weddings – French Ethereal

Joyeax 32ème Anniversaire de Mariage!

October 10, 2019 French Ethereal

Once again another wedding anniversary has come around as Mr. Ethereal and I celebrate our 32nd. This has been a good year for us with moving into our new home, visiting with our daughter in June, beginning a new job (me) and some exciting news I have yet to share!

Our fair maiden wearing my wedding veil…

I never got a post out for my parents’ wedding anniversary this year but on 9-19-19 they would have celebrated their 60th. I often wish that they could have lived long enough to see their grandchildren grow up. They never knew about my youngest brother and his wife’s adopted daughter. But, then again, she wouldn’t be a part of the family if our mother hadn’t passed. Bittersweet reality…

I’ve shared Mom and Dad’s wedding portrait before but it is always a favorite!

Here they are 37 years later. Most likely this is Christmas time of 1996. Bayer-AGFA held a company Christmas party in New York City with other divisions of Bayer Corporation (Miles, Mobay and Cutter Laboratories ~ the latter where my father began working for the company in 1979 in the Bay Area, California).

Just a week ago Hubby and I went car shopping and were offered a great deal on a new Audi Q5 so I guess that is our anniversary and Christmas present for this and several years! I haven’t driven it much but it does have good pep. The car Charles had been driving these past nine years was beginning to nickel and dime us, so it was time to replace it. 🙂

This is us two years ago.

From the IOOF Downton Abbey-Roaring 1920’s dinner.

Just a few physical changes since then… Like where the heck did this neck thing come from?? But other than that we are happy and enjoying this stage in our lives.

🙂

Back to more post pics…

😉

The living room library table is freshly polished and shares some family photographs from when my brothers, parents and I were young. The only other of my parents’ wedding photographs that I have is featured here.

A first photograph of my younger brother Gene and his then girlfriend Linnea is here, too (lower left). They have been married just three months less than we have and have three grown children.

Love this vignette of family photographs plus two favorite postcards! I have had these cards for as long as we have been married ~ and they have always been in these two frames.

Here’s to many more anniversaires! Oh… and that exciting news I wanted to share with you?

Justine is about 8 weeks along as of three weeks ago.

Our son Peter and daughter-in-love Justine are expecting!!!

If you haven’t seen a few photos from their wedding those can be found here.

A new and first grand-baby is on its way! We are very excited for this sweet baby’s announcement!!! A wonderful anniversary present indeed especially for Mr. Ethereal’s parents, who will now be great-grandparents.

😀

Sharing with

Thursday Favorite Things ~ Follow the Yellow Brick Home

All About Home ~ Common Ground

Bisous,

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June ~ My Mom’s Birthday Month

June 13, 2019June 21, 2019 French Ethereal

Thinking of Mom this week as the 13th of June would have been her 81st birthday ~ hard to believe! Born in 1938 she was the epitome of style to me when I was growing up. Here she is in her late 40’s or early 50’s.

In photographs from when she was in high school during the 1950’s, “Ginny” always looked so fashionable! Often wearing lovely poodle skirts, Peter Pan collars and soft angora sweaters and saddle shoes so in style in the post-war era of the 1950’s…

My mom and dad ~ he was 28 and she a young 21.

I know I have shared this photograph with you before of my parents from 1959, but it is worth sharing again. My mother, Virginia Mary Blades, looked so beautiful wearing her older sister Eleanor’s wedding dress here.

Something borrowed, something blue…

Later on Mom looked like a fashion plate as her style mirrored that of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis who was then First Lady in the White House when I was born.

Somewhere there is a photo of my mother and myself where Mom is wearing her cat-eye glasses and a sleeveless summer blouse. She is holding me in her arms resting against her knees… Maybe playing “Trot trot to Boston…”

The backyard was probably at their first house in Centerville, Ohio (Dayton area). If I find it later, I will place it here.

🙂

Part of my mother’s collection: lavender jade with diamonds on either side in white gold, the wedding ring my father gave her in 1959, and smoky topaz from Taiwan when Dad brought home several “parure” (sets of jewelry including four pieces or more).

Mom’s jewelry…

These next few photographs I took a year ago but never shared… Partly for insurance documenting, partly because my father bought beautiful pieces for my mother and carried them back from several TDY trips as a JAG for the US Air Force, I wanted to share some of Mom’s lovely jewelry.

