Showing posts with label dinner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dinner. Show all posts

Our very own "Harvest Festival"

Happy Saturday my lovely readers and friends!

So . . . the In-laws, Andy and myself take turns making gourmet dinners
Usually themed (such as Moroccan, Indian, Vietnamese, etc)
Kind of a friendly competition!
Lol . . . and for sure his mom has me beat, although they claim otherwise:-)
BUT she has years on me of great cooking, and they are just being kind.

Anywho tomorrow (Halloween!) is our turn.  We have invited them over for a

 "Harvest Festival"

Le Menu:
(for recipes click on the links)


Bread from "Great Harvest"


Mmmmm!!!

Le attire:
My inspiration:
Harvest Festival Attire




Le Decor:

(source)




Well there you have it! Soooo excited, and will post pics soon:-)
 
Have a Happy Halloween, whatever your plans may be!

How are you celebrating Halloween???

~A lil' glimpse of what we've been up to~

Life's been a little crazy, but it's a good kinda crazy!
I know you all feel me on this:-)

So this is our life this past weekend:

Our new fave Happy Hour:

Voted the best cocktails in the Eastside . . . mmmm margaritas and sangria!

~My lil sister Heather's baby Shower~

Phew . . . I forgot how much work throwing a shower was!
But we made it, and it turned out cute!

I forgot to get pics of the decorations and favors. 
The baby's name will be Henry, so I made cute tags and attached them to Oh Henry bars:-)

My lil niece, a-frickin-dorable:
And her mama (my bestie and my sis):

Melissa and her lil boy:
Banner I made late friday night . . . thank heaven for the Cricut!!!

Mmmm chocolate chips hidden inside these cupcakes, yum!!!
I made her baby wall hanging word for the nursery:

Games galore, gotta love them!
Mmmm hmmm grandma gets down with the games!

My mom made this bear quilt, how stinkin cute!!!
(oh yeah and that's the baby mama!)
Good times!

~Gardening~
We are now able to pick veggies, fruit, herbs and fresh cut flowers from the garden, makes me happy!!!
My fave flowers:
Dahlias!
I have like 30 plants blooming, sooo cute!!!
Mmm yummy salad items:

~Office Rennovations~
We put up all the trim, crown molding, hardware, and painted everything.  Now I just need furniture!!!
But for now I will lay down on my new rug and dream:-)

~Keeping up with Memory Bean Design orders~

Phew!!!
Thanks for hanging in there with all my pics . . .
If you look like this right now it's ok, me too! :-)
(My darling Capri)

Don't forget!!!

Giveaway
by Sara Norris Photography ends Sunday, enter HERE!!!
She's amazingly talented, many chances to win!

Have a fabulous thursday!!!

Flower Pot Winner!!!


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnddddd . . .

Our lovely winner (random drawing) is . . .


congrats!!!!

She has a fabulous blog, go check it out!!!

So D . . . go ahead and email me @ memorybeandesigns@yahoo.com with your fave pot from my Etsy here along with your mailing addy and you'll soon have a pot at your door:-)

Oh I love giving away fun stuff!!!

So on to our busy busy weekend:

SOUNDERS WON!!!

Wooo hooo what a game:-)

Andy's mom's birthday!
Oh I do enjoy celebrating birthdays! We ate at La Spiga in Seattle,
yummy yummy Italian food and fabulous service!!!

Then back to the house to enjoy cake and coffee:-)

Sunday:
*Gardening*
*Watched "Up in the Air" (depressing!)*
*Gym*
*Finished lotsa crafts*
*Sat outside in the sun in . . . gasp! My bathing suit!!! Hurray for sunny weather!!!*

Monday:
*Got my hair did!!! At my good friend Tessany's salon Chocolates Cherries and Blondes, fabulous!
Pics soon*

*Took photos for Etsy of like 40 items! Phew lotsa work!!! Will be in my Etsy shop soon!*

*Bout to go make some Chicken and Mushroom dish with wild rice for dinner*


Happy Monday!!!
What fun things did you do this last weekend?

~Love is in the air~

Ok ladies (and gents if there are any, don't want to offend!)
first off I must say a huge
THANK YOU
to all of my new followers, and ALL of the AMAZING responses to my very first giveaway!!! I will have to start doing more of these:-) 
Sooo it's still open until Monday, and I'll announce the winner then!!!

