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Archive for January, 2010

Finding 50 } Days 19-25

It was a busy, crazy week around here .  I found I had to make more of an effort each day to find the pretty.  Think you will see a bit of a theme this week – sweet friends and family and pretty flowers.

January 25 – Day 19

My pretty kitchen calendar.  I originally found this calendar in a little gift shop in Kennebunkport, Maine one summer.  I fell in love with the beautiful flowers and have been ordering one online every year since.   Check out their website  Art  for Everyday.  I chose to show you August because I think it is the prettiest month, although they are all pretty!

Finding 50 

January 26 – Day 20

Sightings of pretty things to come in the garden.

Finding 50

January 27 – Day 21

Some pretty spring flowers from a pretty friend who came to visit.  A sure way to brighten the day!

Finding 50

January 28 – Day 22

Decorating the house with some pretty Valentine decor!
Finding 50

January 29  – Day 23

A sweet friend stopped by with this amazingly yummy and pretty treat.  She knew how much I love lemon.  Thank you Jeannena!!!

Finding 50

January 30 – Day 24

Some beautiful flowers from my sweet husband – just because!  The best reason to give someone pretty flowers is no reason.

Finding 50

January 31 – Day 25

Because there is not much blooming in the garden right now you can really focus in on the beautiful bark of some of the trees.  My favorite tree in our garden is the one in our front yard – a Prunus serrula.  The peeling red bark is amazing.

Finding 50

Have fun finding the pretty in your day this week!!

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Note:

Please excuse my lack of posting here at Homebased Parties.  A combination of technical problems due to a mean old blog hacker and a case of tennis elbow have slowed me up a bit!  I’m getting back into the swing of things here though and have lots of fun party ideas to share with you.  If you have a fun party idea to share I’d love to hear about – send me pictures!  You could be a Party Guest here on the blog!!

As you may remember I celebrated a pretty big birthday earlier this month!!  In fact I turned 5 decades old.

My friend Sherra who lives in Atlanta wasn’t able to be at the party but she sent me the most amazing gift.  I wanted to share it with you because it is the perfect gift idea for someone celebrating one of those milestone birthdays – the ones that end in zero!

She helped me take a trip down memory lane, through the 5 decades of my life.

Of course, who doesn’t love to receive packages in the mail?!  Especially when they are filled with lots of other packages!

Birthday Gift

In fact there was a present and a picture  for each decade of my life!
Birthday Gift
I was so cute back in the 60’s!

Birthday Gift

Sherra found this amazing vintage – yes I guess I am old enough for something from my childhood to be called vintage – party book.  It was perfect and I absolutely love it.  It reminds me of a Betty Crocker Children’s cookbook I had as a child!

Birthday Gift

And then the 70’s, not such a great look with my long straggly hair.

Birthday Gift

But I actually squealed when I opened the 70’s gift – it was a coaster made from an old 45 of Donny Osmond singing “Go Away Little Girl” and an entire CD of Donny!  I love it!!  Yes, I was one of those teenage girls with posters of Donny all over my bedroom!

Birthday Gift

And then the 80’s  complete with my nice permed hair and my first baby.

Birthday Gift

What a better gift for the 80’s than a collection of great 80’s hits!  Remember Wake Me Up Before You Go – Go by Wham and Change of Heart by Cyndi Lauper?!

Birthday Gift

And then there was my business look of the 1990’s

Birthday Gift

I love the Southern Living magazine so was excited to get their collection of  their best recipes from the 1990’s!

Birthday Gift
Think I’m looking a little better in the 2,000’s!

Birthday Gift

One of my dreams was to travel to Italy with some girlfriends to celebrate our 50th birthdays together and take cooking classes.  Unfortunately that dream isn’t going to come true this year (I’m going to England instead!!) but Sherra sent me another cookbook with lots of yummy Italian recipes so I can teach myself!

Birthday Gift

And then there was the Here & Now.

Birthday Gift

This present was some of my favorite things!  Pretty notebooks and some great motivational art!
Birthday Gift

Wasn’t that an amazing gift!  Sherra did all of her shopping on Etsy.