Here is the parure I inherited as I always loved Mom’s lavender jade bracelet, ring and necklace. I didn’t share the earrings. The 14k gold bracelet looks like little twigs stacked up when you see it up close.

When my mother passed, after her funeral my sister-in-law Linnea brought out all of Mom’s jewelry that Mom had given her as payment for redoing a bathroom which had a leaky roof and need ed the tile flooring redone.

My brother Gene and Linnea felt that we should all share it, so pieces went to both of our daughters (Mom’s granddaughters) and some to us daughters. My father had brought me the gold bracelet earlier when he was out on a business trip after retiring from the Air Force. It is beautiful and heavy weighing in at 3 oz. gold.

Our Amy, whose 27th birthday was two days ago. She was my mom’s birthday present in 1992. 😉 This photograph was taken at the Carlsbad Caverns, NM, 2016.

Dad’s love language was gifting sparkly presents to my mother and Mom loved the beauties he would buy for her! She wore them to parties they attended the whole time we lived in Hawaii. Later she wore them to other parties in California and to the theater where Dad performed (his hobby).

Once I borrowed the lavender jade ring and wore it one day to high school as I loved it and it called to me ~ then I was so terrified I would lose it, I put it inside my wallet in my locked locker in my backpack and rushed it home after school to get it safely back in her jewelry box before she got home from her teaching position in Sacramento.

I never did that again, let me tell you!

🙂

A photo of my mother during her high school days ~ posted by
one of our relatives through Ancestry.com. She is 2nd row, plaid
skirt.

Mom looked like a fashion plate when I was young as her style mirrored that of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis who was then First Lady in the White House. It was the era of Camelot, after all…

My brother Frank out in the front garden ~ he lived in the house until it was sold
in 2010.

This was my parents’ last home ~ Situated on 12 acres with a 1/2 acre pond in Southbury, Connecticut, it was a lovely place!

My parents enjoyed watching the local wildlife from their kitchen table. Small herds of deer, wild turkeys eating bugs out in the meadow that my father then later my brother Frank would keep mowed. They spent $150 a month on just birdseed, my father mentioned one time, keeping the seeds in large metal trashcans in their garage.

Now black bear occasionally come through the area as my youngest brother and his wife share photos from their property just next door.

My mother Ginny, circa 1971-1974.

Recently I shared this photograph of my mother for a Mother’s Day post. She must have been about 35 years old in this photo taken when she was beginning her teaching career at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Last year I featured my mother-in-love Mary Virginia Fudge and my grown children who came down the week before for a visit.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this little break away from decor and gardens to meet more of my family!

Happy birthday, Mom \|”/

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It’s Our Anniversary Today!

October 10, 2018June 21, 2019 French Ethereal

Happy Anniversary! I found a few old photos this summer while doing computer backups and I just happened to come across this lovely one from just a while ago…

I thought you might like to see a few wedding photos of my husband and myself and our wedding party from good old 1987!

Here in this photograph is my sister-in-law Jodi, my longest known best friend Janet, then myself of course, our little bridesmaid and I cannot remember her name sadly, and sister-in-law Linnea.

If you are stopping by from the Fall In Love With Texas blog tour I’m glad you are here!

Still love this photo of my mother-in-law Gini and my husband Charles who was just going into the US Marine Corps at the time as a regular Marine, in a few months (1988) ~ partly why we married in October when we did. Being married, one was paid more ~ made sense to us!

Out geocaching on a nice fall afternoon the day after Thanksgiving.

This is Janet a few years ago with her daughter when we were out hiking around Auburn, California ~ about a year before we moved to Texas. Her daughter had her 29th birthday this week; where does time go??

😉

Hubby and I on a trip over to Arizona for a collegiate invitational track meet where our son and the USD team flew in.

We may go up and down in weight, up and down with everything else, too, but there sure are a lot of fond memories, fun and love.

🙂

I’ve shared this one of Mr. Ethereal’s family from the 1970’s before

but it’s always a good one to share ~ three generations of love.

They were dressed up for an Odd Fellows and Rebekahs 1776 Bicentennial celebration and photograph session. I think they made the Sacramento Bee newspaper, too!

Silly me with blogging friend Courtney of French Country Cottage
at Design Bloggers Conference (now Design Influencers Conference).

