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After a long hiatus, as promised, the next week will be filled with photos, crafts, recipes, and details from my daughter’s beautiful bridal shower. But before I begin, I want to let you know that I’ve missed creating and sharing recipes. I’ve really missed blogging. I’ve missed posting. I’ve missed you! It feels good to be back, even if only for a week.

Today will be mostly a pictorial, giving an overview of the party. Tomorrow, the details will begin.

As any good invitation should do, this one set the theme.

Marissa is a voracious reader. She loves books. Her degree in Journalism with a Creative Writing minor, so a literary theme fit her to a tee.

Immediately upon entering, guests were greeted by a table filled with library bookplates with their names on them. The bridal party’s bookplates had a little bling tied to theirs.

A chalkboard sign instructed them what to do with their bookplate. Marissa’s maid-of-honor, Kaley, used her perfect penmanship and artistic flair to create all the chalkboard signs for the shower. Thank you, Kaley!

When guests walked into Barbara Fenzl’s beautiful backyard, this is the table where they had their choice of seats.

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Day 2 of the “San Francisco to Austin Adventure” found us waking up in a hotel in Fresno at 6:00 AM, eating breakfast in the lobby together by 6:30 and on the road by 7:00.

Our destination for the day? Home in our own beds in Scottsdale, AZ!

The drive through California’s Central Valley, also known as “America’s Fruit Basket” was especially beautiful this time of year, with all the rows and rows of fruit trees in bloom.

Along the way, we passed the Smokey Bear Road exit and soon after that, we drove along with Pyramid Lake Recreation Area, which seemed to go on forever. It was a beautiful drive south through California. Soon after we turned east, not so much. Ugly desert for most of the rest of the day.

The best part was when we finally saw this welcoming sign! Dave and Marissa were in the car and arrived home about 90 minutes before Jeff and me, since we were driving the truck, and towing the VW Bug. It was such a treat to sleep in our own beds, especially with the knowledge that we still had two long days of driving to go!

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All week I will post photos and recipes from Megan’s bridal shower.

How cute is the invite?!? Laura ordered them from HERE on Etsy.

Megan is Laura’s daughter. Laura is my best friend from high school. She was my maid of honor and I was a bridesmaid at her wedding. Laura is Marissa’s godmother and I am godmother to two of her sons. So, yeah, we have lots of loving ties to each other.

Three generations of beautiful women! Laura’s mom, Coleen, the guest of honor, Megan, and my dear friend, Laura.

The theme may have been cocktails and cupcakes, but the shower began at 5:00, so dinner was on the menu too!

Megan’s Bridal Shower Menu

The Appetizers

• Bloody Mary Shrimp Spoons
• Korean-Style Turkey Meatballs

The Cocktails

• Classic Tom Collins
• Maple Old-Fashioned
• Rojo Sangria
• Moscow Mule

The Savory

• Build Your Own Nià§oise Salad
• Cheese Board

The Cupcakes

• Mini-Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Curd and Lemon Buttercream Frosting
• Toffee Crunch Mini Cupcakes
• Maple-Bacon Mini-Cupcakes
• Stout and Irish Whiskey Mini Cupcakes with Bailey’s Irish Cream Frosting
• Mini Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes

I had a lot of inspiration from my wonderful neighbors, Cindi and Cheryl.

Cindi is the queen of hosting bridal showers! She has some really unique ideas to make bridal showers memorable. She took her daughter, Stephie’s, vanity out of the bedroom and used it as a champagne bar.

Cindi generously offered the vanity for me to use. But I had already used Marissa’s mirrored vanity.

I moved it downstairs and outside and used it to serve the Maple Old Fashioned drinks. Such a glamorous look!

Cindi also loaned me a wedding dress that she used as the front door decor. Doesn’t it look fabulous on her gorgeous front door?!?

Not quite as impressive on my door, but the guests still thought it was beautiful, of course, they didn’t know any better! Since I have the double doors, I had to somehow balance it out, so I used the vintage window frame/chicken wire frame that Peggy made for me.