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Finding 50 } Days 12-18

My journey in finding the pretty in turning 50 continues….

This week I had a little help in finding the pretty.  Tessa found our first pretty for the week.  One morning she called me into the laundry room to show me how pretty her dress was with the sunlight streaming through it – she was right!

January 18 – Day 12

Finding 50

January 19 – Day 13

A pretty vintage tablecloth on my kitchen table.  Every table deserves a pretty tablecloth!

Finding 50

January 20 – Day 14

I always have 2-3 bowls of fruit on my kitchen counter and table.  Fruit is just too pretty to be kept in the refrigerator.

Finding 50

January 21 – Day 15

A pile of prettiness in my sewing room.  Remember those pretty reusable grocery bags I showed you the other day?  Well, due to popular request I may just have made up a bunch this week that will be for sale soon – if you are interested leave me a comment or drop me an email!  I promise – they’ll be pretty!!

Finding FIfty 1

January 22 – Day 16

Everyone needs a calendar, right?  The rule at our house is it must be a pretty one.  Isn’t this one darling?  I bought it from Sarah Jane Studios.  She is a children’s illustrator and I love, love her work!   She has them on sale right now for 50% off so they are only $12.00.  What an amazing price for so much pretty.  If you buy one tell her Leigh Anne at Your Homebased Mom sent you over!  This calendar hangs in my office – I’ll share the pretty one in my kitchen next week!

Finding Fifty'

January 23 – Day 17

Tessa and I went out for our Saturday morning breakfast adventure this week and she ordered hot chocolate.  I think it is one of the prettiest hot chocolates I have seen !  I just wish it had tasted as good as it looked…

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January 24 – Day 18

I’ve been using Tessa as my practice model for my photography class.  Isn’t she pretty!!

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So where did you find the pretty this week?

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Finding 50 {Days 12-18}

My journey in finding the pretty in turning 50 continues….

This week I had a little help in finding the pretty.  Tessa found our first pretty for the week.  One morning she called me into the laundry room to show me how pretty her dress was with the sunlight streaming through it – she was right!

January 18 – Day 12

Finding 50

January 19 – Day 13

A pretty vintage tablecloth on my kitchen table.  Every table deserves a pretty tablecloth!

Finding 50

January 20 – Day 14

I always have 2-3 bowls of fruit on my kitchen counter and table.  Fruit is just too pretty to be kept in the refrigerator.

Finding 50

January 21 – Day 15

A pile of prettiness in my sewing room.  Remember those pretty reusable grocery bags I showed you the other day?  Well, due to popular request I may just have made up a bunch this week that will be for sale soon – if you are interested leave me a comment or drop me an email!  I promise – they’ll be pretty!!

Finding FIfty 1

January 22 – Day 16

Everyone needs a calendar, right?  The rule at our house is it must be a pretty one.  Isn’t this one darling?  I bought it from Sarah Jane Studios.  She is a children’s illustrator and I love, love her work!   She has them on sale right now for 50% off so they are only $12.00.  What an amazing price for so much pretty.  If you buy one tell her Leigh Anne at Your Homebased Mom sent you over!  This calendar hangs in my office – I’ll share the pretty one in my kitchen next week!

Finding Fifty'

January 23 – Day 17

Tessa and I went out for our Saturday morning breakfast adventure this week and she ordered hot chocolate.  I think it is one of the prettiest hot chocolates I have seen !  I just wish it had tasted as good as it looked…

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January 24 – Day 18

I’ve been using Tessa as my practice model for my photography class.  Isn’t she pretty!!

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So where did you find the pretty this week?

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Finding 50 } Days 5 – 11

Thanks for joining me on my journey of finding the pretty in being 50!

 January 11 – Day 5

What is prettier than a pretty bowl full of fruit.  I found this vintage bowl at a flea market.  I don’t want to think about what it might have originally been used for….

Finding 50 

January 12 – Day 6

I love green.  Green makes me happy.

