Chargers and Wedding Shower Do Overs

Forgive me for back-tracking a bit, but I wanted to share my Easter table setting with you! Easter Sunday was our first time to have a big, family gathering in our new home. Easter is my favorite celebration and I love to host. We also celebrate six, yes six, April family birthdays at Easter. (If you must know, my sister-in-law is the third, my brother is the eighth, Fisherman is the twelfth, my step-mother-in-law is also the twelfth, my grandmother, Birdie, is the fifteenth and Mr. Pearl is the sixteenth - whew!) We have a blast when we are all together with both sides of my family joining in.

The Birthday Bunch!

This amazing young man turned FOURTEEN!

I wanted to make this Easter extra special. I fell like this house has been a longtime in the making and I was excited to have everyone here. So, I opened the china closet, an indulgence that we were able to include in the remodel and I pulled-out my wedding china. China that I do use but all of a sudden, it lacked the punch that I wanted and I didn't have enough of any of my vintage collections to really set the table. I know that I am not the only one that wishes that I could have a "wedding shower do over." Not the wedding mind you, I will keep Mr. Pearl, just the shower. I often think that wedding showers are wasted on young couples. Why can't we just give them a little money, some good towels and everyday dishes and be done with it? One really needs a wedding shower after about twelve years of marriage. The good towels are threadbare (okay, I admit it, I will spend money on high thread count, monogrammed towels that guests see and use, but for everyday? Don't ask. It's money I hate to spend. Like spending money on plumbing or AC or tires for your car - necessary but there isn't any real "show" for the expense.) Back to my tangent, yes, new towels are needed, replacements for all of the glasses and dishes the kids have broken and the wedding china that every bride must have? She doesn't like anymore. I like mine, it is just plain. It is "safe", so I would always be able to use it and not grow tired of it. The one thing I wouldn't change? My silver. I was fortunate to inherit Francis I from my mother-in-law and her mother and I love it and really use it a lot. Life is too short not to use the good silver. You may quote that!

Here is a pic of the "safe" china - Wedgewood's Royal Lapis

 I did supplement my china with some of Spode's Blue Room - my love!

My quick solution for my dilemma, since it doesn't look like there are any "wedding shower do overs" in my future, was to add some chargers. Adding chargers, while paying attention to the pocketbook. Mama needs window treatments you know. Anywho, a quick trip to Garden Ridge to purchase cheapo gold charger plates, some paint and imagination and presto - just the punch the table needed. Even if my sweet mom was the only one that noticed the chargers, I knew they were there and I loved them. I painted the outside with white craft paint and added stripes in green, pink and pale blue with some flowers and swirlies - easy peasy. So, next time you find yourself lamenting the taste or lack there of that your younger self had, paint some chargers. Or, go register for new stuff and ask your friends to throw you a "wedding shower do over".

The charger "before"

The charger "during"

The charger "after" with afore mentioned Wedding china

The Pearl Family

xoxo,

Krissy