Our weekend {Halloween Edition}

We celebrated Halloween big time around here this weekend.   I love Halloween and all the festivities that go along with it.   You can read about all of our Halloween fun from last year in this post. 
Saturday evening my friend Sabrina had her annual Halloween Party. It's always a lot of fun!  This year I did a group costume with some friends.  We were the Bridesmaids from the movie Bridesmaids.  

Here was our take on the costumes.   My BFF Rachael lent me the most unflattering hot pink dress (amazon sent her one in the wrong size) but it was free so I wore that.  We got together one day last week to make our flower arrangements.  We got our flowers at the Dollar Tree.  We all wore hidious white shoes (I got mine on amazon) and did our hair and makeup ourselves.  

Sabrina had amazing food and drinks and it was a fun party!  Here is all of us.  I love the creativity that everyone had when picking our their costumes.  It was a fun night.  

I left Sabrina's and headed to my favorite bar/supper club to their Halloween party.  I was one of the guest bartenders for their Halloween party on Saturday night.    Here I am with the other guest bartenders and the owners are in the middle.  I called my drink the "jack ass" because it was a fall take on one  of my favorite drinks-the Moscow mule.  

The four of us each made a different drink.  We started serving them at 8pm and didn't stop until 10 when they announced the winner.  I tasted all of the drinks and it was fun to see what everyone came up with.  I didn't count my drinks but I probably made about 200 little drinks during the night so people could taste them.  

Here was my view from the stage the place was packed!  It was so fun.

My friends came to try my drink.  My dear friend Stephanie (our bride) was the winner last year.  I was so happy that I won this year's contest!  I wanted to create a drink that everyone liked so I was thrilled to win.  It was a fun night.  

Sunday evening we had our neighbors over for a weenie roast and pumpkin carving.   The kids decorated pumpkins and I got to chat with two of my neighbors and friends Heidi and Kelly.  They both live so close to me but it's crazy that I don't see them that often.  It was nice to catch up with them.  We all had a great time and I think it will become an annual tradition for us.     It was fun watching Grace carve her first ever pumpkin!

We had a great weekend full of Halloween fun!

Xoxo

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday Friends!  I’m so happy it’s Friday .  It’s been a loonngggg week.  We have some fun things planned for this weekend and I’m happy to get the weekend started.  Today I’m linking up with Andrea, Erika and Narci to share my favorites.

1.  One thing I did this week was give up Diet Coke. This is definitely NOT a favorite but I think it’s going to be better for me in the long run.  Since I’ve been on WW I’ve noticed that I’ve been drinking more diet cokes-up to 6 a day which is so gross.  Also as I’m getting older I’m more sensitive to caffeine and if I drink them too late it keeps me up at night.   I know they aren’t healthy for me so I decided to go cold turkey on Sunday.  The first few days were rough.  I was crabby and sooooo tired but things have been better the last few days. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.  

2.  Graig and I went to a dinner on campus Tuesday night because the College was hosting a visiting chef.  We had an amazing meal.  It was honestly one of the best meals I’ve ever had.  The chef was named Mai Pham from Vietnam and she has written three cookbooks and has been on Martha Stewart and a few food network specials.  

3.  My small business Branch and Bloom, that I own with my friend Rachael is making 150 ornaments for my sister.  She needs them for the faculty members that work with her office at Baylor.  She wants these ornaments mid-November so I’ve been trying to do a few each night.  It’s been a fun project to work on! 

4.  For Halloween I’m going to be a bridesmaid with my friends.  They got together on Tuesday (while I was out to dinner with G) and made these bouquets for us.  My friend Rachael had a hot pink dress that she gave me that I am going to wear.  It's going to be fun to dress up together. 

5.  My friend Sabrina is having her annual Halloween party and then after that we are all headed to the B-side for their Halloween party.  I’m one of the guest bartenders and I created a speciality cocktail called the “jackass” as my drink.  The jackass is a fall take on a Moscow mule.  I’ll post the recipe soon.  My friends helped me pick my drink last week.

Sabrina's party starts at 5pm and the B-Side party starts at 8pm.  If I'm lucky I'll be home in bed by 10pm.  This is totally me-ha ha!

6. Wednesday night I tried a great new restaurant in Binghamton called Craft.  They had the most amazing shakes (I got cookies and cream) and sliders and fries.  I went with Rachael and we went shopping and then met up with her life long BFF and had dinner at Craft.  It was a fun night!

7.  The YMCA where I work is starting a new class called Arial Yoga.  I tried it last night and it was so fun.  It was a challenging class.  I even did some inversions!  I want to try it again.

I hope you have a fabulous weekend filled with all kinds of Halloween Fun. 
Xoxo

My fall brunch

Last Sunday I invited all of my friends over for my 3rd annual fall brunch.  I just love having this event every year! It’s a great way for me to catch up with all my friends and for us to spend some time together.   I made a few breakfast casseroles and some apple crisp and my friends each made a dish to pass.  My best  friend Rachael made 6 lbs. of bacon for me.  We have a deal that when I have a brunch she makes the bacon and when she has a brunch I make the bacon.  That way you get the delicious bacon everyone loves without stinking up your house.  I also had a Bloody Mary and Mimosa bar which was fun.