Finding 50 

January 13 – Day 7

My birthday tulips are about spent.  Not only are they beautiful on the outside but they are beautiful on the inside too – just like a lot of people I know 🙂

Finding 50 

January 14 – Day 8

It has done nothing but rain around here for the last few weeks. Grey, wet and dreary.  I’d had about enough of it this week so I decided some pretty yellow shoes would brighten my day!

Finding 50 - Day 9 

January 15 – Day 9

Sun, glorious sun.  Yes, the sun managed to poke its head out for a few minutes today!

Finding 50 

January 16  – Day 10

The sun went away.  I needed a “pretty fix”  so I headed to Anthropologie.  This store never fails me when I need a pretty fix!  It is my favorite place to drool and dream!  A pretty row of aprons – just what I needed.

Finding 50 

January 17 – Day 11

The garden is wet and muddy and mostly asleep but I can’t bear to cut down the dried hydrangea blossoms – so pretty!

Finding 50

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2010 Word of the Year

If you read very many blogs you have probably seen a post of two about bloggers picking their Word of the Year. 

2010 word of the year

Last year I jumped on the bandwagon and declared a word of the year for 2009.

I dedicated a Christmas tree to the word…

Joy

 and I also have the word inscribed on one of the walls of my home.  Yes, my word was Joy. 

I worked hard all year (and it was an especially difficult one in several ways) to find my Joy.  It wasn’t always easy but I think I am a happier and more joyful person as a result of it.  I dealt with difficult situations better and found joy in the small, simple things of everyday life.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and praying about what my word for 2010 should be.  I wanted to make sure it was just the right word.  The word finally came to me last Wednesday, a week into 2010, after attending a temple session.

 My “word” of the year is ‘Re’.  No, I don’t mean ‘Re’, the second note of a major scale or ‘Re’ the ancient Egyptian sun god with the head of a hawk; a universal creator; he merged with the god Amen as Amen-Ra to become the king of the gods or even ‘Re’ the element from the periodic table. 

I mean ‘Re’ the prefix! The prefix which means again, back, repeat.

You see, as I pondered 2010, turning 50, and my goals for the next year and era of my life I realized there were not too many new things I wanted to do or accomplish.

But there were a lot of things that I wanted to return to, skills I wanted to refine or reclaim.  People I wanted to reconnect with, things I wanted to rediscover about myself, places I wanted to revisit (and sometimes visit for the first time).  And most important there were things I wanted to remember (and that can be difficult at my age sometimes!)  And now that I am fifty I figured it was about time I learned how to relax!

See something in common with all those words? Yes, they all start with my word of the year, ‘Re’!

In 2010 I look forward to:

Refocusing my photography skills by taking a photography class (it started this week!)

Refresh my French language skills before my visit to Paris this summer. (those 8 years of high school and college French are a little rusty!!)  Refresh my water color skills from college by taking a class before my trip to England so I can document the trip through photos and painting. 

Read more books this year than last (o.k. so it’s not a prefix in that word but it is still ‘Re’)  Reread the Book of Mormon (a yearly tradition for me)

Remake my bed everyday (Yes, that is a confession.  I hate making my bed but I love the way my bed looks when it is made.  I am going to make my bed everyday!)

Return to the homeland of my ancestors and do some genealogy research before I go so I can visit the places where they lived.

Remember all the amazing memories we have created as a family by finally having all my scrapbooks up to date! 

Most importantly, I am going to Remember to Recognize the hand of the Lord in my life on a daily basis.  Last year I started keeping a journal that I would write in each night or morning where I would record a way in which I had seen the hand of the Lord in my life that day. 

Some days it was as simple as…”enjoyed a walk through Oak Hills today, beautiful fall foliage, sunshine and good friends.”

Other entries read…”our car doesn’t need the $700.00 of repairs we thought!”

I know that the Lord’s hand is involved in my life on a daily basis and I need to do a better job of remembering and recognizing that!  Writing in this journal each day is a wonderful way to see his hand at work in my life.  This year I will do better in writing daily!