This is me a couple of years ago when I won a trip to go to the

Design Bloggers Conference for the first time. I posted about visiting Buckhead Atlanta itself here.

And of course here are our three lovely children ~ our sweet Amy on the very left in lavender, and our Peter and Justine his bride of two years now!

We will be seeing P and J later today as we head north for a visit.

Another fun post created the year they were married.

Don’t you just love weddings and all that goes with them?

So many ways to decorate ~ so ethereal, really!

My mom wore her sister’s wedding dress and both looked lovely in it!

Of course my parents were at our wedding then.

Love this photograph of my mom and dad in 1959!

They had a fall wedding, too.

And what would a wedding anniversary be without a little…

LOVE.

😉

Thanks for sharing our special day with us today. If you’ve enjoyed this post or have been over in the past, I hope you’ll consider following my little old blog if you’ve been enjoying reading my ramblings. I love sharing my home with you and

I appreciate you!!!

🙂

Here are the links for today’s hosts on this 3rd day of the

Fall In Love With Texas blog tour {see below}.

Also for Day 4 ~ since I didn’t have a post up for that day.

If you haven’t been over to previous two days my post about My Little Texas Home was part of Monday’s tour along w/ Katie at Let’s Add Sprinkles ~ who we thank for creating the party. 🙂

There have already been some wonderful fall table settings shared, a fun garden she-shed decorated with the cutest scarecrows on Day 2 + much, much more! If you haven’t been over to the previous two days yet, here are the links below.

Stop back by tomorrow to see what’s up next…

The links will be live then.

🙂

Monday

Let’s Add Sprinkles

My Thrift Store Addiction

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Hyacinths For The Soul

Sharing with

Feathered Nest Friday ~ French Country Cottage

Friendship Friday ~ Create With Joy
Sweet Inspiration ~ The Boondock’s Blog

A demain {until tomorrow},

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TBT ~ Travels from the Midwest, Summer 2016

February 28, 2017June 21, 2019 French Ethereal

Last summer was a super busy 5300+ mile

trip around 14 states

as I’ve brought up a bit before.

Today, though, I thought I’d share

some of those photos from the passenger window

with you…

Earlier this month I talked about going back in time a bit to share some of the places and photos from places we drove by and through last summer.

Open prairie out in South Dakota

more silos on a midwestern farm

There is something really inspiring about wide open prairies on a warm summer’s day which makes me happy and leads to creativity! {This is when I tend to sketch things and write down ideas to share in the future.}

It may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it is mine.

Hay Bales {rolls or bolls} ~ I love how alfalfa and hay can be baled or rolled and this was the first time I realized how pretty hay rolls can be. Neatly stacked side by side, or just fresh-cut and ready to be moved nearer the barn ~ ready to feed to one’s livestock during the upcoming winter. One can also smell the sweetness of the hay!

I’ve since seen many hay rolls with our move to Texas and they are now sometimes “ordinary,” but I still like seeing them moved about. Around here, hay rolls are sold to locals for their horses, cattle and goats. The farm behind us has several rolls which are currently getting smaller and smaller as the angus there eat their way through those hay bolls.

Farmhouses and churches ~ another of my favorite things bringing inspiration to everything that I do! My favorite color is white and this lovely building fits the bill perfectly. With its grey roof atop the main sanctuary and above the little church bell cupola, this building had me at hello!

sideways hay rolls!

“Work and pray, live on hay, you’ll get pie in the sky when you die. “

— Joe Hill

Wide open spaces and rolling hills ~ Another favorite with wind sweeping through grasses sounds sooo delicious! Don’t you just love the sound of wind making trees creak in a wood or just whistling across an open moor or prairie?

I love walking in the wind and as long as I am bundled up with a thick, warm sweater and a coat to block the chill I am outside walking! Our Yoda loves to be outside in the wind, too, his hair and ears blowing back behind his face as he heads into the wind.

Our trip across all those states may have been a busy two weeks but it was one of the best vacations we have ever taken. This was one of the first trips my husband has been able to go on in a long, long time.

Happily, he was able to see attend our son and daughter~in~law’s wedding and enjoy this road trip with us.

Mr. and Mrs. Peter and Justine Chapman ~ Amy, our daughter, at far left in lavender

Some of the other posts I shared were about the

Midwest wildflowers

Shopping at Magnolia Market ~ The Silos

and antiquing at

Second Impressions

and

Finders Keepers

are worth checking out especially if you are planning an upcoming trip across the midwest.