I made a double batch Trisha Yearwood’s breakfast sausage casserole.  This was a big hit!   You can find the recipe here.  I also made this veggie casserole.  Both of these were easy and SO good.  I will definitely make both again!!

The Apple Crisp is a recipe I’ve had for years.  I posted it on my blog many, many years ago.  You can find the recipe here.

For the Bloody Mary bar I made a pitcher of Bloody Marys ahead of time.  One of my friends kept remaking them during the party.  Unfortunately, I did not take pictures of my bar area during the party but I used Zing Zang Bloody Mary mix and Tito’s vodka.  I used 8 cups of Zing Zang with 2 cups of vodka.  I also had olives, hot sauce, pepper  horseradish, and celery for people to add to their Bloody Marys. For the Mimosa bar we mixed pineapple and/or orange juice with champagne.  I had strawberries and raspberries for garnish.

I set up the bar area in our office.  Here is what it looks like on a normal day :-)  Unfortunately, I did not get a good picture of it during the party.

I put an extra table on my deck and one in the yard for people to sit at.  For centerpieces I used a mix of arrangements I made in the week leading up to my brunch.  

Everyone brought a dish to pass so we had a TON of food.  We ate and chatted and had the best morning/afternoon.  I love my friends so much!!!

  For the past two years I have had a scarf exchange.  You can read about my 216 brunch here and my 2017 brunch here.  This year I mixed it up and had a fall decor swap. Here is how we did it:  

1.  Everyone drew a number and picked a present based on their number. 

2.  When it’s your turn you can open a new gift or take  a gift from someone else.  If you take someone else’s gift they get to choose a new gift.  Once a gift has been stolen twice it’s done and the person who has that gift keeps it. 

3.  At the end the first person can choose a gift from anyone (just not those gifts they have already been stolen twice)

Ava wrote out the numbers for me and handed them out.  We all had a good time playing and everyone was happy because they left a fun fall item.

Me with my Ava 

I just love my fall brunch tradition.  It’s a great way to spend a Sunday.   I hope you’ve had a great week.

Xoxo

Crafty Wednesday {Fall/Halloween Decor}

I just love decorating for each holiday.   Decorating for fall is one of my favorites!  I usually decorate the hutch in our dining room and put a few other decorations out.  I don't go too crazy and I do more "FALL" decorating instead of "HALLOWEEN" decorating.  I put our decorations out and keep them up until Thanksgiving.  I don't decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving is over.  I really want to enjoy the fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving season before rushing into Christmas.

I got one new thing this year.  I got this tray from Magnolia Market and put it on our dining room table.  I love low centerpieces that you can leave on the table when you have meals.  High centerpieces always get in the way.  I will use this piece all year long.  I just love it!  and the best part is that it was only $20!!  I put real mini pumpkins in it.  

My favorite place to decorate in the fall is my hutch.  It's in our dining room and its right in the center of our house and we are always passing by this little corner so I like to make it festive and fun.  Again, I like more fall decorating rather than Halloween

I made these Hello Fall Signs a couple of years ago and I love getting it out every year. This is mine in our house.  I have it in our living room.

I also made one for a friend that moved to Atlanta Georgia she sent me this picture of her sign this week in her kitchen. It was so great to hear from her and I'm so happy that she's still using it!

I cut some hydrangea at the end of the summer and they have dried out now and look great on our mantle.

I have a little desk area set up in our living room where I work on my crafts, organize bills, etc. and I added a couple of fall things there.  I got both of these things years ago at Hobby Lobby.  I saw the sign this year at Hobby Lobby but I didn't see the pumpkin.  I always love getting these two things out each and every year.

Those are my fall touches for this year.  I just love this time of year.    I hope you are enjoying all things fall this week.
Xoxo

Our weekend

We had a busy and fun weekend!

Friday night I went to Rachael’s to watch the Dodgers play.  My friend Vicki’s nephew Cody plays for the Dodgers.  He has played on the team for two years and we’ve gone to watch him play both summers. Last year they went to the World Series and I hope they go again this year.  Whenever there is a big game we like to get together and watch it.  Here is a pic  from Friday night.

And here are some pics from our time watching him play in Cleveland

And in DC

2 because this was our second game of the day.  The Dodgers had a double header when we saw him play in DC because of a rainout.  

This was a cool little stat that MLB put out on facebook yesterday.

I hope he has a long career!  I love watching him play.

I had to work all day at Emerging Leaders which is a leadership conference for freshman and sophomore students.  Right after Emerging Leaders I got in the car and headed to Albany to meet my friends and Ava for the Justin Timberlake concert.  We have been so excited about going to this concert. It was an amazing show.  We had great seats and had the best time dancing the night away at the concert.  

After the concert Ava and I went home because we had to be up bright and early on Sunday to work at the basketball fundraising breakfast. Ava and her teammates worked hard to raise money for their team.  I made a fall themed basket with a couple of other moms from the team.  I think it turned out really cute and the lady that won it was THRILLED.  

 Here are the JV and V girls all together at the breakfast.  These girls are so sweet and I hope they have the best year playing together. 

After the breakfast we went home and got ready for the week.  I cleaned up our house a little bit and worked on a couple of crafts for the upcoming Holiday Market.

 

I hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Xoxo