Summer Entertaining ~ My Favorite Margarita Recipe

Good morning!

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend!  I was lucky enough to spend time with my good friend, Jeanne, while she was in town visiting her mom, as well as, hang out with my sisters!  My one sister lives in Minnesota so we only get to see her a few times a year...it was so great to get to spend time with her and have all of us together {I have 3 sisters}!!  Soooo, it was a busy weekend, but in a good way :)

Before I dive back into travel photos, I thought I would do a quick post on simple summer entertaining...

Summer is my favorite time of year to entertain, because there is such an abundance of herbs, greenery, and flowers that you can pull right from the garden.

{Vintage Farmhouse Pail}


I've stocked some more vintage galvanized buckets in the SHOP...I love to use these for flower arrangements...here I cut a big bunch of fresh mint from my garden to fill it with.  I kept things simple and mostly went with a "green" theme for this tablesetting, starting with the Vintage Belgian Plates I recently brought back from Brussels.

I added a sweet little viola flower from my garden to the drinks for a pop of color...and used hosta leaves for coasters.


You know how much I love to use colored glass, and these Green Recycled Glass Bottles were the perfect touch...

{Green Recycled Glass Bottles}



I also wrapped the napkins with vintage French wine labels and then tied them with a little twine {you can now find these in my Vintage French Ephemera Kits}...

My friend, Larissa, introduced me to the following margarita recipe...to say we are a bit obsessed with these margaritas might not be an understatement :))  Larissa lives in my subdivision and she also has a beautiful pool, so we drink a lot of these while sitting poolside...it's one of the highlights of summer for me!

I use a white {clear} tequila because it does not contain artificial dyes.  I didn't realize until recently that the regular brown colored tequila gets it's color from artificial dyes, which I try very hard to avoid.  The amber color of these margaritas comes from the Agave used to sweeten them.

Fresh Squeezed Margaritas ~


1 oz. fresh squeezed lime juice {I use organic limes}


1  1/2 oz. tequila


3/4 oz. Organic Agave


3/4 oz. water


Margarita salt to rim glass {optional}


Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Serve over ice and enjoy!


I usually start with the lime juice.  Once I know how much I have, then I multiply out the other ingredients accordingly and combine in a large glass pitcher.  Remember to leave your limes at room temperature as they will yield more juice that way.  {The Chef'n Lime Juicer from Williams-Sonoma works great for quick citrus juicing}.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a wonderful day!!


Tracey

Memorial Day Weekend

Hello!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day Holiday Weekend!!!

I will be loading some additional flea market finds this weekend and I will be back next week to share some more of my travel photos :)  

Blessings ~

Tracey

French Flea Market Finds

{Vintage French Transferware Plate Set}

Good morning!

I wanted to share a sampling of the new flea market finds I've listed in my SHOP...all from my recent trip to Belgium and Paris...

{Vintage Belgian Bowls}

I brought back quite a few linens this time, including this next one, which is my favorite...

{Vintage French Linen Sheet Grey}

{Vintage French Tart Pan}

{Vintage French Letter Bundle}

{Vintage French Cider Cups}

{Antique French Book Set of 3}

{Vintage French Aqua Bottle}

{Vintage French Linen Tea Towel}

{Set of Small French Serving Platters}

{Antique French Papers}

I had a lot of trouble yesterday uploading my photos to my website and having them look blurry, which was extremely frustrating!  So I finally just gave up last night and decided I would load the rest of my items over the next few days...but no worries there are lots of items there now for you to look at {and, yes, with the occasional blurry photo ~ ugh}...

Have a lovely day!

Tracey

French Larkspur

Brugge Part One

Hello!  I'm back!  It took me a few days to get back in the swing of things {and to sort thru the hundreds of pics I took}, but I am so anxious to share my trip with all of you!!

I've decided to start with the photos of Brugge, Belgium, as it was such an amazing city and one of the highlights of our trip!

The beautiful, beautiful city of Brugge is like experiencing time travel...this old town still has all cobblestone streets and it's buildings are unravaged and intact.  I was truly in awe at every turn down the many, many streets we explored...I could not snap photos fast enough :)

Here is the view out our hotel window...it was overlooking the public square called The Burg ~

The weather was mild, but very pleasant while we were there and the sky was overcast the whole time, which actually made for great picture taking!

I LOVED the fact that as soon as you ventured away from the main areas in Brugge, the streets were quiet and uncrowded.  It is so nice to take a picture with no people and no cars in it.  It really was such a peaceful city to be in.

Here is a sampling of the character-rich, gorgeous city of Brugge...

Brugge is only a 2 hour and 20 minute train ride from Paris, so it is an easy add-on if your are planning a trip to Paris.  I highly recommend this beautiful city!!

*****

My SHOP has been closed while I was away and for this week while I photograph and load all of the flea market finds I brought back from Belgium and Paris, but it will reopen on Monday morning with all of my new items listed!!

If you would like to order the June issue of Jeanne d' Arc Living Magazine {due out by the end of the month}...

{photo courtesy of Jeanne d' Arc Living}

...you can click *HERE* to order

Have a great weekend!!!

Tracey