Laundry Room/Bar Combo

I got back from visiting my sister yesterday...sorry for the lack of posts!  But I have lots of cute things to show you from her house.  She doesn't have a small house by any means but an older house so as you can imagine storage isn't as great as the newer houses.  She has really found some clever ways to combat that which I can't wait to share with you. 

Today we will start with the adorable bar she created in her laundry room.  This is directly off of the kitchen and living room so the perfect spot when you are entertaining. 

My sister has a great whimsical traditional style.  Behind the green lattice fabric is the washer and dryer as well as a organizer cart.  (Ignore the floors...not totally complete yet!)

Above she has all of her glassware, pitchers and ice buckets stored.

Love the little detail of the dragonfly knobs.

This antique mirror is a nice touch.  When she entertains she lights a candle in front which gives off nice reflections on the glasses and creates great ambiance. 

And to go with the theme a lovely cork wreath created by yours truly one year for Christmas.  I like this symmetrical design I did.

The fabric was hung with a cafe rod along the front of the bar top attached like this.

Nice to see how a boring laundry area could be transformed into a bar so you can get two uses out of one space.  Plus a great way to conceal the washer and dryer.



Tomorrow I will show how to utilize 10 inches of wall space to create a functional bookcase and smart storage in the kitchen.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Girls Night Wine Tasting

One of my book clubs has turned into more of a Girls Night Club.  And each host can choose if they want to pick a book, play a game, do a craft, etc.  We were getting a little stale on the books and the group needed a boost.  Theresa was due to host next and picked a wine tasting theme.  Each of us brought a bottle of wine which she put into paper bags labeled with a number.

Then we started tasting and rating our wines using this handy score card that she created. 

She provided an awesome spread of tasty treats to go along with the wine.

This strawberry and basil salad was a big hit.  The recipe is from Southern Living.

Theresa also served veggies and dip (carrots, celery and asparagus) in these glasses.

Dessert was this awesome peach and blueberry cobbler served in cute mason jars.  So good!

It was fun night and something different!  Wine number 2 won...a great pinot grigio.  Currently #2 at Total Wine.  We had so much fun I didn't write it down!  But the concept was great.

Just In Time For Cinco De Mayo

Yummy recipes!

Rum Ritas (my take on Margaritas because Tequila just ain't my thang...) and layered Mexican casserole.

RumRita Punch

24 ounces frozen limeade concentrate (thawed)
12 ounces frozen lemonade concentrate (thawed)
1 oz orange extract
6 cups water
3 liters soda (sprite)
1 1/2 cups rum

Mix it together and put in a pitcher ready to serve when your guests arrive!  Or ready to drink poolside without having to get up to mix another drink!

Layered Mexican Casserole

1 pack of small corn tortillas, torn in large pieces
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and chopped
1 can black beans
1 container fresh salsa
1 container guacamole
1 small onion finely sliced in rings
1 pack taco seasoning mix
1 can cream of celery or mushroom soup
2 cups Mexican cheese
fresh cilantro chopped
sour cream (optional)

Layer bottom of baking dish with pieces of tortillas then top with 1/2 of the beans, guacamole, chicken, onions, soup, taco seasoning and a third of the cheese and salsa.  Repeat with another layer.  Then top with one last layer of tortillas, salsa sprinkled on top and remaining third of cheese.  Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes covered.  Uncover for the last 15 minutes.  Serve warm topped with sour cream, extra salsa and fresh cilantro.

Supper Club - Paintin' and Drinkin' Party

After I had so much fun at Wine and Design here in Charlotte aka Sips and Strokes or Paintin' and Drinkin' as I like to call it, the girls in my supper club wanted to do it too.  So we thought it would be fun to do it one night instead of our traditional gathering.  But at $35 or $45 a person and not having the ability to really eat a good dinner, we decided to create our own by me teaching the painting I learned.

So I picked my menu (make your own tacos) and got the house ready.  I served chips and salsa and veggies and hummus for appetizers.  We started out with wine and margaritas inside and then moved outside to paint.

I purchased 12x12 canvases at Michael's and inexpensive craft acrylic paint.  We made our "palettes" on paper plates from the dollar store and got to painting!

Everyone had a really good time!  And they all turned out awesome!

After painting we had dinner by candlelight!  It cooled off and there was a nice breeze.  It was just lovely!

Here we are showing off our art! 

Sweet Rudy not only got Reed down for the evening while I got ready for the party but he also cleaned up when he got home.  I have the best husband!

Great evening!  Can't wait to see the girls again!

Walk Down Hostessing Memory Lane

At one of my bridal showers a good family friend gave me a hostess diary.  As a person who faithfully wrote in a diary everyday for 5 years, I can say I like the concept.  I have actually used it and written down many of the parties we have hosted here.  I pulled it out tonight to write down the details of my supper club party next Monday and enjoyed looking back.
This was the invitation front of the Parisian Brunch travel themed bridal shower I gave for my friend Karen.  She LOVES Paris, minored in French and is an adventurous traveler. 

The invitation read:

Bonjour!

Karen's wedding is on the way

so let's her her prepared for the big day.

Join us for a Parisian Brunch Shower

for our dear friend the adventurous traveler.

Enclosed is one of her favorite destinations

please use it for your gift's inspiration.

