Decorative Plates For The Kitchen

Don't you just love it when you absolutely, positively, 100% 

find EXACTLY what you are looking for?

Sometimes I have a vision in my head of what I want;

other times I figure I'll know it when I see it.  

Problem is, sometimes it takes a heckuva long time to "see" it!

 

I've been looking for some decorative plates for my kitchen 

for the last year and a half.

Regular trips to Home Goods, Pier 1 and other such shops yielded some 

"close-but-no-cigar" candidates. 

Before I left for the Amalfi Coast in Italy, a friend of mine told me that she got some great plates in Ravello, which is  world-renowned for ceramics.

I couldn't wait to get there and see what I could find.

As it turned out, we only had a brief three hours in Ravello, 

which wasn't nearly enough time to make a relaxed decision.

I was feeling pressured to come home with something, 

yet nothing was really hitting me.

I didn't want to settle.

Other contenders, but they just didn't move me.

I almost missed the last shop -- 

Factory Pascal was down a little alley off the main piazza.

   The store was filled with so many beautiful things!

I zeroed right in on the plates that I had in my mind's eye.

  The colors were perfect, and the pattern was just what I wanted.

The only problem was, they didn't have dinner-sized plates in stock 

(insert forlorn-looking face here).

The proprietors told me they could make them for me, 

but for some reason, this sounded too complicated.

Maybe it was because my stomach was rumbling.
I walked out...darn! So close!

Over lunch, I couldn't stop thinking about those plates!
A calmer head prevailed after inhaling a mozzarella and proscuitto panini,

and I knew they were absolutely, positively, 100% EXACTLY what I was looking for.

 

Feeling fortified, Mr. Goo Shoes and I walked back to Pascal's, 

and now, it took me no time to say, "Let's do this!"

I wish I would have had more time to look around.
My wallet would have been a little lighter, for sure!

In hindsight, I should have taken the oil and vinegar cruets.

I just may have to email Pascal's, and have them shipped.

One month after placing the order, the dishes arrived on my doorstep.

Although it would have been nice to have them with me when I got home,

 it was even more special to experience this delayed-souvenir-gratification, 

when the trip itself already felt like a distant memory.

I held my breath as I checked to see that they weren't cracked or chipped. 

Nope, perfect!

They are signed on the back...I wish that part didn't have to be hidden!

Speaking of souvenirs, remember the pitcher the waiter gave me in Naples?
It's sitting in my kitchen bookcase for now,

where I can see it, and be reminded of our trip every day. 

  Here's a little peek at what I did with the plates. 

 Stay tuned for the full plate reveal!
Now how's that for a cliffhanger?

Or maybe I should say...plate-hanger!

Linking With:
Best of the Weekend
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Home and Garden Thursday
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