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December 31, 2013

pop fizz clink



Happy New Years Eve!!  Since my husband and I both are recovering from the flu :( we are skipping our New Years party plans and keeping it low key this year.  It will be a small party of four celebrating at our home for New Years.  But I didn't let the flu bug stop me from getting festive around here.  I was fortunate to get on Tamiflu early, so my symptoms were pretty mild (unlike my poor husband) which allowed me to get our front entry table styled to ring in the new year!


Here's a little about what I did to put this table together.  I sprayed the champagne bottle with gold glitter spray paint and then while it was still wet I sprinkled the gold star confetti on it to give it some additional sparkly-ness.  The little "cheers" sign I found at Walmart for a couple of bucks and the pom-pom garland I made with yarn and metallic crinkle streamers.  I created the "pop, fizz, clink" sign in Pic Monkey, printed it, added a few star confetti pieces and popped it in a cheap frame.  And finally I finished it off with more star confetti scattered along the table. 


So do you have big plans to ring in the New Year? 

I'm excited to start a fresh new year, with new ideas, fun projects and exciting new adventures!  Wishing you all the Happiest New Year's Eve!



December 30, 2013

top 10 recipes of 2013

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now that I blogged for a full year in 2013, it was fun to look back on all my projects, recipes and some of our personal adventures as well.  I have to say that I'm amazed at how many recipes I shared this past year.  Some are old recipes that I've made many times and some are new ones that I tried and loved!  So I went through my FOOD tab and picked my top 10 recipes from 2013 to share one more time.  You can click the link below each picture for the recipe.  I thought some of these might come in handy if you're still looking for something to make for your New Years celebrations as well.  And you can find more of my recipes here
 
Thanks again so much for reading this past year!  It's been a fun year!  And I'm looking so forward to what 2014 will bring!
 
Have an amazing day!
 
 
 

December 27, 2013

white winter mantel

 

Good Morning Everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful, joyous Christmas.  It was a busy week traveling here and there to spend Christmas with both sides of our families, but well worth it to see everyone!

Once Christmas is over, I am so anxious to put all my decorations away.  I absolutely love having it out during the Christmas season, but as soon as we finish our last celebration, I'm ready to start taking it down.  I started with my mantel yesterday.  And I am so very impressed with my paperwhites.  We left for a couple of days, and I expected to find them wilted and done, but so not the case.  They are straight and upright and still blooming, so I changed out the ribbon and moved them to the mantel.





I love the simple, fresh, crisp look...just like I want to start the New Year...simple, fresh, and crisp :)

So, tell me I'm not alone with the immediate tear down of Christmas decorations the minute it's over? 

Have a terrific day!

p.s.  thanks so much for all the birthday wishes yesterday on instagram!  They really made my day even brighter.



December 24, 2013

casual christmas table

 
It is here!  Merry Christmas Eve!  One of my most favorite times of the year. 
 
We traveled to Austin on Saturday for a wedding and then to Shiner on Sunday to celebrate Christmas with my husband's family.  It was a whirlwind weekend, but oh so fun!  Now we are back home for a couple of days to spend Christmas here, which will include a little family dinner at home tonight after we return from church.  I put this causal Christmas table together to add a little festive fun to our dining experience.  Really nothing fancy, just a cozy setting for our little party of four :)
 



Most stuff we already had.  I picked up the pretty paperwhites and small rosemary tree from Whole Foods and love the fresh touches they add.  A little ribbon and twine, red plaid napkins and sparkly silver monograms add some festive touches to the table.




We are looking forward to gathering around the table, enjoying each other's company and making memories with our children. 

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas Eve.

December 20, 2013

i heart paperwhites

 
Happy Friday!  I hope you all had a wonderful week.  I've been running around finishing up last minute shopping, baking, wrapping gifts and packing all with hopes to put the brakes on this weekend and enjoy the next 6 days. 
 
By now it's no surprise I love white!  And paperwhites are some of my very favorite flowers for the winter.  As much as I wanted to get my own bulbs and force indoor blooms this year, it didn't happen, so I pick these up at Whole Foods a couple of days ago and I'm loving their presences in our dining space. 
 


