Valentine's Day Tablescape & Bubbly "Love Potion"

I hope that everyone had a fabulous week and also a lovely Valentine's Day!
Erik and I don't go too crazy with Valentine's Day. Our first Valentine's Day as a couple we dressed up and went to dinner at a very fancy restaurant....it was Erik's idea (he is so romantic!) and it was very romantic and fun for our first Valentine's Day together (which was 8 years ago now!).

Nowadays we don't like to spend a lot of money on things like that; we have the house and lots of plans for it (most of which are expensive, of course) and we prefer to be a little more simple for Valentine's Day. We exchange cards; I usually buy him some of his favorite dark chocolate double-dipped malted milk balls from the chocolate shop near our house, he often will buy me flowers. Sometimes we go to a movie.

                                                                 This year I got roses!

It's such a pretty arrangement; Erik especially liked the eucalyptus they added to the filler.

A week before Valentine's Day, I had put together a simple little Valentine's-themed table, using some flowers that Erik had bought me "just because". I love "just because" flowers!

The bouquet had such wonderful bright colors!

I added some pink and red heart floral sprays to the bouquet for my Valentine's Day table. I had bought these last year for my Valentine's Day tablescape for 2011. Click HERE to see that table.

I used a red and white theme, with pink as well.

These cherry plates I've used before on other tables. I bought them at Goodwill a couple of years ago. I have twelve of them and they are great for casual dining and mixing with other dishes.

I've used my Apilco lion's-head soup bowls on this table also.

Love birds!

Hobnail milk glass creamer jug on top of a pink depression glass bread plate as part of the centerpiece display.

A sweet little setting for two.

I also made a bubbly Valentine's Day "Love Potion", served in vintage-style malt glasses with a pink malt spoon and straw.

Each straw has a stamped tag and ribbon, which proclaims it's a "special treat"! The' love potion' is actually pink lemonade blended with raspberry sherbert, then poured into a glass with Sprite to make it bubbly.

White cutwork embroidery tablecloth (Goodwill! $5 !!!)

Peanut butter cookies with a chocolate heart in the center, displayed on  a pink depression glass platter.

You may have glimpsed this straw dispenser in the background; it's not vintage, just a reproduction of a vintage diner-style straw dispenser. I have wanted one of these forever! Erik found this one at Bed, Bath and Beyond and bought it for me. We had come across a real vintage one in an antique store but the top was very rusty and pitted. I told him I knew that they made reproductions of these and that I wouldn't mind having a reproduction.

Here's a nice view of the table without the ladder in the background (the other angle I posted above, you can see a ladder! Ha! I was going to edit that out, but I figured that this is the real world, not a "magazine home" and I thought that I would just get realz with you all. LOL!)

However, you can see off to the side a sweet hosstess apron with pink cupcakes and pink bows all over it hanging from my key hook...............................

That was also a Christmas present from Erik; although not a vintage apron, I had seen it and loved it, and because he's a smart husband, he made note of it and then later bought it. I swear, I think he actually keeps a small notebook with a list of things that I talk about or admire. He bought me a gorgeous purse for my birthday last year that I had talked about seeing at a boutique. He never even saw the purse...he just had my description of it and where I saw it.....and even though my birthday was weeks later, he remembered it, went to the store and asked the salesladies if it was still there. (It was!)

On the actual night of Valentine's Day, I bought these two huge chocolate-covered strawberries from the chocolate shop as an after dinner treat for us. They were yummy!!!!

I had also posted, a week or so back, about adding some "love" to everyday recipes in honor of Valentine's Day (HERE). One idea was using a heart-shaped cookie cutter for eggs- in-a-basket. I found something to make with the center pieces that I cut out and saved: I made teeny little heart shaped egg salad sandwiches!

This would be a good idea for making tea sandwiches also; using different shapes of cookie cutters!

Thanks for stopping by!