And the WINNERS are......

Ya'll made my week!! I got such a kick out of this contest & it was so much fun watching lots of you newbies "come out of the closet", so to speak. Thanks for being good sports & saying hello. Now I feel like I know more of you out there who are stopping by all the time. You really have no idea how good it makes me feel to know that you all enjoy my blog & look forward to new posts. That keeps me going! I have saved a bunch of new blog links & when I get a chance I'll come & visit you too. It's getting harder & harder for me to go & visit everyone that I'd like to, so I hope you understand. My schedule only leaves me limited time to keep up with my posts & I'm afraid visiting has to take a backseat much of the time. So, you get posts...or visits...not both most of the time! LOL I'll try to make the next 100 fun & informative too.


I chose the winners using the Random # Generator thingy and now without further delay...the winners are:

Grand Prize - Lyndy, of Oh, Fiddle Dee Dee won the top prize & gets to choose 3 things out of my shop. Lyndy is in Canton, GA, which is close to where I used to live.

Prize # 2 - Goes to MimiG - Mimi, I do not have an email address for you, so I hope you'll check in. You get to choose 2 items out of my shop. I have actually met Mimi before. We were acquainted from another decorating board from long ago & Mimi popped up at my yardsale that I had at my house last year & recognized me. It truly is a small world. Mimi, do you still live in Birmingham??

Prize # 3 - Goes to Amy in Prattville. Amy, you get to choose 1 item from the shop. How about that! The random thingy chose all Southern girls & I had nothing to do with how it landed. Amy, I don't think I have your email either, so give me a holler.

Y'all can all email me at rhoda12@bellsouth.net with your choices & mailing addresses. Lyndy gets to choose first, then Mimi, then Amy, so I hope y'all aren't all fighting over the same stuff. There's plenty to go around! Go ahead & choose and email me & then I'll let you know if there are items that more than one of you want.

EDITED TO ADD: Mimi & Amy, Lyndy has already chosen her 3 & they are: Angel candleholder, Gold cherub lamp, & the Mama/Baby Bunny figurine. So, the rest is up for grabs!

Now I bet you are all glad you posted this time, huh?! I've got a few yardsale things to share with you, so I'll post those in the next couple of days. I thoroughly enjoyed this contest! Y'all were so much fun. And I have a few new blogs to check out too!

After all the prizes are chosen, I will be having a HUGE SALE to liquidate all the merchandise left in my shop (it will be great, I promise), so please check back in the next couple of days!!! It ALL has to go! If I'm going to do this shop again in the Spring, I have to move out what I have now.
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Several of you asked about putting the signature on your blog. It's easy & I learned from Kari's blog, Just Livin' Large (that girl is a hoot, BTW, so go & visit her if you haven't already). She was talking about it recently & so I took the instructions someone gave her & did it myself. Go here to My Live Signature and follow the instructions. It's pretty easy, but if you have problems, email me & I'll walk yo through it. It's a wizard-type program & really works easy. You pick the font, color, size & slant, then save it all & it will give you the html code to put on your blog. THEN, you go to Settings, Formatting, and under there you'll see a box that says Post Template. COPY the html code that My Live Signature generates for your signature & paste it in this box. Everytime you open a new post, it will have your signature there. You can edit & change it just the way you want. Isn't that cool?? I love it. Thanks, Kari for sharing with us!

100th POST GIVEAWAY!!!

100th POST GIVEAWAY

WOW, I can hardly believe this is my 100th post! I've been blogging since February and have enjoyed it tremendously...meeting all you ladies has been a highlight of my year. I so much appreciate all the friendships I've made & treasure them dearly.

Here's my special treat for my 100th post! Instead of me showing you a bunch of stuff that I've put together to give away, I'm going to give away 3 things out of my shop. Yep, that's right! Whoever wins can pick out 3 things that are in my shop & I'll send them to you...any 3 items! Whatever you wish. Doesn't that sound like more fun than me picking something out for you? Some of you new folks may not even know that I have an online shop, so in case you don't, here is is: Southern Hospitality Vintage Shop or you can click on my sidebar link. I've added a couple of new things & also put back in some of the linen things that I had.

BIG NOTE: That site is free, so it's not gonna be able to handle a lot of hits all at one time, so if you click & it says it's not available for now, just keep checking back. It can only handle so much traffic at one time!! You've got 3 days to look at things, so there's plenty of time to pick out YOUR prize, LOL!

So, now is the time for all of you who come by, but do not post to come out of lurkdom & let me know who you are! You know who you are, but I don't. Come out, come out wherever you are. I'd love to meet you & learn more about all of you who visit me. Pretty please with chocolate on top!! Just leave a message on this post & I'll leave it open until Saturday Noon Central Time & pick a winner at the end of that time. It may be you!

Just go to my Vintage Shop & take a look at what is there. After this giveaway, I'm doing a very nice closeout SALE, so come back for that too. I'll probably close the shop for the winter months & hopefully, can start it up in the spring again, if y'all are still interested. There are still some very nice things in there, so don't miss out on this giveaway!!

