Month: July 2010

Categories
Everything Else Food

Saturday Couples Shower Menu & Recipes

My parents & 3 other couples hosted a couples shower for Matt & Katie this past Saturday night. Matt & his family have been family friends of ours for over 20 years! My brother is in the wedding & we’re really looking forward to their Oct 4th wedding in Wilmington.
Mom & her friends got together a couple different times to plan the meals & alcohol. The SAH ladies cooked some Friday then Amy T joined Mom & I Saturday.
I was put in charge of making my Oreo Brownies. I also helped with the fruit salad by melon balling, cutting up strawberries, grapes, pineapple (I ate the core!). Amy & Mom steamed shrimp using the Old Bay seasoning recipe. I was the official stirrer of mom’s Cranberry Salad Cole Slaw & I encouraged adding more craisins! (recipe below.) I feel like there was something else, but I’ve forgotten.
I don’t have all the recipes, but here’s approximately the menu.
Appetizers: Hot Corn Dip (version of recipe below), Cherry Tomatoes halved with basil & fresh mozzerella inside with basalmic dip, Chipolte Raspberry Cheese Ball, & Steamed Shrimp.
Dinner: Cranberry Salad Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Spiral Ham, Curried Fruit Chicken Salad (with Costco Rolls), Fruit Salad, Deviled Eggs.
Dessert: Oreo Brownies, Creme Puffs & Strawberries with chocolate dip.

Cranberry Salad Cole Slaw
Ingredients
4 c coleslaw (1 bag)
1 bunch broccoli
8 slices cooked bacon (we omitted)
1 small chopped purple onion (we used Vilada)
1 c craisins (or more)
1 c mayo
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 c sugar
Optional: silvered almonds or chopped walnuts
Directions
Mix first 5 ingredients in medium-large bowl. Set aside. Mix last 3 ingredients in a large bowl (they’re the dressing). Combine all ingredients just before serving.

Hot Corn Dip
Ingredients
1 (11 oz) can Mexicorn
1 c mayo or sour cream
1/2 c Parmesan shredded cheese
1 c Mexican mix shredded cheese
3 tbsp finely chopped Jalepeno peppers (Mom uses 1 (4 oz) can green chillies)
Directions
Combine and bake for 30 minutes at 350. Serve with scoops.

Curry Fruit Chicken Salad (Jan said she got it from allrecipes.com which is where I found this one but not sure its the same, but its close though)
Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked & diced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 small apple, peeled, cored & chopped
1/3 c golden raisins
1/3 c seedless green grapes, halved
1/2 c chopped toasted pecans
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp curry powder
3/4 c mayo
Directions
Combine & stir all ingredients together. Serve & enjoy.

Categories
Everything Else

Sweet Blog Award

I’m so behind on this! The super sweet Emily from If I Can’t Wear Heels… gave me this award a couple of weeks ago. I love all her pink & green, her big grey cat Poe & that she lives in VA. Thank you Emily!

I thought I’d pass this along to some of my favorite recent blog ladies.
Sara at The Mrs and The Mister Hate that I missed hangin out with her last weekend!
Kathleen at The Lushers I’m always so impressed with her & her hubby’s recipes!
Holly & too cute Lilly at Lillian Megan We’ll miss you at the beach this weekend!
Because I can’t get enough of looking at her photos, Emilee from Emilee Beth Photography
Elissa (my favorite Pampered Chef hostess!) at Redhead in Raleigh
Pippy at Pippy’s Perspective How cute is her new little one?!
Carrie at A Little Carried Away How cool is the plan on words for her title. She’s new to blogging, but gives great updates on life.
Ladies, please pass this award on to other blogs you think are sweet!
Categories
Everything Else

Jacks: before & after

As promised in my July 4th weekend post, here’s photos of my favorite sandals, my Jack Rogers in platinum before & after Bocce ate them!

I also thought I’d share a photo of my new ones to compare. You don’t realize JUST how dirty they are until both are side by side!!The new ones arrived Thursday just in time for me to take & wear them to a couples shower Saturday night. I’ll make a post about this past weekends fun tomorrow!

Categories
Everything Else Trying To Conceive

Yay for Mail

Today was an okay day. Work was busy, just fine. Went out to Panera alone with a book for lunch. It was nice to get away & just chill. It began turning around my day. Guess what made my day awesome?! Getting this in the mail:

Along with Netflix blueray of shows 7 & 8 of season 1 of TrueBlood!

I was actually thinking over the weekend I needed to email the blogger where I won Sophie from to check on it. It’s on the end table for now but will soon go into the baby stash office closet! 🙂

Categories
Everything Else

4th July Weekend

We had a wonderful holiday weekend. As usual, I forgot my camera. We took a few photos from our phones. I added the ones I had from my phone of the parade~ they aren’t great, but the parade was cute. Here’s a few we took from my Dad’s new phone over looking the beach Saturday evening. The wind was up & my hair was untameable!Jason & I ran a few errands on our way out of town Friday night. So for the first time ever (I think) my parents beat us down to the beach. Within 5 minutes of us arriving & unloading our stuff, my grandparents puppy 1 year old dog disappeared. My Nana found him in “our” bedroom with one of my favorite sandals (even moe kitty loves them) in his mouth… my platinum Jack Rodgers! At first I couldn’t figure out what he’d done; then it hit me the round medallion at the top of the left sandal GONE! Of course they felt horrible, but the shoes were definitely “well loved”; the soles & heels gone through, the platinum color wearing off & the leather sole coming off. I found they’d just started selling them at my favorite Lilly beach boutique Victoria’s Ragpatch, but I didn’t love the $96 price. Instead I used sales codes & signed up for membership at shoebuy.com and bought them w/ free shipping & $20+ off on Saturday. They shipped today! I’ll post a before & after photo later this week when they arrive.

We spent the rest of Saturday (after quick grocery store & farmer’s market run & checking out the Ragpatch) at the beach. I managed to not get too sunburned! I finished The Shack ~ liked it but not great beach read. I got about halfway through Jane Green’s latest, Promises to Keep while on the beach Sunday & Monday.

We started off the 4th with beach church service. Mom & I went through our wedding guest list to start working on their half of my brother’s guest list to be (have we mentioned how excited we are that they’re engaged?!). Jason & I were able to meet his parents (who are spending all week in Myrtle) for an early lunch at Calabash’s Boundry House. It was great to spend time with them for a few hours & my shrimp quasdilla was awesome. We got back on the island in time to see the OIB July 4th parade; it’s laid back affair~ if you have a golf cart, wagon, old car or bicycle then you’re set! But people went all out this year & it was fun & festive. Then it was beach time. We made jennandtonica’s sun dried tomato appetizers & blackened fresh grouper for dinner. We missed a lot of the fireworks because we had redboxed Valentine’s Day.

My parents left midafternoon Monday, but Jason & I have learned that the later we leave the better the traffic will be as we head back into town. I spent a leisurely afternoon alone on the beach with my book & a mango Sunset Slush. My grandparents joined us at Giggling Mackeral for an early dinner before our ride back. Such a wonderful weekend! And how nice is it that it’s already Tuesday in our short work week?!