Friday, December 10, 2010

Christmas Brunch

The photos for this are not the greatest, so I apologize. It was a pretty "by the seat of my pants" brunch in comparison to my typical "planning" nature. I think I had just come back from a nice Thanksgiving break and rather than get organized and plan, I dove right into work and spent the rest of my free time socializing with everyone I missed while I was out of town! So, I'm ashamed to admit that as of 2am the morning of the brunch, my Christmas tree was up in my living room - with no lights or decorations, my table wasn't set and I didn't even have napkins! I did, however, have all of the food prepared (with the help of my amazing roommate!) and in the fridge...ready to pop in the oven. That's my kind of brunch :).  So, I went to bed at 3:30, slept until 7:30 and then got up to get to work!  In 3 short hours we decorated the tree, purchased napkins, decorated the table and put the food in the oven so that by the time the guests arrived - it was ready to go!


I should have taken better pictures of the centerpiece...although in the moment it wasn't my proudest work, so I didn't feel the need to focus on it.  Well, regardless of that, it's a good concept to use when you just need to "use what you have" and make it work.  I took a bouquet of flowers from Wal-mart and cut the stems off of each bud.  I then used my water glasses/tumblers, placing the flowers underneath (somewhat of a "magnify" effect) and around them - and then put some votives on top.  You could do this with stemware or any type of glassware (colored glass would be even more amazing!) and it gives a nice, simple, and most importantly...cost-effective centerpiece.  Not the most glamorous, but it worked!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Pilgrim Hats

While visiting my family in Arizona over Thanksgiving, my cutie-patootie nieces and nephew had only one request...to bake with Aunt Trishie. Now, I'll be honest, I was a bit "baked out" from my own Thanksgiving the previous week and then the "real" Thanksgiving while I was visiting...but seriously, how could you say no to those sweet faces?! I was more than happy to do a fun little baking project with them. We created "Pilgrim Hats" of sorts. I'm sure if you used a chocolate cookie it would be a little more realistic, but I'm a sucker for a peanut butter cookie (and it also washes out of clothes a little easier ;)). We all tied on our aprons and went to work...dumping, mixing, rolling, smashing...meanwhile trying desperately not to lick the cookie-dough-goodness off our fingers. Seeing them enjoy their "hard work" after those cookies came out of the oven...priceless.