Cookie Party Update

The cookie party was a huge success! Everyone brought the most delicious cookies. Some of my faves were Lauren's Lemon Drop Cookies, Nina's Chocolate Ganache Sandwich Cookies and Amanda's Hello Dollies. I had small tins for people to pack cookies into as well as supplies like cello bags, tags, and ribbon for people to use to package up cookies for gifts. I made home made hot chocolate for the party. It was delicious and so easy! I am already looking forward to next year's party:)

Here are some shots of my Gingerbread People/Houses/Dogs. They are always a labor of love but so delicious and worth it.

Cookie tins for party-goers.

Swappin' cookies.

I had a tiny tree filled with gingerbread scented cookie ornaments (no, I did not make them) for people to take home with them.

2009 Holiday Tea and Cookie Exchange

This Saturday I am hosting the First Annual Ladies Holiday Tea and Cookie Exchange at my house. I have been busy getting the guest list finalized and it looks like I'm going to be hosting a group of ten gal pals! Every one is bringing 2 dozen cookies to trade so we will all end up with a good selection of Christmas cookies when all is said and done. I have purchased an array of packaging supplies so people can make some of their "trades" into gifts and transport everything home safely (and in style, of course). I will post pictures of the party next week. Above you can see the "logos" I created for the party. I will use these on some of the packaging supplies and on the take-away gifts for the guests. I am attaching a link to the gift tags I created for the party. Feel free to download them and use them for your own holiday treat gifts! Download the gift tags here

Unexpected places people buy cupcakes...

GARAGE SALES! Made up a big batch of Halloween cupcakes for Bret's garage sale yesterday. I made chocolate with cream cheese frosting, white with cream cheese frosting and white with (orange dyed) vanilla frosting. My lack of Halloween cupcake decorations led me to also make tiny pumpkins picks. I was hoping lots of kids would come but it turned out most of my sales were to adults. The cupcakes left over from the garage sale went to trick or treaters when I ran out of candy. I had over 100 kids come by! My mother never would have let me take a cupcake from a complete stranger for fear that I would ingest a razor blade.

Halloween Tasty Treats

I hosted my 3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party this past Tuesday. One of my favorite things about throwing this party every year is that it gives me an excuse to search out fun Halloween recipes. This year I went above and beyond what I normally do and whipped up 4 different Halloween desserts.

(Furter got to wear his new costume for the party!)

Witch fingers: chocolate dipped pretzel sticks with almond "fingernails", Butterscotch Haystacks
Skull cupcakes and Nutter Butter Ghost cookies. Any great dessert ideas I can file away for next year?

14 Carrot GOLD

I harvested 2 carrots today. Behold:

Lindsay and Martha

I saw "Julie and Julia" a few weeks back and absolutely LOVED it. The movie is based on 2 stories- Julia Child's (Meryl Streep) story of the start of her career and Julie Powell's (Amy Adams) story of working her way through Julia Child's first cookbook in 365 days. So I have this crazy idea. What if I try to work my way through Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts? I am thinking I will set up an etsy shop to sell what I make and I'll use the earnings from sales to offset the cost of the projects. ALSO, to encourage people to keep me in check, comment leaving readers will have a chance to win a version of each craft I make. So here's the deal: 200ish crafts. *536 days. What do you think?

*536 is the number of recipes Julie Powell completed from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Tony Danza turns 27!

Tonight was the first night of a multi week birthday celebration in honor of my good friend Bret. We went bowling so I made the birthday boy a special hat for the evening. He acquired the nickname of "Tony Danza" at a bowling tournament a few years ago. Long story. The hat was a hit and Bret had a great night!Furter modelling alongside the hat.

First (edible) tomato!

I came home for lunch today. It rained this morning so Furter and I went to check up on the plants in the backyard to see if they needed any additional water. Much to our surprise, we found this ripe 'lil beaut hanging off one of the tomato plants. This is a victorious day as this is the FIRST tomato I have successfully produced. I had one turn red about a week ago but it had a nice big hole on the side which I am thinking indicated that a lovely little worm made itself right at home. (If I were small enough to live inside of a tomato, I'd probably do the same.) I took a picture of it so I will always remember it. Now I am going to feast on it!

Grapes!

Soooooooo I have a grape vine growing in my backyard. Sometimes I forget. It was here when I moved. Donavan is a HUGE fan of the grape vine, and at his insistence I took a quick shot of it this morning so he could quench his curiosity. I fertilized it this year and he is anxiously awaiting his next trip to KC so he can measure the grapes to see if they are larger than last year's crop. We'll see...

