Showing posts with label Food/Restaurants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food/Restaurants. Show all posts

Friday, October 8, 2010

What's Black, White & Red All Over?

A zebra with a sunburn? A newspaper? Nope! Its the lovely bridal shower that I threw for my best friend. This was several weeks ago and I think it turned out better than I imagined! It was my first time hosting a party like this and I could never have pulled it off with the help of my awesome mom.

I am the maid of honor in my best friend's up coming nuptuals and one of my responsibilities was throwing her a great shower! Her one big request was red velvet cupcakes... Ask and you shall recieve! I think these turned out so great- they almost look professional! The cake crumbs on top really give them that bakery feel, but they are 100% home made! That AWESOME cake stand belongs to one of my mom's friends. I am in love with it and now keep my eye peeled for cupcake stands every where I go, haha. We also did a chocolate fondue station. It was actually very easy to do. I used my Little Dipper Crockpot to melt milk chocolate chips and then put strawberries, bananas, and large marshmellows on bamboo skewers. It was a big hit! The mother of the bride brought two chocolate chip cheesecakes to round out the awesome dessert table. I decorated simply with a dozen red roses and two red candles, and had everything on a black table cloth with a white cloth napkin in the middle. On the other side of the kitchen I made some signs instructing guests to leave Courtney some words of wisdom in a little book that I made for her. The party favors were ring pops (the perfect wedding shower candy if you ask me) and a nail polish. I put a dot of the nail polish on the bags to let the guests choose their own color- and that was a big hit too! I decorated the bages with paper hearts and paper flowers with jewel accents and used red tissue paper. For the drink station I had several bottles of wine chilled on ice, a group of carefully stacked plastic wine glasses. I also used some decorative tissue paper cut into heart shapes for decor along the back wall of the kitchen.I also got these cute outfits for the bottles at the dollar store! Aren't they adorable? I also served soda and raspberry lemonade from my big glass drink jar. I got this at a yard sale for $3- what a bargin! I wish I had gotten a better picture of it but it really looked so beautiful with the ice and fresh lemon slices in it! For lunch we served a ton of snack food, like chips and dip, and cheese and crackers. I love the way the grapes add a punch of color to the cheese and cracker tray.
We also served croissants with chicken salad and turkey pinwheel sandwiches that we got at CostCo.
After everyone got something to eat we started the games and presents. All in all I think it turned out to be a great party and I think my bestie was very happy with it! ( :
I hope all the details inspire you for your next party! I got so many great ideas online! If you want to use any of my pictures just let me know and/or link back to me! Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

30 Before 30- Goals For Travel, Food, Money, Love, and Learning

The topic this week over at The Undomestic Momma is to list the top two things to do before I die. There are so many things that I would love to accomplish in my time on Earth (however long or short that it may be.) I have been recently been working on my 30 Before 30 list (the 30 things I want to do before I turn 30 that I saw on E, Myself and I and I have seen a few people post.) It was such a fun list to create! I think I will make it 30ish things and keep adding as I think of more worthy goals. I will be thirty in about five years (yikes!) and I am sure that I won't accomplish everything I have set out to do, but its a great motivation just to see it in writing! I sometimes cheat on the Top 2 Tuesdays and pick wayyy more than two things, but in this case it would be pretty easy to pick the two things that I would hope to accomplish before I die.

1. Get Married To My Heart's Desire and My Best Friend.
I am not one of those girls who dreamed of her wedding day since preschool. As I have gotten older and more ready to make that kind of commitment, I am starting to think about it more and more. Sure, I love to look at the pictures of other people's weddings and think about the things I want to have at my wedding, but that one day is not the reason this is on my list. I am excited to start a life with my best friend and have a partnership based on love, respect, and loyalty with plenty of fun and laughter along the way.




2. Become a Momma
Family is one of the most special and important things in my life and to start my own family is a lifelong dream of mine. I would love to have both my own biological children as well as adopt and I think it is one of the things I am looking forward to most in life.


I know that those are pretty basic things that a lot of people accomplish in life, but those are the two things that I would be disappointed if I didn't get to experience. Beyond those things here is my 30 Before 30 list of all the things I would love to do before I die:

