Tales of the Traveling Tote: Friends and Family Edition

Hello, My Lovelies!  Welcome to my Friends and Family Edition of Tales of the Traveling Tote!  We have not been traveling much recently, only to visit friends and family in Louisiana and Michigan.  We went to Louisiana in December because I was a hostess for our niece's baby shower.  We stayed at the lovely Southern Hotel in Covington, Louisiana, which is one of my very favorite small hotels.

La Countess de Monet loves the Southern Hotel, too.

We visited Covington the first weekend in December, and the Southern was decorated for Christmas.

The gardens surrounding the hotel are so beautiful, even in December.

Our niece Molly

I promise we did not coordinate outfits for the baby shower!

It was nice spending time with Molly and seeing her extended family and friends at the shower.  Molly and Brandon welcomed a baby girl in late January.  Shelley and I had such a nice time, and we love visiting Covington with its quaint shops and lovely restaurants.

In February we visited friends in New Orleans for a Mardi Gras ball and a couple of parties.

The weather was gorgeous while we were in New Orleans.  We stayed by Audubon Park and took a couple of walks around the park.  We loved our walks!

We did just a little shopping this trip, and one of our favorite stores is the Tasc flagship store on Magazine Street.

Tasc is a New Orleans based business that manufactures activewear made out of bamboo.  My son-in-law loves their golf shirts, and I love their yoga pants.  I wear them to my stretch and yoga classes.

One of our favorite Mardi Gras parades is presented by Le Krewe D’Etat, a highly satirical krewe that pokes fun at politics and pop culture.  The male-only krewe is led by a "Dictator" (The Dic) whose identity is kept secret (I kid you not).  We have several friends who are members of this krewe, and they invited us to their den party.  A den party allows revelers to preview the floats before the parade.  Below is one of my favorites.  Keep in mind that no one is safe from this krewe's disdain:  They are equal-opportunity lampooners.

Poor Elmo!  He's on fire!

Last month, I went to Ann Arbor to visit our daughter and son-in-law.  It was a working trip to help them redecorate a special room because:

We are so happy!

We are not really able to take big trips until our home renovation is complete.  We are hoping to get away a little this summer to Lake Martin, and of course I will be flying to Ann Arbor a lot!

As far as our renovation goes, I'm still waiting on one project for the library to be finished, and a couple of tweaks in our kitchen.  I'm hoping that in two weeks both will be DONE!  

The Ferguson people delivered our new bath and bath fixtures for our bathroom today.  The bathroom renovation will start soon, and I'm hoping it goes a little more smoothly than our kitchen.  Our library went extremely well, though.

I have been doing a little bit of gardening.  I planted our giant planters out back, and our New Dawn Rose was spectacular a couple of weeks ago.

Plumbago always performs well in this spot.

Our New Dawn Rose

That's all I have to report for now, but I think I shared some pretty big news!  

We are also giving away this lovely tote:

So please leave a comment here on my blog in order to win!

You must have a Google account to leave a comment on my blog; I do no allow anonymous comments.

Please visit the other participating blogs.  Links are below!

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader (You're here!) 

Until next time...

Blessings!

Ricki Jill

Tales of the Traveling Tote: Friends and Family Edition

Friday, May 15, 2026

Tales of the Traveling Tote: New Orleans (X2) *and* a Giveaway!

 

Oak Tree in Audubon Park

Happy Saturday, My Lovelies!  It's Mardi Gras weekend, and we've recently returned from New Orleans.  This Tales of the Traveling Tote post will feature our two most recent trips to New Orleans during December and last week.  

Christmas tree with large bow at Mignon Faget

Mignon Faget is a jewelry designer and a favorite of our girls

We visited New Orleans the weekend after Thanksgiving for a debutante party.  We had a wonderful time visiting with friends and finishing our Christmas shopping.  We also ate at a few of our favorite restaurants including Vincent's on St. Charles Avenue, Commander's Palace, and District Donuts.

Mr. Bookish and I both love Tasc.  This is where I buy my favorite yoga pants.

Le Petite Bleu is a coffee shop adjacent to Commander's Palace.  We purchased their French Truck x Commander's Palace coffee for our SIL's stocking.

No trip to New Orleans would be complete without visiting my favorite shop, Aux Belles Choses.

Display shelves in Le Petit Bleu

The two photos, above, feature beautiful Christmas decor and treats from Aux Belles Choses.

Most of their Christmas ornaments are imported from France.

All of the stores were decorated so prettily for Christmas, both inside and outside.

This is just a sampling of the camellias and tropicals in bloom during Christmas.

We returned to New Orleans last week to visit friends and attend a Mardi Gras ball.  The ball was such a special evening because one of our friends who stood up for Mr. Bookish in our wedding was King of the Krewe of Dorians, and another friend who stood up for Mr. Bookish in our wedding, his daughter was Queen of the Krewe of Dorians.  How special is that!

I was also able to visit with several friends, including one of my closest friends from college and her husband.  It was such a lovely night!

