Guys & Dolls Cast Gift Ideas

This was the 11th  Spring musical our family has been involved with at the high school!  I’m not sure what I am going to do with myself when Tessa graduates from high school next year!

I have put together a lot of flower bouquets during that time.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, flowers can get a little old after a while so it’s fun to come up with something different.

Candy bouquets make a great gift.

And even a Candy Bar Cake is a great idea.

I am always on the lookout for a new, fun idea.

One night, after one of the performances, I spotted this!

How cute is that?  A flower bouquet made out of playing cards, dice and dollar bills.  The perfect flower bouquet for Big Julie (he’s a really big gambler in the show – I mean really big!!!)  I had to stop him and ask if I could take a picture. Found out that my creative friend Laurie made it for him!  Way to go Laurie.

I decided I wanted to do a little something for all the members of the cast.  Forgetting that it was a rather large cast (50 kids) I decided to make dice shaped cookies for everyone.

It turned into a little bigger project than I anticipated but they did turn out so cute!!
My kitchen table looked like this for several days!

I also made cookies shaped like hearts, diamonds, spades, clovers and some lips for the Hot Box Dolls.  I wrapped two cookies in a cellophane bag and then attached a little card.  I used playing cards for the backing.

We had given Tessa flowers the previous weekend after the show so for closing night I wanted to do something a little different.

I decided to try my hand at a cookie bouquet for the first time.  I learned quite a few things through the process and decided I needed to take an icing lesson from my friend Dawn next time she makes her amazing shortbread cookies but I think it turned out pretty good for my first try.  I made one for Tessa and one for the shows director.

I’ll do a separate post to give you a little more detail on how I put it together etc.  Stay tuned!

I helped the kids put gifts together for all the adults involved in the play – music director, choreographer, orchestra conductor, set designer etc. too.  They received their gifts in these cute white gift bags that I turned into dice!

Hope this post got your creative juices flowing!  Stay tuned for more info on the cookie bouquet!!

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Party Guest } Pioneer Party

My friend Sarah is amazing.  Not only is she a talented photographer and an amazing party planner she is also the mother of six, yes I said six, of the most adorable little girls you will ever meet.  And on top of that she home schools them!  I told you she was amazing.

Sarah use to be my neighbor until they moved out to the country.  We miss those cute little girls (and Sarah and Chris too).

Fortunately I can keep up to date on the whole family through Sarah’s blog.

Recently Sarah shared a fun Pioneer Party she put on for her daughter Autumn’s birthday.

Today I am excited to share with you Autumn’s amazing party.

One of the benefits of living out in the country is that you have friends and neighbors with barns which is the perfect setting for a pioneer party.

And farms and barns usually come with animals!

Sarah sewed up a batch of pioneer bonnets and aprons for each of the party guests – I told you she was amazing!  Don’t they look cute in their little pioneer gear!?  Hannah would look cute in anything!

In addition to playing with the animals there was a lot going on at Autumn’s party!

There was candle dipping…

and the candles made cute little table favors too!

There were also potato sack races, feeding the goats and chickens

felting eggs,

and making the biscuits and butter.  What a great idea – let the party guests make the party food!

OK, I’m tired after just typing all of that!

Autumn has pronounced it to be her best birthday party yet.

Happy birthday Autumn and thanks Sarah for sharing your fun pioneer party!

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Finding 50 } Days 77-83

This week was Spring Break here in Portland and we enjoyed some beautiful days so I had fun with my camera.  My photography class assignment this week was to take pictures of things that convey emotion and meaning so of course I had to take pictures of pretty things!

March 22 – Day 77

My Carol Mackie Daphne started blooming this week.  I wish you could smell it – it is heaven!  It smells as pretty as it looks!  I love getting a whiff of it every time I walk up to the front door.

March 23 – Day 78

A trip to Home Goods this week brought these two pretties to my home. Two more to add to my cake stand addiction, I mean collection!