Please leave a comment even if you've never left one before... THIS MIGHT BE YOUR LUCKY DAY!

P.S. EDITED TO ADD: So, NOW you all come out of lurkdom, LOL...what's up with that?! Because I'm enjoying this & feeling generous, here's what I'm gonna do! I will choose 3 winners. Winner #1 gets 3 items, Winner #2 gets 2 items, & Winner #3 gets 1 item from the shop. Does that sound fun?? And, you have to choose in that order. So, that ups the ante just a bit!

Plants: Real vs. Faux

Florals in my livingroom, sofa table off the foyer. Click to enlarge all pics.

I'm glad you all enjoyed my yardsale finds for this week! It's always fun to share them with you...and ya'll really appreciate a good bargain, I can just tell! LOL


Over the years, I've been involved in many decorating boards & have seen many discussions on real vs. faux plants & there seems to be a lot of differing opinions on this subject, so I thought that would be a great thing for us to talk about. I have both real & fake plants in my house & have been completely content with that for many years, but recently have begun to wonder if I have "too" many fake ones. Maybe it's time to rethink this. I made all of my arrangements & some of them are over 10 years old & while I still like them very much, perhaps it's time to change some of them.

I really need to get my magazines out & pay closer attention to what they are doing in there now. I know lots of photo shoots have real flowers in them, but you wonder what the homeowners do all the time...every day. It would be nice to have real flowers everywhere, but that's not practical either(or realistic $$ wise). But, this is the real world, so what do we do when we want some texture & life that plants inject in a room?

So, what do you do in your home? Real or fake...I'd love to know! Now ugly silk flowers, I just can't stomach either, but I'm sure if some real designers walked in my house, many of them would probably poo-poo my fake plants...I'm sure of it.

This one I made many years ago too & it's in my livingroom. I probably do have too many, now that I think about it, but what do you put in their place? I can't imagine taking out all the greenery, it would feel so cold & sterile. My livingroom has a floral needlepoint rug, muted colors & these arrangements fit in there so well colorwise.
These 2 iron urns are on the coffeetable with fake plants too.
I made 2 of these sconces a few years ago & this is all dried material. I still like them too, with the artichokes & pomegranites & feathers. These colors work well with the painting here. I love Mary Carol Garrity's style & notice that she uses lots of dried floral material. I'm trying to use more of that too & nothing garish or really fakey looking. I think I've succeeded at that,
at least I hope I have. This is an iron base with more pomegranites & artichokes & feathers. I still like it...and if this wasn't here, what then? I'd love to hear from all of you...is there something else that gives life to a room other than greenery or flowers?
Ivy topiary I made several years ago too & it's on a wall sconce seen from the foyer.
Tin container in the diningroom with more greenery & berries.
Large silk palm in the livingroom..this really adds some drama, so I'm sure I won't change it out. I'd love to do a real one, but I've heard they are pretty temperamental to keep going indoors. That's the main reason I do mostly fakes...real ones require quite a bit of care to keep them pretty.
Faux forsythia in a tin on my desk. These really look real, but of course, forsythia only blooms in the spring.

A faux orchid is on the foyer table & I love the colors in this piece. It has the roots & leaves & I have it in a white urn. I see lots of orchids in magazines & they always look so pretty. We just added all those real plants & trees in my office & that really made me start thinking about all of this.
And here are some of my real plants. In the foyer, this iron basket is hanging on the wall.
And this floor planter is just inside the front door, also real. The ivy in this one is really taking off. This planter was a yardsale find for $5 last year.
Downstairs in the den is another peace lilly.
And I have several African violets in the laundryroom.

So, I do love real plants, it's just that they are not practical everywhere. I know there are so many people who absolutely hate fake plants, florals & greenery & wouldn't be caught dead with them in their house. I'm just not one of those people. I think there is a place for both...in the right balance. I've just been rethinking mine lately & maybe need to pare it back a little. And I do agree that the fakes need to be good quality. I hate the plasticy looking cheapies that you see out there...you know what I'm talking about!? For the most part, I think mine look like good quality, but I'm sure some who walk in my house would hate them.

So, tell me what you think! I'd love to know...this could be a great discussion. What do you do in your house??

Don't miss my 100th post giveaway on Wednesday!!

Saturday's Yardsale Finds

Yes! I'm still yardsaling some here & there. Today I stopped by a few sales nearby and as usual, didn't leave empty handed. This cute little black/white harlequin drawer organizer was $2.00. See how it fits in with my office space decor?

It will be another good little storage piece for small things.
This shabby chic aqua & white bird was $3. It helps to run out of money sometimes. This was marked at $5, but after we had decided on $4, I checked my wallet & only had $3. She was gracious enough to let me have it for $3 (not entirely happy about it though). Don't know where it will end up, but I loved it.
This pretty green glass pedestal was $1.00. I knew I could use it somewhere & I always love to have risers like this for displaying things. They are very useful for decorating, serving food & just whatever.
For now Mr. Bunny can sit on top. I can see this under my big cloche too, with something on top.
Large white urn was $5.00, my big spend of the day. I figured with all my other white pieces, this one would fit right in. I may have to figure out a pretty Christmas display with all my white creamware this year.