So each person got a card like this with a city and a brief description.  The name cards on the table were luggage tags I made, I framed black and white pictures of Paris scenes and we had LOTS of flowers.  I think this was one of the cutest shower themes...felt very clever with this one!

Here is the invite for our Texas Holdem party.  That was a lot of fun.  I made homemade BBQ which was awesome.  Just the basic recipe from Joy of Cooking.  We had a signature drink Texas Tea, lots of other good picnic food and of course lots of card playing.

For Christmas one year we gave Rudy's parents a Tuscan Dinner Party.  We cooked and served all the food, decorated, made the invitations...it was lovely.

I traveled to Italy and painted with a group.  We had our own chef who made meals for us every night.  I followed his lead and walked guests through each course.  Before we sat down we gave a toast to Tuscany..."The sweetness of doing nothing".

I also found the first entry which was such a fond memory.  8 girls came over for dinner and to help me assemble my programs and wedding favors.  And I even noted the first time I had my in-laws over for dinner as a married couple.  Our first Christmas Eve dinner.  It was fun to look back and remember.

If you would like to purchase the diary for someone who likes to entertain, you can find it here. 

It's A Girl! Tea Party Baby Shower

My cousin Eloise is expecting a little girl - Elise and what better way to help her celebrate and stock her nursery than a tea party.  We held it this past weekend and it was so fun.  Here are the pics - enjoy!

Let's start with the entry way.  I think it is funny you can see Eloise and I in the reflection in the glass!

I nestled the It's A Girl!  heart in a purple and green wreath.  Her nursery colors are lilac and white.

If she wants, she can take this to the hospital and hang on her door there.

I tied lilac and white polka dot ribbon on my planters and then carried the ribbon to the fireplace.

I displayed the invitation and flowers in a sweet teapot to go along with the theme...goodness knows I love a theme!

We set the sweet treats in the living room on the coffee table and placed the savory foods on the kitchen table.

I moved my entry table in here to put the plates, napkins and utensils on.  Made the flow a lot more seamless.  My mother in law loaned me some beautiful tablecloths that were just perfect for a ladies tea.

The morning of the shower I went to the farmer's market and picked up $30 worth of fresh purple and white flowers.  I was able to put together 8 arrangements around my house for $30...you can't beat that!

Bringing out real utensils, glassware and plates tells your guests that this is something special.  It also saves money and all that trash from plastic and paper.  I did get purple napkins instead of cloth to bring in more lilac and admittedly I am not so good at keeping my cloth napkins fresh.

I love using my silver whenever I can.  It just makes things special you know?  Another sweet teapot flower arrangement.  I really only spent the $30 on the flowers as far as decor.  I was able to borrow lots of teapots and the linens which really helped to save $$$ and make it feel unique rather than everything so "matchy matchy".

We served some lovely sandwiches - cucumber, pimiento cheese and chicken salad as well as wonderful cranberry pecan cheese wafers.  FYI the cheese wafers were AWESOME!  We also served fruit salad, cheese and crackers, mocha brownies, scones, black and white cookies all store bought.  We did have a lot of food left over but better to have too much than too little!

I set all of the drinks in the kitchen.  We served tea, lemonade, hot chocolate and hot spiced tea.

We had an awesome response to this party - Eloise invited 27 and 24 could come!  Yay but space was at a premium so I set my basement up as the present opening "area".  We brought in extra chairs and everyone sat in one big circle to watch her open all of the gifts.

 It was a great shower and lots of fun.  I can't wait to meet little Elise!

Getting Ready For Guests

Are there things your parents did for you that just make you want to cry because they were so sweet? Two distinct memories come to my mind.

One Christmas I received a Barbie doll house from Santa.  But really the house was made up of 5 wooden cubes my Mom had my uncle make for me.  My mom set the house up to the very last detail down to Barbie having a cool lemonade by the roof top pool to the table set for dinner with little utensils.  The beauty of it was that you could rearrange the cubes to make a ton of different styles of homes...it was so awesome and probably way cheaper than the ready made house from the store. Thinking of her setting all of that up for me just brings tears to my eyes.  I am lucky to have such a wonderful mother and I can only hope to be that good of one for Reed.

The other memory is about my Dad which brings me to the point of this post.  Many times I would come home from college or even when I was still living at home to find flowers in my room.  They weren't store bought flowers, just what happened to be blooming in the yard.  And the vases weren't fine - I think I have had a pitcher, jars and other things.  It was such a sweet gesture that made me feel loved and appreciated.  Flowers really are special.
So when my friends Lindsey and Meggan told me they were coming to visit, I knew what I had to do.

Because we are in the middle of winter, I bought an inexpensive bouquet of flowers from the grocery store to place around the house.  Of course they were lovely but I can't tell you the joy I felt when I spied one single daffodil blooming in my backyard just after I had made my purchase.  Daffodil's are my all time favorite flower.  I absolutely love them for their beauty and gentle scent but mostly because they say "Spring is here!".

I arranged some of the flowers on my mantel.

And a few on the bookcase in the guest room.

The little daffodil was placed in the bathroom where it would really stand out.

It was an absolutely wonderful visit with my two friends and Lindsey's little boy Xander.  We sat and talked, made an a wonderful dinner of shrimp and grits, ate hummingbird cake and s'mores and talked and talked some more.  I can't wait for them to visit again soon!