Wedding Wednesday!!!

My favorite day of the week, I get to post about weddings!!! For my wedding I am currently working on my backdrop. I originally wanted ribbon backdrop like this: 

 Courtesy of Jennifer Eileen


But now after looking at other images I've decided to go with a stripped fabric background. This makes it more textural and visually stimulating. It also adds to my vintage chic whimsy theme. Here are some images:

Courtesy of Sweet Designs

Here is a great DIY tutorial on how to make your own fabric backdrop courtesy of Catch My Party

Firstly, purchase a piece of dowel from a local hardware store.  This dowel is 19mm thick.

Next get together 5 or so different fabrics in coordinating colors.  

The great thing about this backdrop is that the strips of fabric can be quite vintage looking. Just rip them into strips works great. No being neat, no sewing.

A piece of ribbon is used to hang it on a hook on the wall.

Simple.

And the great thing about this backdrop is that you can easily change the fabric colors to suit another color scheme.

Here are some other great images from Style Me Pretty  I just love their website. It is filled with real wedding inspiration and great images.

 All five above images courtesy of Style Me Pretty

Home Decor- Peach and Turquoise

Because the holidays are over and Spring is almost here, I am livening up my home with brighter colors. In my living room I added a large green vase (recycled glass from TJMAX for $20.00) I went out side and cut some of my newly yellow blooming branches and am force blooming them inside. I also took the dark red bobbs down from around my house and added my bright yellow candles, and dried flowers. Slowly it is looking a little better. 

This year I want to go big with my Spring re-vamp and paint my very light gray blah kitchen PEACH! I am so excited about this here are some images to give you an idea of how I hope it will look...

Courtesy of Home Renovations



 This color is called Mesa Sunrise
you can purchase it from Behr at any 
Home Depot store. 
My all white cabinets with black 
counter-tops will look great with this 
fruity new color I am adding. 





Here are some more great images I love for revamping your home for spring:

 

Courtesy of The Inspired Room

The above image is from The Inspired Room, a blog I love to read and keep up on. I love the article on Decorating Trends for 2011  keeping up with trends is something that is near impossible, I like to skim over the new trends and turn them into my own by easing them into my already decorated home.

 

Courtesy of Southern Living

Courtesy of Homes and Gardens

Can you see a trend here? I am obsessing over turquoise and peach, not necessarily the bright orange, but I love the peach color with the turquoise or a french blue.


Here are some images showing revamped room using new pillows, re-upholstery and wall papers: These are all from Thibaut a company based out of Newark, New Jersey. They have been in the wall paper and fabrics business since 1886. Check out their website at www.thibautdesign.com

Happy Springing Everyone!

Kids and Chores

My daughter turned five this past November. This is an exciting time because Kindergarten starts next year and this means more responsibility and feeling like a "big kid." This also means her time outs are 5 minutes instead of 4 and her time out does not start until she stops crying. The time out system we use is from my favorite parenting book "1-2-3 Magic" by Dr. Thomas Phelan. I've read this book three or four times and made everyone in my family at least attempt to read it. I let my brother know, if he was going to discipline Claire he had to read the book. We are now always on the same page which keeps things consistent and works great for her.


While discussing with my fiance' what chores she was capable of doing, we attempted to create a chore chart with magnets, which she loved because playing with magnets is fun. The problem is we didn't have a reward system that was consistent enough. For example, I would tell her if she stayed dry at night for the week, I would take her to the "cookie shop" . When it came time she would be in an awful mood and I simply didn't want to take her anywhere. This of course was frustrating for our little 5 year, who wanted her cookie! I searched and searched for other options for chores for 5 year olds and found a few articles. Here is an article by a Parenting website that I enjoy. Then I came across a brilliant website called My Job Chart. It is a free online job chart that connects with Amazon.com for rewards. You have to check it out! Each job is worth a set amount of points and each point is worth one penny. They can save their points to go to their store and purchase rewards that you pre-select for them. It is all up to them. It is hassle free chores. This is definitely my new favorite parenting tip.

