An Annual Cookie Exchange

This past weekend was my annual cookie exchange with my mom and sisters, aunts and cousins from my mom's side of the family.

We all bake half a dozen cookies for each person attending and a dozen to sample the night of. Then we enjoy eating the delicious assortment of cookies while sipping festive drinks like eggnog, mulled cider, cocoa, and tea.

It's a lovely way to spend an evening catching up.

And the best part? At the end of the evening you're left with dozens of different Christmas cookies and all your Christmas baking done! 

That Saturday morning I had popped out to something new and wonderful in my neighborhood. A Vintage Christmas market. Though I didn't find anything for myself this time, I did leave very inspired. There were some lovely vintage finds from Oliver and Rust, as usual, gorgeous flowers by Fleurish Design Studio, handmade soaps from Harmony and lots of other unique Christmas ideas from local vendors.

Needing something for the buffet and tables, I went from there to the shop to pick up a few cut flowers to make my own arrangement.

This little silver plated piece was found at a new thrift store in town, Renewed Thrift and Vintage. 

It was $1.

We've been making these little arrangements at the shop since we opened, and we love finding new things to create them in.

It was small, and fit just right on the buffet. It worked well with the silver plated tea and coffee pots.

I tied the leftover greens with some snipped Narcissus blooms for a small bouquet for the table.

The living room is almost finished for Christmas. I simply need to hang my garland on the hooks in the bay window and maybe add a few touches to the cabinet.

How delicious do these cookies look? I'm always amazed at what arrives each year. They're always different, and make a lovely assortment.

This year, I actually went to two different exchanges. For the first I made Buckeye Brownie Cookies; a brownie cookie bottom with a peanut butter ball on top, covered in chocolate and sea salt. The other was a Turtle Thumbprint; a chocolate cookie rolled in pecans, filled with caramel and drizzled with milk chocolate.

If you're interested, there's another Vintage Christmas Market happening the evening of December 11th from 6:30 until 9. The details will be posted on either the Fleurish or the Oliver and Rust website linked above.

A Belated Mother's Day Tea

With Mother's Day being so busy at the store, and then the long weekend, my Mother's Day Tea was later than usual this year.

It's a yearly tradition, and a way for us girls to spend an afternoon together over tea - high tea.

 Silver pots, scones with Devonshire Cream and preserves, delicious pastries and an assortment of wonderful teas all make it special for some very special ladies.

Happy belated Mother's Day girls!

An Update on Bremfield's

I'm so excited to share with you a bit of a sneak peak into how Bremfield's is coming along.

You can follow along with the who adventure here.

It's looking so beautiful. Most of the painting is finished, the gorgeous brick walls have been sealed, they've moved in their antique display cabinets and this week painted the ceiling white and installed lighting. The next, and greatest project is the installation of my mom's kitchen. This is where she will bake all of her delectables for in the cafe part of the store. It will be quite a job, but they are so excited. After that it's the fun part - setting up the merchandise and filling the store with product.

She spent the weekend doing her first wedding in the actual store. Every other wedding has been done in their basement.

You can see here all of the doors and trim are now white. It makes it so bright and clean. Also, you can see the beautiful antique display cabinets they found while picking in an old barn. They are absolutely gorgeous. Each is slightly different, but all are charming with the antique glass and metal legs. The one below that has the detailed wooden base is being prepped to be the cash counter. There was no glass and they loved the old, wavy, greenish glass of the others so much that they didn't want to replace them with new glass. And since you don't want to see the storage behind this counter, they will paint it and have found textured wallpaper to give it some character.

The front entrance is nearly finished. They added beadboard and just need to touch up all of the trim. I'm happy they opted to stick with white. It's bright and reminds you of a European greenhouse with it's large windows.

And finally, because they were too beautiful not to show, here are a couple photos of the wedding flowers. The bride wanted simple bouquets of white hydrangeas with a bit of bling.

The table arrangements are simple vases with cut white hydrangeas and some crystal beads draped on the outside.

This is the small bouquet for the flower girl.

The bride's bouquet with a few cream spray roses and some tiny jewels added.

And the arrangement for the signing table. Everything was simple, yet timeless.

I'm looking forward to showing you what it looks like once they are finally open for business.

In the Garden: Hydrangeas and A Winner!

[All Photos - The Grower's Daughter]

Happy Monday.

I hope you all had lovely weekends!

I have been patiently waiting for my Hydrangeas to bloom so I can finally snip a few stems and enjoy them throughout our house. But, they seem to be taking a long time this year. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I may have pruned them a bit far back. I don't know how I got so carried away, but I did. To be honest, I was worried that I would miss out on their most beautiful blooms this year.

But, to my delight, I came home from the lake to find them all in bloom!

One of my varieties, with petite little white blooms, is in full bloom where they are in full sun. The other bushes, my Limelight Hydrangeas, are just starting to show their vibrant lime coloured flowers. I suspect that when we arrive back home next week, they will be beautifully white, especially if it continues to be as hot as it has been these past few days!

These pretty white blooms make the perfect little arrangements for bud vases.

Some of the others are still tight, ensuring I will be able to continue to enjoy them throughout the coming weeks.

The gorgeous flowers on the Limelights. Aren't they such a pretty shade of green. It's so fresh! And, as a bonus, they turn white eventually as the summer goes on, and hten a pinky cream come Autumn. White Hydrangeas are my most favourite.

Pretty little bud vases.

Until I'm able to display the Hydrangeas, our snowballs will have to do, though they are still lovely as well.

And finally, because I know you're waiting so patiently, the winner of the $100.00 gift certificate to the shop of their choice is:

Michele of {PRIMP}!

Congratulations Michele, and thank you all for the lovely comments, and especially all the great feedback on my new kitchen island. Based on what I read, it's found it's new home! I love hearing from you all so much.

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