Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! 

Hope everyone has a safe and fun night -- filled with little cuties in costumes and lots of candy! 

PS How pretty is this bedazzled pumpkin?  I spotted it while shopping browsing & dreaming here, and had to share!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

People all over town are wearing orange & black. But it isn't for Halloween! 

I am so excited for my husband. 

Today he is living out one of his childhood dreams: seeing his team play in the World Series. 

In honor of this big day, I've visited a few of my go-to sites online to find the best caramel corn Peanuts & Cracker Jacks recipes. 

This snack is baseball-appropriate, and fall-appropriate! So check these out, even if you aren't watching the game. 

1. Paula Deen's Caramel Corn

2. The Jiffy® Pop Baked Caramel Corn recipe, via Rachael Ray's Everyday

3. Deluxe Caramel Corn by Taste of  Home

4. Martha Stewart's Crunchy Caramel Corn

Hungry yet? 

Gooooooooo Giants!

I am Loving: Etsy Trick or Treat Bowls

We don't get many trick-or-treaters at our house, but I still think its important to have a cute bowl for candy.  I've been keeping my eye out in stores, but haven't seen anything that I loved. 

Of course when I turned to Etsy, I found lots of cute ones! 

Image credits & shopping guide: 

Orange & Black Felted Boo Bowl, Shabby Chic Wooden Bowl, Orange Fabric Bowl, Smiling Jack-O-Lantern Gourd Bowl, Black & White Felted Boo Bowl

Monsters Inc. Cake

I was asked to make birthday treats for Jack's 3rd Birthday by his Grandma. 

His party his tomorrow & I spent the morning making cupcakes and a little cake for him. 

I know how we all feel about character parties...but Jack really wanted Mike from Monsters Inc. on his cake. Who is a Grandma to argue with that? :)

Happy Birthday Jack!

I love any excuse to play with my cake decorating stuff -- such a nice way to start a weekend if you ask me!

Rustic Wine-Themed Dessert Table

Yesterday I told you about the wedding of my friends Eddie & Andrea. 

I'm was so excited to help with their dessert table.  Especially when Andrea and I discussed our vision for the table. We decided on a rustic wine theme with touches of purple. 

I love the rustic look, so I jumped all over this! 

The venue had several rustic looking wood tables, so we used one of those and decided against any linens.  

I used tall apothecary jars filled with wine corks and a tall flower arrangement (provided by Andrea's florist) as a centerpiece for the table. 

 I also made some cork frames for the table... Love Is Sweet.

A cork frame was placed by the to-go boxes, which were stacked on a wine barrel next to the table. 

I used a variety of glass vessels, tiered stands, and cake stands to hold the desserts.  I also used two vintage wooden milk crates, which held wine bottles.  I had hard plastic cut to place on the top to make it safe to put edibles on.  I think these were fun statement pieces on the table. 

The desserts consisted of: 

Milk chocolate balls, grape gummy bears, and grape lollipops {from Candy Warehouse}

Red velvet cupcakes, chocolate mousse cups, and fruit tarts {provided by the Lodge at Sonoma}

Chocolate chip cookies {from Bi-rite}

And peanut butter cake pops {by me!}

My cake pops were a hit! I've made them several times, and these were definitely my best ones yet. Andrea asked for peanut butter cake pops.  Why didn't I think of this before?! 

I used Christi of P is for Party's recipe (from her other blog -- here), which basically calls for adding peanut butter to boxed cake and store-bought frosting.  I used yellow cake, and vanilla butter cream frosting.  Easy & delicious!  The pops reminded me of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. 

And aren't they cute with their little purple bows? :)

Photos by Lindsay Kanetomi
Thanks for letting me do this Eddie & Drea! I had a great time!

Real Party: Tying the Knot in Wine Country

I've been talking about this wedding for months now, and this past weekend it finally happened. It exceeded all my expectations. 

The venue was amazing, the food was great, and the party was fabulous. Most of all, the bride & groom seemed thrilled. 

Due to arriving late, I didn't have a great seat to take pictures at the ceremony.  It was a nice ceremony, with an adorable flower girl who took her job of dropping fall leaves down the aisle very seriously.

Here's one pic of the bride leaving the church.

image via Alexis Davies on Facebook 
Can we talk about how beautiful that dress is?

