Beauty and the Brawn

Fall Dinner Party - Entertaining

7:38:00 PM

There is something about breaking bread with family and friends that makes entertaining special. We hosted a simple fall dinner with my sister Sandi and her family. Over the years, I have come to realize making as much food as possible ahead of time, is the key. I made the Chicken Piccata, Twice Baked Potatoes and Crème Brule the night before. This not only allows me to enjoy the evening but makes for an all around relaxing night.

Menu

Chicken Piccata: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/214488/lemon-chicken-piccata/
Twice Baked Potato: http://www.browneyedbaker.com/best-twice-baked-potatoes-recipe/
Salad with artichokes: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/16418/salad-with-artichokes/
Roasted Asparagus: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/214931/oven-roasted-asparagus/
Crème Brulee: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/19165/creme-brulee/

MANGIARE, BERE ED ESSERE FELICI!

Pat's Pick This Week - Bean Box

11:34:00 AM

I LOVE coffee and I'm always up to trying anything new. I was sent the "Sampler Box" from the Bean Box which had four different hand picked coffee beans. The sampler box included both bold and lighter beans. My favorite were the bold blends and the lighter blends were Gary's pick. The company has gift options, monthly subscriptions, coffee of the month and even corporate gifts. There are always people on your Christmas or birthday lists that are hard to buy for....this is a great choice!
Check out their website: https://beanbox.co/

The sampler box with instructions

The smell was amazing and the taste was rich and bold

Three Speckled Hens Show & Fun Finds

1:16:00 PM

Every fall we look forward to taking a road trip to visit Paso Robles and the famous "Three Speckled Hen Show". This year we paid for early bird tickets and it was totally worth it, in fact, in our opinion, it's the only way to go. The early birds enter between 8am and 10am. The others can enter at 10am. We got there about 8:20 and it was pretty crowed. By the time 10am rolled around, it was almost impossible to look through each vendor's products because of the crowds. I love coming home with new treasures!

These are available for rent - $20

We didn't need one because I have Gary and he's free (sort of)

Gary will do anything for his girls. Here he is showing Sharla the height of the Grocery sign.

Unfortunately, this isn't going to work for her. I wish it would work for me. It was beautiful.

Old Chicken Feeders - Gary has big plans for these.

Old Olive Buckets - Don't you just love the patina?

Deer Antlers - Gary has an idea. Let's see how it turns out.

Of course I couldn't leave without these fun gourds. I'll share with my daughter in law who hosts Thanksgiving with her family each year.

IT'S FALL Y'ALL

7:45:00 PM

It's officially fall! We always look forward to the cooler weather, football, family dinners, a nice fire in the fire place, hot chocolate and cozying up with a soft blanket and a good book......It's also that time to add sprinkles of fall through out the house.

                                         "EVERY LEAF SPEAKS BLISS TO ME.
                                     FLUTTERING FROM THE AUTUMN TREE"
                                                         Emily Bronte

Storage Room Re-do (and my ugly truths)

8:14:00 PM

When we purchased our home which was built in 1964, the blue prints showed this small room (I guess they can call it a room because it has a window) as a "sewing room". And if you know me, I have zero patience, so sewing was out of the question. We called it the "craft room". In reality is was a room where we stored STUFF with no rhyme or reason. It was OUT OF CONTROL.

We finally had a few weeks to dig into this project. I designed and Gary built. I decided I needed a place to store the usual; candles, votives, vases, paint, glue, glue guns....you get the picture. However the one thing I wanted the most was a place to wrap gifts. That meant a place for wrapping paper, bags, tissues and ribbon. Gary knocked it out of the ball park, again!!

This is what I learned which I call my Dirty Truths:

1. I may have a slight case of hoarding.
2. I'm obsessed with ribbon, gift bags and wrapping paper.
3. I found brand new items that I have never used and have no intention of ever using. I guess my daughter in laws, the church or having a yard sale will fix that.
4. I don't remember when or why I bought a bazillion decoration pieces.

I'm chalking up the dirty truths to the OLD craft room that was OUT OF CONTROL!

We hope this inspires you to take a look your storage area that needs some help. Just realize, you may uncover your "Dirty Truths".