girl. Inspired.

travel, food, design

a farm party

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I hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween.  We made a mad dash down to Disneyland last weekend, played for two days, and then got to meet our new twin nieces as well.  So much fun, but so exhausting.  We got home late Sunday night and by Halloween evening, the girls finished some quick trick-or-treating and were ready for sleep!!  
Anyhow, I wanted to share some pictures with you of the most adorable farm party my girlfriend did for her son’s first birthday.  She planned out every last detail, right down to cute name cards for the food. Little Oliver was the cutest little farmer on his big day!  I managed to weasel my way into the cake decorating festivities with the little barn cake for Oliver to dig into.  
Thanks for letting me insert myself into your super cute party plans, Gina!  And thanks for letting me share pictures of all (well, some of) your hard work.  The party was awesome! 

my little girl, age 6 (and party pictures)

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Dear Olivia,
You have grown so much in the last couple months, it’s no wonder that another birthday has come to pass.  Six years old.  I always tell you to stop growing, to stay my sweet little baby, but then I tell you, too, that each day brings me so much happiness and pride as I try to absorb all the new things you’ve seen and heard and learned.  It’s impossible to freeze time, and honestly, I’m as excited to see you grow as I am to remember every stage you’ve already gone through.  
You are incredible and I look forward to each new day as I watch who you are and who you become.  Your anxiety over being apart from me has begun to change as you develop friendships and an identity off at school all day.  And though you’re still building confidence to approach a group, your strength of conviction once you’re there is amazing.  You are starting to walk around the house with your nose in a book and remind me of myself as a child; learning to read really is the coolest thing.  While last year you would say that your favorite part of school was recess, you proudly shout “Math” this year – another reassuring piece of evidence that you are a product of your mom and dad. 
I watch you as you observe others’ interactions and conversations and I hold my breath to see how they will effect your sensitive little being.  We talk a lot and sometimes we just exchange words with our eyes and I know what you’re thinking or feeling, even if we don’t speak.  Most of the time, you bring things up later, sometimes even days later.  I hope you’ll always talk to me.  I find myself struggling with maintaining your innocence versus preparing you for the world that is already out there.  I think about homeschool.  
Your favorite color continues to be pink and you love all things sparkly, fluffy, glittery, and girly.  Your daddy picked out pink cowgirl boots for you for your birthday and your mommy picked out an oversized toy pony.  You dream of being a cowgirl and I dream of helping you to make all your dreams come true.  Your ability to nurture and teach is remarkable; your patience is incredible.  

You asked for a butterfly tea party and I did everything I could to give you the most amazing party.  I started planning early, which did not result in finishing early.  Instead, we moved out the goal post (as you daddy says).  Several times.  It was awesome.  I couldn’t sleep the night before because I was just so excited and when I woke up extra early to set everything up, you woke up too, and said, “But mommy, you always sleep in,” and I said, “You always sleep in, too,” and then we giggled and I put your hair in hot rollers and you hoped it would last your whole party, but it didn’t.  You didn’t notice because you were having too much fun running around with all your girls.  I love you so much, Olivia, so much.  Having you and your daddy and your sisters in my life is the greatest blessing and I am truly grateful every day.
Love, 
Mommy
**I will likely share specifics on a few of the party projects, but if there is something in particular you’d like information on, please let me know.  Too many projects and pictures to guess what’s of interest to others.  I opted for the personal documentation route.**

Linking up over at Tatertots and Jello! 

on ready-made frosting

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Phew!  With Grace now back in preschool, some end of summer events, and our always growing project list, we have been going nonstop this past week.  Nevertheless, I was feeling inspired (by Nienie, here) to throw together a quick back-to-school dinner/celebration for the girls.  I had just a couple hours to put something together so it wasn’t a big to-do, but it involved the necessities:  homemade strawberry lemonade, crowns, and cupcakes.  That, and a well-balanced dinner, were just enough to put the girls over the moon.

I used Cricut to make the crowns, cupcake liners, and cutesy owl and deer toppers.  To frost the cupcakes, I used one of my tried and true easy frosting tricks – Pastry Pride.  This is a non-dairy dessert topping that you can buy from cake supply stores.  It comes in quart-size cartons and I keep a supply in my freezer.  Then, when I need a quick batch of frosting, I thaw a carton out, whip up the amount I need (don’t overwhip), and I’m ready to go!  It’s great for spreading out smoothly and also for piping swirls, borders, and dots; it isn’t the best frosting for a lot of detail.  Frosted cakes and treats need to stay refrigerated.  The texture and flavor is similar to whipped cream, not too sweet, and really light and yummy.