 

A Fun Engagement Party

This past month my best friend got engaged. I attempted to hold a surprise game night engagement party for the happy couple, but it got canceled because of an injured dog. So  I rescheduled and held it at their house. 











Because it was February the month of love, I decided to go with a fun filled red theme. I made a few tissue poms, purchased red pop rocks, red star-bursts (their favorite candy) and red ring pops.







 

For food people brought meats, cheeses, crackers and other delicious snacks. I had my caprese salad skewers.  The simplest and most delicious appetizer, start with simple wooden skewers, add cherry tomato, fresh mozzarella balls, and basil. I then drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top with a little fresh ground pepper. They look great and taste great. Here is a little hint: they are a little difficult to eat on the skewer so encourage your guest to slide them off onto a plate with a fork to enjoy them.

I also made delicious cream cheese- almond cupcakes with red sprinkles of course. We had an amazing time. 


Vanilla Cupcake Recipe:


1 1/2 cups all purpose four
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 fine sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup whole milk, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line a cupcake pan with wrappers.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing just until blended. Beat in vanilla. Add the flour mixture and milk.; mix thoroughly.
Fill each cup 2/3 full and bake for 18-24 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely and frost as desired. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Almond Frosting
 courtesy of Laurie Cross

1 stick butter (room temp)
1 8oz. Brick cream cheese (regular not low fat at room temp)
1 1/2 tsp. almont extract
1 to 1 1/2 lbs. powdered sugar

Cream butter and cream cheese on high add almond. Slowly mix in powdered sugar, then mix on high.  

March Bouquet

Oh Dear, It's already March! Where has the time gone? I feel like I am always changing the month on my calendar and updating the next month with all of the appointments coming up. Well here it is ... MARCH. 

 
During the month of March I get so excited for the flowers that are coming in spring. I am thinking about my garden and what I will add this year and then... I look at my house, what happened to all my beautiful decorations from the holidays?! GONE! It seems like I am living in an empty blank room. I go to the market to find some fresh flowers, but a lot of the time all you can find at the flower market is tulips and awful dyed green carnations (YUCK!!). 




 Courtesy of  Paisley Petals


 Don't get me wrong, I love tulips. I am actually helping my Aunt plan a bridal shower with a spring tulip theme. However, I am drawn, in March, to the greenery and beautiful foliage. Maybe it's because green is St. Patty's and maybe because it matches my home so well... Whatever the reason I love to come up with mixtures of these gorgeous chartreuse, evergreen and emerald colors. You should also check out my mom's wedding florist's blog Paisley Petals she is so great to work with and I love her opinion on the green floral dilemma. 

Here is what I came up with this year to brighten my room with greens:

 

Thursday Food Day

As a busy mom I am always looking for great ideas for recipes etc... I have a drawer full of them, most of which I haven't gotten a chance to try. One of my favorite and helpful tools are online weekly food planners, they are hard to find good ones but here is one for a week I found at Living Locurto

Weekly Food Planner

Hash Brown Ham & Broccoli Quiche
Homemade Cheese Pizza & Salad
Grilled Salmon with Rice & Spinach
BBQ Grilled Chicken & Corn on Cob
Leftover Chicken with Broccoli & Rice Casserole (Slow cooker)

Hash Brown Ham & Broccoli Quiche

• 3 cups frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
• 1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli cuts, thawed
• Diced ham or turkey (optional)
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack & Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Press the hash browns onto the bottom and up the sides of a greased 9-in. pie plate, forming a shell. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until brown and crispy.
2. Sprinkle with broccoli and ham.
3. In a bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream and salt; stir in cheese. Pour over broccoli.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-65 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

**For kids- Make a some in a muffin pan! Let them help you make this:-)

Homemade Cheese Pizza & Salad

We make this a lot at our house. It’s a favorite!

Just add cheese and sauce to a store bought crust. Add some parmesan cheese around the edge of the crust. Top with veggies to spice it up!

Margherita Pizza: Olive oil, salt and pepper, fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, fresh chopped basil. Add some parmesan cheese around the edge of the crust.

