Laura's Tea Room

Laura's Tea Room in Ridgeway SC is a fun girls day outing. I had heard rumors of this fanciful building from fellow tea lovers, and finally got to experience it when I was invited to go along for a friends bridal party.

Their website says: "Our charming and elegant tea room overlooks historic Ridgeway and features vintage furniture, fragrant teas, beautiful tables, fine china and local art work. Our beautifully appointed tables seat two to six people, encouraging intimate conversations and reconnections with dear friends over tea. Warm, friendly servers cater to your every need."

We were immediately greeted by a hostess and ushered up to the landing where they had  provided a "dress up" area to wait in before being seated. They had a large display of hats in all shapes, colors and sizes. Old and young alike were not abashed to try on these absurdity's for a laugh.

Next we selected our teacup off of a table containing anything from a willow pattern to a cheetah print to a golden edged dainty.

Our meal consisted of five courses and three types of teas: A cold sweet passion fruit and strawberry tea, A hot black currant red tea, and a lemon apple green tea.

Below is a old fashioned store that sells teas, teapots, lotions, soaps, candles, cooking mixes, quilts and more. It has a beautifully shelved wall with a rolling ladder behind the cashiers booth.

A bright happy way to look at "the portrait"

Tush Tush found here is an artist that combines the formal portrait with a type of art that truly captures the peopleness of people. She uses color to envoke anthing from whimsy to nostalgia and keeps a grittyness about the work that keeps it real. It is all about the impression of a moment.

graphic resource:

http://www.sheaff-ephemera.com/list/advertising-covers/
is a nifty little blog with a collection of covers, advertisements, handwriting and typography samples, very fun to scroll through for inspiration. Looking at the penmanship on some of those letters makes me saddened my own chicken scratch.

cozy art

I love these little cozy prints of sleeping kitty's done by talented artist Rachel Parker. The complimentary colors and sunny highlights make me happy.
Her work is so great, just wanted to pass it on. The prints are highly affordable as well.

best friends getting married **SNIFF

theres no place like home

photo's by sarah scruggs

There isn't anything more beautiful to me then the comfortableness of our family farm.

easy peasy stew beef

Please ignore the ugly picture! but no really, i've been doing this alot since it's winter, but Charley used to make this in his dorm room for us in college. You take some beef (the cheap stuff, a rump or tips) and add a packet of ranch dressing seasoning, a packet of italian dressing seasoning, your veggies (usally carrots and onions and those evil nasty things called potatoes). then add two cans of French onion soup and leave it in the crockpot for about 6 hours on low. 

winter cleaning

The kitchen has been an eyesore for a while now and it was time for some "winter cleaning". We've griped and grumbled about not finding things for long enough. I was going to stay up and wait for the siding repairman to come at 8:00am (since we usually go to bed at five am, this was more practical for us). My husband was sweet enough to do the dishes when I came home, so from there I scrubbed the cabinet doors, the sink, stove, dishwasher and microwave. For the pantry, I was tired of our random jars looking like this:

so the old spices were put in these great little jars from world market and the names written on with a white paint marker ( you don't even have to worry about whether you mess up because the paint marker scrapes off):

Next I took the doors off of two of the cabinets and stuck them in the garage for now. I put the screws in a labeled bag in the screw/bolt organizer in the garage. We will put the doors back on when we are through renting, but for now, it helps to open up the space a little. I would have done all three sets of doors on the right side of the kitchen, but for some reason one of the screws is Permanently adhered to the wall. Neither me or my big strong hubby could unscrew it. Then i rearanged the cupboard innards. I took out the mixmatched cups and some of the lesser used items and stored them in our new china cabinet (thanks mom!).

I took our tea and put them in old bell jars and containers that I had from college and then hung the espresso cups from command hooks for more space.
Normal people wouldn't have this next predicament, but since I live with a chef, our kitchen is full of strange instruments and gadgets and things I don't know how to use. Normally they just lay crammed into a cupboard dubbed the "junk cupboard" and the cook gets cranky when he can't find what he needs. The solution was to divide his tools into different categories: strange appliances, pastry tools, pasta tools, and cake decorating tools. I used an old wine box that we'd bought some wine in overseas and voila, instant dividers for his frosting things.

 It holds his gel colors, gum tex, icing tips, rotary cutter and a few more items. His pastry bags and brushes were put into a little basket.

and there she is, the finished kitchen, finally clean and ready to be attacked by the baked master, we'll see how she fairs....and yes that is a whale on my fridge made out of magnetic poetry. Are you into a clean fridge or refrigerator magnets?

She grew up!

My mother in law's baby Corgi Anoosh got so big! she's still a puppy but is about the size she will stay. She came to play with Juneau. Juneau has been pretty possessive with other dogs in the house, especially when it comes to her toys and food. For the most part they play well together. Anoosh likes to herd Juneau around in the yard by nipping her heels and Juneau likes to sit on Anoosh if she's had too much.

oh to covet...

this couch from pottery barn paired with:

this chair from room and board.  would make this lovely room that I photo shopped for your visual pleasure: 

Do I like neutral colors ? why yes how could you tell?? The rug is from overstock.com. The cowhide is from IKEA (although sometimes they have them at this great place called Home Emporiums in Cola). The bookcases are Expedit from IKEA and the curtains are Peyton grommit drapes from Pottery Barn.

my little one