A Victorian Tea in Chelmsford

On Saturday, I met my friend Karen for a Victorian Tea. The event was a fundraiser for the Chelmsford Center for the Arts.  It was good to see Karen as we haven't seen each other in almost a year. We communicate through Facebook mostly.

My sister's friend is the Director at the Center and my sister who did not attend decided to contribute her painting of Queen Victoria to the festivities.

The tea was billed as a celebration of Charles Dickens 200th birthday. I was happy to see good attendance at the event!.

Cranberry scones wewre served with strawberry jam, orange curd and clotted cream. They were oh so delicious. We sat with a woman named Mary and her friend Betty.  Mary was from England and she said she loved the scuns. That' s how they pronounce scones in England.

The sandwiches were fantastic too! I especially liked the cheese and onion. I could have eaten an entire plate of just the cheese and onion!

The mini cheesecakes looked like they were deep dish. They were yummy!

Everyone got a mini Christmas fruitcake and a madeleine. I selected the most well done cookie. I do love madeleines and these were great.

 

There were two flavors of tea served, Earl Grey and Ceylon. Mary did not like Earl Grey so she got her own pot of ceylon. What a cute teapot!

 

A company was hired to provide food and drink for the event. The Vintage Tea and Cake Company of Medford did a wonderful job.

 

I was told there will be more tea events at the Chelmsford Center for the Arts. The director would like to have quarterly teas. I look forward to the next one!

Holiday decorating inspiration

I don't know about you, but, I always look to magazines and blogs for my holiday decorating inspiration.  I saw this beauty in Matthew Mead's Christmas magazine. This was from a feature on Carol Spinski from Raised in Cotton. The chair is a little bit like my living room chair.

So I thought I would give it a whirl and pull out my own vintage ornament collection. I just grabbed the first few I could get my hands on since I haven't decorated yet. Mine is a little meagher but you get the jist of it.

I was admiring my work when ....

The one man wrecking machine awakened from his perch in the dining room. Of course, he had to investigate.

He just has to get in every photo doesn't he?  So the holiday styling session abruptly ended. I did not want to chance any of my vintage beauties becoming a cat toy for Mr. Percy or his siblings.

One last look before it is dismantled.  As you can see the chair is not in pristine shape as it has endured far too many kitty claws.

I decided to give you a close up view of some of my collection. I added a warm filter to the photo to give it more of a vintage look.

Where do you find your holiday decorating inspiration?

Kennebunkport Weekend

I woke up to a beautiful view of the ocean on the second day of my weekend getaway to Kennebunkport. It was very windy and cold but we didn't care.  We had big plans for the day.

I went out before breakfast and took a few snaps of the hotel.  This is where we ate last night.  We saw a beautiful sunset from these windows.

The grounds are lovely here at the back of the hotel. No shortage of places to relax here.

This is such a great spot to watch the ocean.  On a warm day, this must be absolutely heaven.

After a buffet breakfast, we headed to Old House Parts in Kennebunk.  I was looking for a mantle for my dining room. There were plenty to choose from.

They were lovely but a little pricey. This was not going to be an impulse buy for sure.

If you love architectural salvage, this is the place to be.  I was in heaven. We had a great time picking through everything.

I would love to put one of these windows in the condo. The fleur de lis pattern really caught my eye.

Napoleon, the resident cat, found the one patch of sunshine in the place. He is always hanging out either inside the shop or outside in the grass.

After our visit to Old House Parts, we drove north to Portsmouth. We wanted to check out the Winslow Homer exhibit at the Portland Art Museum. The museum was beautiful and the Winslow Homer exhibit was fantastic. I loved reading the stories behind each piece.

We grabbed a quick bite in the museum's cafe and headed to Cape Elizabeth and the Portland Head Light. At this point in the afternoon, it was cold and the wind made it seem colder.

A bridal party used the lighthouse as a backdrop for some photos. I think the poor bride was freezing. I know I was.