It’s pretty darn cute!

Lastly, Cindi loaned me big “diamond” ring napkin rings. Not the best photo of them, but they were darling. Thank you Cindi for all your help and inspiration. xoxo

Now it’s time to share the inspiration from Cheryl. Do you remember this photo from back in December? This is what she made for her annual Ornament Exchange and I’ve been dying to recreate it ever since! As you’ll see in the recipe below, I copied Cheryl’s salad down to the order in which the components are placed on the platter. No need to mess with perfection! Thank you, Cheryl! xoxo

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Yesterday, I held my 5th annual Craft Party. This time around, I only provided three craft options and asked the attendees to provide crafts they wanted to share too.

Just as only one of my three crafts sold out while the other two went nearly or completely untouched – some of the guest crafts were very popular and others only had one or two that were made. But, it’s all good – everyone had a great time crafting, eating, drinking, and socializing.

I made two egg dishes, a sweet crêpe option, muffins, and, as promised, the Frosted Pumpkin Cookies.

The first recipe I’ll be sharing is a fun breakfast or brunch lasagna.

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Last night I taught a private cooking class here at my house. It was a demonstration class with an appetizer theme.

Since individual appetizers can be time-consuming to assemble and to make the class a bit more fun, I did ask for assistance from the students on a couple of the recipes.

The best of both worlds, I teach with free help!

Setting up for a class is a lot like entertaining and many of the techniques I use for a class are the same that I suggest to people when they entertain, such as:

• Choose do-ahead recipes
• Mise en place is a must
• Lay out your serving pieces and “map out” your table long before guests/students arrive
• Make Lists and a Timeline

All five of these recipes can be done well ahead of time, perfect for entertaining.

Blue Cheese Grapes, Caesar Dip with Crudités, Pigs in a Warm Puffy Blanket, Hot Feta and Tomato Spread, and Smoked Salmon Quesadillas.

For a cooking class, we set all the ingredients and utensils needed and place them on individual trays for each recipe. When entertaining (or cooking in general) pull together everything you need and prep (chop/dice) what you can ahead of time. This is known as Mise en Place, or “everything in its place.”

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As I told you earlier in the week, I pulled out all my 4th of July decorations and began decorating the house for a little BBQ/Pool Party we are having today.

Happily, I took all the photos throughout the week because I’m not sure what it’s all going to look like when I wake up on the 4th. You see, I am typing this on Thursday night, during a massive wind/dust storm.

I lifted these two photos from the 12 News Facebook page. The one on the left, of Sky Harbor International Airport, was taken by Zachary Doublery and to one on the right was taken by Benita Skalada out the window of the airplane as she was taking off.

Yes, that is what is raging outside my home right now on Thursday night, July 3rd.

But honestly, a few tousled decorations are nothing when you consider that more than 25,000 people are without power due to the storm. And at least 24 flights bound for Phoenix were diverted to other airports.

Since I don’t know what will still be standing (hanging) when I awake in the morning, I’ll go ahead and share the details with you now.

I hung bunting over every door…

… and flags in every window.

The covered patios are alive with the Red, White & Blue…

As is the pool and BBQ area.

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My dear friend and neighbor, Ronnie, recently turned me on to this recipe. She had returned from eating at the Domenica Restaurant at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. She raved about a cauliflower dish she had there.

So, of course, I had to give it a try. She was spot on! This is one of the best side dishes I’ve had in eons! It is already bookmarked as one of our “must-have” and “go to” sides. An instant family favorite! Thank you, Ronnie! xoxo

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As fun as Saturday was, I think Sunday might have come close to topping it. At the very least, it was a draw.

