Recipe | Grape Truffles with Goat Cheese and Pistachios

Join me over at Jesse's Girl Photography today for a fancy little recipe I tried for J's birthday.  I'm slowly getting over my writer's/photographer's block by forcing myself to just pick up the camera every day again. It sure helps to have a new toy to play with - an external flash to chase away the winter blues! 

So check out these Grape Truffles and try them out sometime! Super yummy!

Happy happy birthday to My Love!

The Easiest Party You'll Ever Throw

I love to host people at our house.  It's such a perfect house for parties!  We obviously love having people over for the holidays... plans are already in the works for Thanksgiving with TheJesses and our annual Ugly Sweater Party.  And we love to have people over for football or just dinner.  It's just that with Jesse's schedule so crazy sometimes months go by without any guests in our home!  

But I can always sense when it's been too long since I've had people over.  I start to get the itch to host!  And I had that itch a few weeks ago... but with Halloween looming (must. get. those. costumes. DONE.) and Lily's birthday the day after, I didn't feel up for doing any work.

I needed an easy party.  So a Pinterest Party fit the bill quite nicely!  What is a Pinterest Party, you ask?  Well.  It's basically a crafting party.  Jen introduced me to the idea.  You simply invite a bunch of your gal pals over for treats and tell them you'll have a warm cozy fire going (another perk of this house) and tell them to bring a project they've been working on.  It seems like we all love Pinterest so much and there are so many great ideas... but at least for myself, I rarely find time to actually DO a project!  

So a Pinterest Party was perfect.  I had some crafts I'd been working on slowly in my spare time (spare time? ha!) and I also wanted an excuse to a) make fun holiday cookies since it was the week before Halloween and b) hang out with my friends!

Added bonus: I was able to introduce some friends to each other who I just knew would hit it off.  So now more of my friends are friends!  WIN.

Megan had this great idea that I never want to forget EVER.  She cut out small parts of all her son's artwork so she can make a cool collage!  It displays his art beautifully without having to take up a lot of space.  Brilliant.  She wasn't sure yet how she was going to display it... maybe modg podging it to a canvas?  Framing it?  The possibilities are endless.  Megan make sure to show off the finished product on fb so I can ooooh and ahhhhh some more!

I hijacked Kirsten again to finish one of my projects.  It's a homemade measuring board to record the girls' heights! Which is kinds of turning into hers/my project, since she helped me pick out the supplies AND is painting the details.  But hey, I DID paint the yellow!  I'm hoping she doesn't catch on to my totally selfish sucking of her talents... but she's just so dang talented!  I cook for her a lot and I make her toasty fires to sit by, so I'm hoping it balances out ;o) Thanks K!

I did actually do SOMETHING for myself.  I cut the sleeves off of a sweater that I hate and turned them into leg warmers!

I love this idea.  For two or three bucks I could pick up a fun sweater at a thrift store and add a pop of color to an outfit... plus some added warmth.  Which I really need in Germany!  I haven't decided yet if I like them this way, or upside down so the finished cuff of the sleeve shows... that is definitely a more polished look... but I have to stretch it out a little.  Or else I'll be cutting off my circulation at the knees.  Which sounds painful, not warm/cozy/stylish.

Kirsten brought her in-laws, too, who I was delighted to spend the evening with!  Joan gave her granddaughter Sophia a crochet lesson.

It was a splendid, relaxing evening of crafting, chatting, eating cookies, and sipping tea and hot spiced cider.  Exactly what I needed in a party!  Girl-time is so good for the soul.  Plus, it feels so amazing to actually complete a project.

Thanks Kirsten, Joan, Sarah, Sophia, Megan, Shawna, and Leah for coming!  It was so great to spend time with y'all!

Does anyone besides me smile at morning-after dishes?  It just reminds me of all the fun that was had!

So there ya go ladies... a simple, easy party you can host around the holidays (or any time, duh!) where you can have fun hanging out AND work on a project.  Every multi-tasker-Pinterest-lover's dream!

"Peace Out Summer" Party

 
Inspiration?

I don't really know!  It just kind of came to me... "Hey, I want to host a girl-party... I should do a fun theme!"  We hoped and prayed for a house like this - a "party house" with a big, open main floor plan.  And now that we have it (Thanks, God!) I don't want to waste it!

And themed parties are dorky, but that's what makes them so fun!

So hippie was the name of the game.  "Peace" hippies, not to be confused with crunchy hippies ;o)  I told the girls that we'd vote on the best-dressed-hippie... and my friend Paula got a prize of a yankee candle and a cute little framed wall-art piece I found at the BX.

Decorations?

Kept it simple with home-painted window decals.  (Acrylic paint + clear contact paper = magic!)  I actually ordered some hippie balloons on Amazon but alas, sometimes the joy of the APO is that things don't get to you when you hope they will.  They'll probably be there next time I head to the post office :o)

But the window art turned out just as perfect as I'd hoped.  Especially in the early evening, when the sun was shining through the windows!

Menu?

Pineapple kiwi fruit salad from America's Test Kitchen... one of my favorites.  Though not as pretty as usual because I accidentally bought yellow kiwi.  The green of the kiwi and yellow of the pineapple are really fun looking.  Very summery.

Grilled pizza.  Possibly the last of the season... cheesy-basil and pesto-feta.  The pesto pizza is my all time fave from my all time fave pizza shop, Atlas, in good old Corning NY.  Pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, mushrooms, and feta.  To. Die. For.

Cookies.  Also America's Test Kitchen (holiday cookie recipe from the baking cookbook).  They give great instructions on decorating with your very own colored glazes and sugars.  It was too much fun.  As in, I may have a new hobby... one that may or may not be really bad news for my mid-section ;o)

Guests?

From top to bottom and left to right:  Paula, Val, Carol, Brandy, Tiffany, Laura, Jen, Yours Truly, and Amber.

It was a fantastic assortment of gals from the squadron and gals from... not the squadron ;o)  And one Mother-in-Law (Brandi's MIL Carol is visiting for three weeks) who was super sweet and blended right in!

Final Words?

I feel really blessed that God has given me such great friends.  So many in such a short time!  And not everyone I'm blessed to consider a friend is represented in the picture.  PCSing here wasn't easy and I was a bit nervous about how to go about meeting and making great friends. 

I shouldn't have worried :o) 

A big thank you to Jen.  She came early, helped me put up all the decals on the windows, cut up the fruit salad while I put the girls to bed, and took pictures on my camera so I could do all the other things a hostess has to do.  Love you girl.

And an even BIGGER thank you to My Love.  Who was totally cool with the time and money I put into this goofy little girly party.  And who didn't mind being kicked out of the house.  I love you Babe.

 "Peace Out!"