summer ideas- signature linen.

i saw this idea on home and family and knew i had to do it.  (go look at hers, it's so fun!)
we have a special linen table cloth.
when friends come over, we have them sign it and date it.
and then i stitch on top of their signature...
with my tiniest stitches.
while i'm watching netflix
(leave it to beaver, or brady bunch, wishing i had an ALICE.  really, i could be Mrs. Brady with Alice.)

when they come back, they just add a date!!
isn't that fun?!!
i LOVE pulling out my table cloth and remembering all my sweet friendships.
i only wish i had started this tradition when we were first married.
i have so many "ghost" signatures on my cloth.

come on over for dinner and become part of our friendly signature linen!! 

want to hear a funny story about this dinner??
these sweet friends are from the Philippians.
Edeley and Marlin, live here.  they are ADORABLE. 
Josie, Edely's mom (in the purple shirt) is just visiting.
this is her first time in America. she is also ADORABLE.
she is going to teach me to sew a dress.
we fed them american enchiladas.  :)
gave them their first experience with our life-defying trampoline
and made home-made ice cream.
josie makes ice cream in the Philippians.
it takes her at least 4 hours...
she mixes it up, then puts it in the freezer and takes it out to stir every 20 minutes till it's frozen.
oh, i taught her... this is an ice cream maker... it only takes 40 minutes.
"but does it get hard? does it freeze without the freezer?" she kept asking.
"Oh Yes!!" i insisted.
this is america.  home of the EASY way.  :)
her daughter said, "Mom, if you want, we can buy you an ice cream maker to take back with you."

so, fast forward 40 minutes.
we had the ice cream maker in our master bathroom because it is loud.
the professor kept going to check on it, he kept whispering to me that it was still pretty soft.
finally, i decided it was long enough, we could handle softer homemade ice cream over our brownies.
i used pioneer woman's recipe for vanilla ice cream... with a REAL vanilla bean. 
it looked just like Breyers.
well, Breyers soup.
not even a milkshake.
more soup.
Josie taught me, "Yes, it is good.  You just need to put it in the freezer."
i smiled.
this, i thought, is AMERICA in all her glory.

after they left, i re-read the recipe.
turns out that ON THE RECIPE, it says to use an ice cream maker and THEN freeze for 8 hours before serving.
seriously.
next time, i'll read the fine print.
or... i'll bake her American Apple Pie.
with Pilsbury crust.
cause, after all folks, i'm a native.
no picture of the ice cream soup.  just look at a glass of milk.