I think they look perfect on my kitchen table in my little Easter vignette.

March 24 – Day 79

A pretty start to dinner – lettuce wraps!

March 25 – Day 80

Lovelies blooming on neighbor’s front porch.

March 26 – Day 81

My tulips are blooming.  We had a little rain one day and I loved the water droplets on the flower.

March 27 – Day 82

Out to lunch with a friend and this was the pretty flower arrangement at our table.

March 28 – Day 83

A little taste of Paris for breakfast.  Yum!  Pain au chocolat!

Tell me what pretty you found this week.

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Project Week

Today is the first day of our Spring Break.

Tessa is headed to Utah to spend the week with her siblings and Jim and I are staying home.  This week we will practice being empty nesters.

The whole idea of being an empty nester stresses me out.  I’m not ready.  I’m not old enough!

If there are any empty nesters out there reading this, please, tell me it’s going to be o.k.!

I have declared this week (actually four days) of being an empty nester as Project Week.

I was inspired by my niece in law Michelle who recently confessed on her blog that she was awarded the “Queen of the Unfinished Projects” by her quilting group for being the member with the most unfinished projects.  Michelle counted  more than 40 unfinished projects at her house.  She has even started a new blog to chronicle her journey to completing all her projects.

Michelle got to me thinking, how many unfinished projects did I have piled up in the bonus room, lurking in closets, on the floor of my bedroom?  I started counting.  I think I may be able to give Michelle a run for her money for that award!

There was the flower quilt I shared a few weeks ago still waiting for its binding and the other quilt top that is almost done, it just needs a little applique work.  Then there was the pile of fabric waiting to be made into reusable bags for my etsy shop and  the fabric I bought a year ago to make Cali an apron.  Do I need to count the piles of fabric for the three other quilts I bought??  O.k.  so you get the idea, I have a few unfinished projects around.

Then there are the unfinished scrapbooking projects, we are not even going to go there.  Not sure I can count that high.

In the corner of my bedroom is the bag with the unfinished afghan, piles of unread books and the chandelier I’ve been wanting to hang in Tessa’s room for a year now.

You get the idea.

So this week is Project Week.  First on the list are some sewing projects including that quilt that needs to be bound and the reusable bags.  I’ll keep you posted on how I do.  Check out Facebook for updates!

There will also be a few new blog posts with some yummy new recipes too this week so no worries!

How many unfinished projects do you have lurking at your house?  How about choosing one and joining me for Project Week.  Let me know which project you choose!

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Finding 50 } Days 70-76

It wasn’t hard finding pretty this week as we are having amazing spring weather here in Portland.  Spring is here!

March 15 – Day 70

Have you ever had one of those moments when you notice something and wonder “Was that always there?”  As I pulled out of my cul de sac the other day this yellow fire hydrant caught my eye.  Has it always been there?  (I’m sure it has, we’ve lived in this neighborhood 16 years!  But has it always been yellow?  Probably, but it sure is a pretty yellow fire hydrant!

March 16 – Day 71

There are lots of these pretty litle leaf buds on the trees out in the garden.  This is one of my favorite trees in our garden – a Japanese Snowdrop.

March 17 – Day 72

One of my Goodwill treasures of the week – an old canning jar.  I thought the stems in the jar were almost as pretty as the flowers up top!

March 18 – Day 73

The flowering plum trees are in full bloom!

March 19 – Day 74

Remember that pretty pile of fabric from last week?  This week it is a pretty little baby quilt for a new little great-niece!  I bought the pattern for this cute Lazy Daisy quilt at a quilt shop at Gardner Village in Salt Lake City but you can check out their patterns here at their etsy shop and at their blog.

March 20 – Day 75

We enjoyed a hike at the Cooper Mountain Nature Park on Saturday – a pretty Ponderosa Pine.

March 21 – Day 76

More pretties in my garden – the garden gate!

What pretty things did you find this week?

