Finding 50 } Days 49-55

How would you like to win a little bit of pretty this week?  Pay a visit over at Find Your Sock Yarn for a chance to win one of my pretty reusable shopping bags!  Be sure and check it out!!  I apologize to those of you who may have tried to enter the other day when I announced it.  Due to some operator error (that would  be me) the giveaway did not post as it should have but it is there now!

February 22  – Day 49

Changing of the Wreath.

February 23 – Day 50

I have had fun playing with my camera in the garden this week, experimenting with light for my photography class assignment.  Can I just tell you how much I love this plant!  Euphorbia Wulfenii.  I love that it self seeds and it just pops up all over the place – love it!!  And doesn’t it look amazing with the light shining through it?!

February 24 – Day 51

It’s Girl Scout cookie time!  Mine were delivered this week.  Not only did I get my cookies but I got a lovely thank you note from cute little Brownie Maddie!

February 25 – Day 52

I left on Thursday for another fun trip to Utah to visit my three kids.  I don’t care how many years it has been since I graduated from college I always love going back and walking around the college campus.  A pretty campus against the beautiful snow covered Wasatch mountains!

February 26 – Day 55

I’ve never met a cupcake I didn’t like!  Found a fun new cupcake bakery in Provo (I’ll share details in tomorrow’s post)

February 27 – Day 54

The best part of my trip to Provo – I got to spend time with these three pretty ladies.  My daughter Cali and her cute cousins Jacky and Addi!  Of course there were those two handsome boys too!!

February 28 – Day 55

A pretty sunset over the golf course – the view from my son Logan’s townhouse!

What pretty did you find this week?

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Finding 50 } Days 41-48

This week my photography class assignment had to do with light so you are going to see a few of the pretty pictures I took of the light in my garden.  EnJOY!

February 14 – Day 41

My friend Dawn is a shortbread cookie maker and decorator extraordinaire!  Dawn gave me a pretty little box of her pretty little cookies this Valentine’s weekend.  They are almost too pretty to eat but knowing how yummy they are I ate them!  I shared one!

February 15 – Day 42

Our mother/daughters lunch and shopping date was a lot of fun and we saw a lot of pretty.  Loved the colorful decor at Cargo – so much pretty to see!

February 16 – Day 43

Everything tastes better when eaten from a pretty bowl.  I’m loving the colors of my latte bowls from Anthropologie.  The best part is – they are only $5.00 each!

February 17 – Day 44

Sunrise – the beginning of another pretty, sunny day here in Portland!

February 18 – Day 45

Look what’s blooming this week!

February 19 – Day 46

I am somewhat lazy when it comes purses.  I have a basic black bag that I usually carry everywhere.  I have other purses in my closet but I just never seem to get around to changing my purse to go with the season or my outfit.  I pretty much stick with basic black.  I recently decided that it was just too boring and not too pretty to carry the same old black purse everyday.  So I bought a pretty purse and it’s not black!  I found the purse on a recent trip to Tai Pan in Utah.  I wish I had a dollar for every compliment I have gotten on this purse!  A pretty purse!

February 20 – Day 47

I spent part of the weekend in Seattle attending a Creative Memories event.  One of the highlight’s of the event was a video clip they showed of Nick Kelsh, a well known photographer.  Not only was it very informative – how to take beautiful pictures of your beautiful life but he was quite funny and entertaining too.  He inspired me to want to take better pictures.  After watching the video I started playing around with my camera in the meeting  and took this photo.  Not all that pretty but I had fun experimenting with my camera!  If you’d like to watch Nick’s great video just click here.  It’s well worth your time!

February 21 – Day 48

After spending a day inside a hotel and not getting to enjoy the amazingly beautiful day we were having in the Pacific Northwest I did enjoy this view of Mt. Rainer as we left Seattle to head back to Portland.  Not bad for a photo taken from a moving car!

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Finding 50 } Days 33-40

With the warm weather we have had here in Portland (warm but rainy) there is a lot starting to happen out in the garden.  Some pretty things are popping up!!

February 7 – Day 33

We celebrated Valentine’s Day early with our annual Beach Babes and their Boy’s Valentine dinner.  My friend April hosted this year and set such a pretty table.

and can I just say her herb and blueberry stuffed pork tenderloin was pretty amazing too!  I’m working on getting the recipe.

February 8 – Day 34

My neighbor Carmen called me to come over and see the amazing site on her kitchen counter!  Pans and pans of homemade cinnamon rolls which she was freezing and then mailing off to her children and grandchildren!  What an amazing grandma and what a pretty picture it makes!

February 9 – Day 35

On the way home from Carmens this sight caught my eye in another neighbor’s yard.  The gorgeous green moss on her curb growing around her hens and chicks succulent.  I am sure she thinks it is a bother but it sure was pretty that day. Living in the damp NW moss seems to grow everywhere!  She probably  thought I was crazy as she pulled up in front of her house and found me on my hands and knees taking pictures of her moss!

February 10 – Day 36

More pretties are starting to bloom in my garden.  The hellebores are in full bloom!

