Caspari Tour II

Today I thought we'd visit Caspari in Charlottesville, VA again. If you did not see my first post click here to visit our first part of the tour.

The first post about the store was focused mainly on table settings since I was linking to Tablescape Thursday that day.

But these photos are mostly of displays,

which are abundant throughout the store.

Faux florals in cache pots.

Love blue and white with the punch of lemon.

Caspari's outstanding stationary line of products.

I enjoyed seeing their use of vertical space.

Here with the ladder and wood shelves . . .

next to painted bench and table.

I adore this cube table with faux boxwood.

Chairs with cushions and pillows to match

Lots of tables in front of tables, I need to remember that trick!

These coral background book cases reminded me of mine :)

They had Mary Lake Thompson towels!!

Lots of their cases had glass shelving, which really

showcased the dishes nicely.

Even the window displays were tabletop designs.

Hope you enjoyed these pictures.

I'm joining Table Top Tuesday today.

Just Hanging Around the House

Here are a few things we have handing around the outside of our house.

The American flag on the front porch.

A cardinal wind chime off the back porch upstairs.

A few hanging baskets of flowers . . .

and a humming bird feeder to attract the humming birds.

And finally in the front tree two bird feeders.

What's hanging outside of your house these days?

I'm joining Ruby Tuesday and Three or more Tuesday.

A Glorious Fourth!

Some of us were more excited than others to celebrate the Fourth of July.

We invited a few friends over to grill out hamburgers. The beverage server is out and ready for iced tea!

The other beverages are iced down and ready to go.

I added a few red, white and blue touches to the porch.

Including some new flowers.

I used this vintage tablecloth on the porch table.

And added some flags to the railing. . .

I think we are ready to celebrate :)

Hope you and your family enjoy a wonderful holiday!

Join Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for more

Metamorphosis Monday posts.

Caspari Displays

One place I knew I always wanted to visit was the retail showcase of Caspari. I have long admired their website and products sold locally.

They were in Virginia, but when would I ever be there? Low and behold they are located in the same town as Monticello, Charlottesville! We spent part of a day there on our vacation and the store was heavenly!!

Display after display of tablescapes. I knew I wanted to share them all with you so I snapped a ton of pictures (this is only part of the store).

Layer upon layer of heaven in their tablescapes.

Combinations of real and paper dishes along with exciting tabletop touches made these displays divine!

I loved this pink and green table with the faux flowers sprinkled around.

Green and yellow with botanicals.

Elegant chargers with linen napkins and paper plates and lettered napkins (yep those are paper floral plates!).

Ahh blue and white - a table setting after my own heart :)

I was a fool - literally squealing with delight at each table.
Mr. B was staying 200 feet away from me and was
sure they were going to call security on me, but
the sales person was very friendly.

Even the window display had a gorgeous tabletop :)
I will share the rest of the store with you later, but I hope you enjoyed these table tops.
I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch today.

A Tour of Monticello Part II

We continue today with our tour of Monticello. Part one found here was posted last week.

Our group of 25 was ushered into the entry hall. This picture (all interior pictures) was taken from the Monticello website http.monticello.org, which is a wonderful resource of information regarding the house, grounds and background of Thomas Jefferson. All guests were greeted here and Jefferson used this space as a exhibit hall of sorts for natural history specimens, busts and paintings.

The next room was the South Square Room, which served as a sitting room for Martha Jefferson, Thomas' daughter, and her family. She also taught her children and managed the plantation for her father from this room.

The library or bookroom was next and was a very small room for our group of 25 to assemble to continue to listen to the tour guide. Remember she warned us before we entered the home that no one was to touch anything in the home, including the door knobs. As we entered and exited rooms, the doors were shut behind us and the guide stood in front of the door as she described in detail the items in each room.

It was sometime in the few minutes of the speech that Mr. B tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out that I was leaning against the wall of the room. I was very, very warm at this point and getting jello legs.

We progressed to the next room, where you could view the Cabinet from the door way. Here Jefferson wrote, read and performed scientific observations. This room connected into his bedroom.

In his bedroom the bed is situated to divide the Cabinet from the bedroom in half. While the guide was educating us on the obelisk clock at the foot of the bed it happened. The roller coaster feeling of all my blood rushing to my feet. I just knew I was going to pass out onto some irreplaceable piece of American History. I whispered to Mr. B "I have to leave", to which he said "We're in the middle of a tour and anyway you can't touch the door knob" - that sounds about right doesn't ladies??

I interrupted the guide and explained I was ill and had to leave immediately. Well, you would have thought I'd announced a bomb planting, because staff came out from the woodwork (according to Mr. B) and ushered me back into the "offices" of the home. They were so kind to offer me water, a wheel chair, a sick bag, etc. After a few minutes of resting and cooling off I was much better.

We took the shuttle back down the mountain to the visitor's center.

I had managed to get these pictures of the center and gift shop where they sell many wonderful plants and gifts.

We thought about purchasing a perennial to plant at home, but decided it would not survive the 5 days left on the road.

Here are some additional shots of the plant material offered for sale.

Here we are inside the gift shop.

This is a dark picture, but I wanted to give you an idea of the size of the gift shop. It is quite large and on this day was really busy.

More items for sale.

They offered a lot of botanical. Here's a wreath for sale.

And some Mary Lake Thompson towels!

Other than passing out in Jefferson's bedroom, it was a wonderful tour. I hope you enjoyed the visit.

I am joining Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Day Dream.