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1. Travel to Hawaii

2. Travel to Australia [& Hold Koalas Here!] [Snorkle/SCUBA The Great Barrier Reef]

3. Swim With Dolphins

4. Buy My 1st House

5. Eat at Pizzeria Bianco

6. Get Married To My Heart's Desire and My Best Friend

7. Become a Momma

8. Take A Cooking Class

9. Go One Month Without Eating Out [Cook At Home For EVERY MEAL!]

10. Get SCUBA Certified and Go Diving In The Open Ocean

11. See A Play On Broadway In NYC and A Circ De Soleil Show In Vegas

12. Find A Regular Volunteer Opportunity [Animal Shelter or AZ4Children?]

13. Read {at least} 50 0f the The Books On The Modern Library's Top 100 List [and/or The College Board List]

14. See All The Movies On The AFI Top 100 List {As of 4/2010 I have seen 24}

15. Host A Fancy Dinner Party and Host A Theme Party

16. Hike The Grand Canyon

17. See The Giant Sequoia Trees In Yosemite/Sequoia National Park

18. Read The Entire Bible [Maybe Using This Guide?]

19. Get A Professional Massage and Have A Spa Day With My Mom

20. Create A Cookbook Of My Favorite Recipes and Have A Few Signature Dishes I Can Make From Memory

21. Start Saving For My Retirement

22. Take A Cruise

23. Get My Parents A Really Great Gift

24. Learn To Play Golf and/or Tennis [Take Lessons]

25. Travel To Europe

26. Learn To Play An Instrument

27. Write A Letter To The People Who Made A Difference In My Life [Teachers, Family, Friends] And A Letter To My Children To Be Opened On Their 18th Birthday

28. Go On A Cross Country Road Trip

29. Pay Credit Card Debt Off Every Month and Pay More Than Minimum On Student Loans/ and/or House Payment, and have six months worth of living expenses in a savings account.

30. Become Fluent In Spanish [Rosetta Stone or Community College Classes]

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These are just a few of the goals that I thought of (for now) for my finances, food, travels, my brain, my heart and my soul. I will keep you all posted on my progress on these goals and hopefully will get to cross a few off soon!

If you want to play along with Top 2 Tuesdays, head on over to the Undomestic Momma


And to link up your list of 30 Before 30 (or whatever goals you have for your stage in life) head on over to E, Myself and I



30 before 30

Monday, May 3, 2010

Everyone Needs A Splurge Now and Then

This week Taylor has another fun topic for Top Two Tuesdays. She wants to know the top two things we splurge on.
1. For me I would have to say Coach purses. I love them and I have six right now. These purses below are ones I actually have and the ones I wear ALL THE TIME (if you look close in some of my pictures you can see them- lol):

I love them! They definitely can be expensive but I usually buy mine at the Outlet store or use a coupon at the regular store. They are still a splurge, but it is literally something I use everyday.
2. The Melting Pot is both a splurge with calories and cash! I LOVE the cheese and chocolate and every once in I will strongly hint to Dave that I want to go ( :
Head on over to The Undomestic Momma to link up and check out everyone's picks for their splurges!




I also wanted to share this little list of lies we tell ourselves to justify some of the purchases we "must" have from The Frisky: (I especially have trouble with the first two)

1.The Lie: I’ll wear this so often that if I divide the total price by the number of times I wear it, it will basically cost me nothing.
The Truth: It still costs a butt load of money.
2.The Lie: I’ll have this forever.
The Truth: You can hold onto something for a lifetime, but after a few years of wearing it, the fabric will be worn and BO will have found a permanent home in the pits. Either that, or the dry-cleaner will lose it.
3.The Lie: I’ll never find anything else like it.
The Truth: Unless it’s vintage or couture, you can probably get something similar at a retailer up the block.
4.The Lie: I’ll fit into it eventually.
The Truth: If you can’t close the zipper now, you’ll probably never be able to. Sorry.
5.The Lie:I can afford it.
The Truth: You can afford it if you put it on your credit card

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Pool Party Fun & Things That Make Me Happy

Just a quick Thoughtless Thursday for me today. I recently got the pics from my friend S from her daughter's 7th bday. It was the cutest party and I think our pics turned out awesome! Without further ado: Courtney (my BFF), lil J, S, and me:

Head on over to Life In The Fulmer Lane and link up your own random pics today ( :

Photobucket


Katie also tagged all her readers for this lil award. You have to list 10 things that make you happy, so here goes:


1. Dave, my awesome boyfriend and best friend
2. My Mom, who is the sweetest lady around, the best listener, and the smartest woman I know
3. My Dad, the funniest and smartest guy I know and the best softball coach
4. My brother, another witty and intelligent guy in my life
5. My loyal companion, my Silky Yorkie Ty
6. My stylish and hilarious BFF Courtney (see above) who I have been besties with since we were 11 years old
7. Traveling and seeing the world with my family, friends, or Dave
8. Getting crafty and doing a little scrapbooking or card making
9. My DVR which records all my must watch TV
10. Hiking and getting to just be out in nature for a while away from it all!

Thanks for the tag! ( : Everyone else feel free to play along too!



I loved Kelly's question this week at Top 3 Thursdays! She wants to know our top three places to eat. I am getting better about eating at home and actually preparing my own meals, but I still LOVE going out to eat! I have a lot of favorite places to eat so I decided to stick with the casual/take-out places I frequent. These are delicious! At Pei Wei I usually get the spicy chicken salad and crab wontons. At Rubio's it is usually the gourmet tacos or shrimp burrito. Jason's deli is just one of the many sandwich places I am obsessed with! I love the Cali club sandwich, pot roast sandwich, and the soups!

Head on over to Kelly's to link up, but you might want to read on a full stomach for this one ( :