Summer Tablescape with Love Letter Napkins

Last week Paul and decided that after 8 years of not loving our current mattress that we were due for a new one. What better gift to ourselves for our upcoming Anniversary on Sept. 3rd, than the gift of a good night’s sleep?! We’ve been tossing and turning for a while now. When we first got married and I moved into my hubby’s existing home he had already purchased a new mattress not too long before we met so he wasn’t ready to give it up which had me bouncing around between our bedroom and the guest room. So, this was our first time shopping for one together and when the one we chose arrived we couldn’t wait to make the bed and then lay on top of it side-by-side. Lily had fun crawling all over it. 😉 The first night’s sleep on our new memory foam mattress was heavenly and it was such a great investment, I’m so glad we did it. While an exotic trip would have been fun to celebrate our eight years together, this will last far longer.

Since we were already in the spirit of celebrating our Anniversary early, I thought I’d whip up a casual, impromptu little romantic lunch for just the two of us after Lily had gone down for her midday nap (which is her longest one of the day). As a parent it’s so important to take the time to connect one-on-one after hectic days filled with life’s many demands. This weekend we got to do just that and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect as I had just received a set of 4 beautiful Love Letter napkins in the mail from Uncommon Goods. It was another little Anniversary present I planned to give to Paul to open that we would use together in our our home for occasions just like this as well as entertaining another couple. Instead of wrapping them up, I just surprised him with a little lunch instead and incorporated them into our casual summer place setting.

First off, if you haven’t heard of Uncommon Goods you simply must check them out! If you’ve ever tried to buy a gift for a hard-to-shop-for person, you will really appreciate their one of kind designs that you can’t find anywhere else. They were founded in 1999 and are a privately-owned retailer headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. About a third of their collection incorporates recycled and/or upcycled materials. I especially love that most of the items they carry are made in the USA and over half of what they sell is actually made by hand instead of overseas by machines so it has a real quality and authentic look and feel.

Whether you’re looking for an Anniversary gift like I was, a Christmas present or even a birthday gift, you will definitely be impressed with the amazing selection they have to offer. Plus, a lot of the items are able to be monogrammed or customized so you can present an amazing personalized gift for the person you have in mind! I have been seeing a few neat products floating around Pinterest over the past few months and then realized while I was shopping the Uncommon Goods site, that’s where they were from. I will definitely be shopping their site again soon as we approach the holidays.

Take a peek at these super cute love letter napkins! They are actual letters written by the likes of Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, Jack London and D. H. Lawrence. While I loved using them as napkins, you cold also frame them or sew two together and make a one-of-a-kind pillow. 🙂 They are made of lightweight cotton and are in classic black & white so they go with everything! You can see how I’ve paired them below.

Their lightweight texture is perfect for spring or summer I thought (but you could of course use them all year round). I like how they paired with soft pastel colors here in my table setting. I am a big fan of ‘use what you have’. So when I decided to put together this spur of the moment little lunch for Paul and I, for both our meal and the table setting I used what I had on hand. Since I hadn’t had an opportunity to pop by the store for some fresh flowers and I adore peonies, I used the realistic silk ones that live in Lily’s nursery. I paired it with some seashell white dinner plates and beaded pale blue ceramic salad plates. We had just been to the market, so I thought the organic white peaches were a cute little touch in lieu of a place card holder since it was just us two.

In case you’re wondering, we started with a fresh summer salad which included arugula, fresh sliced peaches, goat cheese, sunflower seeds and a papaya-poppyseed dressing-staples in our fridge. For our lunch we had pesto-chicken panini sandwiches with avocado slices. Our beverage was an organic sparkling probiotic drink in strawberry-acai-coconut flavor (I later added a few fresh raspberries to our glasses). It was the perfect light fare and we enjoyed the time to catch up and talk about our weekend.

As summer winds down and we move into fall and winter, I look forward to using these love letter napkins in new ways. I think it goes without saying that they’ll be used in a romantic little meal for two on Valentine’s Day and would complement red, pale pink or even hot pink nicely.

You can take a peek {here} to see each love letter in its entirety by each Author on the website. These are a fun lighthearted napkin that is not only unique but can act as a conversation starter during a dinner party.

Thanks for Reading!

XO

*A big thank you to Uncommon Goods for sponsoring this post! All opinions and thoughts are my own.