🙂

Feel free to leave any comments or share this or any of these posts. If you like, follow me here as well as on

Instagram and Pinterest for other ideas and shares

I come across.

Blessings to you,

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French Ethereal Recap ~ My Favorite Posts of 2016

December 29, 2016June 21, 2019 French Ethereal

1. Boxing Day Boating Adventure

Well, it’s pretty obvious that my favorite

posts are really ALL of them

{being the author of them, naturally}

😉

However, that being said here are my

Jouyeaux Anniversaire ~ A Love Story

September 18, 2016June 21, 2019 French Ethereal

~ September 19th ~
is a wonderful day for me as
I remember my parents ~

This would have been my parents

57th wedding anniversary…

My parents spent 38 wonderful years

together

Both passed in their 66th years seven years apart.

Both from cancer of differing types ~ Dad due to

melanoma

Mom from lung cancer.

I miss them both ever so much…

A photo collage at our Big Home ~ Mom and Dad’s wedding portrait along with a smaller round snapshot
centered in the middle. On this hallway wall, I’ve displayed our wedding portrait {upper left} along with a card I gave
Charles long ago {lower left} as well as my father’s parents’ wedding portrait.

But, I didn’t come here to cry

to make you cry,

I came to share a love story…

🙂

Gene and Ginny met while working

at a small coffee shop

in Boston, Massachusetts

while both were attending college.

Dad was in between services

with the

United States Army {enlisted, 1950’s}

and the

United States Air Force {as an officer}.

He was going to the University of Massachusetts studying

a double major in Business and I want to say Law,

but I’m not really sure about the second.

Gene had spent three years with the Army

down in Panama

traveling and performing with the

Army band there ~

playing the piano and french horn.

He moonlighted playing in a jazz band on

Saturday nights at a club there ~ eventually

being offered

a job with Lester Lanin

and his band and orchestra.

Gene didn’t take the position, though,

instead signing up with the Air Force,

becoming a JAG ~

short for Judge Advocate General ~

in other words: a solicitor, a lawyer.

Gene and Ginny married in September of 1959.

They married during the golden era of Hollywood

around the time when Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco

and

Jacqueline Bouvier married the future President John F. Kennedy

when they were the toast of the nation.

My mother was tall and lithe ~ she looked beautiful in

high school photos in her yearbooks

wearing the proverbial 1950’s skirts and

Peter Pan~collared button~up shirts with a

cashmere sweater over top.

When she and my father went out

she was stunningly beautiful in

the evening gowns she wore, and

her hair was stylishly short like Jackie Kennedy’s.

She was studying English

at Boston College

and

played on BC’s basketball team

{something I found out years later}.

Later on she switched majors to
Special Education

after my deaf brother was born.

Their first posting with the United States Air Force

was to Ohio, my home state.

My deaf brother Frank and I were born

there in Ohio.
On a side note
the rubella vaccine was brand new back then
and I was vaccinated and so was Mom
however
babies in-vitro couldn’t be
so
that is how Frank became deaf
as a result of rubella floating around
from neighbors who unfortunately
had the disease.

And happily we love Frank
just as he is!
🙂

I used the Canon to photograph this Polaroid I took when I was about 11 ~ our second house on Oahu, Hawaii.
My three brothers ~ Frank, Gene and Tom ~ about 1972. I shared in my last post about these
Koala Bears.

Many other wonderful places came thereafter:

Colorado {where my brother Gene was born},

Massachusetts {where my youngest brother Tom was born},

then four fantastic beach~filled years in Hawaii

and finally

moving to sunny California

where my father retired after 20 years

of military service.

My parents were best friends
who loved opera and listening to
Boston Pops performances
on t.v. specials in the late 1970s and through the 80’s.
The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan records, and many other
operas and musicals
were the stuff my brothers and I grew up
listening to every weekend.
My father and mother performed in a number of plays together
when we lived in Hawaii and Dad was always a
lead character in one play or another
all the way up until his passing.

They had a shared love of watching football
basketball and hockey on t.v.
The San Francisco 49ers were their favorite football team
though they were happy to watch any football game.