The reception took place at the beautiful Lodge at Sonoma, in the heart of California's wine country.  

We started with a cocktail hour with passed appetizers on the lawn.

The happy couple made their grand entrance. 

Dinner was served at long tables on the lawn. With the lights overhead, the centerpieces, chalkboard table names, and the custom menus that doubled as place cards...it was perfect.

Leslie must have said something funny as I look like I might die here!

As the sun went down, the courtyard became more and more beautiful.  But with those lights, they could have just thrown some blankets on the ground and I would have said it was beautiful. 

After dinner and toasts, everyone headed inside for dancing & dessert.

All other photos by Lindsay Kanetomi

 As I mentioned earlier this week, I did the dessert table for the wedding.
I'll be back with all the details soon...stay tuned!

In case you are new around here...I posted about Drea's bachelorette party here, and about her bridal shower here and here. 

Sneak Peak: Rustic Wine-Themed Dessert Table

I attended a beautiful wedding over the weekend.  And I was thrilled to do the dessert table.  

I'll be back soon with lots of wedding details and the full deal on this dessert table. 

For now...a little sneak peak of the cake pops (which were delicious!) -- can't wait to share what was inside!

Why does Monday always come so fast...?  Even more so after a fun weekend, don't you agree?

Real Party: Fall Dinner Party

My friend Lindsay & her husband had a few couples over for dinner this weekend.  Of course I had to snap a few pictures of her cute presentation.  

Homey fall tablescape. 

Love those napkin rings!

Gourds centerpieces!

The delicious spread! Fish tacos, recipes based on those in from Sunset Magazine.

Yummy salsas & sauces.

Individual apple crisps for dessert.  Lindsay used this recipe.

Served with icecream!

Fall Decorations

Fall has officially hit my house! 

My new addition to the decor this year are these vine pumpkins from Crate & Barrel.  I love they way they look on my mantel!

Pretty fall flowers and acorns on the table.

 Mini gourds in a glass jar.  I was disappointed with the lack of white pumpkins available at my grocery store. Maybe next year...

And the entry way...you might remember the Halloween frames that I made last year (If not, click here), my rustic Trick or Treat sign, and a pumpkin!

Happy Fall!

You can see my fall-decorated house from last year  here. 

Breakfast Recipe From a Sweet Girls' Weekend

This past weekend my 2nd Annual Girls Weekend in Portland, OR.
(I talked about my last one here). 

We had a blast again! 

Saturday my friend Stephanie and I were in charge of breakfast.  We used one of Martha's recipes, and it was a huge hit. 

One of the girls like them so much, she is using them for a shower this coming weekend.  The are perfect for a brunch shower because they are easy, tasty, and CUTE. 

Martha's recipe for these Bacon, Egg, & Toast Cups is here. 

We followed Martha's recipe fairly closely, but we used white bread.  Another friend has made these in the past with wheat bread, and we all agreed they turned out better with the squishiest white bread we could find. (think Wonder Bread!)  In the little house that we rented there weren't cookie cutters to cut the bread so I traced a round tupperware container with a knife to get the bread the right size. 

We served 2 per person.  With some fruit on the side, it made a nice breakfast. 

They gave us plenty of energy for a day full of shopping!

Though we weren't short on energy with all the treat sampling we did that day! 

A few girls waited in a loooooong line for these famous donuts.

(This is a must-do activity if you visit Portland)

We sampled some cookies from here.  Delicious. 

 After lunch here we took a slice of cake to go, which everyone shared later in the day. To die for good. Check out their website for a list of all the amazing desserts this little place makes.  

 

 

I can't wait until next year!

Book Club Dinner

My friends Lindsay, Katie, and I were in charge of dinner at our latest Book Club meeting. 

This month's book was: 

We made a light Asian-inspired meal and it was quite yummy! 

Appetizers

Edamame and...

...Japanese rice crackers.

Dinner

Chinese Chicken Salad and... 
(this was my contribution -- based on this recipe)

...Wonton soup. 

(by Lindsay)

Dessert

Green tea frozen yogurt with raspberry preserves & mint. Topped with a crisped Wonton wrapper.

(by Katie)

Next month's book: 

I love book club!