Heart of the Home Party: In My Own Little Corner of the Kitchen

Welcome! I am FINALLY joining Sheila's Heart of the Home party, albeit VERY late! Apologies for my procrastination. Here's the link! Click here.

So... this is my own little corner of the kitchen. My kitchen is very small, and I do most of my cooking and prep work right at this spot that you will see below. I am NOT showing you the other 'side' of the kitchen, because I am NOT like other bloggers, who have a gorgeously clean and organized kitchens all around. I "moved" a some stuff in order to get nice pics. Yes, even for this teeny corner! So for anyone who does not have to 'move' things to make things appear "nice" on their blogs, I admire you!! But I, for one, must say that photos are great for me, so that I don't have to show my 'total' messy life!

Anyway -- I love all of my "things" in this corner, hence this post! I will describe all of these little items of mine. My first picture is of the FRONT of my house -- I sent my son out this afternoon and asked him to take a picture. I have loads of pictures of the front from over the years, but none on my digital camera! So he went across the road to take a photo for this post, per my request. He's a good kid. And don't forget -- it's Autumn here, so you can see a lot of fallen leaves! I still have one 'lacy maple' that transforms into a BRILLIANT crimson in the late Fall. From the picture below, it is on the right hand side, all the way in the back. My mother planted it, years ago. When it changes color, I will post a picture...

First, here's the full picture of my "little corner... " Yes, it looks a little congested, but I wanted to show all of my favorite things! (I normally do NOT have that turquoise urn there, on the left -- I got the urn from Anthropologie (I did a post on that!) and in it are dried hydrangeas that I purchased from Ebay. Aren't they pretty?

OK, to start with, this is what I see outside of my window when I am preparing food, or "doing the dishes." (In the second picture, you can see my neighbor's white house in the background.)

(I made (oh, I mean ASKED) my son go back out and put the umbrella back up to take this picture again. I took the umbrella down because of the bad weather we had a couple of days ago. It would have blown off! But it is STILL sometimes nice to sit outside at the table, even at this cool time of the year.)

And this is my little bird sugarbowl that my son gave me for my birthday. It's from Anthropologie. I did a post on it when I ordered it for my son to GIVE me for my birthday! :)

(Hey, when kids are teenagers, a Mom HAS TO give them ideas of what to get, right??)

These next little "nesting bowls" are from Tracy Hutson. I LOVED the colors so I had to have them! They are from QVC. I LOVE QVC, and have purchased a TON of products from them. You can also see in the second photo, the set of Xochi dish towels ("tea towels" they called them!) that I purchased from One Kings Lane. They are very pretty. I got nine towels, in total, for a good price. Each were individually wrapped in a set of three. You can see the set of three here. I think I may do a give-away for one set. They are so pretty and I know someone would love them, as I do! (So stay tuned for that give-away!)

I have had the kitchen canisters for a while. I loved the color. I am always afraid of chipping them though! These are also from QVC, from my favorite "designer" on QVC: Valerie Parr Hill. I have a LOT of "Valerie" things, which I will show you at another time (when I get the gumption to do so. Look how long it took me to do this!). I paid maybe ~$45 for these kitchen canisters, and I saw them elsewhere, in a high-end catalog, for $95, a long time ago. So, needless to say, I was very happy with Valerie/QVC.

And, of course, you saw my red Keurig (also from QVC!). It is the "personal" size. We don't drink too much coffee, and this is perfect. I love it because you can just make one cup of coffee at a time. The little "K-cups" are expensive though!

And this is one of my favorite coffee mugs. I got two, to match the kitchen (red!), when my son and I visited my cousin and her husband on Martha's Vineyard a couple of years ago. You can see some of the photos my son took on the right hand side of my blog.

It is SO pretty there, on Martha's Vineyard... I love all of the little houses and all of the little shops. We had Breakfast at The Black Dog, and it was so delicious. They made their own breakfast sausage and it was so good. This is where I bought the mugs -- they had a little shop, a few steps, right across from the restaurant. Although the mugs are nice, I think it is the 'memory' of staying with my cousin and her generous husband (who is like my own flesh-and-blood cousin to me after all of these years!), that makes me love the mug/love my memories of being on Martha's Vineyard with them and my son...

This is what I have on my window sill. I have two blue birds that I purchased from Ebay. I love them. I also love the real preserved boxwood mini topiaries that I bought. Aren't they adorable?

This little ceramic heart is something my son gave me when he was 10 years old. He got it at a "Swap Meet" when we visited friends/family in California. When my friend said, "We're taking you guys to a swap meet, I said, "What's a swap meet??" On the East coast, when I was little, they called it a "Flea Market!"

This is another Ebay purchase. It is an 'original' bird tealight holder (at least it's original for ME! I don't know how many the artist made and sold! LOL!)

And last, but certainly NOT least, here is a new photo of my son below that I took from outside the window today! His birthday is in the near future, and soon I can no long say (or give excuses for him) that he is a 'teenager.' WOW, he will be 20 years old. Amazing. Especially since I feel like I am only about 30 myself. So, really, he must still only be 5 or 10?

Well, I guess that's it! This has been just a little peek into my corner of the kitchen, one of my favorite spots. Thanks for visiting.

Best,