Cupcake Catering

I did my first official paid catering job this weekend.  I have catered lots of events before but have never actually been paid.  Although I am not interested in becoming a professional caterer I have to admit it was kind of fun!

A friend who reads my blog recommended me to a friend of hers that was putting on a 40th birthday party for his wife (what a nice guy!).  She had shown him pictures of the cupcake bar I had done for the wedding and he called and asked if I could do one for the party

We did it on a smaller scale with only two different types of cupcakes – lemon and lime.

Despite a little last minute stress it all worked out.

I baked the cupcakes the night before just like I had for the wedding reception and then stored them in containers.  When I got home from a morning out on Saturday and looked in the container all the cupcake liners had peeled off of the lime cupcakes!  They looked horrible!

So with only a few hours to go before I needed to deliver the cupcakes I decided to remake the lime ones.  I had to go to two stores to find new cupcake liners!!  Despite the last minute stress they got made and delivered and everyone was happy.

I made lemonade out of lemons too  and peeled off all the liners from the bad cupcakes, frosted them and then delivered them next door to my neighbor who was hosting a anniversary party for her friend.  They loved them!

Don’t they look pretty!

But I want to show you something else that was REALLY pretty.  Look at this amazing meat/cheese/fruit tray that was at the party.  When the husband asked a friend to put one together I am sure he had no idea that this was what he was going to get!  This is no ordinary meat /cheese/fruit platter!!!

I loved the garnishes of fresh rosemary and Spanish almonds.  Have you ever had Spanish almonds?  They are amazing!!

It was worth doing the cupcake catering for this party just so I could see this amazing work of art!

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Summer To Do List

I am a list maker.  I make lists for everything.

At the beginning of each summer I always make a list of things I want to do/accomplish during that time.  This year was no exception.

Summer 2009

Teach the girls how to make bread (haven’t done this one yet but we will!)

Put together a college cookbook for Cali (in process)

Go hiking (yes, several times)

Make Cali a quilt (yes, I will share a picture soon)

Finish up Albums (I’m working hard on this one.  It turned out to be a much bigger project than I thought.  My focus has been Cali’s albums and as of today we have finished those up – yeah!!  My main motivation for this is the page size change deadline that Creative Memories has – deadline is the end of August so if you have some CM albums that use the older size pages to finish up you better get busy!)

I’m feeling pretty good about my list but still have work to do!

Well, it is probably no surprise but I have also raised a list maker – my daughter Cali is an amazing list maker.

She and her friend Kat put together an extensive list of things they wanted to do together this summer when they were home from college.

To be honest I hesitated posting this list here on the blog.  My initial plan was to blur a couple of the items on the list so that you wouldn’t be able to read them.

You see, I am still struggling with having young adult children.  Sometimes the things they want to accomplish just don’t align with the things you would like them to accomplish.  Cali is a little bit more of a free spirit than I am but Cali made me promise that if I posted her list I would leave it intact.   So here goes….

 

I just have to make the disclaimer that the number one item on the list and another one farther down are traits she has gotten from her father – not me!!!  My sweet, mild mannered husband was a little bit more of a free spirit as a teenager!!

I am grateful that she decided to accomplish #1 in a very dark and secluded place!

Cali and Kat are working hard to finish their list up in the next week before Kat heads to Europe to be a nanny. (To be honest I wouldn’t mind if they didn’t accomplish a couple of them 🙂

Tomorrow they are boating and the drive in movie and campout in our backyard are scheduled for this weekend.

So – what did you have on your Summer To Do List?

Did you get them all done?
I know for some of you that summer has come to an end already and the kids are headed back to school.  Fortunately here in Oregon we have a few more weeks left.

If you still have some summer left and need a fun idea on how to spend one of your last weeks of summer come back on Wednesday when I will have a guest poster sharing her families summer tradition of Beach Week – and you don’t have to live near a beach!

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Megan Elle Photography

I am a big supporter and fan of women run homebased business.  Maybe it’s because I have had some type of homebased business for almost 25 years!

I love to see a woman take a talent. gift or passion for something and discover a way to share it with others and contribute to her family income at the same time!  All while maintaining her first priority of family and being a mom.