Grilled Salmon with Rice & Spinach

• Salmon fillets
• Ginger & Sesame Teriyaki Sauce
• Brown Rice
• Fresh Baby Spinach

DIRECTIONS

1. Cover the salmon in teriyaki sauce and add to grill or pan drizzled with olive oil.
2. Grill for 3-5 minutes on each side
3. Cook rice
4. Add torn pieces of spinach on top of rice after it’s cooked. Cover for 5 minutes while spinach gets tender.
5. Mix spinach with rice, add salt and pepper for taste.

BBQ Grilled Chicken & Corn on Cob

• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1-1/2 to 2 pounds chicken breasts, thighs and drumsticks
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 cup barbecue sauce
• Corn on the cob

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat.
3. Season chicken with salt and pepper.
4. When grill pan gets hot, add chicken. Sear until browned on each side. Transfer to a baking dish.
5. Spread barbecue sauce evenly over chicken.
6. Cover dish with aluminum foil. Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
7. Fill glass bowl with water and cook corn in microwave 6-10 minutes until tender.

Leftover Chicken with Broccoli & Rice Casserole (Slow cooker)

Broccoli & Rice Casserole (Slow cooker)

• 1 small diced onion
• 1/4 cup butter melted (optional)
• 2 cups quick-cooking rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 can 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 oz. jar of low-fat sharp cheese spread
• 2- 10 oz. pkgs. frozen broccoli, partially thawed

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Stir
2. Cover. Cook on low 6-7 hours or on high 2-3 hours.

More of my Wonderful Wedding Inspiration

As the day grows nearer:  155 days!!!! I am hard at work finding inspiration everywhere. It is hard to keep all the weddings separate in my head! My mom's is May 20th, Kameron's best friend's wedding is June 18th, ours is August 4th. Then his sister is engaged and my best friend just got engaged as well! I have weddings coming out of my ears! Not to mention all my other parties I am planning: Bachelorette parties, My Kentucky Derby Party, Kam's Birthday, Summer BBQ etc ... etc... 

So here it goes some things I have found recently in my quest for the perfect day!

Here are a few boards I created at Polyvore : 

What a great tool! It is so fun to play around with, one hiccup in the system though, is that the background of the image has to be white, or it comes out funky. Although they do have a huge amount of images to select from, sometimes it is nice to add your own images as well. 

Here are some great floral images:

 Courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

 Courtesy of Style Me Pretty

 Courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

  Courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

 Courtesy of Grey Likes Weddings

 Courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

  Courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

I am having 30-40 people come and we will all be staying at The Roxburghe Estate. My idea for the wedding is eclectic and whimsical, a secret garden of overgrown wildflowers and foliage. My colors are creme, a light yellow, grays, taupe and a light turquoise french blue color. The bridesmaids will be choosing their own different dresses (in grays and I will be purchasing them shoes- we will go accessory shopping together) The groomsmen will be wearing gray suits with gray converse tennis shoes, and yellow and gray argyle socks. My dress is a tulle ballgown with train. I love the idea of having the ceremony outdoors (weather permitting) with ribbons hanging from a long and tall string as the backdrop in different colors and patterns. Also I love Greenery like topiary, and dogwood swags (possibly down the aisle) I am having 3 bridesmaids and a flower girl plus three groomsmen. I would like the grooms men boutineers to be different: like instead of flowers use a fabric flower or those dried yellow ball flowers with pussy willow branch and a feather. I would love the bridesmaids to have bouquets made of only babys breath or other wild flowers. And mine to be all creme color wild flowers. Instead of throwing rice I want everyone to wave ribbon wands as we walk out of our ceremony. Inside for the reception I want tables with two or three bunches of flowers rather than one mixed together arrangement. I also possibly want branches mixed in (possibly pussy willow) and put in eclectic vases. I also want a guest book table with one large mixed arrangement of only greens and possibly some drooping green flowers. I would love it if we could have strung lights above the dance floor area and dinner area.