Sometimes, Dad would play his rendition of the
Happy Birthday song for Mom and us kids
whenever it was our birthdays.
His arthritis was bad so he rarely played piano anymore
as he got older so it was a treat when he would play.
I was always in awe of his ability
to read so many notes
on a page of sheet music at one time!

Frank standing out front of Mom and Dad’s home as it was in 2008 or so.

Connecticut was their final home place
and they found a home with 12 acres and a pond.
Every February they held a skating party
inviting friends and family
serving
New England clam chowder
or Daddy’s famous
spaghetti and meatballs made with
cooked chicken and Scottish banger sausages
to the hungry crowd.

A view through the kitchen window screen down to the half~acre pond.

Their plan on Dad’s retirement
was to sell this home
buy a motorhome coach and travel down to
Tennessee and the Carolinas
looking for a retirement home
and
visiting my aunt and uncle on Hilton Head
as well as traveling the country.
This was not to be…
{Funny, as now we are living that life… more or less.}
😉

All good Love stories must come to an end
but Love never really ends
does it?

I’d love it if you’d share
your parents’ love story
or your own
or a family member’s love story
with me and
with the others who read
this little ole blog!
Please leave a comment and
tell us your story.

Blessings to you on this lovely
warm Sunday morning,
🙂

Sharing with
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A Special Day, A Beautiful Wedding!

July 28, 2016June 21, 2019 French Ethereal

July 16, 2016

Our son Peter and his bride Justine’s

special day…

And even though this shot was out of focus

It’s my favorite!!!

The bride with her new sister~in~law, our daughter Amy

Rain held off until after the wedding had begun with

only a few sprinkles while the final professional wedding shots

were being taken.

All of the flowers were custom~made by the

mother of the bride, and the bridesmaids and family

helped create and set up the table decorations.

Everything was specially planned

with much meaning

behind all of the decor.

Love this picture of Justine, my new daughter!

Flower girl’s headpiece was also crafted

by the mother of the bride.

She is the bride’s youngest cousin and a spitting~image

of the bride at that age!

The bridesmaids’ bouquets

Every wedding is such a personal expression

of the love between the newly married couple

and between each of the family members…

Small remembrances mean so much

and add so much to the occasion.

The bride and groom had a

Memory Glass

made sharing favorite photographs of

grandparents who have passed ~ just lovely

and very touching…

My parents can just be seen to the right in the candlelit memory glass, above right. Guest signatures are written on small
wooden hearts, along with happy wishes for the new couple, then slipped down between the frame’s two sheets of glass.

In place of a Guest Book the couple found

an idea online to create a picture frame where guests who

attended the wedding and reception sign hearts instead!

Brilliant!!!

The bridal bouquet with her recently~passed grandfather’s photo tucked inside.

Table decor is always fun to create for a wedding and of course the couple’s lavender and green colors

featured throughout

the day…

Elegance and simplicity
made the day a happy one
for the bride and groom.

The four~tiered wedding cake
draped in rosemary and lavender branches
tied together and topped with a
“branding iron~style initials and heart”
wrapped up the day in style!

Who could ask for a lovelier day?

He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD. ~ Proverbs 18:22

Blessings to
our happy couple,
Love Mom

Sharing with
Feathered Nest Friday ~ French Country Cottage

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Bridal Shower Tea…

May 2, 2016June 21, 2019 French Ethereal

A little tea party for two set in the garden ~ sign found at Hobby Lobby and
tea mugs are at Target “Simply Shabby Chic.”

To Have and to Hold ~

Love those words!

In this season of bridal showers

and weddings

there isn’t anything better than helping friends and family

with planning their events!

Just a little party ~

Just a little bridal shower tea

through the internet

for my future

daughter-in-love…

When you plan your bridal shower,

send out invitations at least a month in advance

and a “save the date” for the wedding date

even further out

so none of the party or guests

gets caught unaware.

🙂

When it is time for the bridal shower,

dress your table in lovely lace

and set out your finest china

in pretty spring colors.

Have a tea light candle or two

along with a festive bouquet

in the bride’s favorite colors.

One thing I really wanted to do especially

was use monogrammed silverware.

For my children when they were young,

I found spoons that had their initials

on the handles.

We always used these as their ice cream spoons;

however, I always had

an ulterior motive

{yep, it’t true}

and that was to use these special spoons

at a future bridal shower party…

Love in the garden…

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. ~

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

lavender for love ~ playing with words…

Plan a menu and share some fond memories

of your bride with her bridesmaids

and

with those in attendance.

