Birthday Bash and Thrifty Treasures

I'll start with my thrifty find of the year so far! There are a couple more as you read through this post, but this silver pitcher is the big winner, in my opinion.

P.S. If you're clicking over from Rhoda's, please leave me a comment!
I'd love to visit YOUR blog!

It's a tw0-piece creamer, as far as I can tell. I was looking at that inside pointy jabber thing, and wondering about it, and BF said "I know what that is! It's to open a can of cream!" I was like "Hunh? Whatchoo talkin' about, Willis?" He remembered canned cream from when he was a kid. So I did a little internet research and found that during the Great Depression, people would use condensed milk in their coffee, because fresh cream was hard to come by.

What has me a little baffled, though, is why a company would make a sterling (or plated--I'm just not sure at this point) creamer for a CAN of cream during the depression. This question leads me to believe that the pitcher is indeed plated, but is in unbelieveably great condition. It's mark is WMF, which is German, and I think that if it's plated, it's worth about $65. If it's sterling, maybe twice that. Want to know what I paid?

A dolla'! Holla'! (Hee...my kid is rubbing off on me.)

Now on to my birthday dinner party. I potted up some of the plants that have been waiting patiently for my attention....

See that awesome antique basket? A dolla'! Holla'!

The flat saucer above was just collecting water, so I dug up some moss out of my yard, and planted myself a little zen rock garden. Cute, right? :)

The table, all set and ready for guests to arrive...

...see the candle from my friend Elizabeth over at A Breath of French Air on Etsy?
It smells so GOOD!

My new (old) wicker rocker. $50. Sorry, not such a bargain, but I spent two hours out there yesterday reading and enjoying a fire...

What do you think of my little pine trees? I felt very Martha-ish as I wrapped the grapevines around the bases to cover the pots. Kathleen thinks I'm a little bit crazy, and BF said "Aren't trees supposed to be planted in the ground?" I'm so misunderstood. ;P

....a gratuitous pic of my new car....I'm loving it!

.....and my birthday present from BF. I love this thing! It's so ME! And it echos the domed shape of my tent!

Thrifty find alert! The table below fold up flat! $15!

I'm thinking maybe some Formby's refinisher might be just what the doctor ordered for this table.

I know, you wanted to see that tree a little bit closer, didn't you? .....so you could copy my grapevine idea, right? I knew it!

The par-tay table!

...oh, and below are all the awesome bargain pots I got at Campo de Fiori a few weekends ago. Cheap! Tent sale! Do you see my upside-down-cloche fountain? Too cool for school! It sounds and feels like a little grotto out there now.

Thrifty find alert number three! Old church pew! FREE!! I know, right?!

I'm thinking I may paint it a bright-ish color--maybe a yellow-green. We'll see.

I'm hiding...no wait, my sister and I are taking pictures!
There were eight of us for dinner. So nice!

The cosmos were so pretty!

My friend Jennifer brought me the most gorgeous bouquet of peonies from her garden.

My toolbox pansies! They're really taking off. Toolbox: $1

My wave petunias are lookin' good too!

Jennifer bought me my very own pink dogwood tree for my birthday.
Does it get any better than that? Seriously.

This is a shot of the garage doors that I painted last week. They used to have all black squares that were totally beat looking. Now it's not such an eyesore. I'll get to the rest of the garage at some point this year.

Everyone brought me plants! I'm so excited! Below, ligularia, some big garlic thing, some euonymous...

Sedum, autumn joy:

Dahlias! I've never grown those before!

This beautiful bouquet of peonies and roses was from my friend Kelly. *sigh* I ADORE peonies.