Sharing some Love with Lavender

Hi Friends!  Since it's almost Valentines day I thought I'd share a little LOVE with you today and tell you about a few of my favorite Lavender things.   Do you like lavender?  Of course you do and I sure do too!   I love almost anything to do with Lavender.  I absolutely love everything about it!  I love the color, the aroma, the oil, the plant, the blooms, the seeds, and the texture to name just a few.   All of those previously mentioned qualities contribute to the whole calming and relaxing enjoyment I get from lavender.  Just the word alone sets my spirit right.

Somehow at some point in time I also began to associate Valentines with lavender. Maybe because when I was young I remember seeing Valentines cards with lavender on them.  Here's one I found today that is so cute!

source: Stylepinner.com

Besides being in love with the color, I really love, love, love the plant itself.  Growing Lavender here in the SC red clay that I have at my house is challenging to say the least.

 Some how I have managed to get one lone plant to survive and thrive.  This plant and another one I had in some pots on the deck for a few years before I put them in the ground.  This one loved the transfer and has thrived very well doubling in it's size.  The other one not so much.  I have tried two more additional plantings with no luck again.   I'm not giving up yet though, I'll just have to keep amending the soil until I get it right.

 I love the way Lavender looks and feels.  I especially love that you can smell the Lavender on your hands after you touch it and run your fingers though the leaves of the plant.  I have Rosemary that is the same way and smells so good on your hands.

I'm sorry I don't have any blooms to share with you today but its not quite the right season for that yet.  I can tell you if this beauty blooms like it did last year it will be stunning.    I promise to come back and share this plants beautiful purple flowers when it  does bloom.

Now if you really want to fall in love with lavender, and surely you must, because your here reading this and because I really want you too, okay?  OK!  You absolutely must try what I wanted to share most with you today.  Here's my secret for indulging in lavender.

You absolutely positively must try these lavender bath salts.  These are by far the best ever hands down!   I received these as a gift one year from my son and his girlfriend and I have been spoiled ever since.  In fact there is only one store nearby that carries it and I have to drive a little further to get this.  This brand is the only one I buy!  Aura Cacia has the best lavender aroma ever combined in a mineral salt that will sooth your spirit as well as your muscles. I've shared this brand on my blog once before in a previous post about my bathroom retreat here.   I love that it is not a bubble bath and I can turn on my jacuzzi tub without worry about bubbles overflowing everywhere.  It truly is a whirlpool of aromatherapy and a spa like indulgence right at home. 

This year I added a little something to my lavender indulgence.  I must have spent a whole afternoon searching for just the right scent of lavender soap to add to a Christmas present for my groomer.  She of course got the bath salt and some hand lotion but I also wanted her to have some soap.  I did find several wonderful homemade and organic type soaps but they were quite expensive and usually sold by the single bar only.  I kept searching and when I was at TJ Maxx I hit the mother-load of Lavender soaps.   I'm not kidding when I say I literally sat down on the floor and smelled almost every brand there was until I found what smelled like authentic lavender to me. I even had another customer who also sat down and started smelling soaps with me.  Too funny! I knew I found what I was looking for when I came across these in a beautiful box of 6.  The brand is Fiorentino, and is made in Italy. What I liked about these other then the smell was that you get more then one bar and they are just the right size.  Not too big and not too small.   I love that I can use these in the guest bath for company or in my master bath without some great big honking bar of soap that sits there forever and looses it's smell.  It feels very clean and much like a milled soap to me.  I love the cute little embossed fleur-de-lis on it.  It's so enjoyable when I go into our half bath to wash my hands that I feel like I've just given myself a little treat.  Try it, it's that good!

This morning I added more lovely lavender to the half bath with a newly embroidered hand towel.  I found this cute design online at Emblibrary and knew instantly where I would use it.  This is the last of the inexpensive hand towels I picked up to practice on from Walmart.  I think this turned out beautifully!  I do believe I am now ready to search for a few nice quality hand towels to embroider on.  I may have to make another one and do a set for in here though.  Now that I look at the picture, it looks a little lonely on that bar by itself, don't you think?

Well if I haven't convinced you yet of all the virtues of indulging in authentic lavender I've got one more small pleasure you could try.  Maybe you don't think you have a green thumb or are like me in an area where lavender is a real challenge to grow.  No problem, you could go faux!  

Last year I shared a post about this pretty little faux Lavender plant that I purchased at Michaels.  I shared it with you when I was showing what was the very beginning of my foyer makeover in a post titled Frenchy Foyer (click here to see).  These had just the right gathered look of fresh lavender.   I also picked up a few more different faux styles to scatter around the house.  I would love to find some dried Lavender that is not too expensive and made well to stay in tact. I have sometimes seen that the dried Lavender blooms tend to fall off easily if not handled carefully.  If you are good at being careful (which obviously I'm not) you may want to search for a dried version of lavender in a wreath or pretty bouquet.  I promise you won't regret it. There is something so enchanting and so old worldly about looking at lavender you can't help but fall under it's spell.

