RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE COOKIE CREATION...

I hosted a wedding shower recently, and had asked the bride what kind of goodies she liked.  We tried to make all her wishes come true with this spread!  She said she liked Chocolate chip cookies and berries.  

We had blonde brownies, chocolate chip cookies, berry cups, pink flower sugar cookies, and raspberry cheesecake cookies! I had the idea for raspberry cheesecake cookies when I tried a new icing recipe with cream cheese in it, and it seemed way too rich.  Then I decided to try it on a very plain sugar cookie and topped it with a raspberry and Voila!  Raspberry cheesecake cookies.  They were pretty and delicious!  Here's the recipes:

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

8 oz. cream cheese

2 sticks butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 3/4 cup flour

1 t. almond extract 

Mix all ingredients and chill overnight.  Roll out and cut into shapes.  Bake on middle rack in a 400 degree oven for 7-8 minutes.  Try not to let the edges brown.  Frost when cooled. 

I used this recipe for frosting from Pinterest and added a few drops of red food coloring into it to get the pink hue.  I used an M tip and piped it onto the cookies in a rosette shape.  These cookies do need to be refrigerated because of the cream cheese in the frosting.  

Finally, about an hour before the party, I rinsed raspberries and let them dry on a paper towel.  Then I carefully pushed one into the middle of each cookie.  They were beautiful and tasty with the tart raspberry and the sweet cream cheese frosting on the plain shortbread type cookie.

The whole table - I got this fun picture with the groom and all the hostesses!  He had arrived before the bride at the start of the shower and we thought it was funny.  They're a sweet couple.  

 

BEAUTIFUL HOSPITALITY...

Recently The Hubs and I were the recipients of some really beautiful hospitality!  I mean, our hosts REDEFINED THE WORD!

We decided to go on a long road trip (to Maine) without a lot of prior planning.  The Hubs got laid off his job, which I haven't blogged about yet.  But he had the time and the hotel points, so we decided to go.  He wanted to go to Maine to see a co-worker who had extended the invitation to come to Portland.  So, we did!

They treated us like ROYALTY.  I mean, seriously.  I had never met his wife, and she hugged me upon meeting me, and we got along wonderfully.  She cooked a wonderful dinner the night we arrived.  Our room had fresh flowers in it and chocolates on the night stand.  Plus, a gift on the bed of Maine ball caps for us to wear.  So sweet!  There was a white starfish in every room, I think.  It was her signature.  I noticed on two screen doors on the back the white starfish was in the frame of the door.  Coastal charm!

The next day we were out until the afternoon, and when we got in, our friend took us out to see lighthouses.  He also told us about a great bakery that we should stop at in the morning - and we did!  Great to get tips from a local!  For dinner we all went out to one of their favorite fish restaurants, Scales, right on the wharf.  IT. WAS.AMAZING!  I tried 3 new kinds of fish that night:  Octopus, Haddock, and Mussels.  The sauces were so good!  Definitely the best fish I've ever had.

   

We stayed two nights, but it felt like much more.  You know, hospitality doesn't mean you have to put out fresh flowers and chocolates.  It's more about having an attitude of love.  We have offered beds to many throughout the years, but I have to say it's never been on this level.  I hope as long as we can offer hospitality to others, we will.  Maybe I will step up my game after this lovely stay, though!

I will forever LOVE PORTLAND, MAINE, because of this wonderful couple! 

LEMON-Y PARTY FAVORS...

27 door prizes quick and cheap?  I've got one for you!  Lemonade mix in a jar!  After taking on this task, I was really pleased to find these can be made for under $2 each!  Everything was bought at good old Walmart because I didn't have time to really do anything else.  I did check some prices online at other stores, but this was kind of a fun challenge for me to just peruse the aisles at Walmart to see what would work in a pinch.

Lemonade mix in a decorated jar supplies:

24 half-pint canning jars

200 oz. Country Time lemonade mix

24 labels or key tags

24 rubber bands

fabric, ribbon

All you do is funnel the mix into the jars, then cut the fabric into circles larger than the lid.  Learn from my mistake - don't try to use hot glue for the fabric on the lid, just rubber band it on!  Then tie your ribbon and key tag on it.  I did actually make 27 but I knew I had a few jars leftover from something else, so I didn't have to buy another 12 pack of jars.

PROPOSAL PARTY...

We are starting off the New Year with a bang!  Our youngest is engaged!  It's been a whirlwind since he met Miss Right.  They go to the same school but didn't really know each other until last summer, when they were both in New Reign, a singing group, and traveled together with the group recruiting for the college.

He's been planning ever since then and popped the question Saturday night.  It was at our home and her parents flew in from Portland.  Another brother came in from Denver and a sister from Las Vegas.  She has another brother and sis-in-law that live here.  So lots of love and travel went into this event.

He popped the question at our house, because there's a construction project they've already been working on in progress in our driveway... a tiny house!  Kinda crazy, especially since the walls have just gotten up over Christmas break, but they knew they both wanted to live in a tiny house and are both really hard workers and decided to make it happen.  With the help of some family and friends, he decorated it inside and asked her "come see something." With brother being the photographer, he proposed while we were all hiding inside our house to surprise her.  It turned out great!

Our son wanted me to make a fajita dinner and I'm so glad he suggested it because we got to really talk and relax with most everyone - not like being at a restaurant.  HERE is my favorite recipe that I found a couple of years ago and love.  I made it along with all the trimmings, and also some special cookies made with cookie cutters that look like them!  It was a fun night.  

