Love Is In The Air

I helped with a bridal shower this weekend. We used a love bird theme.

My chunky chickies found a home.

We had tons of fabulous food.

I made three appetizers.  These were from Sunset magazine, Apricots with basil-goat cheese and almonds.

I've shown you these before. They are from eatingwell.com.  So yummy!

I got this blue cheese, honey and pecan idea from my daughter. It was a favorite!

The hostess made two beautiful fruit pizzas.

The lovely bride-to-be opened lots of beautiful presents.

It was a special day for a lovely young lady!

Love Bird Evolution

 The goal: handmade love birds for a bridal shower.  This is attempt two, way too small. Attempt one ended up in the trash can right away.

 This is attempt three, still too small.  But getting there.

 This is the final bride.  She's a Chunky Chickie.  But, she is going to have to do.

Love bird, bride and groom, he just needs to put on his tie. I think that fussing with details like this is a sickness.  Really, I do.  

Crown and Paint

The crown molding has begun to be installed.  

I love the difference it makes. 

This room is staying brown but, I'm thinking the ceiling may need to go a light gray blue.

The entire first floor will have it.

You can see that I'm trying to decide on a lighter paint color. These are both Sherwin Williams paint colors. The left one is Sedate Gray, the right one is Accessible Beige. Since everything in this house is brown or beige, I'm leaning to the gray. It has a hint of blue in it. In this recess there will be a white entertainment center, coming in July. It's going to have bead board on the back and that will be painted a contrast color. I may go with a gold color to echo the color of the kitchen. The current brown is just too dark for this room that only gets sunshine in the very early morning. The balcony roof causes it to always be dark. I'm trying to lighten it without painting it white. I think I'll go paint some more swatches. See ya.

Easy Mini Cinnamon Rolls

Do you love cinnamon rolls, but not the time it takes to make them? I know you can open a can of them and they're probably pretty good.  In a pinch.  Well, these are similarly easy.  They are very small and great for children.  Start with a can of Pillsbury crescent rolls.  Open them up and keep them as rectangles, sealing the seams.

Spread with butter.  It helps if your butter is soft and not right out of the refrigerator as in my case this morning.  But, it works fine either way.  Then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.  I forgot to take a picture of this stage, but you get the idea.

Roll them cross wise into little logs and cut into 5 separate pieces.

Place on cookie sheet and bake at 375* for 11 minutes, just like the crescent roll package says.

 While baking, mix up powdered sugar and enough milk or cream to make it spreadable.

And what do you get?  Straight out of the oven, melt in your mouth, warm, gooey, fantastic cinnamon rolls! Be careful not to inhale too many at once. 

Oh What A Day, Part Three

We left our antiquing excursion in search of a little bitty sign that said Lavender Farm.  It only took us twice up and down the road to see it from the opposite direction. After much winding and turning, we turned onto a dirt road.  There were still signs teasing us along the way.  All along this dirt road there were woodpeckers sitting on the fence rails.  Usually they were in couples. When his lady left him, he sat and posed for me for quite awhile.

But, then when a BIG SUV pulls up with two laughing women, he was outta here!

 I think the little guy below thought he was hiding.

Finally after turning around and asking directions, we found the Lavender Farm!

 We just hadn't gone far enough.

 Lovely rows of lavender greeted us.

 Here was a bed showing many different varieties.

These ladies were having a play day too, enjoying the beautiful scenery and capturing it on canvas.

 You could buy fresh and dried lavender, all kinds of lotions and cremes, sachets and soaps.

There was another very cute birdhouse.

 I especially liked this homemade wind chime.

This deli was where we stopped for directions.  We're going to have to go back and eat there next time.  It was very cute and cozy inside. 

 It was a lovely day in the country.

I think the woodpeckers have been busy.  We'll be back to see them next year.

Oh What A Day, Part Two

 Here are some more loveliness from Matilda's Mouse.  Don't you just love the ribbons?

 Slice of a peak, set on it's side makes for a fun sail.

 There is so much to see.  Even in these photos I've noticed new things.

Don't you just love the handmade baseballs?  I wonder how those would hold up in a game?

You can't tell how fabulous this display was, but the colors were my favorite, red and turquoise!

 I love brown Transferware.  Wait, I love all colors of Transferware.

I just noticed the garden edging used on the curtain! Kathy, there's a spindle like we bought! Nope, there are two! I'll have to show you all what I bought on another post.

 My focus was wrong on this picture, but you get the idea.

 A fabulous two part barn door.  If I only had the place.

Beautiful roses said goodbye as we drove out to our next adventure.

Here is a little slice of country on our way to the Lavender Farm. We drove back and forth on this dirt road a few times before we finally found our destination, but we enjoyed the wildlife on our way.

Come back and visit the Lavender Farm tomorrow!