Silver trays

I want to thank Tameka for a lovely idea about Clara Estelle. She thought that we should feature and solicit other "Clara Estelle" type stories and pictures from you the readers about your own individuality in dress. I would love to do this. However, we are newbies at blogging and for those of you who know your blogging stuff, can we make this a separate feature or would the stories just be posted like a regular post? We would appreicate any help.
I must say this about my Aunt Clara Estelle, she knew how to be an individual but in some areas, she didn't know how to fully live. She kept plastic on her furniture, and I think that is such a shame. She would be in her early eighties if she were alive and so a number of people kept plastic on the "good" furniture when she was younger, but life is too short to try to "keep" things.
My husband and I bought a beautiful rundown Victorian house in a not so nice neighborhood on our first aniversary (more stories on that coming in the future. The neighborhood eventually became an historic preservation neighborhood and we spent (and lost) a lot of money and years trying to restore the house). The first few years, we experienced a number of robberies. During one of the robberies, some of our beautiful silver serving trays that we had received as wedding presents were stolen (it was back in the early eighties, when silver and gold prices were very high and gas stations were being turned into places that bought silver and gold and melted them down), but as upset as I was over their loss, I had no regrets because we had used them a lot. Imagine a young couple, one in law school and one working on a masters, with handmedown furniture in a not very well kept up former rental, having friends over for parties and using silver trays and crystal. It was a blast. I am so glad I used them. What a waste, if they had been stored away for a special day that never came. In fact, they were probably stolen in the first place because I didn't keep them stored away, but displayed them on what little furniture we had. In fact, I displayed all of my nice things in those days, even if they didn't visually go together well because I wanted to have something to hold onto that those days would pass and life would get better (back then living in that lovely house was a bit like camping out all the time).
So use your good things, even if it's just to display them and let you know that life can be beautiful. I think that God gave artists to us for a reason. I use old vintage linens with spots and holes outside on my vintage wrought iron furniture, which was a curb find. Sometimes, I use the china, which took me twenty years to get, just because its there and beautiful and we eat in the dining room. Don't wait until it's too late and your treasures are being melted down in some former gas station. Living full does not have to be expensive (my outdoor furniture was free) and it doesn't have to take any more time. This is a theme that you will probably see my write about often. I am also interest in what you do to live life fully and with beauty. So please comment and, if I can find out how, I would also like to feature some of your ideas and writings.
Live life in God's beautiful world,
Stephanie