The cookie cutters were a Christmas gift our son gave to them, so I had to try to use them!  You send in a picture and they are made out of plastic.  I think they really look like them!  No lie, they weren't easy to use, but they turned out!

Friends

Mom helped me!

A home-made gift from a roommate!

Decorations in the tiny house

The parents and the happy couple!

CHRISTMAS GIVING GAME...

This Christmas we ended up hosting three parties - yes, I planned it that way!  My philosophy is if you decide to do one, you might as well do more!  Once the house is decorated and cleaned you really don't have to do much more for the other parties.

We wanted to play a different game - no, we didn't throw out Dirty Santa.  We played this one in addition to it.  We always like to warm people up with a few fast games, before Dirty Santa comes into play and some people turn crazy!

I found this game on Pinterest and we just added to it.  I supplied 20 dollar store-type gifts, wrapped. (With the first party we actually only played this game with $5 generic gifts they brought) With the Roll the Dice game, after playing it with two groups of 20 people, we found both times as we went round the circle taking turns rolling the dice to see whether you would pass the gift right or left, or open, etc. there seemed to be one number you either got stuck on, or hardly ever rolled.  So after two rounds, we would declare the next person to roll a ________, whatever had not been rolled much, would be the end of the game.

The TWIST we added after the end and let everyone open, if it wasn't already, was this:  We gave the "Christmas is about giving" speech.  We told everyone they just thought the gift they just opened was theirs.  Now, we will go around the circle and give your gift to someone you think would like it.  We went one at a time, so everyone could see what the mysterious gifts were they had been feeling as they went around the circle.  It was fun and added another dimension to the game.  Some men who got kitchen-y gifts were giving theirs to the ladies and the ladies who ended up with a beef jerky stick gladly gave to a man.  :)  There were a few toys in there for the one pre-teen and he raked in several gifts as a result.  The few who didn't get one were okay with it, you see, they didn't have their gift very long anyway.  For the first party where they supplied the $5 gifts, we did say to look around the circle to see who didn't have a gift yet so everyone did take a gift home.

Hope I explained it well!  It was kind of hard to take pictures while keeping the game going!

HAVE FUN PLAYING YOUR CHRISTMAS GAMES!

GARDEN GRADUATION PARTY...

My niece Lauren graduated from college last week, and I was honored to be asked to host the party for the family!  My SIL did most of the work for it but when I found out she would be using a floral theme, I was excited to add some of my own goodies to it!  It was a beautiful day weather-wise, and a beautiful party, for a beautiful graduate!  

I've used these paper flowers for a lot of parties the last year, and I love them on my front door - I may just leave them up for a while.

My SIL made this pretty backdrop for the cake and gift table!

 The happy graduate!

 We ate a delicious Mexican meal with family outside on the patios.

My daughter took this from an upstairs window.  Everything's so green!

This old door has been used for a women's ministry decoration and now I have it sitting in the woods like the door to a secret garden.  :)  This is my niece (college grad) with her brother (who will graduate from high school in a month)!

COUPLES SHOWER...

We hosted a couples shower recently, and had a really good evening!  A couple in our Bible class are getting married after many years of not being married.  We wanted to show them our love and have an opportunity to get the men in our class to get to know the groom better.  

We didn't want to be too fussy about this  so here's what we came up with for a menu:   Cowboy caviar with frito Scoops, a cheese tray, chocolate cake balls, mixed nuts, and white cake with lemon buttercream icing and sugared blackberries.  I was in a real dilemma about how much to make but this turned out great. Drinks were simple - we served fruity water and decaf coffee.  

The A & K blocks I made from leftover wood blocks that I painted, sanded and stained - bought the chipboard letters from Hobby Lobby and painted them, then hot glued them onto the block.  Kind of shabby chic like the bride's style!

We also played a game I called "My Two Cents," which was a combination of things - the Paper Airplane game from the retreat (which I just realized I never blogged about - boy, am I behind) and wedding advice.  Everyone was asked to take a paper, then fill it out while the bride opened her gifts.  It had these sentences to complete:

My name is_________________.

I met the bride/groom at _____________________.

My best advice for the couple is _________________________.

The couple should take a honeymoon trip to ___________________.

Their next big project will be ___________________________.

We then folded them into paper airplanes and tossed them for a minute, continuing to pick up whatever one lands close to you and tossing again.  Then each person had to introduce whoever's airplane they ended up with and read one of the sentences on it.  It was a fun combination of advice and laughter - and made for some fun reading when the couple looked at them later, I'm sure!  

OUR GARDEN PARTY REHEARSAL DINNER...

Just got a chance to sit down for a moment after a whirlwind of events:  hosting our son's rehearsal dinner and then helping with the flowers for the wedding!  It was crazy but fun. You only do this once!

We wanted to have the rehearsal dinner in our backyard, and were so pleased that the weather cooperated.  I tried all summer to get grass to grow in some of the shady spots, paid special attention to all the flower beds, etc.  I figured out closer to the date that it would be dusk and none of that would matter!  Ha!  I also decided if there were weeds showing in the flower beds that it would be time for a little mulch.  Other than that we hung lots of lights, I borrowed almost everything, including lots of cobalt blue glass from my mother, my aunt, and my friend to make some beautiful tables!  We had the food catered:  Italian chicken, pork chops, salad, fancy mac-n-cheese, vegetable medley, and bread and butter. I made all my son's favorite desserts since his bride had no preferences:  banana layer cake, lemon bars, and blonde brownies!  I was pretty pleased with the cakes!  Take a look: