Our Friday the 13th Dinner Party was so much fun!

Everyone arrived relaxed and into the theme of “superstitious, lucky, unlucky, cursed” … the whole shebang!

I sent this text message to all attendees, letting them know what to expect:

Our Friday the 13th Dinner Party will be a feverish mix of good and bad luck. You may want to play it safe and wear an article of your clothing (seen or not) backwards or inside out.

The belief that backwards or inside out clothing brings good luck is widespread – from children wearing their pajamas inside out in hopes of a snow day to baseball players and fans turning their caps backwards during important games.

Do you know why?

Wearing clothing backwards confuses the grim reaper, who is not only the harbinger of death, but also brings bad luck. He follows you – so if your clothes are on backwards it makes him think that you are walking toward him so he goes around you to get behind you and instead gets in front of you. He gets confused and gives up taking his bad tidings elsewhere.

You may also want to bone up on various superstitions, lucky and unlucky beliefs and traditions. There will be games and prizes involved!

Can’t wait to have a fun and delicious evening with y’all!
xoxo Linda

All of my sweet and awesome guests arrived with hostess gifts in hand; some of them were very theme-worthy.

Jonathan, Lori, and Kylie Vento arrived with Lucky Dice and a Lucky 8 Ball.

This instantly got me thinking about games of chance, and how they would be the perfect fit for a day that hinges entirely on good luck-bad luck.

Tram gifted me with a box of Lucky Charms and a bottle of Lucky Star wine. But that wasn’t all… Tram’s other half, Steve, had a special gift for everyone up to his sleeve! In the middle of the party, while I was giving out prizes for the Superstitious Trivia Game, this happened!

Yeah, Steve/Jason was lurking in the dark (in the very dark area behind the fire-pit, near the back wall) ready to attack! Too much Fun!

OK, let’s go back to the beginning, with how I built a party around a theme. Usually, I need just one thing to get the creative juices flowing. For this party, it was these four sets of typography letters.

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When I returned to posting last month I mentioned that there had been some changes at our house.

Here is change number one…

… and change number two.

Meet Bombay and Bailey.

If you’re wondering if they are named after Bailey’s Irish Cream and Bombay Sapphire Gin. Why, yes, they are.

Our first pet was a dog named Kahlua. Our second dog was Tanqueray. Both were Keeshonds. Once I have a theme, I stick with it.

I found Bombay outside a friend’s house back in May and brought him home.

It was love at first sight.

Problem was, that Bombay was separated from his litter-mates too early and didn’t know how to play without biting hard and scratching like crazy.

After nearly 2 months of torn-up hands and arms, I went to the Humane Society and brought home, swwet Bailey.

Bailey taught Bombay to be civilized. She is an absolute sweetheart but is also a major troublemaker. She may be small but she has no fear and no shame. At least Bombay will wait until you’re not looking to do something bad. Bailey will do it right in front of you and not care how much trouble she gets in. She has racked up more timeouts than your average toddler. Her timeouts consist of being locked in the laundry room. She hates it but it doesn’t deter her at all!

The two of them even have their own Bragelina-style name – Bombailey.

Bombailey has caused a huge dilemma for me this Christmas. What am I going to do with two kittens and a Christmas tree filled with Waterford, fragile glass, vintage and crystal ornaments?

I’ve posted my concerns about it on Facebook for weeks now and my friends have been of little help, basically mocking and taunting me with frightening (OK, and funny) videos and photos like this and this.

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Instead of my usual Silk Transfer Easter Eggs, I went another route this year. On Pinterest, I found Cocktail Napkin Easter Eggs.

I hard-boiled 9 eggs and used the technique explained HERE for the first eight eggs. Then on a whim, I tried another technique and ended up with the egg above. I love the end results and will show you how to do both.

Plus I’m putting up links to all of my Easter recipes as listed on the Complete Recipe Index – over there on the left if you are still trying to figure out what to make.

Cocktail Napkin Easter Eggs

8 to 12 white hard-boiled eggs, cold
Printed paper cocktail or lunch napkins
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Open the napkins and separate the printed top layer from the plain second layer if the napkin has two layers. Discard any plain sheets.

Cut each napkin into four squares, along the folds.

Dip a small pastry brush into the beaten egg white and use to adhere and apply a square onto the front center of an egg.

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After the July Sweet Salvage sale and in my subsequent “what I bought” post, I promised to show and tell you what I did with the tin molding piece I purchased.

The need for a valance arises from the fact that I can’t stand looking at the nasty metal Venetian blinds in our master bath for another minute.

The problem was – the tin piece was about 10-inches too short to cover the full width of the window. It took over a month, but I finally solved the length issue when I found two square tin ceiling tiles, one for each side of the long piece.

Since this window is in the shower/toilet/tub area of the bathroom, full coverage is needed in the morning and at night, but during the day, I like to pull up the blinds to bring in light and see out onto the backyard.

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The other big change in home decor since Christmas was the display on our sofa table.

We’ve had the table for nearly 20 years, and for that entire time it has been covered with pewter frames of various sizes that hold family photos.