It is a pretty spot and well worth the trip.  Again, if it had been warmer, we might have stayed longer. We tried to think of all the lighthouses we'd been to and there were quite a few.

One last shot before we had to leave.  Portland was only about a 30 minute drive from our hotel but we wanted to get back before dark.

We arrived back in Kennebunkport at sunset. I decided to take a short walk from the hotel to get a closer oceanview.  I'm glad I did. The view was spectacular.

It was a peaceful time of night with not a soul around. The colors were amazing. It was perfect.

I think this photo looks like it could have been taken in Florida but it's Maine.

I went back to my hotel room to warm up and I was still able to capture one more sunset shot before darkness arrived.  We headed to the Nonatum down the street for dinner and I had a delicius halibut dish and for dessert, cinnamon ice cream. It was so good! I am going to look for cinnamon ice cream around where I live. I don't think I'd ever had it before but it was fantastic!

My next post will be about our last day in Kennebunkport, we did a little bit of antiquing before we left Maine and we found some great stuff!

The Colony Hotel, Kennebunkport, Maine

I've been meaning to blog about my weekend in Kennebunkport, Maine but work got really busy and I've been spending my nights thinking about mortgage applications and not blogging. I have so much to share I am going to do a few posts about the weekend. We arrived late Friday afternoon and left Sunday morning but still I have lots to show you! This post is strictly about the hotel we stayed at.

The hotel is very old and is in the Historic Hotels of America book.  It has an ideal location just minutes from the center of Kennebunkport and it's on the same road as the Bush compound. The oceanviews from the property are spectacular!

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It was a beautiful Fall weekend, actually quite cool and windy but still beautiful.

The hotel is pet friendly which was not a problem for me because as you know I love animals! I did mind when the little yippy dog in the room next door barked every time someone walked by his/her door. Luckily, the room was at the end of the hall so not too much traffic going on there.

The entrance was lovely and decorated for Fall with cornstalks and colorful Mums.

This walkway led straight to the ocean and there was a pool on the other side of the stairs.

We actually started our weekend in Maine late on Friday afternoon. We got there in time to see a beautiful sunset.  This photos shows the back of the hotel.

Another walkway leading to the ocean. On the left, the hotel's restaurant.  We ate there and watched the sunset.  My dinner? Seafood, of course! I ordered baked sea scallops served with an apple cider cream sauce and spinach.

I made a reservation for a deluxe oceanview room for myself and my sister got a garden view from her room. I had a panoramic view of the ocean. It was breathtaking.

 Here's another view. Patterned wallpaper and rug.  In person, it did not look as busy as in the photo and the room's decor was very nice.  It was decorated in the traditional style.

I just kept snapping photos of the view from my room. I was definitely in relaxation mode the minute I saw the space.

I used my wide angle lens to capture the vastness of the room.  My sister said she would have been happy sleeping on a cot in this room!

As you can see, this was a lot of space for one person. I had a wonderful night's sleep here (once the yippy dog decided to go to sleep too!).

The bathroom was very nice too! It had an oceanview as well and a nice hot shower!

I had a walkin closet, something I don't even have at home! 

After dinner, we sat by a cozy fire in the living room/ lobby. The lobby was tastefully decorated.

My sister checked out the tourist news to look for things to do. We already had a few things in mind including a daytrip to Portland the next day and a trip to Old House Parts in Kennebunk.

I think the lobby and living room had a wonderful old New England feel. Conservative yet cozy.

 

The doors led to a porch on the back of the hotel.  You can sit and watch the ocean from the porch, I am sure it is lovely in the Summer. It was too cold and dark to sit there on Friday night.

 

 Here's the dining room. The windows on the right have ocean views and there is a rotunda at the end of the dining room with 360 degree views. We had dinner here the first night and breakfast in this room every morning.

After relaxing by the fire and planning the rest of the weekend, we retired to our respective rooms and had a wonderful night's sleep.