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Guys and Dolls Cast Party Menu

Thank you to all who have emailed wondering where the photos are from the cast party I worked on last weekend!  I’ve been playing catch up the last few days and trying to get caught back up on my sleep.  Staying up until 2:00 a.m. in the morning and then losing an hour of sleep due to daylight savings time can slow an old lady like me down just a bit!!

The cast party was a great success thanks to the help of a lot of parents!

We had a yummy menu, not the typical pizza or sub sandwich fare!

There were lettuce wraps, curry, El Cafe Cubano beans (if you’ve seen Guys & Dolls, you’ll understand that one).  Both the curry and the beans were vegan as we have several kids in the cast that are vegan.  There was also some sweet pork and rice and three types of pinwheel sandwiches.   In addition we had chips and salsa, 7 layer dip and a very spicy but yummy jalapeno dip, fruit and vegetable trays!  No one went home hungry!!

For those of you unfamiliar with the show Guys & Dolls  – it takes place in the 1930’s in New York and deals with a group of missionaries trying to save a group of gamblers/crapshooters.  Of course at the end everyone falls in love, gets married and lives happily ever after!

It was fun to use the theme of the show in planning the party.

There is a trip down to Havana in the show to El Cafe Cubano  and there is lots of dice throwing  and gambling going on in the show.

For dessert there were lots of fun things!

Thanks to Cindy who hand dipped all these amazing strawberries.  The little tuxedo and wedding veil strawberries were a huge hit (the show ends with a wedding) – aren’t they darling!

Another mom made up a batch of “dice” krispie treats.

I baked up a batch of yummy chocolate/caramel cupcakes with a whip cream frosting.  I couldn’t resist when I found these fun cupcake toppers at the cake decorating shop!  They even had sprinkles shaped like hearts, spades, diamonds etc.!

And then there was this amazing cake made by one of the mom’s – Caryn Ogle.  She used the logo from the poster for the show and created two mini cakes shaped like dice!  Isn’t it great!

Here are the happy couples cutting the cake!

For dessert there was also apple strudel to go along with the reference to cheesecake and strudel in the show!

I love developing a theme for a party.  It was so fun to have the other mom’s join in with me with their amazing creativity to help create a really fun event for the kids that had worked so hard and so long on the show.

Would you like help in developing a theme for your next party? I’d love to help you.  Please check out my services page to see what I have available.

Later this week I’ll share some ideas I came up with for gifts for the performers.

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Finding 50 } Days 63-69

Another week of finding the pretty in being 50!

March 8 – Day 63

Loved this photo I took for my photography assignment on light.

March 9 – Day 64

Crocus blooming in the garden!

March 10 – Day 65

This is a double pretty day!

Made this pretty amazing pie for a dinner party we went too.  Can’t wait to share the recipe with you on Tuesday!  I mean AMAZING!!

Met a friend at Starbucks and was inspired by her pretty watercolor.  She and I are taking a class on Saturday!  My first time to watercolor since college – 30 years ago!

March 11 – Day 66

Pancakes for Dinner!!

March 12 – Day 67

A trip to the fabric store for lots of pretty new fabric – thinking a baby quilt!

March 13  – Day 68

I made a pretty big mess on my kitchen table getting ready for the cast party!!  Details soon on the party blog as soon as I recover!

March 14 – Day 69

My first watercolor attempts. Pretty?  I guess not too bad for my first time in 30 years!!   A flower and some peppers.

What pretty things did you find this week??

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Finding 50 } Days 56-62

What pretty did you find in your week?  Here’s mine!

March 1 – Day 56

We enjoyed a very pretty 70 degree, bright sunny day in Portland yesterday – there is lots happening out in the garden!  They say we may get snow on Tuesday though –  yikes!!   Hope my pretty daffodils in the woodland path survive!

March 2 – Day 57

The neighbor’s pretty tulip tree is in full bloom!