February 11 – Day 37

The pink dawn viburnum are blooming too – the first things to bloom in the garden.

February 12 – Day 39

and the  euphorbia wulfenii!  I love green!!

February 13 – Day 40

I helped with the theater work party lunch over at the high school on Saturday and put together this yummy and very pretty salad!  Nothing prettier or yummier than green spinach and red strawberries!  I served it with a nice lemon vinaigrette – recipe coming!

Well that’s my pretty for the week.  Hope you found some pretty in your week!

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Table Decor on a Budget

This last week I was in charge of the food for a women’s event at church.

The theme of the event was preparedness and food storage – the event was called “Stockin’ Up!”  There was a great guest speaker from Arizona who shared with us her method for storing food and being prepared.

Since we were unsure how many people would attend we decided to go with a dessert bar.  We did bar cookies because those would be easy to cut into smaller pieces if we had more people than we expected.  We planned on 200 and had over 350 people there so we quickly cut all the bar cookies in half and it worked great.

For a list of the bar cookies served and the recipes go here.

Of course we had a budget to work with for the event and bar cookies are great way to stretch your budget because you can cut them big or small.

I also came up with a few fun ways to stretch that budget with the table decor.

One of my favorite things to use on a serving table is cake plates.  Not only are they pretty but they create nice height on the table.  So using the theme of the event – food storage  and stocking up I created my own cake plates out of canned food and other items found at the dollar store!

I used a combination of clear plastic and silver serving plates from the dollar store along with some canned food I bought there.  Our color scheme for the night was green and pink so I found some canned fruit with pink, green and yellow labels – perfect!

Because the plates were fairly lightweight we used some duct tape to attach the plates to the cans so they didn’t topple over when people reached to get a bar cookie  – thanks to my husband and friend Jeannena for figuring all that out for me!!

I always like to lay out the serving table with all of its serving pieces beforehand – to make sure that it looks good and the table is well balanced.

Of course a centerpiece of flowers in a large can added the perfect touch!  The flowers and the pink and green ribbon came from Costco and helped tie everything together along with the pink and green sheer pieces of fabric we already had from another event.

I also created little place cards in my Creative Memories Storybook Creator software that sat on little stands I found at the dollar store!!  I like to know what I’m eating!

The total spent on table decor was very little and was created mainly out of things from the dollar store!

Of course the table always looks prettier when it is full of food!

What’s your best budget saving table decor ideas?

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Finding 50 } Days 26-32

This week I had fun finding the pretty here at home and in Utah too when I flew there to be with my son when he had ACL surgery.  He’s doing great and on the road to recovery!

February 1 – Day 26

Pretty pears in a pretty bowl.

February 2  – Day 27

My friend Jeannena and I paid a visit to a fun bakery in NW Portland – Two Tarts Bakery.  A yummy selection of fun and pretty bite size cookies.

 

February 3 – Day 28

Some more pretty and delicious – in fact so delicious this meal gets two photos.  I enjoyed lunch at Communal in Provo with Logan and Cali.  Logan commented on how much it felt like home – a very Portland-esque restaurant!!  Pretty presentation and lots of local fresh ingredients.  Just how we like it here in Portland!  The blue cheese/bacon burger was amazing.

And even more yummy and prettier were the fresh cut fries!  I loved the pretty presentation!

I knew we were in Utah though when they served fry sauce with the french fries!!

February 4 – Day 29

A fun photo shoot with my pretty daughter Cali.

February 5 – Day 30

Arriving back home after a quick trip to Utah – pretty Portland bathed in sunshine!

February 6 – Day 31

Some pretty flowers that we used for our table decorations at the church women’s event I helped with Friday night – yes, just several hours after arriving home from Utah .  No rest for the wicked or is that weary????  For more details on our fun table decor visitYour Homebased Parties.

Thanks for sharing my pretty with me this week – what pretty did you find?

On Your Homebased Parties:

Table Decor on a Budget

On Homebased Portland:

Best Breakfast} Bijou Cafe

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Cupid Corn Cookie Bark

I am actually writing this post at the Portland airport.  I am on my way to Utah to play mom/nurse to my son Clark who is having ACL repair surgery today.  (He blew out the other knee four years ago so we’ve been through this before)

My suitcase has some special treats for those college kids.  There are two containers of freezer jam straight from my freezer, a cute London t-shirt I found at Costco for Cali in honor of her upcoming study abroad in London as well as a book on the top day trips from London!  There are also 3 bags of Cupid Corn Cookie Bark.

You see, I couldn’t resist when I saw this at Winco a few weeks ago….

You remember the fun Candy Corn Cookie Bark and the Reindeer Corn Cookie Bark?  Well now there is Cupid Corn Cookie Bark!!!

If you haven’t made cookie bark yet – what are you waiting for!?!?!

For directions on how to make the super easy and super yummy cookie bark go here. And if you can’t find the cute Valentine corn at your store just use the valentine colored M & M’s instead.

Because you can never have too much of a good thing – go make up a batch of Cupid Corn Cookie Bark for your sweetheart – they will love you even more for it!!

Recipe for Cookie Bark Here.

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