Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to all.  Hoping you are having the perfect weather weekend as we give thanks and remember all those who have so bravely fought for our country. ~ I had some unexpected visitors early in the morning.  Old friends from church that I hadn't seen in years.  They had stopped by to see if I wanted to walk to the Memorial Day Parade with them that was happening at the end of my street. Alas, I had to decline going to the parade as I broke a bone in my foot a couple weeks ago and walking that far with no where to rest was out of the question.  They headed off with their newly adopted daughter for the parade and I headed out to the grocery store to pick up a couple items to make lunch for them.  I was so excited to have company and catch up on the years that had passed since our last meeting, use my new dishes, and try out a new recipe. I was in such a frenzy trying to pull things together before they got back from the parade, that I forgot to take pictures before or during the meal, but recreated the table afterwards.  

  I picked up these star salad plates at the Pottery Barn outlet last week and they set  the mood for anything red, white, and blue.  

   I have a wonderful set of white dinner plates from World Market that I use as my "go to" dishes and then change the whole look by just changing out the salad plates,  as I did here.  

  The red flatware is new too from Target.  Since I can't do much walking, I had shopped around via the internet for red flatware, and although I like Pottery Barn's the best, it was not a justifiable expense.  Target was a fraction of the cost and still had quality.   Acrylic glasses were also purchased at the Pottery Barn outlet earlier in the spring, but I've also seen them at JoAnn Fabrics.  I like using acrylic glasses in the summer since both of my outside tables are glass and I don't have to worry about breaking either the glasses or the table.  Plastic tablecloth was recently purchased at JoAnn Fabrics at 60% off and cloth napkins were a thrift store find.  

  Add a faux red geranium centerpiece and the  table becomes even more inviting.  

  Bright, fun, and cheerful is this table and the company was equally so.  The meal was quite simple since I was short on time.  Just hot dogs and a wonderful new pasta salad recipe that I found over at StoneGable, followed up with a desert of angel food cake, strawberries, and blueberries.  Yvonne always has the best recipes on her blog and you can count on them being great even if trying them for the first time on company.  Here is a link to her Pasta Salad in a Jar recipe.   

   I didn't put mine in jars for lack of time, but I served it in a large white serving dish and it was beautiful.  Wish I had remembered to take a picture.  It was absolutely delicious! Here's to hoping you had a lovely holiday weekend with friends and family. ~ Linking with   StoneGable for The Scoop ~