There are several other ‘Re’ goals on the list but I won’t bore you with all of them.

So do you think ‘Re’ would  look too strange engraved on a piece of silver hanging around my neck?

Do you have a Word of the Year for 2010?  I’d love to know what it is!

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Finding 50

First of all I want to say THANK YOU – thank you to all of you who left such sweet and wonderful comments on my birthday.  I can’t tell you how much they meant to me.  The thought of turning fifty was a hard one for me – harder than actually turning fifty because you all made it so fun!

You see I woke up on my fiftieth birthday to this..

Finding 50 Day One

This was the view out my front door as I came downstairs that morning.  I think it was God’s way of saying “Happy Birthday Leigh Anne, 50 is going to be beautiful!”

And then I had an idea.

Sometimes my ideas are a little dangerous, my friends and family have been known to shake and tremble when I say those words, “I’ve got an idea!”

But this idea is a good one, I promise.

I have decided that each day of my 50th year (I guess technically it is my 51st) I am going to find the pretty in being 50.  Each Saturday or Sunday I will share with you through photographs the pretty I found in being 50 that week.  So not only will I be Finding 50 but I will be finding the pretty in being 50!

One of my goals for this year is to improve my photography and I have signed up for a photography class so this will be a great way for me to practice for the class too.

I hope you enjoy sharing my little journey of Finding 50!  Invite your friends to follow along.

Here’s my first week of Finding 50!

January 7 – Day 1

My birthday sunrise.

Finding 50 Day One

You get two pictures today because it was my birthday!

Lovely salt and pepper shakers from the restaurant where  girlfriends took me to lunch for my birthday.

Finding 50 Day One

January 8 – Day 2

Birthday tulips from a friend, my favorite flowers.

Finding Fifty - Day 2

January 9 – Day 3

My new artwork!  “We tend to seek happiness, when happiness is actually a choice.”

Finding 50 Day 3

January 10 – Day 4

Saturday morning breakfast at Mother’s Bistro.  What is prettier and cheerier than a yellow teapot.  Perfect for morning tea!

Finding 50 Day 4

Finding 50 Day 4

I hope you enjoyed my first week of Finding 50!

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Fried Chicken

You can make perfect fried chicken at home!

Perfect Fried Chicken

My introduction to blogging was when I read the book Julie and Julia.  A book about a women who decides to cook every recipe of Julia Child in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She blogs daily about her adventures and experiences.  I loved that book and I loved the movie that came out last year about the book (in fact, it was one of my Christmas presents this year!)

I loved it so much that it inspired me to start this blog two and a half years ago!  It has now inspired me to set a goal for 2010.  You all know how much I love the Pioneer Woman, I’ve shared many of her recipes here on the blog over the last few years.  Well – I’ve decided that one of my goals for 2010 is to cook every recipe in  Pioneer Women’s new cookbook this year.

Fortunately for me her cookbook isn’t nearly as big as Julia Child’s!

So once a week (usually Fridays) I will share my PW recipe of the week – yes it will be Ree and me or Ree and Leigh {Anne}.  Aren’t I lucky that our names rhyme.  I guess it was just meant to be!!

I decided that the first recipe I shared should be something that I have never cooked before – ever.  That would be fried chicken.

My second oldest son LOVES fried chicken, I mean really truly loves it.  A bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken all to himself is a dream come true.  If you ask him where he wants to have dinner – his usual response will be “KFC!”  I am not a huge fan of “KFC” or fried chicken.

While the kids were home for the holiday break I asked each of them what they wanted me to fix for dinner and Clark’s response was, you guessed it, fried chicken!  He didn’t want me to buy it, he wanted me to make it.

Lucky for me Ree has a recipe for fried chicken in her cookbook!

I am happy to announce that the fried chicken met with rave reviews.  In fact, my fried chicken loving son announced at the dinner table that it was the juiciest chicken breast he had ever eaten!

