Down by the Seashore

For my Mother's Day present, Jeff turned me loose in Pottery Barn.  I wanted to change out my dining room centerpiece which is very autumnal for a summer look.  I've been seeing a lot of beachy ideas so I found these placemats at Pottery Barn.  They had a lot of expensive trays filled with sand and shells but I knew I could reproduce the look less expensively at HomeGoods.  In addition to the placemats, I did buy the Japanese glass float at Pottery Barn which didn't photograph very well.  I wasn't sure I could find that elsewhere.  You used to be able to find those on the beaches of Northern California and Oregon but they are rare now.  Some beach towns buy a bunch of glass floats and turn them loose in the water for tourists to find.  At HomeGoods, I found the wooden tray and knew that would be perfect.  It's very artistic looking.  It's made of Monkey Pod or Acacia wood from the Phillipines and handsculpted.  We have Monkey Pod trees in our farmville game so I was familiar with them but googled them anyway and found this interesting bit of information:  "Monkey pod wood, also known as Acacia wood, is a durable and naturally resinous hardwood that is harvested from fast-growing Acacia trees. People have recognized the value of monkey pod wood since biblical times; it is mentioned in the book of Exodus as the material that was used to construct the Ark of the Covenant. Today, monkey pod wood is often used to make fine natural furniture and tableware.  I had some shells because I used them in the guest bedroom and found the larger shell, the candle and the coral at HomeGoods.  I told Jeff we would have to take a quick trip to the beach for some sand.  I may replace the sand with Carmel beach sand which is so pretty when we visit this summer.  We also had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.