Bridal Shower Games

Have a party game or two, and then

when the bride~to~be opens her gifts

for all to see…

Save all the ribbons and bows,

threading them through

a paper plate creating a keepsake

“bouquet” of the day…

Happy Bridal Shower Day

to everyone

getting married this year!

Sharing with:

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Feathered Nest Friday ~ French Country Cottage

Blessings to you,

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5 Spring Wedding Ideas

April 19, 2016June 21, 2019 French Ethereal

my daughter’s beautiful bridesmaid’s bouquet from a best friend’s wedding
with fuchsia carnations, pink English roses, and orange ranunculus.

Weddings are one of the happiest

occasions to celebrate

that there is!

And, this year our family is

blessed to be part of two!

Here are some fun wedding ideas and things

to buy for the happy couple…

This spring, our daughter

was a bridesmaid

at one of her best friend’s March wedding.

The bridesmaids each chose their own teal dress

in whichever style best suited her.

Then, after having professional

hair and make~up done

on the day of the outdoor wedding,

the Girls

walked down the aisle

carrying these lovely bouquets

in the bride’s favorite colors…

Soooo ethereal!!!

Our first idea comes from this wedding

and is super easy to do!

1. Drying your bouquet

My daughter was very excited to be in her first wedding,

and she happily hung

this bouquet to dry.

I don’t have a picture of it dried,

but it dried beautifully just hanging from

a rubber band around the stems

upside~down,

as you see above!

Super easy to do, nothing fancy,

just hang for a week or two

in a cool, dry place

and that’s it!

You may have to rewind any ribbons and re~pin around

your bouquet, like we did here

as the flowers and stems dried up by at least a third.

2. Give a lasting gift

Over New Year’s I found this sweet 1940s~style green

Just Married kitchen towel

for newlyweds to use in their first home.

These little wedding “buttons”

were also there at

Michaelangelo’s

a lovely giftshop in the

Spaghetti Factory Shopping Center

off

Folsom Boulevard

in Rancho Cordova, California.

I loved all of these little buttons and keychains

and their happy sayings!

{note the super cute “Happy Camper!” down left…}

😉

The bride and bridesmaid ones

just flew home with my son this past weekend.

Later this spring, I will be posting photos of things

our future daughter~in~love

and all of her family create for their summer wedding

but…

For now, I can only share these goodies.

one of the many ethereal chandeliers hanging inside The Spaghetti Factory

3. Wedding furniture ideas

If you are looking for first home furnishings

for your happy couple,

look no further than

Target

I found this darling little table and chairs set

and immediately thought

this would be a great first dining set for

anyone just starting out.

🙂

love this tablescape and this table runner

4. Kitchen gifts

Target also has sweet floral aprons,

potholders

with mini pink flowers in an all~over pattern,

and two styles of mugs

(one in this blue background and another in a pale pink)

to give as wedding gifts

for the bride and groom.

Simply Shabby Chic kitchenware ~ new out this spring!
(The serpentine blue and white towel is another brand.)

5. Carry~on bags

These cute French~inspired bags

are over at

Jo-Ann Fabrics

and were on-sale a week ago.

There are several styles

and

at the time, if you purchased one of these

shoulder bags

then you got a French keychain FREE!

I hope this sale is still going on

but

if not then the bag is still worth it!

Really cute and so many uses!

Totally French~inspired!

Hope you are inspired during this

lovely wedding season!

Please let me know what you thought of this post,

and, as always, feel free to share this post

with your friends.

I’d love it too if you’d sign up to

follow my little blog ~ the sign-up is along the sidebar

(French Ethereal Friends)

to the right.

You can sign up by email too at

french.ethereal@gmail.com

and

French Ethereal

is on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, too!

Somedays I’m just out there.

🙂

Blessings to you,

Barb 🙂

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Feathered Nest Friday ~ French Country Cottage

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Style Teachers ~ Favorite Design Magazines

March 30, 2016June 21, 2019 French Ethereal

The giant stash of Romantic Homes magazines 😉

Magazines have been my biggest
style and interior design teachers

ever since my mother first shared

Victoria

magazine with me!