Art Unleashed submission

I am not one for painting but I recently painted a tiny piece for the Art Unleashed silent auction which benefits The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City. I bet you can guess who my muse was...

More guinea pigs eating...

This person certainly enjoys filming her pets munching on a variety of fruit and vegetables. I am on the verge of running to the nearest pet store and getting one of my own. They are by far my favorite rodent. Squirrels are a close 2nd if they are even considered rodents...

Tuesday night craftiness

Furter and I were feeling crafty tonight. Behold our creations...

Squash Massacre of 09

What happens when your spaghetti squash vine meanders into your neighbors yard? THIS!
and THIS!
It is truly a sad day. Good thing I have about 10 more that were safely tucked away on my property. I'm just sorry they had to watch their fellow vine members be mutilated in front of them. So very sad. In better news, my first tomato showed up today! Hooray!

If you love sending/receiving cute packages...

...you need to join the "Lovely Package Exchange" immediately! It is a swap of lovely things between you and a designated partner (you can have up to 3) with an emphasis on ... packaging! It is for anyone who appreciates a good package: both receiving and sending them.
Go here and check out the details. The deadline to sign up is the 27th so hurry! Thanks Pauline for letting me know about this!

Guinea Pigs Eating Watermelon= Adorable

I  can't even handle how much I love this.

Messy Mice

As I was walking down the sidewalk today outside of West Elm, I came upon this untidy little mouse hole. I couldn't help but smile. He must have been eating on the run?

Fresher Than Fresh= Pure Deliciousness

I finally made it out to the Fresher Than Fresh snow cone trailer this past Saturday while my good friend Jen was in town. It was as amazing as I had always dreamed it would be! I had a sampler plate where I was able to try 5 different flavors (including Ginger Rose, Lime Mint, and Watermelon Basil) while Jen enjoyed "Green Tea Pear." It was a lovely afternoon and we really has a great time.

We have a winner!

Ding, ding, ding! I finally have a ripened spaghetti squash from the enormous squash vine I've been nursing for the past few months in my backyard. I wish I could cast it in gold and keep it forever...

Eureka!

Springs, that is! I spent this past weekend in Eureka Springs, AK with Donavan celebrating our 2 year anniversary. ES is a teensy little (somewhat Hippie) town nestled in the hills of good ol' Ark-kansas (as some people like to call it). There is plenty to do and see while you're there. Here are some pics from the trip as well as some interesting signage from the area. Enjoy!

Out on the lake for some paddle boating, we realized we had a stowaway!A wrong turn down a dirt road and we came upon "Hidden Valley Ranch."This is the sign you see right as you enter Arkansas. What a way to say "Welcome to out state!" Notice the spare antlers in the window. We stayed at the Treehouse Cottages for the weekend. The beautiful anniversary roses Donavan brought me:)Part of the luxurious history of the Crescent Hotel. The Dogwood Inn went out of business and all that was left was their cute little retro sign.

Busy time of year

Like everyone else, I have been busy as a bee lately. It seems a lot of my peeps have birthdays around this time of year so I am constantly working on birthday surprises! Below are some of my recent creations.
Being that Adam and Josh are both "International Men of Mystery," International themed baby cupcakes were in order! My nephew turned 1 last month so I headed to Atlanta to help him celebrate. A birthday wouldn't be complete, though, without a fancy, over-the-top hat to match your party color scheme! As you can see, my nephew was not a fan.
Here are some gifts I recently sent to a friend for her big day. It's hard to tell which I love more sometimes-picking out the gifts or wrapping them!

Lovin' This: Yee-Haw!

I am LOVING these new prints from Yee-Haw Industries! I will be ordering them to hang in my kitchen!

Remodelling

I celebrated the 2nd anniversary of buying my house this past June 15th and I think it is high time for a little change around here! I am in the process of picking out a color to paint my bedroom as well as a new bedding ensemble. I am doing a mint greenish/pale blue gray and orange color scheme inspired by this "Marie Claire" cover:
My existing chocolate brown furniture will work well with the new color palette.
Here are some of the lovely orange pillows I have found:
Pillows above can be found here.Pillow above (and many other great ruffled pillows) can be found here.Pillow above can be found here.
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If anyone sees any cute orange pillows out there, please let me know.