Prost!

Prost is the equivalent of "Cheers" in German and you hear this a LOT in the beer halls and at the Beer Gardens.  There is another more formal, elegant toast for wine and champagne, but that's a longer conversation...:)

Anyway, on the beer topic - we went to our awesome local flea market this weekend and found this great old crate - I'm excited to use it for outdoor entertaining this Summer.  How fun will this be for bringing out beers, glasses, openers, cocktail napkins and so on??!!

Photo by Barbara Jordan Dettweiler

After I bought it I started thinking about all of the possibilities: 

• Mojitos ingredients:  big bushels of mint, crushed ice, cool glasses, etc.
• Ice Cream Sundae fixings:  sprinkles, syrups, etc.
• Silverware, napkins, BBQ sauces, etc. for a grilled outdoor dinner 
• A casual, natural centerpiece by adding small glass vases full of summer flowers, heirloom tomatoes and/or herbs. 

After I got home I remembered that Pottery Barn had featured the exact same thing in their vintage products:

What a steal - I bought ours for the equivalent of about $14, Pottery Barn: $99. I love it when that happens. :)

My Grandfather owned a dairy at one time in his career, so we have some fantastic old crates from his business.  I have grand plans for them in some form - here are some inspirations:

{via Bright Bazaar}

My Mom did something similar to this in one of her guest rooms - very

unique, great looking and inexpensive!

I love this look - on casters - great for a rental apartment but also for some type of a rolling pantry storage...very cool idea with lots of potential.