It’s even better when I can be a part of it.  When I can offer a few words of advice or a suggestion and be a friend, supporter and cheerleader.

I am a big fan and supporter of Meg.

Meg is a Portland based Portrait Photographer.

She has a gift and a passion.  She has the ability to capture beauty and romance through her camera lens.

 She sees things that others don’t.  She creates emotion.  She creates beauty.

When she took Tessa’s pictures she helped her feel like a princess.  She captured not only her outer beauty but her inner beauty as well.

She has a gift for using natural light to create amazing effects and images.

Whether she is taking pictures of a newly married couple, a little girl playing in her room, a beautiful rose or pictures of your kitchen  Meg has the ability to capture the emotion of the moment and tell a story with her photos.

If you live in the Portland area and are looking for something more than the traditional (and may I add somewhat boring) studio photographer I hope you will contact Meg.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Be sure and tell her you read about her here at Your Homebased Mom!

Please meet my friend Meg –

When I was a little girl I loved to color pictures for my Dad.  When I would present him with a finished work of art he’d hand it back and invariably say, “Sign it, so everyone will know I have a Megan original!”  I have always been an artist, it wasn’t until recently I was guided to become a photographer.

I love the ability photography has to convey emotion, to tell a story, and to give life to the halls of our memory.  I am primarily self taught but have been blessed with mentors and believers along the way who have given me the confidence to share the beauty I see with others.  To those individuals I am forever grateful. 

Megan Elle Photography is my passion, second only to the love I have for my Heavenly Father, His Son, and my dear family.  My work is an extension of self; reflecting my beliefs, my values, and ultimately glorifying God. 

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Sweet Sixteen

My baby turns sixteen today!

Is that really possible?  It just seems like yesterday I was wishing her a Happy Fifteenth here on the blog!

Turning sixteen is kind of a big deal at our house.  Of course you can drive when are sixteen – except that Tessa hasn’t had her permit long enough so it will be a few months until that happens.

The other big deal is that Tessa  has reached official dating age!  Yikes!  I think she is grateful that her two older brothers aren’t living at home right now but her dad still is!!!

Tessa has her special day all planned out.  Breakfast in bed with overnight waffles  with raspberries and cinnamon syrup.  Shopping and lunch at our favorite pizza place on NW 23rd with mom and sister.  Then dinner at Rockbottom Tavern in downtown Portland.  Food is always a very important part of birthdays around our house!  Somewhere in between all of that eating she plans on squeezing in a movie and a pedicure!

I’m sure there will be some presents included and I’ll be making Pioneer Women’s Strawberry Shortcake Cake for dessert per Tessa’s request!

My beautiful, sweet fourth baby…

has become a beautiful and sweet young woman!

 

Happy Birthday sweet Tessa!!

These beautiful pictures of Tessa were taken by my friend and photographer Meg.  Meg is amazing and I want to introduce her to you but she deserves a post all her own.  By giving her a post of her own I can share even more of the beautiful pictures she took of Tessa!

So please let me introduce Megan Daines of Megan Elle Photography to you.

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Rose Festival

This past weekend was Rose Festival weekend here in Portland, Oregon.  Portland has the second largest floral parade in the country.

There is a reason why the Rose Festival is held the first part of June  – our roses are crazy beautiful right now!

I thought I would show you the Rose Festival that is going on in my own backyard.  Enjoy!

This is what I see from my office window.

With the few weeks of sun we had the roses are going crazy!

And look what’s happening along my fence.

Eden is one of my favorite roses – it blooms just like this all summer!

And then on the pergola.

It’s hard to get any work done with this amazing distraction outside my office window!

We have a total of 37 rose bushes in our backyard according to my husband who gets to prune them every President’s Day!

What’s blooming in your garden right now?

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Family Fun

As Jack Johnson says, “It’s always better when we’re together.”

With all the kids home for 10 days we are having lots of FUN at our house this week!

We’ve been enjoying every minute of it and trying to squeeze as much fun in as we can.

Before I share a little of our family fun be sure and check out all the fun we are having over at iLashGirls this month – it’s our Word of the Month – Fun!

We’re talking about how much fun we have blogging!  If you have ever thought about starting a blog and would like some tips and ideas for getting started be sure and check out our Blogging Fun post and contact us through the contact form for more info!