That was my Saturday. Hope you are all having a fun weekend & are out enjoying the weather and doing something you like to do!

Sandi, at The Whistlestop Cafe, was really sweet & tagged me for the award you see to the right, You Lift Me Up! Sandi, thank you so much! You're a sweetheart & I really appreciate it. I am very grateful for these awards, but really hate to single out 4 or 5 people to give them to, so I'm just going to say that you ALL lift me up. Really...I have so much enjoyed getting to know all of you & I love it that you stop by to visit me.

Only one more post to go before the big 100!! Don't miss the giveaway, I think you'll like it.

Nashville's Opryland Hotel

During my recent visit to Nashville, we had the pleasure of staying across the street from the Opryland Hotel...OK, so staying inside the Opryland would have been better, but this will have to do. So we walked over there during the day & at night to take in this wonderful place. If you've never been there (like I had not), you will be awed! This is one magnificent hotel...it's a hotel, amusement park, & mall all wrapped up in one beautiful package & you will walk around with your mouth hanging open. I sure did! I took lots of pics, so go on a tour with me. You'll love it as much as I did.
This is outside going into the front entrance.
The lobby.

When you enter the hotel, you walk through corridors & come out into this large atrium. The walkways just wind around and through the hotel and this is the scenery that's all around you.
There are many places to sit, eat & enjoy the views. Here is some sort of outdoor cafe. You can see all the hotel rooms in the background. This is all glass enclosed...a huge atrium.
Looking down from a walkway above.
A waterfall surrounding the cafe, with a beautiful pond.

More of the waterfall.
More outdoor garden.
Isn't this beautiful? My mouth was agape the whole time.
I truly have never seen anything like this, ever. I'm sure it's a treat to stay here.

More restaurants & outdoor eating in the atrium.
I think this was another restaurant. Looks like a plantation from the old South.
Pavillion...we heard that there are lots of weddings here.

A beautiful fountain...I got a nice shot of this fountain at night too, down below.
More gardens & fountains. There are even gondola rides on a canal winding through this hotel.
More levels to Convention Center.
This area looks just like the French Quarter in New Orleans.
One of the shops that's there.
This is my friend, Debbie (R) and her daughter Tiffany (L), shopping for some bling. They were my roomies on this trip. And here's the fountain at night. I hear that the Opryland Hotel is not to be missed at Christmas. I can just imagine what a wonderland it must be all decked out for the Holidays. I'd love to see that! Hope you enjoyed the little tour of Opryland. Maybe we can all go for a visit one day!

My 100th post is coming up next week, so you don't want to miss the giveaway!! Yippppeee!!

Inside Debbie's House

Edited to add 3 more pics.

Over the weekend, we were at Debbie & her hubby's house watching an Alabama football game. Our hubbies are both HUGE Alabama fans & they have a really nice bigscreen TV, so it's fun to go there & watch the games with them. Some of you had asked to see the inside of Debbie's house too, so I took some pics to share. Here's that gorgeous backyard pond view from their back deck to refresh your memory. It was a beautiful fall evening out on the farm. The frontdoor is all decked out with a pretty wreath.
Going up the sidewalk in front of their house.
And another shot of the breezeway. OK, now let's go inside.
Debbie & I started over a year ago redoing this room & here's the progress so far. Believe me, it's come a long way. All of this furniture is new & about all that's left to get in here is a new rug. That will really pull it all together. I found the sofa for her at a neat little decor store called Past Perfect. It's really a pretty sofa & that was our jumping off point for the rest of the room. She really loves the Tuscan look, so that's the direction we went. We found these chairs & ordered them in this cinnamon red color & I love how they turned out. Love that ottoman too. It's a gold fabric with red accents on it.

She found this beautiful oil painting at Sams & it really looks great over the fireplace.
The 2 side bookcases came from a local furniture store & I really love how they came out too. They are great accents for the fireplace & the black finish with little subtle gold accents on the top are really pretty.

Sofa table behind the sofa.

Closeup of one of the cabinets. She painted most of her house last year & asked my advice on colors. She also loved all my colors so much, she decided to use 2 of them. Her livingroom color is on my same paint strip & is called Camelback (Sherwin Williams). It's one shade darker than my Whole Wheat.
Breakfast table & rooster chandelier. Kitchen & breakfast area are the same as my kitchen, Laura Ashley Olive 4. Luckily it worked with her fabrics too. She previously had a green in here that was more sagey & had blue undertones. This is much better.

Looks great in her kitchen too. Here's the football food all spread out. We had a nice little feast!
That's Debbie's daughter, Tiffany, helping in the kitchen.
Glass cabinets in kitchen area too.
Here's the diningroom painted a pretty red (Sherwin Williams Luxurious Red). She wants to get all new furniture in here eventually. She had more country stuff before, but now wants to go in another direction.
And here's the bigscreen, which we were all hanging out in front of.

Alabama won & it was a fun, fun evening! Hope you enjoyed seeing the inside of Debbie's house!