SUNDAYS WITH CELIA VOL 79
Hi there! Welcome to Sundays With Celia Vol 79. It’s so nice to have you here!
Looking Forward On Sunday…
Brad and I have just returned from a week in Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina where the weather hovered in the low 70’s for much of the time we were there. It was such a nice respite from cold, snowy, Lake Arrowhead where we went from this…
to this…
My DC dwelling grandchildren were on their winter break from school, so we joined them in warmer climates for a family vacation. I hope you’ll join me right here next week, where I’ll share with you a tour of the awesome vacation rental home we occupied during our stay in Palmetto Bluff.
Plus I’ll share with you all about our adventures in Palmetto Bluff where we cooked great meals, ate at good restaurants, fished from a fun electric Duffy boat in the calm waters of the May River, played in tree houses, zipped around in golf carts and from zip lines, rode bikes, swam, and basically had the time of our lives.
My Frozen Reality Today…
While we were in beautiful Palmetto Bluff the forecast for our hometown of Lake Arrowhead, California was for more rain & snow. Thankfully our trusty gardener, who doesn’t do much gardening in the winter, switches gears and does snow removal. He told me he spent 7 hours clearing snow from our driveway while we were away! What he didn’t clear were the GIANT icicles that formed on my back terrace!
I couldn’t believe my eyes! There was virtually a wall of ice that stretched from the roof almost to the ground.
And just look what became of my wrought iron railings.
Spring cannot come soon enough for me!
I Met Tina From The Enchanted Home
One of the highlights of my trip to Palmetto Bluff was a chance to meet fellow blogger, the extraordinary Tina, from The Enchanted Home. Tina started blogging in 2011 when she began building her absolutely fabulous “enchanted home” in New York. I have been following her almost from the beginning and have been honored by the fact that she too follows my blog.
Like my family, Tina and her husband fell in love with Palmetto Bluff too, and have recently completed the construction of a beautiful second home there.
Tina chronicled the construction and interior design of her PB home in what she calls her “Bluff Diaries” series which she continues to update as she puts the finishing touches on this home, so follow along here.
On the off chance that she might be there at the same time, I contacted Tina and sure enough, she planned to be in Palmetto Bluff while I was there. We made plans to meet up and what fun it was. Because we have followed each other’s blogs for so long we really felt as though we knew each other, and our time together just flew by. If you’ve not visited Tina’s blog or followed her wildly popular Instagram account, use these links to do so. You’ll be in for a lovely treat!
Looking Back On Sunday…
This week on the blog I took a look back at my son’s wedding that we hosted here at our Lake Arrowhead home. I’ve been meaning to share much more of that lovely evening ever since the big day, and I’m finally getting around to doing so. The dinner was absolutely wonderful from start to finish, so my blog post this week was a delicious one entitled, “The Absolute Best Ever Wedding Dinner Menu”. Even if you have no interest in a wedding dinner you will enjoy hearing about and seeing the photos of all the delicious food we ate that night. It was an international themed dinner designed around the family heritages of the bride and groom, ie: Spanish, Italian & Scandinavian.
Spain Named Healthiest Country in the World
If you saw this week’s post on our wedding dinner you saw that we served authentic Spanish Paella as the main course. It was an ode to our family’s Spanish heritage (I’m a 1st generation Spanish American). We hired a Spanish Catering company called Paella Valenciana to come and prepare the Paella, which is great entertainment for the guests with a delicious result.
So today, when I saw that it was announced on my Echo Show that Spain is the healthiest country in the world, mainly because of its diet, I was delighted. But I also chuckled a bit when I asked Alexa why this was so and she replied…
According the the Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index the Spanish diet consists of a lot of fruit, fried potatoes, rice dishes, fish, eggs, pork sausage and cheese.
It’s true, that pretty much sums up the Spanish diet. So folks, you heard it here, we can now start eating fried potatoes, pork sausage and cheese to our hearts content;) No, Alexa, I think it has more to do with the healthy fats and high seafood intake in their Mediterranean diet, their low rates of obesity and things like that that contributes to their average lifespan of 89 years.
A Wedding Snippet On Sunday
Now that I’m finally getting around to showing you more of my son’s wedding I thought I might use the forum of Sundays With Celia to show you little snippets of the wedding each week on Sunday. This way I won’t be dedicating entire blog posts to the wedding. There are just so many wonderful photos and things I want to share, but I don’t wish to bore you. So, let’s take this a little bit at a time, and perhaps even give you something to look forward to each Sunday.
So my Sunday Wedding Snippet for today is of the Flower Girl. Other than the bride, what is more enchanting on wedding day than the Flower Girl? She is like a beautiful little miniature bride.
Our Flower Girl was of course my sweet granddaughter, Elle. I was charged with finding her dress, and find her a dress I did!
I selected this beautiful floor length, tulle Princess gown here on Etsy from a fantastic company called Olivia Kate Couture. Every dress is made to order, and there are numerous styles and seemingly innumerable colors to choose from. The best part, the price was very reasonable, the quality was excellent, and the communication with the company gave me a good sense of confidence in the transaction. They even surprised us by including a pretty little string of pearls which Elle loved. BTW, that’s my pretty blue & white guest room in the background where the girls waited before the ceremony.
I also found her some sweet matching satin slippers on Etsy here.
As Flower Girls do, Elle carried a darling little satin basket and tossed rose petals down the aisle. Her Flower Girl Basket & matching Ring Bearer’s Pillow also came from an Etsy vendor, Nana Rose Designs.
Our little princess flower girl nearly stole the show, but in the end it was the beautiful bride’s day of a lifetime, and what a day it was.
Making My French Sandwich For French Friends
This week our French friends, Pascal & Arnaud, were visiting from Paris. I introduced you to them previously in this post, where I showed you their amazing Parisian Penthouse Apartment. We were invited to a dinner party in their honor and I was asked to bring an appetizer. So what better thing to bring than what just happens to be one of my most popular recipes on the blog, my French Sandwich.
This recipe has been viewed over 100 thousand times in the last 3 years. It’s so yummy that I titled it, “The Recipe Everyone Asks Me For”. If you haven’t yet prepared it I encourage you to make it next time you need a party appetizer. It will be a hit!
So there you have it: SUNDAYS WITH CELIA VOL 79
Thanks so much for dropping in!
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All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are the original property of Celia Becker @ www.AfterOrangeCounty.com and may not be reproduced without specific permission. Wedding images via Apartment 3 Photography. This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. It’s what helps to make this blog possible. Thanks very much for your support.
