I don’t. But I do have a friend that makes great muffins! And she brought some to work this week. And instead of using the store-bought muffin liners or no liners at all…she used parchment paper. And they turned out so cute! Check these out:
So next time you’re makin’ some muffins, try out this idea. Thanks, Leslie!
Remember that picture from last week?
It was all stuff for a Bunco party which I hosted tonight! (Don’t know what Bunco is? Check out the Wikipedia page.) I found these napkins at Pier One and used these colors as my color pallet.
I found these cute little books at Michael’s and put them on each table for scorekeeping (rather than the standard piece of white paper):
I also made four drinks to color coordinate with the pallet:
I made a turquoise margarita (margaritas with blue curacao instead of triple sec), limeade, blackberry pomegranate soda, and cranberry sparklers (cranberry juice and champagne). I loved having funky drinks rather than the standard beer and wine!
The star of the evening was the “Sugar Bar” i set up.
Here’s a shot before the gals came:
And I forgot to take a pic from above so you could see all the fun colors, so here’s a pic after it had been picked over a bit 
I loved how turned out! So there you have it-Bunco night with This American Wife!
Oh, and last but not least, here’s a pic in the busy moment right before everyone showed up (taken by the hubby). I love to share these shots in addition to the final product!
My friends…I am happy to tell you that my beds are no longer empty! Remember how they looked just a few short days ago? If you have short term memory loss, like I sometimes do, here’s a refresher:
And now…they look something like this!
I was originally planning on putting something a little larger in here, but I ended up getting a great deal on these little guys. It was too good a deal to pass up (Read: FREE!!!). I decided that in a few weeks regardless of what kind of plants I put in here, I’ll probably just kill them, so I might as well save myself a few dollars. Now I won’t feel so guilty when I have to buy new plants in June!
Really though, I’m going to try my best to keep these puppies alive for as long as possible. Does anyone have any suggestions?
My Twenty Dollar Tuesday tip today (nice alliteration, right?)… Take that twenty dollars and go buy some flowers! Nothing makes a room warmer than having a bouquet of fresh flowers on the table. Especially when they’re there for no reason! Here’s a few of my favorites:
So go spend that $20 on some fabulous flowers this week! They’re a great addition to any room!
I have a new obsession. Well two new obsessions. Obsession number 1. These boots:
I’m not quite sure why I have a sudden obsession with cowboy boots. But one minute I was casually looking for a cheapo pair of cowboy boots to wear to a Western bar (long story), and the next thing I knew, I was utterly smitten with these puppies. Problem is…they’re $260, which is way more than I usually spend on shoes. I’m typically a Target/ Payless kind of shoe purchaser, so $260 is a bit out of my typical shoe purchasing comfort zone…plus there is the fact that I’m not really a cowboy boot wearing person. Either way, I’m smitten. I need someone to convince me that these are not a good investment. Because right now, all I can think about are these boots. Well, these boots AND
This stuff–Obsession number 2:
“That’s beadboard!” you say. And I say back to you “Ha ha!” Because you would be wrong! It’s beadboard wallpaper, available for a fraction of the cost of beadboard. It’s embossed, so you still get the texture of beadboard, but it’s much cheaper! Neato, eh? Here’s another pic:
Pretty awesome, eh? You can order it yourself here. Now think about how cool I would be if I wore those boots IN a newly beadboarded room…
When we moved into our house a year and a half ago, we were somewhat relieved to find that the previous owner left her window treatments. Since we were new homeowners who had recently purchased a washer/ dryer/ fridge/ bedroom set, we decided to keep the window treatments she left since they were okay, and leave that expense for another day. Well my friends, that day is here. And I couldn’t be more excited! Here’s what the windows in our living area looked like before:
The living room:
The dining room:
The kitchen:
Like I said, they aren’t awful, the rods and finials are on the ornate side, which doesn’t exactly jive with the rest of our style. And while I do like the red curtains, the green curtains don’t coordinate with anything else in our living area and they had definitely seen better days.
I ran to Pottery Barn and my hubby did the labor:
And this is what I have now!
Living Room:
Dining Room (I’m recycling the old curtains from the living room here…):
I love this print!!! I’ve never been brave enough to use a print on curtains in my home, and I was pretty nervous about it. But the nice thing about this little eating nook in our kitchen is that the decor in this room doesn’t change with the seasons as it does in the rest of the house, so I don’t have to worry about having the curtain coordinate with all my seasonal decor.
The other thing I really like is that you can see this room all the way from the front door, and it’s really quite striking to see this gorgeous print right when you walk into our home:
I just LOVE IT! I’m so excited to be able to cross this major purchase off of my list of wants for the house! Don’t you just love that feeling?!? Let me know what you think!
I’m excited to share some fun party ideas with you next week, and I thought I’d give you a sneak peak into what I’m working on:
What will I do with this random assortment of things?!? Stay tuned to find out!
Tonight, our officer spouses’ club held a farewell party for Amy, one of our members. I’m so sad to see her go! Amy requested that we hold her farewell dinner at a Japanese hibachi grill restaurant in town–so yummy! I wanted to make this dinner feel special, more than just your standard girls night out, so I pulled a few things together to bring to the restaurant and spruce it up.
First of all, I made a little hanging sign thingy for Amy’s chair. I just used blue and gold card stock and blue raffia that I already had on hang–super easy!
Next I bought little blue and gold star confetti to sprinkle on the table. This only cost a few dollars and really spruced up the tables. Lastly, I bought a star candy mold at Michael’s for $1.50 along with some blue and yellow melting chips. And last night, I made little chocolate stars which I packaged in these little cellophane bags and tied with raffia (which I also had on hand). I put these at each place setting.
So for under $10 I was able to create a few personal touches (or “good things” as Martha would say) that made this farewell dinner a little more special. Remember that just because you’re holding a dinner or party in a restaurant, doesn’t mean you can’t add your own flair!
Amy, we’ll miss you!!!
I’m working on a project (more details to come!) and visited the fabric store today. Fabric stores are a great place to find deals for you home! You can often purchase fabric remnants for a fraction of the price of fabric on the bolt. And yes, it’s usually under $20. You can use this fabric to make throw pillows/ curtains/ tablecloths, you name it! If you’re not comfortable with a sewing machine, you can frame fabric for unique wall art!
ALSO…I often forget that fabric stores are often great places to look for home decor! Many fabric stores have home decor departments!!! Who knew?!?
A few weeks ago, I went crazy and pulled out all the flowers out of my front flower beds! Now you should know that I use the term “flowers” pretty loosely, because really it was a bunch of dead leaves. The plants in this bed hadn’t really blossomed at all in the year and a half we’ve lived in this house. And over the past six months the leaves started turning brown and crunchy. Darn my brown thumb! Anywho, I decided that the “flowers” had to go. And now I’m left with this:
I’ve lived with this empty bed for a week or so now, and now I’m ready to plant. So I need a flowering plant that is:
1. Pretty
2. Able to complement with my creamy-colored house and red front door
3. Utterly indestructible (or at least very difficult to kill)
Does anyone have any thoughts for what I should plant that might meet those criteria? Keep in mind that I live in Southern California!