 I’m so glad we did this.  A little bit of effort and a messy kitchen yielded a special evening for all of us.  Love making these moments with my cute family.  
How do you carve out special moments with your favorite people?

reasons to grow rasberries

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Do you remember last year in April when I planted my four little rasberry sticks in my garden boxes?  That’s them down below on the left, in the back.  Well, they’ve grown a bit (see center pic).  It’s actually quite incredible how MUCH they’ve grown in just a little over a year.  You don’t need a lot of room to grow rasberries.  I had some when we lived on a fairly small lot years ago.  They grew well, produced well.  Since they’re in a garden box now, it’s pretty simple to keep the area contained – just pull out the ones that pop up outside the box. 

Addison is definitely the rasberry queen around here.  When we pick them together, the handfuls I give to her to put in the basket never seem to make it there and the handfuls I put in the basket disappear instantaneously.  I snuck out to the garden a couple weeks ago and actually made it back to the house with a substantial pile of berries.  Ice cream was calling my name!  I used a Ben&Jerry’s recipe from their book that turned out amazing.  I’m used to the tartness of rasberry sorbet, but I much prefer the creaminess of ice cream.  And rasberry ice cream is such a delicious blend of both worlds.

So, I had the creamy and the rasberries, and you know what goes really good with that?  Chocolate.  I couldn’t shake the image of ice cream sandwiches with chocolate ganache from my brain.  You can find the article on all kinds of things to do with chocolate chip cookies in the July issue of Martha Stewart magazine.  I ended up taking a copy home from the grocery store because, really, I just couldn’t turn down ganache.  Why does Martha have to tempt us with such indulgences? 

I indulged.  Every night until the cookies and ice cream were gone.  Use your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  And for the ganache, just simmer heavy whipping cream, then pour over chocolate chips and whisk until smooth and thick.  It stores well in a glass jar in the fridge; when you want to use a little, just heat the jar in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.  yummy!

Whose Sunday plans just got changed to include ice cream sandwiches?  

itty bitty treats

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I had so much fun making a ridiculous spread of itty bitty treats for the little tea party birthday party.  Olivia helped me with almost all of them.  The little girls also trickled in and out of the kitchen, watching and helping where they could.  It was easy to make most of the desserts ahead of time.  The molded candies hold up without a problem; the cakes and cupcakes were baked and frozen several days in advance.  The day before the party, we finished nearly all the details.  On party day, Liv and I assembled the tarts and filled the cream puffs.  The finished treat table was beautiful and irresistable.
The girls were darling piling their plates with every little treat their hearts desired.  I quite enjoyed piling my plate, too.  I can’t lie.
The tarts were absolutely
to-die-for. 
 
No question my favorite amongst the treats.  Recipe compliments of Martha Stewart; I just modified it for mini tarts and it worked perfectly.  And I have to say, Martha has yet to steer me wrong on a dessert recipe.  I’ll be making this one again, very soon.  Like, say, for Father’s Day breakfast?? 
 
The ingredients for the tarts are very basic.  And they’re perfect right now during berry season.  Please make these; just splurge on the calories, use real butter, heavy whipping cream, whole milk, the good stuff.  Just this once. 
 We’ll talk cakes in a separate post.  They deserve their very own discussion.
Doesn’t everything look even better under that chandelier?  I’ll share some of the other decoration details later, but I hope you can get a feel for the chandelier from these pictures.  A bit hard to catch through the camera lens. 
I haven’t made cream puffs in probably 15 years.  I forgot how simple they are.  I had planned to just fill them with freshly whipped cream, but I had plenty of pastry cream leftover from the tarts; I used a pastry bag and piped it right into the puffs.  They were another adult favorite.
This was more of a visual presentation, but if you have any questions I will most definitely try to answer them.  

a sweet tea party

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It was a beautiful day for a tea party under our oak tree.  Summer arrived just in time with her warm sunshine and light breeze.  Everything was just how I pictured and the girls were so happy, lost in the wonder of sweet treats, pretty tea cups, and each other’s giggles. 
Look at that cute chandelier makeover that made its way to the tree!!
 
I took about a thousand pictures, but never felt that I had really captured the magic of what was in front of me.  I’m pretty well practiced with indoor pictures, but the whole -sunlight filtering through the tree branches was a challenge.  Nevertheless, lots of fun and tea party details to share.  Take a closer look at all the adorable little tea time treats we made.  Follow this fascinator hat tutorial to make some whimsical hats of your own!
The more I look at these pictures, the more I see the magic, actually…
 

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