Happy Mardi Gras!

We had a Mardi Gras party on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. We had a houseful of about 15 adults and 5 kids - mostly our neighbors and some friends from church. James made red beans and rice and gumbo, and I made spinach dip, crawfish dip, & coleslaw. We got two king cakes from a local bakery, and they were pretty good. Not as good as Ambrosia's in Baton Rouge, but good. We hoped to have homemade pralines, but I tried 3 times and James tired twice. We have successfully made them several times in the past, but we couldn't make it happen Saturday. All I ended up with was a bunch of burnt sugar and hot pecans. James got a batch that tasted OK, but they we not the right color at all. Pralines are supposed to be a light brown color, but these we the color of dark chocolate. I was afraid to serve them, so I threw them out. We didn't take many pictures at the party. James was busy bartending most of the night, and I was trying to make the rounds and make sure I got the chance to speak with everyone. So, here are some pictures of our decorations.

Front Door

Foyer

Foyer again. This picture is out of focus, but you get the idea.

Kitchen island

Fireplace

Dinning room

Kitchen table

Window Treatments

I finally got the window treatments for the dinning room an foyer finished. It's not that it took months and months to make them, there was just something else that took up my time. We had a party last Saturday for Mardi Gras. (Yes, we are homesick.) That was what prompted me to get them finished. The photo above is of the dinning room. There are two windows in there that are on the same wall and about 3 or 4 feet apart. There is a painting hanging in between them. I couldn't get a good pic of both windows. They have the same swag on them. I spent the better part of two days on these.

This photo is of a window in our foyer. This only took a couple of hours. James' mom gave me this fabric. It is an interesting oriental print. She used the same fabric, except with a black background to reupholster 2 love seats at her house.