Celebrate Fall

My very favorite season has arrived!

Fall

I love the fall…the smell of leaves, the crisp morning air, comfy food, pumpkins, pumpkin lattes, Halloween, and Thanksgiving!…And pies, and apples, and campfires, and….The list goes on and on!

I thought I would bring in the season with a festive new theme and a fun fall picture 🙂

I so want to live at the end of that road…*sigh*

Well I can’t wait to bring you some fun fall inspired recipes and projects so stay tuned!

Please feel free to leave me suggestions!

Have a happy day!

♥♥♥

Samantha

Garden Party Baby Shower

A Garden Party/ Tea Party Baby Shower

I offered to throw a baby shower for a good friend of mine because frankly! I’ve been dying to throw a baby shower ever since my first child was born and I couldn’t plan my own because that’s obnoxious……Right?? Also this seems like the first peer of mine that I have had the pleasure of following along with during her pregnancy.

My second child brought forth a tea party inspired baby shower by my grandmother and my friend Olivia and it was such a beautiful idea that I wanted to recreate it. So I set to work with my co-host Julia on planning our tea party inspired baby shower.

Needless to say, we didn’t have hot tea because its like already summer here in Redding and I added in some food that just wasn’t so traditional for a tea party so  we ended up with  a beautiful Garden Party Baby Shower instead.

Garden Party Baby Shower

Honestly the yard made such a lovely backdrop to the party and the day was so beautiful I didn’t miss our traditional tea party idea at all 🙂

Julia picked up some awesome dollar store finds! Cute butterflies? Check! Cute Birdies? Check! Fun tissue paper garland? Check! We grabbed a nice flower garland from Joann Fabrics and I Cut some Roses from around the yard and a neighbor’s rose garden.

Rose bouquet

Petite Raspberry Vanilla Fairy Cakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I made my first ever diaper cake which was tons of fun. I chose pink and green ribbon, topped it with Johnson and Johnson bath products and attached toy clips for a simple but pretty display.

Diaper Cake

Little Birdie

For the menu we served some traditional tea party favorites like cucumber sandwiches and chocolate covered strawberries.  I added in some fun favorites of my own and a new idea I stole from another shower 😉 And of course! To add to the spirit of things I based as much of the food and drink as possible around fresh fruit…yum!

I served a Strawberry Blueberry Tea with lemon wedges on the side.

Strawberry Blueberry Iced Tea

Strawberry Blueberry Iced Tea with Lemon Wedges

 A delicious recipe for Jalapeno Poppers from a dear friend of mine

Jalapeno Poppers

Jalapeno Poppers

And the hit of the party! Cinnamon and Sugar Tortillas served with Berries and Cream.

Cinnamon and Sugar Tortillas with Berries and Cream

Cinnamon Tortillas with Berries and Cream

Also as if the cinnamon and sugar tortillas didn’t count as dessert I also served Raspberry Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate Covered Strawberries (complements of Julia). *note* I really didn’t mean to make that yellow so YELLOW, if you know what I mean.

Raspberry Lemon Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting

Petite Raspberry Vanilla Fairy Cakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Most of the games during the party didn’t take much focus to allow the guests to mingle and enjoy the day. Compliments of Julia once again, Every guest left with a thank you gift of professorial beauty samples in their own beauty bag because it’s always such a bummer not to win a prize. This way all the women felt special when they left 🙂 And of course the children enjoyed themselves too!!

♥The best part ♥

~Yum~

Have a Happy Day

♥♥♥

Samantha

I Enjoy Cooking

I enjoy cooking. That’s a simple fact. I love the art of it. The process of cutting, chopping, mixing, squishing, stirring, smelling, and tasting. I love watching people ooh and ah over it. I love the challenge of it. I love the therapeutic nature of it. But most of all I love eating it.

I grew up on mostly classic american meals and Italian cuisine until we moved from Upstate New York to Northern California and my mother discovered Asian and Mexican cooking. I fancied my mother a bit of a chef and I don’t think I ever heard a person eat my mother’s cooking and not exclaim on how delicious it was. Most of our family holidays and gatherings were based around preparing and eating food together. It only makes sense that now I enjoy cooking and eating elaborate meals with my family and friends.

Most of my cooking comes from altered recipes…I’m not so creative as to come up with entirely new recipes but I usually never follow something to the “T”. Most often I find a base recipe as my inspiration and then tweak it to my personal taste.  I enjoy cooking almost anything from fish tacos to panang curry much to my husbands delight :). Sometimes though you can’t beat a good old fashioned meatloaf much to my husband’s dismay :(. So I will try to always bring you a wide range of dishes and meals when time allows.

Please feel free to give me any feedback on my posts and recipes.