers again as decor around your house. There are tons of places to purchase silk flower bouquets online, so look around and see what you can find. 

I think the vow renewal package was worth ther $395 price tag. If I was to try to put something together at home, I could easily have spent that much or more for room rental and a cake. It was fun. I bought matching dresses for my daughter's at an outlet for $15 each. I found my dress on eBay (brand new with tags) for less than $20. Of course the girls never want to wear their dress again but the fabric is nice and I will either sell on eBay or make something out of them.

I'm not sure what I'll do with my dress but I might have an opportunity to wear it again. I will post pictures of my dress, shoes, and hat later.

Have fun and enjoy you vow renewal.

Nesting! AKA Happy Homemaking!

Okay, I confess. I have been in a homemaking/ entertaining/ feather the nest mood. Earlier this week I shared the bakeware items I purchased from QVC and eBay. Today I want to show you the vintage glassware and mod era entertaining set.

I especially want to share because when I purchase something or become obsessed with it, I search the internet and it is hard to find info on the fabulous stuff I love.

I went through a few months earlier this year when I was obsessed with this mod era entertaining stuff from David Douglas Genie Server sets. I bought three of the genie servers.

The black one is actually a copy that says GENI on the bottom. I think it was made by an AVON company which bought the rights to manufacture and sell David Douglas' designs after he sold.
Here are a couple of links to recruitment advertisements for AVON Geni representatives.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19780331&id=-lsxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eqQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6120,3774641

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19790108&id=yfJVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BuIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6226,2033786
The ads are from 1978 and 1979 so that is the era of the reproductions. The originals must be 1960's.

 There were a variety of cups available with the server. Some of the cups were coffee cup styles. The green one pictures are a little larger than the beige cups. I love the golden design on the tray. It is also printed on the stopper tops of the bottles.

The golden cups are like ice cream cups/ no handles. I there is matched a golden carafe for sale on ebay but I have enough of these.

 The genie server is insulated and can hold hot or cold liquids. It came with a funnel that can be used with coffee filter to make coffee. I had to search on eBay for a while but eventually I found one. I haven't got the gold color carafe but I did find some cups for a good price. I use the green and beige carafe. I the black one to my daughter to take to college. I'm not sure she is as in love with them as I am.

 I'm not sure what accalac is but it is something like plastic. I think these were made before microwaves so I don't even consider putting them into the microwave. There are some bowls, trays, and other pieces for sale on eBay

Here is a copy of the order sheet that was included packaging of new items. I did purchase one genie server with the hang tag, box, funnel. 

Here is a link to an article David Douglas. It includes some information from a guy who claims to be David Douglas' stepson.

http://modish.net/david-douglas-6641

My other favorite household collectable is vintage glass.

Back in the 50's snack sets or luncheon sets were big. I got started collecting Jeannette glass in Dew Drop pattern when I picked up the snack set with cups at the Oakland Museum White Elephant sale.
The plates are dew drop shaped and the cups have an art deco style handle. There are sunburst patterns on the plates and cups with small bumps which are like dew drops.

Then I found the punch bowl, cups and platter on eBay. So I purchased that for a great price. There is a lazy susan base but it is way up in the cabinet so I couldn't get it down to photograph it. The punchbowl can be used as a serving bowl or salad bowl or chip bowl.

Then I found someone selling more plates and cups on eBay. Here is the whole set out on a red table cloth for 4th of July. There are a LOT more punch cups but I didn't bother to get them out of the closet.

To the left are the sugar bowl with top and creamer. There are also some smaller bowls and pitcher available.

I love shabby chic style. The flower on top of the cupcake holder is the cake topper from my vows renewal ceremony last fall. I bought that cake topper from a woman on etsy. com. I thought I could make more on my own but by the time, I bought the flowers and put it all together it would cost more than just buying from her.

In this final picture, I pulled out some goodies that I will use to decorate for 4th of July. I will move them outside on the table for a small picnic or breakfast Saturday or on the actual 4th.

I highly recommend collecting red items. They can be used for throughout the year for Valentines Day, 4th of July, Memorial Day and of course Christmas. Ooooh, I almost forgot. I've got a fabulous gold table cloth and another red one with stars that I have to go dig out. 

The funny thing about all of this, when I entertain it's usually just my husband and our three kids. They are used to eating on fancy plates and seeing the house decorated with holiday appropriate colors. My sister is having the big family BBQ with our parents, our family , her in laws and I don't know who else is coming. 

Happy 4th of July!

Week in Review.

I've been working so hard at my office. My head swirled all week as I tried to organize meeting rooms, run reports from a State database, reconcile numbers and prepare presentations. Its a busy time of year for me. Unfortunately, I don't have administrative assistance or anyone to delegate busy work to. I've been downing gallons of coffee and more than a few chocolate croissants.  I have a massive headache today from the caffine withdrawal. Ugh! The headache is making it difficult for me to work on my writing, which is what I want to do. Le sigh!

This week, I have received a few treasures from eBay. During stressful times, I reward myself with goodies from the online auction site. I am currently working on adding a few pieces to my Temp Tations Presentable Ovenware set. The pattern I own is named Provance. My hubby purchased the rectangle and oval piece with top several years ago from QVC. The price was right. Shortly thereafter, QVC and Sara McConnell the creator of Temp Tations discontinued this pattern. Most of what they sell on QVC now is Old World pattern. Anyway, I managed to pick up this square piece with plastic lid on eBay this week. The trivet basket was missing the handles. * Shrug *

I also got two Temp Tations Provance bowls this week. The seller of the bowls wanted a FORTUNE for shipping but she she was local so I contacted her through eBay and we met up. I am very happy with the bowls.

There were two other pieces that ended earlier this week on eBay that were in the Provance pattern. Those were squares that had tops like the soup turrin pictured here. I bid but not high enough. The pieces went for $66 plus shipping. I regret not purchasing them but I'm sure the similar pieces will show up on eBay again. Below is the picture from eBay.

Here is the picture of one of the homemade pizzas I made this week. It's pepperoni, mushroom, green and yellow peppers, tomotoe, onion, jalepeno, cilantro, and mozerella cheeses. I baked it in my green Rachel Ray Bubble and Brown cookware.

I purchased the Rachel Ray Bubble and Brown cookware on QVC as well but I don't think I will get anymore. I have several pieces but they don't come with tops or trivets and I am running out of storage room. I made three lasagnas yesterday. One was a vegetarian (spinach and mushroom), one meat (ground beef and sausage) and one was mixed. I wish I'd taken a picture.

I posted a request for a critique partner on RWA National.org forum. I've exchanged pages with two women and will see how it goes. I've really been needing a critique partner to take my writing to the next level.

I've got a manuscript that is contracted with Liquid Silver Books that I need to pull out of the files and finish editing. Le Sigh! I plan to get that out by the end of the weekend. I hope that the publisher is still willing to work on that with me.

Hubby decided to repaint the deck this weekend. So we had to clear it off last weekend so that it could be cleaned and scrapped. I have been without my favorite tranquil space and I have to say that I miss it. Can't wait until I have my area set up again to relax and unwind. 

Mid Year Report!

The first 20 pages of my manuscript entitled Deadly Rumors finaled in the top three of the RWA River City Romance Writers Duel in the Delta Contest. Yeah! The story is a romantic suspense and will be sent to Liz Bass of Carina Press for final judging.
http://www.rivercityromancewriters.org/duel.html