Photo

Marissa and Jeff came up to the Hotel Drisco for breakfast. There is French brie, smoked salmon, and all the fixings added to the breakfast buffet on weekends! After breakfast, Marissa and I went to her neighborhood nail salon, just 2 blocks down the hill from her house, to get a mani/pedi. Once our fingers and toes were as gorgeous as could be, we did what any glamour girls would do…

… we climbed onto a motorcycle! It’s called a GoCar, but it is technically a motorcycle. And it is the most fun, ever! We only nearly crashed it into a ditch once and then nearly killed ourselves one other time. Other than those two tiny moments … so much fun!

Oh, and I might as well tell you this part now before Marissa adds it in the comments – I was at the throttle both of those “life flashing before your eyes” moments! (I would say “at the wheel” but there is no wheel, just handlebars with a throttle.)

No foot peddles for stop and or go either, just the handlebars with the brakes. Oh, and the GoCar does not go in reverse. Do you need to back up? One of you gets out and pushes it backward. We each had to do that once. I pushed it back to get out of a parking space and Marissa pushed it back away from the previously mentioned ditch. I also managed to run over my own foot with the front tire while pushing it backward – luckily GoCars have sought their frames from somewhere like this fiberglass manufacturing company and therefore are quite light and not toe-crushing.

We picked up our GoCar in Fisherman’s Wharf and drove toward the Golden Gate Bridge, along Crissy Field, and then along the Pacific Ocean and through the Presidio.

Under the bridge, we stopped at Fort Point. Neither of us had been there before. It is so cool!

Fort Point was constructed just before the outbreak of the Civil War.

Military officials declared its position at the Golden Gate as the “key to the whole Pacific Coast.”

Fort Point never saw action, its massive brick walls look to be impenetrable.

Original plans for the Golden Gate Bridge in the 1930’s called for the fort’s removal. Chief Engineer Joseph Strauss redesigned the bridge, adding an arch over the fort, saving it from demolition.

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I want to give you a heads-up  – my blogging abilities are going to be compromised for the next week.

Yesterday, I began putting away Christmas. The tree is down and the New Year’s Eve tablescape and decor, that I’m about to show you, are put away. I hope to get the rest of the house “untrimmed” and “defrocked” today.

Then, Saturday the real work begins.

Fun work!
The work I love to do!

The sort of thing I live for…

Decorating. Shopping. Cooking. Making lists. Organizing. Setting up and Planning… for Tram’s baby shower.

Hence – very little time to blog. You may hear from me, or I may go “underground” and you might not. Either way, please know that I am in my element, experiencing joy and happiness and that I’ll share all the glorious details with you… after the fact. I don’t want to ruin any of it for my sweet friend, loyal blog follower, and mama-to-be, Tram!

For now, back to New Year’s Eve, from here out, referred to as NYE.

See that huge clock?

Isn’t it grand!?!  I bought it years ago at a cool store in the Scottsdale Airpark that, sadly, no longer exists. It is five feet in diameter and it is heavy! I put it out on the front patio for NYE and it was still there yesterday, when Chip, my landscape architect extraordinaire, came by with his crew to install more lighting in the front yard.

Chip asked me about the clock and I told him that when I bought it, my intention was to hang it in the front room. But I feared it was too heavy, so I’ve just had it leaning against walls in various rooms over the years. Most recently in the guestroom, better known as Marissa’s bedroom.

He said, “It’s so cool! Where do you want it to go? I’ll hang it for you.”

Hey, you don’t have to make a generous offer, like that, twice!

Quickly, before he could change his mind, I said, “OK!”

So I got the stud finder, nails, some wire, a hammer, and a ladder. He got his right-hand man, Roy, and another ladder. They wired it up and went to hang it… and the wire snapped. (I told you it was HEAVY!) Thankfully they were still holding on to it when that happened!

They got some “better” wire from their truck and tried again, and voilà, the clock is finally hanging where I wanted it to be hanging all along!

I really am going to get to the tablescape… but first a couple more photos of the front patio/entrance leading to the NYE dinner party.

Happy New Year. Do you see it?

Now you do!

Come on in.

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