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Sunday, May 31, 2015

For a good time, try a lime

I haven't done one of these posts in a while. 
They're my favorite because it's just random photos of everyday life.

Things that have made me smile lately...


This tiny Lego chair Liam made me.


Sharing hot cocoa (with extra marshmallows) on a cool, Spring day.


Liam in a box with markers = I got some laundry done.


These little legs. Plus velcro tennis shoes. Oh. My. Sweetness!


These two chalkin' it up on the driveway together.


A surprise message in the sand while out for a walk.


A completed piece of art I did for a fundraiser. To see my fork and read more
about June-A-Palooza click here.


A morning at the park. These two giggling at the same time on the swings :)


Liam and Rylan taste-testing slices of lime. Ha ha!


My little peanut enjoying being at the cabin. She's already an 'outdoorsy' kinda gal.


At the cabin over Memorial Day Weekend - 
Liam, Bella and Rylan all getting along together. Amen!


My sweet niece Caroline turned 15. 


The new mirror in our front entry - it only took me 5 years to find one that I loved.


Gnomeo #2 watching over our front flower gardens.


And some new artwork by Liam framed in our kitchen.



Have a nice week!

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Breakfast for dinner party

The table settings I made for 'breakfast in bed'  at the dinner table...

If you're looking for ideas for a future dinner party or creating your very own food club/gourmet club with a group of friends, here's an idea for you -- a breakfast-in-bed theme! Most people I know love breakfast food. So I feel like you have a pretty fair shot at causing happiness when you serve breakfast for dinner :)

Matt and I hosted Gourmet Club at our house last month. The group, which consists of six couples, tries to meet 5-6 times a year. The couples take turns hosting at their homes. The host couple plans everything (the theme, menu, drinks and decor) and makes the main dish + provides all of the drinks. The rest of the couples bring the other courses (appetizer, salad, dessert, etc).

It's a huge undertaking, planning everything and pulling it off successfully, but it's lots of fun and totally worth it!

The last time we hosted was way back in October 2013 (I was pregnant with Chloe and couldn't drink the champagne....not that I remember that detail...). The theme we chose then was Julia Child recipes and you can see photos from it here.

The theme we chose this time was "Breakfast In Bed". I especially love breakfast food (french toast, bacon, donuts, cheesy eggs...I could go on and on) and Matt likes making breakfast. So we thought it'd be fun to incorporate breakfast into our gourmet dinner :)

The menu was a bit tough to decide on because we wanted to 1) make breakfast foods but still have it feel like 'dinner' 2) have six courses that melded well with a mixture or savory & sweet (we asked ourselves - what salad do we make for breakfast? do we need a seafood dish for breakfast?) 3) still have it feel 'gourmet' enough (how do we put a gourmet twist on pancakes?) and 4) make the mood/decor/ambience feel like we were eating true breakfast-in-bed style!

After perusing cookbooks and pinning a hundred things on Pinterest, we set the menu and sent the invitation out. We also required people to wear their pajamas, which added a touch of fun to it!

Here's the MENU we planned. I found all of these recipes online:


Course 1 - Appetizer - a twist on jelly donuts 

Course 2 - Soup - a twist on the bloody mary 

Course 3 - Salad - a twist on fruit and granola 

Course 4 - Seafood - a twist on lox, pancakes and eggs


Course 5 - Main Course - a twist on bacon, potatoes and french toast 


Course 6 - Dessert - a twist on cinnamon rolls

I didn't get many photos of the actual food because I was so busy serving drinks, making food and socializing, but I did get a few photos before the party started of the table that I decorated all by myself!

I wanted to give the table a 'breakfast in bed' feeling and also had to set up spots for TWELVE people to sit! Our dining room table only seats 8 comfortable, so we had to borrow tables from friends and create one large square table to accommodate everyone.

That's twelve sets of plates/bowls/dessert plates/etc and twelve settings of wine glasses/water glasses/etc. Twelve cloth napkins to fold, mini flower vases to fill and silverware sets. Luckily I have extra sets of silverware from Matt's grandma, extra glassware from our wedding yet and a mom that graciously let me borrow more plates!

The table-for-twelve squeezed into our dining room.


I bought flowers from the grocery store and collected sticks from our yard and put them in an antique wooden box as the centerpiece.


Tea set ready in case anyone wanted tea.


For namecards I rolled up pages of crossword puzzles and added everyones names.
I thought the crossword puzzle added a 'breakfast in bed' touch.


I also added some fresh flowers to everyone's setting (that's breakfast-in-beddy, right?!)
And I ordered inexpensive paper trays and mini salt&pepper shakers online.


For easy, simple and rustic decor I used old mason jars and tea light candles all over the table.


Glasses ready for gazpacho soup.


Appetizer plates, dessert plates and martini glasses - check!


Cooking a pot of meyer lemon & vanilla bean marmalade to serve alongside our french toast.


And the aftermath of a fun evening...


