Tea Party Season!

My newest teacup find at HomeGoods in Chattanooga. 

Love that place!

And look at the detail on the inside of the cup. Cute, no?

Just as I suspected, my recent influx of posts has slowed considerably in the last couple of weeks. It's because of several things...traveling, work, sickness (Tonsilitis, anyone? How about a sinus infection, too? And maybe strep, for good measure?) but mainly...mainly, it's because of tea party season.

And no, I don't mean "tea party" in relation to any political agendas. I mean an actual tea party. I've been making plans for this year's tea party along with my lovely committee and things are going swimmingly. We've been sampling teas and deciding on tea sandwiches and gathering sponsors and patrons, because this tea party is a fundraiser for a university we hold near and dear to our hearts. Our next meeting promises a scone-tasting, which we are all looking forward to. YES, please.

To read, in full, the account of last year's tea party:

The Tea Party Report - Part 1: The Food

The Tea Party Report - Part 2: The Fun

The Tea Party Report - Part 3: The Flood - or - A Change in Plans

This year's tea party will be held on Saturday, May 7th and if you're anywhere near our area (Henderson, TN) I hope you can attend! To learn more about this event and see pictures from tea parties past, go to http://www.fhu.edu/associates/teaparty.aspx

A word about sponsorships: if you own a business that could benefit from advertising at a ladies' event which expects about 250 guests, please contact us at victorianteaparty@fhu.edu. You can access the forms and sponsor information on the tea party page on the FHU website. One more exciting thing! Even if you don't live around here but have an appropriate online business that would love to reach our many guests, we have created a special $50.00 rate just for you! Check out the form for more information.

A word about patronships: if you would like to support the tea party (and in turn, FHU student scholarships) as an individual, this opportunity is perfect for you. It's even possible to dedicate your patronship in honor of memory of a special relative or friend. Last year I dedicated my patronship to my dear, sweet grandmother who would have loooved this tea party so much. She would have tied her apron on and gotten right to work with cooking!

One last thing...find us on Facebook and let us know you're coming!

Starstruck: Meeting The Pioneer Woman

You guys!! Last Friday evening was so exciting. My friends Sandy and Bridget and I drove to Memphis to a huge and very nice Davis-Kidd bookstore with one goal in mind. To see Ree Drummond, also known as The Pioneer Woman, IN PERSON. To be able to giddily say things like, "This is so surreal!" while we watched her sign other people's books, like, 20 feet away. To chat with other fans, the nice people that we all are, while we tried to catch a glimpse of what Marlboro Man really looks like without seeming too stalkerish. (He was there, y'all! And we didn't even know he was going to be. It was Very Exciting.)

I've been a faithful reader of The Pioneer Woman's blog since a little over a year ago. Since then, I've tried many recipes that she's told me to (strawberry shortcake cake and BBQ chicken pizza now being made OFTEN at our house), we built a container garden to her specifications last spring, I've gotten into photography (especially of food and flowers) and often use her "actions" in Photoshop Elements to jazz things up a bit, and really...she has definitely been a blogging inspiration. I love her way with words and it made me remember how much I enjoy writing, too.

So when I found out that she'd be in Memphis during her current book tour for Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, I jumped at the chance to see this lady live and in person. Our friend Becky was supposed to go with us, but due to a bout of the flu...on top of a sinus infection...on top of viral bronchitis...she was, sadly, unable to go. We missed you, Becky! =(

We got there to the bookstore around 5:30, not knowing what kind of madness would ensue. Actually, there wasn't any madness. No chaos. No long lines. (Yet still plenty of people - towards the end of the evening, an employee guesstimated that there were 500-600 people there for this particular booksigning.)  Davis-Kidd had this brilliant idea of assigning a letter (we were Group "O") to groups of 25. And so, we didn't have to stand in line for three hours.

As we were waiting for Ree to appear, we ran into my friend Whitney, who lives in Memphis. She was very excited that her husband had singlehandedly arranged for The Pioneer Woman to travel to our area just two days before Whitney's birthday. What a good man, huh? ;)

Whitney = cute pregnant lady

Ree came out at 6:00pm, said a few words, answered a few questions, and then while Group A quickly lined up to meet her, we hightailed it over to the cafe inside the bookstore...Bronte: A Novel Bistro. Because of the clever name, I loved it already. We leisurely ate dinner (the chicken avocado wrap was spicy and marvelous) and chatted and didn't even leave the cafe' for an hour and a half. At least. But that was really because Bridget's peach cobbler didn't arrive in a timely manner. Her peach cobbler that wasn't really worth the wait, she lamented. Oh, well. We were in no hurry. (Did I mention we were in Group O?)