Perfect Fried Chicken @yourhomebasedmom.com

I followed the directions exactly, I bought two cut up chicken fryers and let them soak in buttermilk for 24 hours.  I am not sure if it is the buttermilk or the cooking process that makes the chicken so moist and juicy but it worked!

Of course fried chicken requires quite a bit of oil.  PW’s method for making fried chicken was different than other recipes I had read.  She uses a combination of frying and baking.  As she mentions in the cookbook one of the hardest parts of making fried chicken is getting the chicken cooked all the way through without burning the breading – the frying/baking combo does the trick!

One of the main tricks to frying is to get your oil to the right temperature.  Ree tells you to fry it at 365 degrees.  I had a hard time getting my oil that hot, it probably only got up to 300 degrees but it worked fine.  I fried it up, just like Ree in my Dutch oven!

My photos of the chicken are not the greatest, it was late and dark and everyone was hungry.  I promise, I will do better in the future, out of respect to Ree.  But if you want to see some great fried chicken pictures be sure and check out Ree’s cookbook. (Yes, those are PW buttermilk biscuits too, that post will be coming soon!)

I am taking requests – is there a PW recipe you’d like to me to make and review?  Something you’ve been drooling over but haven’t had a chance to make yet??  Leave a comment and let me know!

Fried Chicken

Perfect old fashioned fried chicken recipeCourseMain DishCuisineAmericanKeywordFried ChickenPrep Time20 minutesCook Time30 minutes0 minutesTotal Time50 minutesServings8 servingsCalories776kcalAuthorLeigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

  • 2 fryer chickens cut apart
  • 1 quart buttermilk plus 1/4 cup
  • 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 tbs seasoned salt like Lawry’s
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tsp dried thyme
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • canola or vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

  • Rinse your chicken and in a large bowl add the chicken with 1 quart buttermilk
  • Refrigerate overnight
  • When ready to fry, remove chicken from bowl and let sit on counter for 30 minutes to take chill off
  • Preheat oven to 350F
  • Stir together the flour, seasoned salt, pepper, thyme, paprika and cayenne in a very large bowl
  • In a small bowl combine the 1/4 cup buttermilk and the milk
  • Pour the milk mixture into the flour and use a fork to mix until still slightly lumpy
  • The lumps help the breading stick to the chicken
  • Heat 1 1/2 inches of oil in a deep skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat to 365F
  • Use a thermometer to monitor your heat
  • Working in batches, thoroughly coat each buttermilk-soaked chicken piece with the breading, pressing to adhere the breading
  • Add the chicken to the oil 3-4 pieces at a time
  • Cover pan and fry 5-7 minutes, checking to make sure chicken isn’t getting too brown
  • Turn, cover and cook additional 3-5 minutes more
  • Monitor temperature of oil to make sure chicken doesn’t burn
  • Keep in mind chicken will finish cooking in oven
  • Place chicken on baking sheet and continue frying rest of chicken
  • When done, bake the chicken for 10-15 minutes, until chicken cooked through
  • You can cut into one of the thicker parts of one of the pieces to make sure it is thoroughly cooked

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I am the one usually giving the party.

In fact, it’s been a lot of years since someone gave a party for me….

But that all changed this weekend when my sweet family and dear Beach Babe friends (a group of women I have known for over 20 years)threw a surprise party for my 50th birthday. I know, it’s hard to believe, but I am 50!!!

I have a couple of other girlfriends that also turn 50 this year. For years we talked about celebrating our fiftieth birthdays together, in Italy, taking cooking classes. Well, over the years life happens and things change and we knew that the dream was no longer a reality, at least not right now. When my Beach Babe friends heard about the lost dream they knew that the party they were throwing for me needed to have an Italian theme!

We were greeted at the door by this lifesize menu!

There was lots of yummy Italian food to enjoy.

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I have some friends that are very good cooks!
 

My family had done a great job of compiling a guest lists and so many of my friends from different parts of my life were all there!

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And my sweet parents were there to celebrate with me too.

