A Mrs Among Magnolias: April 2015

Crockpot Potato Soup

During the winter months, we made this at least once every few weeks, but even though it's warming up this is still one of my husbands favorite soups.

Since its super easy to make, I thought I would share it with y'all!

Ingredients:

1 30oz. bag of frozen diced hash browns

1 32 oz box of chicken broth

1 can of cream of chicken soup (10 oz)

1 pkg. cream cheese (8 oz, not fat free)

3 oz bacon bits

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Put the hash browns in the crockpot, then add chicken broth, cream of chicken soup and half of the bacon bits.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours or until the potatoes are tender.

About an hour before serving, cut the cream cheese into small cubes, and place in the crock pot. Mix a few times throughout the hour.

Once the cream cheese is completely mixed in, it's ready to serve.

Optional: Right before I serve, I will mix in some cheddar cheese and let it melt to make it more cheesy.

Top with bacon bits and cheese to serve

Enjoy y'all!!

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I have to admit that the show Southern Charm on Bravo has become my Monday night guilty pleasure! Southern Charm is a show about 6 singles living the high life in Charleston, SC. I started watching the show because KJ and I got engaged in Charleston, and then I got hooked on it.

There is a woman on the show named, Patricia Altschul, and glimpses of her home are shown during the show. So I did a little digging to find some photos and all I can say is WOW! It is simply stunning!

Who wouldn't love a blue and white bathroom with a fireplace!

If you haven't seen Southern Charm yet, catch it tonight at 10pm EST on Bravo!

All images found HERE.

1. For the Blue Willow Lovers!

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If you have been looking to add Blue Willow to your collection, but you don't have any antique store around you that have it, then you are in luck! Belk carries Blue Willow, and currently has all items on sale! Not all items are available online, and there are some items you can find in stores that aren't online.

Also, how cute is this Blue Willow oven mitt!

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** If you have antique Blue Willow and you are mixing it with the new Blue Willow it might not be the same size. Here is the old dinner plate (left) next to the new (right).**

2. Orchids

I love having an orchid in the house! KJ bought me a blue orchid back in December and I finally managed to kill it. It was beautiful!

So I broke down and got a new one for my office. It's smaller and is the perfect size to fit in my office. Now, lets hope I don't kill this one! Having an orchid in my office has also been motivation to start getting my office put together completely. Im working on getting some more artwork framed for my office this week too. Ill share it soon!

3. San Pellegrino

I have been trying to cut diet coke out of my diet as much as I can, and San Pellegrino has been a life saver. Blood Orange has been my favorite flavor so far. I took some with us on our trip to Thomasville last weekend.

4. Lilly for Target

Lilly for Target launches this weekend at a Target store near you, as well as Target.com. Some stores have started to stock some of the items already!

Favorite Blue and White Pins

Blue and white decor has become more and more popular lately, and the inspiration on Pinterest has been growing as well. Here are some of my favorite blue and white pins.

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First of all, this kitchen island is amazing, but secondly I love the arrangement of these jars and topiaries! Perfect pop for an all white toned kitchen.

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I am hosting a Bridal Shower in a few weeks and it has a blue and white theme, so I have been perusing Pinterest looking for some inspiration. Ive been playing around with a few different ideas for the dining table. I'm excited to get it all completed!

Tunics

Tunics are a staple in my spring and summer wardrobe. Needham Lane has the some of the cutest tunics around! They are perfect for the upcoming hot summer days. Here are 8 of my favorite tunics from Needham Lane.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

This shrimp tunic, it just screams of The South! And the best part is that its on sale for $35! I am going to have to add it to my collection very soon.

Happy Wednesday!

After Valentine's Day and my birthday, I had some extra vases lying around and I figured I would give them a little update. So, with some paint and tape I gave these vases a gold scalloped touch!

For this project, you will need:
- A Vase
- Painters tape, I used Frog Tape it seems to work better on paint lines
-Paint, be sure that it will work on glass
-Scissors

First, run 1 strip of tape around the vase a little above where you would like your scallops to come to. I did this so incase I got a little messy with the paint it wouldn't get on the top of the vase. Make sure you press the tape firmly against the glass to make sure it adheres well.

Next, find something that you can trace that is close to the size that you want the scallops to be. For this vase, I used the paint bottle, and for the bigger vase I used a cap from a round gum container.

Once you have the scallops traced, come back with your scissors and cut along the lines that your traced. Then apply that tape line under the first tape line. I overlapped the 2 lines slightly for extra protection from the paint bleeding.

Cutting out the scallops was the hardest part, but its worth it for the finished product!

Then, just start painting! Since you can't really rough up glass like you can wood, I applied a very thin layer first and allowed it to dry to act as a rough surface for the rest of the coats to adhere to.

Let the paint dry, remove the tape and add flowers!

I hope you will make one or 2 two for yourself!

Weekend Recap

The last 2 weeks have been a crazy whirlwind so, late Thursday night, we made the decision to take Friday off and go on a weekend getaway. We looked around at places and we decided on Thomasville, GA.

We stayed at a cute little B&B a few blocks from the historic part of downtown Thomasville. Anytime we go somewhere, we try to stay at a B&B if possible. This house was built in 1908 and still had the original woodworking and beautiful details inside and out.

How delicious does this french toast look? It was baked with pineapple on the bottom. It was amazing to say the least.

We visited the Pebble Hill Plantation outside of Thomasville. It was simply beautiful. You couldn't take photos inside of the plantation home, but it was stunning. The original floors and molding and details were beautiful. If you are an avid sportsman, you would love to see the painting and art inside the home.

Here are a few of the pictures of the outside and the grounds. If you want to see the photos of the inside of the house, you can see them on the Pebble Hill website HERE.

We walked around downtown and spent hours going in and out of all the antique shops. I love these blue and white knobs that I found in a restroom in one of the stores.

I didn't end up getting too much this weekend, but I love the pieces I was able to snag!

I found the lab plate at an antique store, called A Different Drummer, it was full of sportsman collectables. I must say it was KJ's dream store.

PS- how cute is this chair!

There was a restaurant, called Liam's, in downtown that we went to. They had wonderful food, but they also had the most beautiful cotton garland around the outside of the door.

Look at the details within this garland. I cannot imagine how much work went into making this, let alone the number of cotton stems that were used to make this.

Thomasville is gearing up for its 95th annual rose festival, so there were rose bushes everywhere. We stopped at the rose garden and the adjacent park.