 
 

They are a perfect addition to my other Christmas décor.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

December 18, 2013

our twenty thirteen christmas card

 
 
Can you believe Christmas is only one week away!  This holiday season is just flying by me this year!

I did get all my Christmas cards out last week and thought I would share it here today.  This year I used one of my snapshots from our trip to Disney World.  It was a highlight of our year and a really memorable trip, so I thought we would skip the professional pics and use this one!

I hope to wrap things up today and then slow down and cherish this holiday season!



December 16, 2013

cream cheese strawberry shortcakeletts

 
Bite-site portions are always a good choice when entertaining.  I think they present well and are so easy for guest to grab without much fuss or mess. 
 
 

CREAM CHEESE STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKELETTS

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Ingredients
  • 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
  • 1 1/2 cups butter
  • 3 cups white sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
  1. Preheat over to 325, grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan.
  2. In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth.
  3. Add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy.
  4. Add eggs, beating well.
  5. Add flour and vanilla, mix well.
  6. Pour into pan and bake at 325 for 1 hour 20 minutes.  (Check doneness at 1 hour)
Cream Cheese Topping

Ingredients
  • 4 ounces cream cheese
  • 1 cup cool whip
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
  • fresh strawberries sliced
Method
  1. Combine cream cheese, cool whip, powdered sugar and vanilla.  Mix well.  *tip - you can adjust these ingredients depending on the level of sweetness you desire.  I added a bit more cool whip to mine.
Put cakeletts together by cutting cooled pound cake into 1/2" slices and then use a circle (or desired shape) cookie cutter to cut small pieces.  Top each cake disc with a dollop of topping and finish with strawberry slices.  Enjoy!

*recipe for cream cheese pound cake adapted from all recipes
*recipe for strawberry shortcakeletts adapted from style me pretty


These little cream cheese strawberry shortcakeletts are the perfect bite of sweetness and the perfect festive red for the holidays.

Linking this recipe with the lovely cupboard and schue love.  Hop over and check out their yummy holiday recipes.

Have a Merry Day!

December 12, 2013

a little Christmas outside

 

Good Morning!  How did it become Thursday already??  With Lyla starting off the week sick, then basketball practice Monday night, First Reconciliation Tuesday night and piano Wednesday night, and me running around like a crazy person all day trying to finish Christmas shopping and prepare for Preston's 8th birthday party on Sunday, it has flown by!  For you too?

So do you decorate outdoors for Christmas?  We do a little bit outside...white lights along the landscape beds and my 11 year old lighted wreath!  I added a few lights to the potted topiary this year, but that's about it.  Every year I plug in my wreath with my fingers crossed that the lights will still work.  So far so good this year...yay!  It even has the same bow I made 11 years ago ;)  I snapped this picture of our outside Christmas lights on Sunday evening right as it was getting dark.  And I can't believe the knockout roses were still blooming in this picture.  It did finally get below freezing recently, so I think their time is up.

Anyhoo...hope your week is going well.  I'm curious to know...are you done Christmas shopping?  Or are you scrambling around like me this year?

In the end it all falls into place, right?!



December 10, 2013

O Christmas Tree

 

 
 
 
 



 
 
 

 
 
Hope everyone's week is going well.  This year for our tree, I did much the same as last year's tree...just lights and ornaments.  In the past I've done the beads, and ribbon, but the past two years I just like it with lots of lights and lots of ornaments.  And for the ornaments, we put every single one we have on the tree.  The popsicle handmade ones hang right next to the glass ornaments and I love it that way!  It's easy, it's right in our family room so the kids see their ornaments they've made over the years and we all enjoy the tree more.  The tree is colorful, but for the surrounding space, I kept it simple with the brown wrapping and black and white ribbon.  I clipped some trimmings from our holly bushes for the gifts and also hung a grouping on the wall above the chair.   And then finished it off with my plaid throw and fuzzy pillow. 
 
So the tree is ready for Santa, but not sure if Santa is ready for the tree ;)
 
I'm also linking up with Courtney @ A Thoughtful Place and Megan @ Honey We're Home.  Hop over and check out their Christmas trees...they are stunning! 
 
Have a Merry Day!