We usually stay near Audubon Park because we love walking around the park.  I don't think I've ever featured The Tree of Life located near the stables in the park before on my blog.  Here are a few photos:

"The Tree of Life"

The de Boré Oak

Planted circa 1740

Audubon Park

We spent a large portion of two days in and around the park.  We also visited Aux Belles Choses again.  I wanted to see what they had for Mardi Gras.  I purchased a couple of things for our Mardi Gras decor, and I also purchased more soaps.  (I always buy soaps from Aux Belles Choses.)  The latest soap that everyone is loving is their donkey milk soap.  I bought some, but I haven't tried it yet.

The soaps on the right were imported from Provence.  The packaging is so pretty!

The king cake enamel boxes are so cute as are the crown ornaments.

Spring has sprung in New Orleans!

I will leave you with a couple of photos of ferns growing on oak trees in Audubon Park.

Here are the links for all the blogs participating in this quarter's link party.

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch   

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Bookish Dilettante  

Be sure to enter to win this quarter's giveaway at the Pandora's Box Blog!

Be there or be square!  ;p

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Tales of the Traveling Tote: New Orleans (X2) *and* a Giveaway!

Saturday, March 1, 2025

In With the New: Thoughts and Hopes For the New Year And a Super-Easy Mardi Gras Centerpiece

 

It's January 6th, so Happy Epiphany, My Lovelies!  Today our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters in Christ celebrate Christmas.  Today also marks the beginning of the Mardi Gras Season.  

Do you like my blog's makeover?  I hope you do, and that it's easier for you to navigate and read.

I am enjoying the New Year so far...how about you?  I'm looking forward to participating in new experiences (God willing), and getting involved in organizations that impact our nation for good, like DAR.  

Yesterday and today I put away all our Christmas decor with the exception of a few red things I like to leave out through Valentine's Day.   I did move our village tea set to the breakfast room, and although the little houses are decorated for Christmas, I think I'll leave them out for us to enjoy a little longer.  I like the rooftop lids because they keep my hot drinks warm.

I replaced the green candle with a red one after I took this photo.

Most of our poinsettias are sill looking great!  I don't have the heart to throw them out yet.

I'm beginning to decorate for Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras.  I have also put put a few snowy scenes and snowballs around the house, like this snowball garland:

I also like decorating with white flowers during winter.

I haven't put together a Mardi Gras tablescape yet, but I did make a super-easy Mardi Gras centerpiece.  I used primroses (my local nursery is full of them).  I chose yellow and purple because Mardi Gras colors are gold, purple, and green.

You can keep the primroses in their nursery pots and slip them into a container, like the little vine and moss market bag, above.  Or you can place them in plain terracotta pots with saucers and line a few down the middle of a table runner.

The colors are perfect for Mardi Gras.  

Because today is the first official day of the Mardi Gras season, King Cakes are back in stores and bakeries.  

I found the cutest book about finding happiness throughout the year: The Happiness Year by Tara Ward.   I like it because there are nature lessons in it and unique ideas for seasonal activities.

I'm starting with winter, of course, and it's the last chapter of the book.

If I try any of the activities from the book I'll share them here on the blog or on Instagram

Speaking of Instagram:  If you have an account, would you please follow me, and I'll follow you back!  My Instagram follow button is on the righthand footer at the bottom of my blog.

I enjoy learning new things, and recently I learned that there are two main types of colored pencils:  waxed based and oil based.  I had no idea!  I have always drawn with Prismacolor Colored Pencils, and I do like them.  They are very user friendly and blend beautifully.  However, since they are wax based, there is a wax "bloom" that leaves a waxy film over drawings.  This is especially noticeable when there are dark colors used on a drawing.

I have been playing around with oil based colored pencils, and I am loving them even though they took some getting used to.  Below is a drawing of a rose I drew using oil based colored pencils.

This rose was drawn on Strathmore Colored Pencil Paper with Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor oil-based pencils. 

The dark areas on the stems, leaves, and petals will remain dark without the wax bloom.

Mr. Bookish bought me a very large set of these pencils for Christmas, and I am so grateful for his generous gift.  He is very encouraging, and wants me to continue taking art classes and perhaps even taking a couple of workshops this year.

I'm very happy to report that art class is so much fun with everyone back in person.  I am currently working through a realism book entitled The Realism Challenge by Mark Crilley.  Mark has a popular YouTube channel featuring videos of how he recreates items through his drawings.

On the cover, the real items are on the left, and his drawings are on the right.

This is the first challenge in the book: a piece of paper.

The real paper is on the left, and Mark's drawing is on the right.  Mine is on the Strathmore colored pencil paper.

I drew this picture with Faber-Castell colored pencils.

I have a small set I like to take to class.

Do you have a word of the year?  Here is mine:

There are many things I want to explore in 2023.

Stay tuned!

If you do have a word of the year or maybe a New Year's resolution, please share in comments!

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

In With the New: Thoughts and Hopes For the New Year And a Super-Easy Mardi Gras Centerpiece

Friday, January 6, 2023