Oddly enough, I am not able to put my hands on a good photo of the table itself. I know photos of it exist, just not on my computer. In other words, said photos were taken before I owned a digital camera. The prints are in photo albums at home… and since I am currently in San Francisco, this sorry image will have to do.

I know it is terrible. That is because I had to really zoom in and then flood it with light.

Here is the original photo, which was taken in December 2006. You wouldn’t know to look at it, but the sofa table is in the dark background, on the right side of the photo, just off of Dave’s elbow. Thank goodness for Photoshop.

Now that you’ve kind of seen a “before” photo – here is the “after.” First a daytime image…

… and next, a nighttime view.

When Dave first saw the “remodel,” he was not pleased. He liked the photo gallery better. The same photos that had sat on the same table for 20 years. Honestly, no one ever looked at or actually “saw” the photos anymore. So what was the point of displaying them in such a prominent place in the house? I’ve moved the frames to a credenza in our sitting room.

Hopefully, the new display has grown on him. I really like it.

Let’s take a closer look.

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In the center of our entry, we have an antique Asian wine barrel. Or maybe it’s a rice barrel, I really don’t know for certain.

Point is, I’ve had it decorated pretty much the same way for the past 12 years. I switch it out for Christmas and add decor for other major holidays. For the rest of the year, it has looked like you see above, minus the arrow sign and the basket of books below.

While I was putting everything back in its place this year, I decided I was sick of the way it looked and decided to change it up. Out with the urn full of faux greens. Goodbye large iron dragonfly. Adios to the bird cage and the stack of coffee table books the cage sat upon. (I must have moved the books for the “Blog 2-Year Celebration Cookbook Happy Hour,” photo you see above, but they were usually present.)

Hello to a collection of cloches filled with pretty little treasures I gathered up from around the house.

I’m pleased with the way it looks, but I have to admit that I now live with a fear of someone knocking into it, resulting in it all of it crashing down like a deck of cards. Hopefully, that day will not come, but just in case, let’s take a look at it on its first day. We’ll begin with the large centerpiece of the group.

This very large cloche sits on an old upturned milk can lid. It is filled with pieces of vintage French ephemera, some of it is rolled up and tied with twine and other pieces are left open.

The papers sit atop small leather-bound journals. A brass cow tag with a skeleton key completes this vignette.

The next largest cloche is the most recent find. It is actually a necklace stand from Pottery Barn.  Please do your best to focus on what’s inside the cloche and not what is behind it. It appears that the Christmas tree was fully undecorated, but still standing, and an evil ladder is leaning there, taunting me.

Speaking of ladders, I should report that I feel fully healed. I am in San Francisco visiting Marissa this weekend and I have a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday. I expect the x-rays and doctor will confirm my belief that I am recovered. I don’t really believe this particular ladder is evil, only extension ladders – those are straight from the devil, himself!

This lovely cloche holds a collection of rosaries, and olive-wood cross from the Holy Land, and various religious charms.

A dessert cloche holds a few of my French Limoges boxes.

I especially love the boxes that have a little something removable inside. The pea pod has little individual peas and the cookbook has a sweet little recipe card. They are two of my favorites.

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Via

Over the weekend Connor and I drove up to Chino Valley, just outside of Prescott, with the sole purpose of buying gorgeous blue-green Jarrahdale pumpkins at Freeman Farms.

I’ve spotted Jarrahdales all over the web for the last couple of years but had not been able to find them for sale here in the Valley.

I had high hopes of finding some for sale in California a couple of weeks ago, but it was not to be.

After a Google search, I discovered that Freeman Farms grows them, but only sells them on weekends at their pumpkin festive on the farm.

So to the farm, we went.

The Jarrahdale is a medium-sized, deeply ribbed heirloom pumpkin in a pleasing light blue color.

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Around this time last year, Pottery Barn had the birdcage picture above for sale. It inspired me to find a big old birdcage of my own and to fill and display it similarly. This PB cage came with a hefty price tag – $199!

I searched high and low for just the right cage, found it, purchased it for $30, hauled it home, and have been struggling ever since with the right place to stick the darn thing!

Turns out it serves as a great vehicle for an ever-changing holiday display. Here is its current incarnation for Halloween.

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I went to Crooked Sky Farms last week to pick up corn stalks and pumpkins to decorate our front entry for fall.

There’s a bit of Halloween mixed in too. I showed you how to make the black feather boa wreaths last month.

I just adore the corn stalks… with plenty of corn still attached. Now I’m just wondering if the corn cobs will dry naturally, rot, attract bugs, or worst of all – attract the local roof rats. Time will tell.

The large pumpkin atop the urn is real, as are the little pumpkins in the lanterns.

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I believe I have created my best Halloween mantel EVER!

It’s kinda hard to get a decent picture with the windows on either side of the fireplace, so I had to wait until dark, which wasn’t much better. This one was taken at night with a flash.

And this one was taken at night without a flash. Neither does it justice, but maybe some close-ups will.

This is the left side of the mantel. Skulls, Glitter, and Glitz are part of the theme.

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