This week I thought I'd create a tablescape for two. How nice it would be to have dinner here on a cold fall night, with the candlelight glowing and the aroma of dinner cooking when you walk through the door after a long day. For me, tablescapes are a way of living elegantly. We often see people dress elegantly but I think how a person lives tells you a lot more about them than anything else. Living elegantly is not just about beautiful things but rather going that little extra mile every day for others and for yourself.
My color scheme this week was gold and white. The foundation of my table is a white tablecloth topped with a gold sheer embroidered overlay.
Gold chargers were added. For plates, I decided to use these clear, glass plates with gold edging. They were part of a serving set however I loved the look of them under the light and decided to use them in lieu of the dinner plates. The salad plate is Spode Mansard, a fine bone china. I fell in love with them the first time I saw them at Macy's back when it was still Marshall Field's.
I added some crystal tea light candles and scattered them around the table. As for flatware, I would love to have some gold flatware at some point. I mean, can a woman ever have enough gold in her home? I think not.
A pair of candlesticks for some added glamour and symmetry. I love pairs of just about anything in a home. Can you tell I am a traditional girl?
A sheer, gold, embroidered napkin completes the ensemble.
For the centerpiece, I kept it simple with a pillar candle in a pretty container. The gold swirls mimic the embroidery in the overlay. I also used some gold, beaded candleholders. It was very challenging to get close ups of the details of this table due to the glare from the light and from the gold. 
The crystal goblets are Monroe by Lenox. I love the swirl on the stem and the gold rim. There is simplicity in their elegance.
One last view of the tablescape. I hope you enjoyed my tablescape for two. 
To see other tablescapes, please visit Susan's blog, 
His birthday arrived on November 12th. It was a Thursday. What was supposed to be his best birthday ever, was his worst. Instead, he was on the ventilator. 
On Friday, the 13th, birthday flowers arrived for him. 
They were beautiful. Later that night, he had complications and they were at a turning point. They had to try to get him off the ventilator or he wasn't going to make it. Somehow, you really don't like those odds on Friday the 13th. They removed the ventilator and he struggled to breathe the entire night. 
On Saturday, the 14th, the sun shone brightly through the room of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. My son has been in the hospital some 60 plus times however when the sun shines in the room in the ICU, it is usually a turning point and sign that things will get better. That day, I knew he would make it, although he was far from being out of the woods. I was so happy to have him off the ventilator, that I decided to make a pretty tablescape.
Proof that you can make a tablescape anywhere, I asked the nurse for two perfectly pressed pillowcases. She brought me a few that were the best pressed as hospital linens go. I folded them over and placed them on the hospital tray. I added Dear Son's birthday flowers as a centerpiece and brought out my plastic plates and silverware that I keep in a box for times like this when I am in the hospital. It saves me time from having to hunt down a plate and plastic silverware, which I abhor. (To be honest, I dislike paper plates, plastic plates, plastic silverware and the like.) I have to use plastic plates when I am in the hospital since real china just doesn't transport well. The tablescape brought me great joy but something was decidely missing. 
I decided to take one of the carnations and place it in a medicine cup. I placed it in the right hand corner of the hospital tray and somehow this tablescape was now complete. The tablescape brought me great joy that day. 
It wasn't as pretty as the tablescape that I created for 