Thank you so much for popping by today and I hope you all are having a very cozy and relaxing weekend.  I would love to hear about your love for lavender or anything about it you'd like to share.    Wishing you all a very happy Valentines day!

Hugs and Waves!

Silver and Gold Christmas Dining Room

Were in full celebration mode here at The Decorative Dreamers house, how about you?  We've already started the celebrations at our house last Saturday after hosting Christmas for my husbands side of the family.  It was so nice to be able to see everyone and to have been able to do so without being stressed from work this year.   I love working retail and I do miss working, but I have to say that it has really been a blessing time of year.   I have been able to slow it down and focus on the little things and that has meant quite a lot to me and to my husband as well.  He always takes the week before Christmas off and is thrilled to have me home with him this year.  He also has always been one of my most treasured blessings!

Southern Mediterranean Dining

Hey Bloggers!  I am taking a break from my break!  :)  LOL!

You see, I have to because I've got something to show you and I need a little help with a decorating decision as well.  Things have been quite hectic around here lately in more ways then you can imagine.  So... I will do my best to keep this post from being "all over the Map" but it's going to be hard.

First off, if you have children you know it's back to school time and that always means scrambling around to get things done in short order.  This year was no different, except that we sent our youngest son off to college.  He is going to be local at USC, that's the University of South Carolina, not California yall!  Woohoo!  Go Cocks!!!  Anywho, he moved into the dorms last weekend and starts his first day today. I am so proud and happy for him that I just had to include this update in here too.

Here's my precious college boy the night before he moved out.  Looking pretty happy huh?   I will update you with dorm pics another time.

With such a quite house around here in the evenings I am already finding myself dreaming of beautiful dinners for two in romantic and exotic places.  Oouu La La!  Except, with a schedule and budget that doesn't allow for much travel right now I've decided to try and create one of my own.

Welcome to the Mediterranean South Yall!

This setting may not be anywhere near the beautiful shores of Greece, my ultimate getaway island, but it's a great way to spend an evening at home don't you think?

I first fell in love with these dishes a few weeks ago at a resale/antique store.   I really wanted them, but they were selling them only as a huge set for $125.00.  Seriously?  I only wanted a few and something told me I could find them for much less.  Imagine my shock when the just a few days later I did find them for much less and sold individually at TJMaxx.  I was only going to buy four of one size but decided to go for it and get four plates and four salads.  You will see more on that and why in just a bit.

These beautiful iridescent oyster plates are clear and made of glass.  I found them early this summer at Marshall's.  They were sold as a set of four.  Instant love!  I have been wanting to use them all summer and have even purchased other dishes to use with but haven't gotten to creating that setting yet.  

My newest flatware is from Gibson purchased at work, Stein Mart.  The hammered look reminds me so much of bubbles and the water.

Speaking of bubbles, I thought my beautiful handblown purple goblets from Mexico that I got from Novica were the perfect touch for this setting.  So sorry for the crooked picture here, my photo skills seem to be lacking tremendously lately.

And to top it all off, I brought out the blue bubble glass napkin rings again.  They look really cute paired with some of my newest summer napkins also purchased from Stein Mart.

I threw in a few shells to capture that island feel I am craving!

And you should know I had to have my sailboats in here too!  Can you imagine going on one of those Mediterranean charter sails?  OMG! One day I pray!

My poor little crepe myrtle blooms are so beaten down by all the rains we've had lately.  The good news is I am off today and it looks like the sun is coming back out!

So what do you think?  Does it look vacationey enough for ya?  Hehee!

I think it will work just fine!  Now I have a secret to tell ya about these plates though.  They are going to be very short lived as far as dining with them goes.

Why? 

 Because I have other plans for them that's why!  

You see my bloggy friends, I did not just buy these dishes to eat off of....oh no!  I bought them specifically to use as wall decor.  And that my dear friends, is where I need your help.

I want to add them on the wall here on each side of my picture in the den.

Since I cannot figure out exactly which way I like them best.  I decided to make a few imitation plates to see how they look on the wall before putting in the nails.

Option no.1 has one of the larger plates in the middle with two smaller plates above and below.

Here's a few more further off glances to help you decide.

And this is option no.2.  I would only use the smaller salad plates and place two on each side.

So which layout do you like best or do you have another suggestion.  One set up seems very bold to me and would make quite a large statement.  The other seems more subtle.  I am just not sure how much I want of a statement I want because I certainly do not want to detract from the picture.  What would you do?  I would love to know!

Here's a final look at the two options.  Pretty cool! 

I love Picasa!

I am joining the following parties today.  

Let's Dish

Tablescape Thursday

I hope I hear from you soon.  Have a great day everyone!