In the spirit of
*Valentine's Day*
I wanted to post a few lil lovelies:

***Cookies***

I don't know about ya'll, but I LOVE cookies, chocolates, and all of the fun treats around Valentine's Day 
(in moderation of course . . . fitness challenge . . . fitness challenge . . . Remember?)
Soooo I decided to make my famous Snickerdoodles on Monday night for a 'lil snack for the hubster and myself, and of course for my co-workers (to get them out of the house!)

This is by far the BEST snickerdoodle recipe I've come across! Found on
where I find all of my yummy non-family recipes
(hint: Seriously! Just search any recipe and then sort by ratings, choose the one with the most number of high ratings . . . you can't go wrong!)

Mrs. Sigg's Snickerdoodles

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
3. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

A-MAZ-ING!!!  Just saying.
So my tips:
*add a little brown sugar in with the cookie coating
*take them out when the yummy little things are still a little soft, it'll harden up and they are WAY better softer, trust me! ;-)

***DINNER***

Ok not trying to brag at ALL
(maybe a little)
but my husband amazes me all the time!  You'd think it'd stop after being married a little while (just playin)
So here's the thing:
He gets off work before me (but I get Mondays off . . . ha ha ha).
Most days when I get home from work . . . I pull into the garage . . . and as I step out of my car I smell the yummy aroma of DINNER!!!
The funny thing is that while we're on the phone the whole way home
(yes I'm talkin hands-free set . . . thank you! Law abiding citizen here!)
he doesn't mention one thing about him starting dinner.  Sometimes he even throws me off by asking what we should make for dinner. Silly silly.
~I LOVE THIS MAN~

(photo from our cruise last July- why is he so stinkin tan and I'm a ghost?!)

***VALENTINES***
Sorry if you all are tired of Valentine's, but it's one of my FAVE holidays.  Seriously, all cutesy pink and red lovely things, treats, and little gifts. 
Just lovely!
Soooooo I am almost finished with my Valentine's gifts for friends! Will post these soon, and
I CAN'T WAIT!!!

To tie you over for now here are some lovely LOVE items from Esty:

Lovely Photography by irenesuchocki 
One of my fave photographers on Etsy. 
I've bought some cards from her in the past.  Great work, go chk her out!!!


Ok how cute are these?! Bath bombs from SimplyTempted! Good for that co-ed bath time???
Bow-chicky-wow-wow . . .


Another wonderful Etsy-er that I have bought from! spicerakdesigns Love her aprons

See:hee hee

Ok ladies with that I leave you for the night thinking about Valentine's Day!
Hope you all have something wonderful planned! If not, gather your girls for some vino or happy hour and go see
Valentine's Day
 (even if it has bad critic's ratings, it has like a gazillion famous people in it)

Sweet dreams!!!
~Tamara Nicole~

Mmmmm my suprise dinner with hubby and other great things . . .

~My Amazing Night~

What an amazing man I have! Awwww:-) ha ha . . . soo after a LONG day at work
(7:30 a.m.-6:50 p.m.), I am pooped and just want to relax and watch my Amercian Idol (cheesy= yes but I love it!) . . . not worrying about dinner at all.  Sooooo when I walk in the door, I am greated by . . . perfection!  My 2 adoable lil' dogs greet me at the door with wagging tails and excitement.  The lights are off, and all the candles are lit! Annnnndddd . . . .

My romantic dinner awaited me . . . along with a nice glass of wine, and some classical music:-).  Awww, yes we're so cheesy still we probably make people gag, but I SO LOVE THIS MAN!

Anywho, a few other lovelies for today:

~Recent Sold Items in my shop~


~A big SHOUT OUT to Etsy's mention in Real Simple's Feb~
Yup yup in "Trends Worth Trying", there was a photo from Heather Palmer's Etsy Shop, and she's had a ton of sales since then.  Heck yes, let's get Etsy known all over:-)

~Fun quote for day~
"Think of your life as a book, with yourself as the main character.  Everyone and everything else is secondary.  Write your life story the way you want it to play out"

I LOVE this quote and it's my inspiration for 2010!!!  Not to be selfish, but I have lived my life for everyone else for so long, always putting myself on the bottom of my to-do lists.  So now it's my time! Heee heee.

Night ladies!!!!

Tamara Nicole