All we had concrete plans to do were to track down Marlboro Man...and snap a few discreet pictures...and then do a little bookstore browsing while we waited patiently for our group to be called. It didn't take long to find the one lone white cowboy hat perched atop a somewhat familiar face. Somewhat familiar because, really, I'm not sure any of us had seen his whole face before. On Ree's blog, his hat is always pulled down, casting a shadow. So, I'm here to show you What the Marlboro Man Really Looks Like.

Oh, wait, now I know why there's no clear pictures of him on her blog. ;) Luckily, we were all both amused and delighted to find that MM had drummed (drummond?) up his own unofficial autograph/picture line. We jumped in and within just a little while, we were able to photograph him in all of his cowboy-hat-and-starched-shirt glory. We enjoyed hearing him tease the little blond-headed girl in front of us. "Do you paint fences? Do you like to ride horses?" He was offering to put her to work right away. =)

We got autographs and a few fun shots with him. I asked him if he'd ever seen his life turning out this way, say, ten years ago. He grinned and shook his head. "No," he said, congenially.

Signing Sandy's books

There's his face! Don't their boys look just like him??

MM with Bridget; I tried to get Bridget to ask about Cowboy Josh!

Me, getting him to sign on his silhouette...Sandy's idea

After our meeting with the Marlboro Man, whose real name is Ladd, incidentally, we looked around the store for a bit and then finally settled onto some empty benches near Ree's booksigning location. We were able to watch and listen and just hang out for awhile. It was everything a booksigning should be -and Davis-Kidd, I'm very impressed with you. =)

The time was drawing near for our group to be summoned and I think we were all feeling a bit nervous. I really wished we could just sit and talk with her for awhile, to not be rushed, because I say stupid things when I'm rushed and nervous and starstruck. Ugh. The funny thing is that I know that Ree Drummond is the same way - I've felt a kind of kinship with her about that. But Friday night she was all dressed up and fancy and beautiful and seemingly at ease. And I was nervous.

Ree told Sandy that she looked like Marsha Brady. 

And then she asked her if she knew who Marsha Brady was. 

Ha! Of course we do. We're not quite as young as we look. =)

So when it was my turn, I walked up and she asked, "How are you?" and I said something along the lines of, "Just...good...how are you?" A combination of "Just fine" and "Good." That's brilliant, Kristen. Brilliant. I think she glanced at my face to make sure I wasn't in the middle of a stroke or a meltdown or something. When she was satisfied that I wasn't, she started signing my book and I started telling her (with a little bit more ease) about the necklace I was wearing. It was made by a friend's brother and I thought it was something unusual that she'd be interested in. She was. She wondered, nicely, how he made it and how he came up with the idea. We talked for a minute about it and I left her with one of his business cards. We got a group picture made with Ree and then after we walked off, I could finally breathe again. Whew! That was fun!

Ree and me

I enjoy this picture quite a lot. =)

Yes, sure, I said my wedding vows in front of a few hundred people, feeling completely at ease; I can teach kindergarteners in Bible class without breaking a sweat; I emceed our Chamber of Commerce banquet when I was the executive director and I did fine...but put me in front of PW and my words tumble out in a jumbled mess. Ohhh. I just realized what I did wrong. I practice(d) for those other things. Why didn't I do a quick run through before the book signing?? Yeesh. Well, next time I'll know. =)

The thing is, it really was all fun. Despite my last-minute nervousness, the whole evening was nice and casual and low-key. Lots of downtime but still plenty of things to fill it with. And it was great to hang out with Sandy and Bridget, both of whom I got to know a little bit better.

All because of our common interest in what's going on at the ranch. And how it all started. =)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Muffins

This morning I posted an entry on The Art of Hospitality over on the PrettySweet: Heaven-Minded blog. I am now posting this recipe to go along with it, because truly - it's a great breakfast recipe for overnight guests. Bacon, eggs, oatmeal chocolate chip cookie muffins, and maybe fruit? Coffee or tea? It's the way to go.

These muffins have a great texture from the oatmeal - and a great crunch from the sprinkle of turbinado sugar on the top. Don't leave this step out. I almost forgot until I took one more look at the recipe...and then pulled the muffins right back out of the oven and added the topping. It's a fairly healthy muffin recipe, too. Fairly. ;)

Just don't make fun of how much milk that my coffee requires...Got it?

These muffins are best right out of the oven, but they really are still good for the next few days. If you reheat them, say, in the microwave, feel free to add another little sprinkle of the turbinado sugar to pull the crunch back into play. Those sugar crystals tend to dissolve overnight...