My sister-in-law Linnea may have left
those first three copies with my mom and dad
at their home in Connecticut ~ I don’t remember.
I DO remember that Victoria
was the first home decor subscription
I fell in-love with!

photo courtesy of Hoffman Media

Every home decor magazine
out there

has passed through this house

at one time or another
and

many of them that have stayed…

And, I HAVE reread most issues over and over
seeing new ideas
new inspiration
each time I’d peruse their glossy pages.
{okay, some drool may have occurred, too.}
😉

The newest edition {April 2016} of Romantic Homes magazine
photo courtesy of Engaged Media

I have every issue of
Romantic Homes magazine
except for a few July issues
{I wasn’t a big fan of the red, white and blue issues ~
being a Shabby Chic/French kinda girl, though
I am a die-hard American and I like my flag!}

Romantic Homes magazine is one of my all-time favorites.
I’ve loved all the editors
over the years and they became “my friends”
without them knowing me personally.
(has this happened to you, too?)
I was saddened recently when
Jacqueline deMontravel
announced her time was done at the magazine,
but…
Not to fear as she is still piloting several other
favorites
including:

courtesy of Engaged Media

Happy Days for me when my favorite
shelter magazine editors are still writing
and I can continue following their style!
{I promise I.am.not.a.stalker!}
Just happy reading their columns and
seeing what’s the latest and loveliest
home decor out there today!

Then there’s Prairie Style
founded and edited by the wonderful
Fifi O’Neill
whom I had the pleasure of meeting on
Valentine’s Day 2015 at
Vignettes
in Ocean Beach, San Diego.
{I can’t believe it’s already been more than a year now!}

Country Sampler’s Prairie Style (Spring) 2015

photo courtesy of Country Sampler Presents Prairie Style

Ms. O’Neill is founder and editor of Prairie Style magazine, a special publication put out by Country Sampler magazine

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You can read all about Fifi and
my trip to Vignettes

HERE

And, I might as well mention
my absolute ~favorite~magazine~ever~since~it~came~to~stores
Romantic Country
of which Ms. Fifi O’Neill is also editor:

I wait patiently
{okay, not really}
for the next volume to come out of Romantic Country magazine
then I race home, pour a cup of tea,
and wander off into dreamland!
My small goals?
To be able to write and photograph for these favorite
magazines!!!

What I love about shelter magazines is
all the photographs! Seeing how homeowners
put their rooms together, what draperies they used
and where they put their furniture.
It’s like Big Girl Doll House Decorating
for me!

But…
Then there’s that “thing”
that HAS to happen…

Once a year I agonize over
going through the monster collection
and culling issues I think I will never read again.
Am I sure?
What if right after I send them on their way
I realized there’s a photograph I needed
for my scrapbook of inspiration?!
As tough as this always is
it’s so necessary because those three big bookcases
that lined our hallway downstairs couldn’t hold any more
decorating magazines
and Hubby threatened to go through
them for me!
NEVER!

The good thing is there are always
new home decor magazines out every month at our local
bookshops and grocery stores
to fill~in those gaps left after
“old friends”
have left the fold!!!

In closing, I have loved
Country Living, both the
American and the British versions.
I’ve kept Christmas issues from
these and from
Country Homes and Traditional Home.
I’m sure new styles and magazines
heretofore
unknown will be published.
But I will always have a special place in my heart for
these beloved magazines
whose pictures I’ve shared with you.

I’ve learned soooo much and
have enjoyed seeing
how people’s rooms and homes
have evolved
as favorite homeowners’ rooms are shared
across magazines, time and again.

So, keep on teaching, dear magazines
and we’ll keep on reading and dreaming!
Blessings to you,
Barb 🙂

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think on these things. ~ Phillipians 4:8, Berean Study Bible

***Please share with me your favorite magazines and why
it is you like them!
I love hearing from you and am hopeful
I’ve gotten most of the bugs out of the “comments” section
though it still wants to post your comments as me…
I’ll keep working on that. 🙂

Sharing with:
Thoughts of Home on Thursday ~ Decor to Adore
http://www.decortoadore.net/2016/03/thoughts-of-home-on-thursday-8.html

Feathered Nest Friday ~ French Country Cottage
http://www.frenchcountrycottage.net/2016/03/feathered-nest-friday_31.html#more

Share Link Inspire ~ The Crafty Blog Stalker
http://thecraftyblogstalker.com/create-link-inspire-linky-party-122/

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