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My family put on an entertaining program complete with a printed program.  Thanks to my good friend Julie who is the queen of organization who put together the invite, program, menu etc.

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Logan and Cali did the 12 hours of mom’s day sung to the 12 Days of Christmas – it was hilarious and their actions were even more entertaining!

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On the first hour of mom’s day her to do list said….

One ten mile walk in a weighted vest

Two Webinars

Three Scrapbooks

Four care packages

Five diet cokes

Six grocery store visits

Seven trips to Anthropologie

Eight million pictures

Nine books to read

Ten recipes to cook

Eleven phone calls to kids

Twelve new blog posts

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Next on the agenda was a song by my friend Merrill set to The Impossible Dream.  Part of it went like this…

“To write the unwritable blog, to bake the unbakeable bread, to live in the Garden of Eden…..

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Clark and Tessa helped out with the entertainment too.  They put on a skit about Jim and I in another 50 years!  They were hilarious and pretty much nailed us!!  Complete with Jim’s plaid shirt and baseball cap and my multiple pairs of glasses!

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Then Logan sang a sweet song from Fiddler on the Roof called  “Mama, a Rainbow.”  The words start out, “What do you give to the lady who has given all her life and love to you?  …..What can I give you, what will your present be? Mama young and beautiful, always young and beautiful.  That’s the Mama I’ll always see.  That’s for Mama with love from me.”

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Of course it made me and just about everyone else in the room cry!

The program finished up with a few funny things from Jim and my Mom, or at least they thought they were funny!

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The program concluded when Jim presented me with my birthday gift.  To read more about it check out my post over at Your Homebased Mom.  Of course I loved it and it made me cry too!

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After the program we had birthday cake, my favorite – lemon poppyseed creamcheese from Beaverton Bakery! 

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And my husband made a sweet toast.

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Thanks to my amazing friends the Beach Babes….

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and my wonderful family for making this a birthday I will never forget!

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Turning 50, just the beginning of a great new era in my life.  Maybe I’ll go to Italy for my 60th!!

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A Birthday Gift

Today is my birthday.

My original plan was to just totally ignore it.  Not mention it and pretend it wasn’t happening because you see it’s a big one!  I thought about just staying in bed all day and pretending it wasn’t happening but then something happened – a dream came true.

You see, on my 18th birthday, many years ago, my parent’s gift to me was a trip to England to visit some of my  relatives who I had never met, to visit the birthplace of my grandparents.  Unfortunately, that trip never happened.  My father quit his job, moved across country, started his own business and the money was just never there.

I have mourned the loss of that trip for 32 years (don’t do the math!)  In fact sometimes I have done more than just mourn it, I have complained about it and felt sorry for myself that I have never been to England.

Now before you feel too sorry for me, I have kissed the Blarney Stone and stood on the Cliffs of Mohr (while my husband hung out over the Cliffs!).  I’ve also stood next to and witnessed the amazing power of Igauzu Falls in Argentina and visited the breathtaking Macchu Picchu in Peru so I’m not all that deprived.

But I have never been to England.  When my son was accepted to study at Cambridge University this summer I was thrilled.  If I was never going to make it there at least one of my children would have the experience.

Then my daughter Cali applied and was accepted into a study abroad program over in London for this coming Spring – again I was thrilled and secretly a little jealous.

Well last Saturday my sweet family and dear friends threw a surprise party for me.  It was a wonderful party.  So many of my friends were there to celebrate with me that it made turning __ not quite so bad (I still can’t bring myself to actually say the number!!)

There were friends, delicious food and great entertainment. (For complete details and pictures on the party visit Your Homebased Parties!)

And there was a gift from my husband.

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It was a surprise gift.

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The gift was actually a dream come true!
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It was a trip to England for 10 days.  I will meet up with Cali after she finishes her studies this summer and we will tour the country (including a weekend trip to Paris hopefully!!)

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So I guess turning 50 isn’t quite so bad (there I said it!!)

All of you out there that have been to England I need you to share with me your must sees!  Where do we need to go and what can’t we miss??

More party details and photos here.

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