March 3 – Day 58

My pretty quilt is back from the quilters and ready to be bound!  I think I’m keeping this pretty quilt for myself!

March 4 – Da7 59

I have a thing for pretty bowls, it’s party of my pretty rule – “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”  These bowls are both – useful and beautiful!  Quote by William Morris

March 5 – Day 60

I usually am not one to go for artificial flowers but when I found these at Tai Pan during my visit last week I fell in love with the colors.

March 6 – Day 61

Some pretty real flowers….

for a pretty girl….

We’ve been enjoying watching Tessa perform in Guys and Dolls this weekend over at the high school.

March 7 – Day 62

We’ve been eating lots of this pretty vegetable around here lately – yum!!

Have a pretty week!!

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Provo Adventures

Note:  This post is mainly for my Provo, Utah Valley friends and readers but you may all enjoy taking a look at all the good eating I did this weekend!

I was lucky enough to spend a long weekend this past week with these three pretty amazing people!  Thanks to Wynn and Emily for letting me stay with them.

I miss those faces so much!!  I flew to Provo so that I could attend Cali’s dance performance.  She was in the Faculty Choreography Show.

My kids love it when mom comes to town (don’t you kids!?)  My suitcase is usually full of treats for them – this time it was Girl Scout cookies, some favorite things from Trader Joes and their tax forms to sign!!  This also allows me to fill my suitcase with treats from Tai Pan on the way home!!

There is also a lot of good eating that goes along with my visits!

This trip started out with my regular trip to Cafe Rio.  Logan picked me up Thursday evening and we stopped for dinner.

Friday brought lunch at Magleby’s Fresh – another favorite spot we hit every trip.  Breakfast at Magleby’s is a favorite too because they have that amazing buttermilk syrup.  For lunch I had a wonderful BBQ chicken salad that came with one of their yummy rolls that I love to make at home.

For dinner we tried a new restaurant called Rooster.  If you live in Provo or Utah Valley area I recommend you give it a try.  Rooster is located at 163 N. University in Provo.  It is a dumpling and noodle bar with Thai and Asian Fusion flavor.

I loved the feel of the restaurant and the taste of it too!

A beautiful large, communal type table runs along one side of the wall with fun Asian graphic prints

The art work invites you to sit, enjoy and share!

The dumplings were yummy!  So yummy, we had to order more after we finished the first round!

Of course when you go out to dinner with college students there is always a bit of this going on!

My next new discovery in Provo was the Cocoa  Bean Cupcake Cafe   located at 774 N. University in Brigham’s Landing.  If you live in or near Rexburg,Idaho there is one there too.

You know I can never pass up a cupcake!

Their selection changes daily.  They serve a large, beautiful, yummy cupcake as well as a mean cup of cocoa.  I personally gave the red velvet with a big, beautiful chocolate dipped strawberry on top a try!

Chocolate and marshmellow – yum!

I made another amazing dessert discovery while in Provo.  Unfortunately I don’t have photos of this one as sometimes my kids get a little tired of me constantly pulling out my camera to take pictures of food.

If you are looking for a fun, quaint, cozy and yummy place for dessert in Provo be sure and visit The Chocolate.  Located in an old, brick pioneer home The Chocolate knows how to bake a cake!

I couldn’t find a website for them to give you an address but they are located on State Street on the left hand side going out towards Orem, just past the mall!

I shared a slice of an amazing vanilla cake that used Madacasgar Vanilla with Cali- so good.  My boys had a “cazookie,” a large, warm chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream.  A  perfect place to go after a movie or other event to enjoy something sweet!

Now, the main reason for my trip to Provo, besides the opportunity to explore and enjoy lots of new tastes was to see this pretty girl in her dance performance.  She was beautiful and graceful and so fun to watch!  Love you Cali!!

If you live in or around the Provo/Salt Lake area and have some great places to explore please let me know so I can check them out on my next trip there!

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