One of our favorite fun things to do at our house is play cards.  Our families favorite card came is Samba, a variation of Canasta.  It was the first card game I learned when I became part of the Wilkes family.  We then taught my side of the family how to play and  now it is our favorite game to play with both sides of the family.

Last Sunday my parents came over for dinner so of course a family game of Samba was a must!

 

We played boys against girls.  It got pretty intense at times!

First the girls took the lead, which didn’t make the boys too happy.

 

But then the boys took the lead and it didn’t make the girls too happy!
 

It was close at the end but the boys won – time for a rematch!!

If you’d like to know how to play Samba check here for directions.  You’ll need three decks of cards!

What’s your favorite family game to play?

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My Own Field of Poppies

Do you remember that scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy is running through a beautiful field of poppies with the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow?

I always loved that scene, mainly because of the flowers.  Even though the poppies have had a spell put on them by the Wicked Witch so that Dorothy falls asleep, they are still beautiful!  Glenda saves the day with a little snowfall!

I love this time of the year in my garden because I have my own field of poppies!

My favorite spring blooming flower! Princess Victoria Louise (Papaver orientale)

Fortunately my field of poppies is not poisonous!  Mine are just beautiful!

 

Mine even have a few purple Japanese Iris mixed in.

 

Elsewhere in the garden the peonies and roses are beginning to pop!

And the snowball bush is just finishing up.

Ohhhh, this is just the beginning of so many beautiful things to come!

What’s blooming in your garden right now?

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Farmer’s Market

We are enjoying an incredibly beautiful weekend in Portland

Blue skies, no rain and nice warm temperatures.  Perfect!  Days like today are the reason we endure all the rain and dreary days – for perfect days like today!

Since the kids had no school Friday and Monday is a holiday we are enjoying a nice long weekend and we are trying to pack as much fun and good food into it as we can.

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is to spend Saturday mornings at our local Beaverton Farmer’s Market buying fresh produce, flowers and plants.

Cali, Jim and I  started our first visit this season to the market with this – an incredibly, HUGE omelet made by the Canby Asparagus Farm – yum!!!  It is so big it fed all three of us!

Then we picked up some of these yummy, first of the season, strawberries which we enjoyed Sunday morning on top of our Puff Up Pancake.

And then we found this beautiful, slender asparagus which we grilled last night with olive oil and salt and then squeeze lemon juice and garlic over the top when done.

Jim picked up some beautiful onions to use in fajitas for dinner tomorrow.

And then we drooled over this red, ripe tomatoes….

and check out these carrots.

I showed a little restraint and didn’t buy any of these “ready to pop” peonies but I sure was tempted.  Since I have a bunch ready to pop in my garden I decided I should just control myself!

Watch for some great upcoming recipes using “fresh from the farm” ingredients.  I’m even going to introduce you to my good friend and amazing cook Deb who loves visiting the Farmer’s Market  and cooking with farm fresh ingredients too!

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Saturday Chores

There are lots of things I love about having my college kids home.

One of my top reasons is that there are more people around to help with Saturday chores!  Yeah!

Here are the lists that were on the kitchen counter awaiting everyone as they got up this morning.

Of course the Honey Do one is for Jim.

The kid’s list is first come, first serve.  As you can see there was a little negotiating going on as jobs were claimed but then traded around!

Cali got up last so she got stuck cleaning the kid’s bathroom – the biggest job!

While they were all at home working on their job list I snuck off to a plant sale at the Canby Fairgrounds and came home with these beauties…

These amazing coleus are going to look beautiful in my pots!

Poor Jim will probably only get one thing crossed off his list today – Fix the grill.  After determining the grill was un-fixable he went out and bought a new one – eight hours later it is almost put together!

What was on your To Do list today?

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Happy 50th Anniversary!

Today is my parent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary.

Tessa and I are in Dallas Texas this weekend to celebrate with them.  My nephew is also getting married today, on their anniversary day!

Here they are 50 years ago…

Yes I know, I look just like my mother.  Thank you!

And here they are 3 children, 11 grandchildren, 1 great grandchild and 50 years later.  Just as cute and still in love!

I love you mom and dad!  Thank you for being such wonderful examples of love, dedication, and perseverance.

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