Flower Power

 

Although I did say good bye to Summer...

I could not resist picking this bunch of

late Summer Flower Power from the garden.

Zinnias, a variety of Dahlias, Sedum, Aster Dumosus & Gladiolus.

 

 

Wishing you all a lovely week full of colour!!

 

 

 

Morning Tea

During the week it's difficult to find time for a get-together with friends, especially in the afternoons. And as I liked to have an Afternoon Tea, it seemed impossible to organize. But then I came up with the idea of a Morning Tea (why not?) and so it happened!!



Victoria sandwich cake with forest fruits

 

 

A lovely sunny September morning
'Brabants bont' (the red & white checkered tablecloths are typical for the region we live in ) on the tables, all kinds of china, various drinks, lots of sweets (homemade) & friends to join the party!

 

It was such a beautiful day! Sun, friends, food, what else do we need?

 

Pre-Easter diner

 Last Saturday we invited some friends over for diner.

And because Easter already entered our house, I decided that the table needed to be

decorated in the Easter theme as well.

 Plain white table cloth (just some fine details embroidered),

many transparant glass vases and candleholders

 Greenish-white Snowballs (Vibirnum)...

 and bright pink Gerberas

Napkins in the same colour combination.

 Quail eggs & little feathers.

Too busy eating to take pictures of the food ;)

Wishing you all a great start of the week!!

Back home...

It's been a busy couple of weeks: clearing out the house, donating lots of stuff, packing boxes & cleaning.

The movers arrived on Monday afternoon, August 22, in Versailles and the trucks were packed on Tuesday 5pm. Unloading in the south of The Netherlands started on Wednesday 9am and was done by 5pm again.

What a difference it makes when you don't need to pack or unpack everything as sea freight:))

So you can imagine what the last couple of days looked like: yes, unpacking & finding a place for everything (which seems to be a mission impossible!!).

But, in about a weeks time, we went from this:

To this:

Thanks to some well-appreciated, colourful bunches of flowers from friends & family

Time for some more unpacking now!

See you later this week!!

This & that & colours!

I've been pretty busy lately...

It's almost the end of the school year so a lot of 'last times'.

I hosted our book club yesterday and today I organised a lunch with a Brazilian touch.

Good times with good friends... again :)

 

The main dish was 'moqueca de camarão' a typical Brazilian dish with shrimps.

Therefor I chose to use my fishy tablecloth!

And furthermore, the plants need attention. The Ipomea that I sowed some time ago is starting to bloom.

I love the fresh purple colour! And I'm also proud of my Oleander, it's in full bloom now and the colours are dark pink.

And today I received this bouquet of roses, they almost look like ranunculus, don't you think?

By the way... they smell heavenly! 

And in case you wonder if my garden is only in pink and purple? Let me show you some pictures of the front of our house:

RED!

I'm still looking for some flashy red plants to combine with all the pink and purple I have in the back yard. Any suggestions??

 Tomorrow there's another 'last time': my museum tour group.

I've shown you some tours we did here, here and here.

And tomorrow we'll be visiting Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur. Last

time I visited the Sacre Coeur was like... ehh... 20 years ago... :))

So you can imagine that I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's tour!

Hope you're all having a fun week too!!

Bisous,

Preparations in full swing!

Tomorrow is the day; International Day... lots of cooking has been done already!

Time for the decorations now!

Are you also going to try typical dishes from all over the world this weekend?

I'm sure I will:

Spain, France, Argentina, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Israel, USA, Sweden, Germany,

Brazil, Switserland, Italy, UK, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, India...

Not sure if I will manage to get a taste of all of them, but I promise you I'll do my best :)

(diet & sports will have to wait till Monday!!)

Have a delicious weekend!

Bisous, 

Project Runway...

No project Runway... wishful thinking!

No. This is Project Curtains. For the bedroom.

Since we moved, we've had some curtains in our bedroom, but never to my full satisfaction.

Decided already a long time ago to use some black & white curtains I had from the living room in our previous house (which I couldn't use in our new house because the dimensions were totally wrong). So finally, I tackled the project. Cut. Sew. It took only 4 months...

Will show the result when all is done, ok?

And what about the World Cup? Do you watch it? The Netherlands won their first match! & today we'll cheer for Brazil of course!

Wish you a cheerful day!

Shall I or shall I not...

paint the wall in 'framboise sauvage' & the fire place in white (or black)?

This wall is still a bit boring, so

any advice is welcome!

Two weeks ago was Thom's 11th birthday, we celebrated this with his grandparents (my parents) and my aunt & uncle. A small party, too many presents, tasteful patisserie...


But tomorrow is the party for his friends, so preparations are in full swing.



Thanks to Frederica of the blog Sweet as a candy (it sure is!) for the lovely idea (http://sweet-as-a-candy.blogspot.com/2010/02/party-planning.html). As you can see, there's a big difference between hers and mine. But hey... it's a boys party after all!


So I better get into the baking and cooking mode now, to make sure everything will be ready for ten boys (and their parents) tomorrow. It promises to be a lovely sunny day here in Versailles!


Have a wonderful weekend!!
Bisous, Chantal

This & that

Finally I got back to exercising; jazzercise that is. Feeling sore already... Nice combination of dancing, aerobics & toning. I feel muscles that I didn't even remember having them.
Hope it'll be better soon as I have planned to start painting the guest room because our first guests are expected end of this month already, my parents. Looking forward to that!

When that is done I have to finish some curtain projects, buy some lamps (for the dining area is getting crucial now, too dark there!), cleaning out the basement and hopefully the weather will then be nice enough to start working in the garden. Really need to as it looks like a wilderness now (apparently the previous tenants were not so keen on maintaining the garden).
We, on the contrary, love to be outside, surrounded by beautiful plants & flowers. So don't worry that I'm getting bored here in Versailles! No time for that!!

And do you see the flowers? Aren't they just gorgeous? Got them this morning from a friend, for our new home. I feel so spoilt (thanks so much Manuela!).

I made a to-do list last night, so let's see where to start...
Have a lovely Wednesday!

Des fleurs...

What's a house without a bouquet of flowers? Right, it's just a house. Add a nice bouquet and it becomes a home!

And that's what I finally did last weekend: buying a bunch of tulips, anemones and ranunculus in spicy colours. It really made our house our home!

Have a nice Monday!

Atmosphere of the Oranje Ball 2008

Easter preparations

Egg dye

The eggs need to be done!!

Boil...

Dye...

Paint...

Glitter...

Pearls...

Beeds...

Bows...

Decoupage...

...

And what's more fun than to do this with a bunch of kids...

We're almost ready for Easter!