New Dishes - from my Basement

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ooray! My new dishes were just delivered! Happy dance! Twirling! Jumping!

I know, dishes aren't usually that exciting, but I have been waiting for mine for a LONG time. When we first moved into our current house (five years ago) we knew that new dishes were needed, but we thought that we would wait for some of our remodeling to be done.

Fast forward 5 years - for my birthday this year (6 months ago) DH said he would buy me new dishes. Unfortunately, it seems as if all of the dishes out there in the world are now stoneware. If you haven't noticed, stoneware is extraordinarily heavy, bulky, and often is marked by silverware, resulting in a dirty gray haze. On the other hand, there is the very light and thin Corelle brand, but they shatter when they are dropped (our kitchen floor is tile, not a good combination) and usually the styles look cheap and/or dated.

So, for 6 months I have been searching for the perfect dishes, with absolutely no success. Until last week! My mom and I went to Maine on a mission to buy dishes. We looked at several stores, and then noticed a Villeroy and Boch outlet. In the window was a beautiful pattern - the same one that has been in my basement wrapped in newspaper for years.

Our beloved friends from Germany had gotten together to buy us a tea set as a wedding present. We received a teapot, sugar and creamer set, 6 cups, saucers, small plates, and a platter.

Lights and bells went off in my head! Why not complete the set we already had and loved (but unfortunately, weren't able to use), rather than settle for something I wasn't thrilled about. Sadly, the last time we used this beautiful set was:

5 years ago! I couldn't believe it when I unwrapped them!

So, after a quick phone call to my husband I received his blessing to spend WAY TOO MUCH on the plates that we needed. If we had to buy the entire set, it would have been out of the question, but because we already had quite a few pieces, the total cost came out to approximately what I was expecting to spend originally.

So, in the end I got what I wanted, cleaned another box out of my basement, and stayed on budget! Those 5 years worth of waiting and 6 months of searching were all worth it!