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Muffins

Print-friendly version

Makes twelve muffins

1 c. rolled oats (I did quick oats)

1 c. milk (I used skim + a little half & half)

1 egg

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

1/4 c. butter, melted

1 c. whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 c. chocolate chips (I used half milk and half semi-sweet)
sprinkle of raw turbinado sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Add the oats to a bowl and cover with 1 cup of milk. Let the oats soak for 5 or 10 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients.

Whisk the egg and the brown sugar together in a large bowl until smooth. Add vanilla and melted butter, whisking again until smooth. In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add both dry mixture and the oat mixture to the egg mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Line your muffin tin with paper liners. Evenly distribute muffin batter into the twelve cups. Sprinkle the tops of each muffin with raw turbinado sugar. Bake the muffins for 15-18 or until brown and cooked through. Serve with a pat of butter on the top, if desired.

Adapted from How Sweet It Is

Heart Day: Flowers

I just love flowers. They can be growing in the yard or they can be a cut bouquet popping out of pretty vase on my kitchen counter. Either way, I regularly stop to admire them and take a few photos. But bouquets (especially roses and especially this time of year) can be expensive. Therefore, I am totally O.K. with my bouquets coming directly from "big, bad" Wal-Mart. They often have quite a good selection and they are affordable enough to buy here and there throughout the year. Sometimes I even purchase them for myself if there's something special that I can't seem to pass up.

Admittedly, they may not quite up to par with fresh bouquets, say, from a street vendor in Europe. When I studied in Belgium for a semester, I remember the various buckets of flowers lined up for selection. It was a point and smile order system because although I knew a teensy bit of French, I was too timid to Actually Use It. The blooms were gorgeous and the prices were just as nice. I found myself wishing for little flower markets to suddenly appear back home. Sigh!

Enter the flower station at Wal-Mart. Totally doable. And Jeremy feels the same way, so for Valentine's Day, he can get me flowers and an actual gift, if he so desires. Which is totally fine by me.

I love bouquets with unique fillers, like this purple stuff (name, anyone?) and the tall grassy stuff. And daisies always remind me of Meg Ryan's character in You've Got Mail. "Don't you think daisies are the friendliest flower?" Yes, Kathleen Kelly, I do. You're true.

I wanted to give you a few hints on how to take care of your cut bouquets, whether they come from the yard or the store. Because you want them to last as long as they can. First of all, if they came from the store, you're gonna want to recut the stems. This makes it easier on the flowers to keep drinking as much water as they want. Also, cut the stems at an angle.

I have a pair of scissors (they're plain ole scissors but they're green-handled...green = plant-friendly) that I use for only plants. If you remembered my fabric scissor comment from the post about the craft room, it's similar in theory to that. Except no, not really. Fabric scissors need to cut fabric only; if they start cutting on other things, the blades will dull and they will start raveling your fabric. Plant scissors (in my house) are reserved for plant materials. These scissors will not stay clean and that's O.K. But because they're for plants only, nothing else ever gets messed up with them. Did that make all kinds of sense or did I just basically tell you that I have too many rules? Don't answer that.

If some parts of your bouquet have woody stems (like the purple filler), you can take an extra step here. Smash the end of the stem to help it absorb even more water. Super simple.

Alright, find an appropriate vase for your bouquet. Reference this post at The Art of Doing Stuff for more info. on that. She has good ideas. As for me, I have a small stash of vases I've bought or been given. You can also recycle pretty juice bottles or Mason jars for smaller bouquets. For bigger bouquets, I tend to use this one often.

It's tall and medium sized, which holds the flowers upright and allows you to keep the stems somewhat long. It'd be perfect for a dozen roses, too. (Again, reference the above post to tell you what could happen with the wrong vase. It's kind of hilarious. =) Also, the pretty scalloped edge and designs on this particular vase dress up my entire arrangement, no matter what I put in it. Word to the wise.

I always use room temperature water to fill the vase with. The flowers are already in a bit of shock after being cut and moved around and taken in and out of water. You don't want to shock them further with freezing cold or burning hot water in their new home. Be nice to your flowers and they'll be nice to you. (Did I really just say that?) Some people suggest that you actually recut the flowers underneath running water, but I hardly ever do that. Honestly, I can't tell a difference.

If the bouquet came with a little packet of plant food, by all means, use it. Stir well to dissolve. Now you're ready to arrange!

You may want to keep the bouquet in the same exact arrangement in which it first appeared to you. If it's already pleasing to your eye, well, that's the easiest thing to do! Just grasp the bouquet, snip the stems, and insert the flowers into the vase. Done.