A sources list, in case you're wondering about anything:

Paper trays -- webstaurantstore.com
Mini salt & pepper shakers -- webstaurantstore.com
Beige table cloth -- I pinned together two huge IKEA curtains
White dinner plates -- Pier 1 Imports or Crate&Barrel
White cotton cloth napkins -- Homegoods
Napkin rings -- Pier 1 Imports
Forks/knives/spoons -- antique, vintage or Target!
Aqua colored french water glasses -- Pottery Barn
Floral & mustard table runner -- World Market
Tea set -- Pier 1 Imports
Tea spoons & plates -- thrifted and handed down from family
Orange tray -- Hobby Lobby
Mason jars -- antique/handed down from family
Gazpacho glasses (actually punch glasses) -- Crate&Barrel
Wine glasses -- WilliamsSonoma, Target or Pier 1 Imports
Martini glasses -- borrowed from people, so I'm not sure!
Doilies -- vintage from my mom or Matt's grandma
Wine corks -- drunk people



I wanted to mention which of these recipes the group seemed to like the most: I think the consensus was that the Avocado & Oat Crouton Salad and the Cinnamon Roll Cake were the evening's faves.

And lastly, a montage of embarrassing photos of us all in our jammies (and the yummy teeny tiny quail eggs we ate)...

Monday, May 11, 2015

Trio

My friend Erin is pregnant and expecting her third baby girl soon. So the Crafty Club ladies and I decided to 'surprise' her with homemade baby/mama gifts at our last Crafty Club night! My friend Sarah who hosted last month's festivities still planned a regular craft for us to do (see the last photo) but then we surprised Erin with pink food & drinks and our homemade gifts :)

There were lots of things I wanted to make for her, but most of them involved sewing. And sewing isn't an option for me right now because a) I lack skills in the sewing department and b) it would have taken me forever just to sew one straight line. So I wanted to make something that was pretty, quite simple and didn't involve sawing or sewing anything!

I perused Pinterest and decided to make some girly headbands for the new baby. There are a ton of DIY headband ideas out there. I looked at hundreds of ideas, went and bought some supplies and then 'winged it' as I went along. I made three of them. Here they are:


Here's a list of supplies I used between the 3 of them:
Scissors, pencil
A hot glue gun + glue sticks
1 pink & 1 green 9x12in sheet of felt
Assortment of buttons
Grey stretchy cotton fabric
Pink ruffle trim


Here's the first one I made. I used felt/ruffle ribbon/button/elastic band:


The underside of these are going to be up against a precious little baby's noggin, 
so I fastened a soft circle of felt on each one.


Here's the second one. 
I used the grey stretchy fabric to make the band/aqua gauzy fabric/both colors of ruffle trim:



And the third one. I used buttons/both colors of felt/elastic band:



I hope Erin and future Baby E enjoy these :)




Here are a few photos of the pink food we all brought along & surprised her with:


And this is the craft we did that evening. Sarah printed photos of our children (which we sent to her via email ahead of time) onto fabric. We then embroidered colorful accents on them (like a bow tie or hair bow or flower). Mine are not finished yet, but I'll share some photos once I'm done.



I'd love to make more of these headbands. I'm planning on making some for Chloe when I find the time. If you're interested in one, two, or all three of these, send me a message & make me an offer :)

Friday, May 1, 2015

Somebunny is one

I haven't blogged in almost a month. Yikes!

We've been pretty busy around here. 

It's finally nice(ish) outside so we've been raking stuff out of our flower beds, trimming trees, getting deck furniture out, etc. Getting outside as much as we can with the kiddos - walking to the parks, swinging on swings, kicking the soccer ball around. etc. 

We've been busy hosting family and friends at our house for numerous events. And along with the hosting comes the planning, organizing, grocery shopping and cleaning. We hosted Liam's birthday party at end of February. Then in March/April I hosted Crafty Club, we had Chloe's birthday party, we hosted Gourmet Club and Matt had guys over for Craftsmen club. We also took a trip to Wisconsin Dells and are heading to northern Wisconsin soon for my uncle's funeral (rest in peace, uncle Ron).

So there's been a lot of things keeping us busy. 

I'm grateful to be busy though. I'm not complaining. I'm sticking to my motto (especially when I'm feeling stressed about hosting/planning so many things) that I'd rather be busy than bored.

We had Chloe's First Birthday party at our house early in April. We invited our immediate families and it was bunny themed. Here are some photos from her birthday and birthday party:


The day of Chloe's birthday -

1) playing in her jammies
2) birthday breakfast (cheese and peas)
3) making a kissy-face while out for dinner
4) riding on her new Rody horse

What's a first birthday without mom taking a hundred photos...





Oh how I love these little feet...


In the afternoon we went bowling. I don't think Chloe had a spectacular time, but she sat nicely while Liam, Matt and I bowled. This was Liam's first time bowling, and Matt and I haven't bowled in about 4-5 years.

1) Liam the rock star, bowling at 4.9 mph
2) Chloe clapping at us
3) getting tips from dad
4) our scores (let me remind you, we haven't bowling in a long time)

That evening we sang to The Chloester...



...and she thoroughly enjoyed her very first cupcake!




The day of her birthday party -

We had people over for brunch, a bloody mary bar/mimosas, gift opening and cake.


It was bunny themed.


Baby bunnies anyone?



Bunny food? (individual veggies + dip cups)


I made her a little bunny cake. The fuzzy tail was my favorite part :)


And she opened her plentiful amount of gifts.



Got a cool sun hat...



Had fun with her family...

...and got to eat another "first cupcake"!



So dainty...licking each finger


Our sweet little one-year-old!


We also celebrated with her cousins when we were in Wisconsin Dells.
Yet another cupcake!


My gosh...she's almost 13 months old already...

We love you Chloe!

__________________________

To see Chloe's monthly photos click here
To see Chloe's 1st birthday interview click here
To see Liam's 1st birthday click here