From the category archives:

Entertaining Ideas

July 4th Ideas

June 30, 2010

July 4th is always a wonderful time of getting together with friends and entertaining and that’s always a great excuse for making things beautiful. Here are links to help make your holiday festive & fun:
Red, White & Blue Desserts
All American Party
July Fourth Recipes
A Declaration of Desserts
Decorations for July 4th
Decorating Independence Style

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Hot Fun In the Summertime

June 1, 2010

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer on my calendar and summer means F-U-N!
We have relatively so few days of good weather here on the North Coast that I like to make the most of them while they are around. This weekend, for example, was one of those rare instances when we had [...]

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Living Alfresco

April 28, 2010

Spring continues to tease us here on the North Coast. Some days are sunny and warm while other days it feels like winter’s back again. I know that as we creep closer to May and June, we will soon be enjoying days that will entice us to live alfresco style.
Al·fres·co: \al-ˈfres-(ˌ)kō\ adjective or adverb. Italian 1753 - taking [...]

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Props & Party Planning with PB

April 14, 2010

We all know and love Pottery Barn {PB} for their amazingly wonderful and seemingly ubiquitious items for dressing our nests, but did you know PB can also help you plan an awesome party and makes some of their cool props available?

Yes, the “Pottery Barn Prop Shop” is located under the Accessories & Pillows menu. You can [...]

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Keeping Warm – Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

January 2, 2010

** UPDATE: February 6, 2010: This recipe won first place at our church “souper bowl” soup cook off today! And, I got 100% of the under age six vote!
Here on the North Coast we are buried in the white stuff {with MORE to come!} It’s January so it’s to be expected. We are just hunkering in. I’m [...]

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Holiday Quickie – Luminaries!

December 20, 2009

For our open house last Sunday, I wanted to line the driveway with luminaries but buying them can get expensive! So, I made my own – very simple and easy – using canning jars!
I just poured epsom salt into the jars {it’s so cheap and easy to find – plus, you can use it later [...]

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Winter Party Favors

December 13, 2009

I’m sorry I have been MIA for a week or so. We were at Disney World celebrating our anniversary {and getting a huge dose of Christmas inspiration!}
We are back and tonight is our Christmas Open House – I am SO not ready! Still trying to clean and deck the halls plus I have soup to [...]

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Fall Kitchen Nesting

October 20, 2009

There is something about fall that makes me nestle into the kitchen.
I’ve made several batches of various chili recipes this past month since we’ve had such a cold, rainy fall. When my November issue of Southern Living magazine arrived today, I marked several dishes that look interesting to try.
Today I found this wonderful looking lemon poppy seed [...]