First I just want to say a super huge thanks to my sister-in-law Robin who came to my rescue for the rosary I hosted at my house a few Thursdays ago. Robin gave me a dinner course and a dessert which I am very excited about cooking. I wasn't able to make either one because I was in a terrible time crunch and the meat had gone bad! I ended up making my black bean soup featured earlier in this blog. Click here. It was a huge success and I was super proud of my stealth-like cooking skills. I made my soup and fantasic green onion and artichoke dip in just under an hour. I was, well, a complete mess as my relatives arrived at 6:30 but no one seemed to notice that I managed to splash black been soup all over my sweater. I didn't even remember putting a head band flower in my hair. I guess I was in serious focus mode or maybe its just a bad habit. Who knows? I've posted the pictures from this gathering below. :) There was absolutely no soup left, so I'll check that off as successful.
My mom and me....and my crazy flower headband that I can get enough of.
My uncles enjoying the black bean soup!
Everyone in the kitchen likes it too!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------I had a birthday.
It was really lovely. Very busy. And fun.
On Sunday (my birthday-eve), I went over to my friend, Elizabeth Ray's for a Southern themed Easter party.
I wore a flower dress and flower head band. (I can't get enough of flower head bands). All the other girls wore bonnets some with flowers and some with stripes.
We sipped Mimosas, we brought our finest dishes, and we ate with delightful pink plastic forks on Easter inspired paper plates. The hostess with the mostess sported a pretty bonnet that was certainly enviable. She toted around a china tea cup filled to the brim with mimosa. :)
We feasted on our Thanksgiving-like meal till our bellies hurt and moved our party down the stairs and outside to enjoy the spring weather. We talked in Southern accents. Gossiped non-stop while lounging on New Orleans' Spanish style iron chairs. Held our hands over our eyes to shield them from the bright pre-summer sun. It was too hot in its beams, but the wind in the shade made it cool enough for a light sweater.
It was, you guessed it, a lovely occasion.
And then there was the Easter egg hunt.
Our hostess ushered us back up the stairs where we anxiously waited for her to hide the eggs. We gathered around while our she hid each one and then descended when she rang a kitchen bell.
And before she could wave us off on the hunt, we bounded through her backyard garden. A backyard garden unlike anything I've ever seen.
Pots and more pots with overflowing plants of herbs and flowers. Flowers in yellow, purple, and red. Plants that were decorative and some that were functional. Parley, rosemary, basel, and thyme. In pots together and sporadically planted in the yard. Tomatoes and cute little strawberries.
Like children, in a mad-dash fury of determination, our eyes scanned the backyard for the obvious eggs. Give-away eggs that would stocked up our pile. Our attention then turned to the serious eggs. The eggs meant to fool and that kept you guessing. Frantically pulling back leaves and lifting up grass, we scoured the land to find every last one. We trampled over each other and stumpled through the yard. Our eyes never lifted in the search.
And finally it was over.
But of course it wasn't.
It spiraled out of control.
Egg hunt after egg hunt.
Teams and then face-offs.
Some eggs were three points and some became two.
We couldn't stop ourselves. It was the most addictive game of Easter egg hunting in history.
Finally after too many egg hunts, I called it quits. Intuition told me it was close to masquito time. I bid my Southern friends fairwell till the next time, gathered my chocolate bunny prize and headed home.
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On my birthday, my friend Keever and I did what I love to do.
We went to TJ Max. :)!!!
I love TJ Max.
More than anyone will ever know.
I thought it was pretty ironic that someone at the Southern party the day before, mentioned that a true Southern woman finds some way to drop TJ Max in conversation. And my dear friend Eray's jaw dropped and she pointed at me, accusingly.
Me, drop Tj Max in all my conversations?....well I never!
But I guess I do. A little.
After hours of looking at shoes, dresses, and home decorations (because that's what I love most). We finally called it quits and set off for our next destination.
Plants.
Do you remember when I said I was going to be planting a spice/herb garden and that I was going to be hauling dirt and making a crop field in my backyard?
I lied.
I bought a bunch of pots instead. I bought four of them. (Yes, at TJ Max.) Because why should I have to tear up weeds to get what I want when I can just plant them in pots?
So the plant department at Lowes was our next destination.
Parsley, thyme, cilantro, basal, chives. These are all the herbs that I found. Some I really wanted but they didn't have them (Rosemary, Sage).
I planned to shove three or four in one pot and the chives in a pot by themselves.
Before heading home we thought about going to Handcock fabric. (Another thing that I love). I haven't started sewing again. I say "again" because the last time I was a crazy sewing fool was when I was a kid and I was sewing up doll dresses on my great Aunt Edna's sewing machine. Well, now I think about sewing and that makes me plenty happy enough. I even bought a sewing machine and that made me even happier. But actually sewing? I'll get there, one day.
We pulled up with Hancock with purpose. Keever needed to pick fabric to recover her dining room chairs and I was there for moral support.
And to dream of sewing.
Because that's what Hancock's make me do. I envy all those bobbin experts in there. I always try to look like I know what's what in there but I know they can spot an impostor any day. And I am an impostor. I'm just someone with an unused sewing machine.
Okay I have two! Two sewing machines. I bought a desk a few months back at an estate sale and there was a sewing machine inside! Who knew? So with two sewing machines there should be no excuse.
But there always is.
We picked some beautiful flowery fabric that was, in my opinion, very Southern Living.
I have a picture of what they ended up looking like.
There was no sewing involved. Just a staple gun and some scissors. I was pretty proud of us.
When I got home I had found two presents on my porch. One from Ms. Sandy, my neighbor, and one from my Nicole, my b.f.f. from the 1st grade. I was so excited. Presents on my doorstep!!
I went around the back of the house and started planting my plants in the pots that I got.
Halfway through my spice planting frenzy, Ms. Sandy came around the house and presented me with birthday cake and ice cream. "Oh Lord," she said. I looked up at her, covered in dirt, shoveling a hole for my Basil and swatting Murphy in effort to keep her from eating the chives. "Well, um. I brought you some cake and ice cream."she said smiling. I guess I was a sight, covered in dirt the way that I was. I thanked her a whole bunch for it and went inside to put it away for when I wasn't completely covered with dirt. I love Ms. Sandy, she makes birthdays so special.
I ended my birthday with birthday cake at my mom's house. It was just my mom, my dad and me but it was still nice. We sang happy birthday and had heaping slices of cake.
Cake and Ice Cream, Presents on my doorstep, Tj Max, Hancock Fabric, Plants in Pots. A Southern-themed party?
I'd say it was a pretty great birthday!
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