If you want to rearrange some things, which I often do, it doesn't take much longer. I lay a big paper towel (or three) on the counter and set the flowers on top of it. Then I first put the flowers with the largest representation in the vase. In this case, the daisies. Simply a bouquet of daisies. Then I started in with the magenta gerbera daisies, white lilies, and the pink carnations, evenly spacing them out a bit. The fillers came next and I finished up with the grassy stuff. So easy.

Another tip is to recut your stems a bit every couple of days or so. Don't cut too much, though, or you'll end up with an Incredible Shrinking Arrangement. But you won't really have to worry about that if you have tulips...I find it extremely interesting that they're the only flowers that still keep growing after they're cut. The flowers change day by day. Very, very cool.

You'll also want to change your water every couple of days or so. Sometimes I go a little longer without changing it if I don't have any more plant food available.

And that's all the flowery tips I can think of right now. I surely don't claim to be a professional florist, but I am interested in it enough to pick up some things here and there. Hope these hints are helpful to you, too!

Heart Day: Chocolate Covered Strawberries

First of all, let me ask...why are chocolate covered strawberries only a Valentine's thing? They are so pretty and so fun and so delicious that I think I shall start making them year round. Or at least the whole month of February, while they are still on my mind. And again in the summer, when strawberries are truly in season. Oh, yeah.

Yes, you can pay someone to make them, which I have done before (and they WERE awesome) but they're expensive. Sigh! So sometimes I say to myself, "Self, you can make this. And self, you can save some money." And that's what happens. (Side note: my husband loves when I make these kind of comments to myself.)

This year I found some Baker's Dipping Chocolate in little microwaveable containers. Brilliant! I bought both semi-sweet and milk chocolate containers and it was beyond easy. Just follow the directions on the container. Then, since I have a little stash of sprinkles, I prettied them up even more than mere chocolate can do. (Though mere chocolate is enough. For the rest of the year.)

Refrigerate for a few minutes. Serve. In the words of Ina Garten, "How easy is that?"

Up next...Part II: Flowers, Part III: Dinner, and Part IV: Gifts

P.S. One more picture...this is what happens when non-professionals try their hand at the drizzling thing...

Hope your Valentine's Day was very happy!

My Handy Valentine

Remember this?

The craft room. The old, disheveled "craft room" where crafts were never made because you could barely walk through it?

Well.

Now...instead...there's this!

Bless my husband for putting up wire shelves to house my abundant selection of "permanent" flowers. Luckily, this shelf also allows for hangings things from it, so now all my wreaths (some purchased, some made) have a nice home, too. My friend Jen helped me organize all of this (by color, season, holiday) even though she might have rolled her eyes a few times. ;) It also holds my selection of raffia (far left end) because I use it for everything! Wreaths, bows for presents, tying a tag on something. Get thee some raffia.

And we've found that keeping the Christmas tree up (and away) is the easiest way to start things when decorating time comes again the next year. So, there it will sit, all year...in the craft room. It makes me happy. Again, my friend Jen poked fun at me for making sure the ribbons were spaced evenly. Hey, it'd drive me crazy All Year Long if it looked wonky. (Are you starting to see why it takes me so long to do something?)

(Yes, I still have some Christmas presents I haven't given out. 

What of it?)

Next, there's this lovely window with lovely natural light pouring in. I might get a little worktable to set in front of it when I can establish that said lovely natural light will not pour straight into my eyes when I sit there. We'll see...

This is maybe the most unconventional and exciting part of the craft room remodel. Thanks to Jeremy's fantastic idea, my gift bag station resembles my favorite store...Hobby Lobby! ;)

I have a plastic tote underneath with all the bows and whistles. Handy, handy, is it not??

Here's the closet. SO MUCH BETTER. I love it. All the Christmas decorations, autumnal decorations, Easter decorations, etc. - they're all sorted and in their proper place.

And this side of the closet will hold my enormous assortment of after-Christmas-sales of shatterproof ornaments to make more of these wreaths for next year...(I laughed when I saw it, in spite of myself...what's that line from?)

And that side of the closet also holds plastic containers of stamping paraphenalia, card-making and scrapbooking stuff (though I don't technically scrapbook - but I have good intentions), painting supplies, and various crafting odds and ends. And the top shelf (not seen) holds lots of styrofoam for making flower arrangements. All pretty stinkin' easy to get to!

Several years back I bought this old red cabinet from my friend Amanda when they were moving. It holds floral design stuff - and fabric scissors (Jeremy doesn't understand the concept of fabric scissors, but I'm trying to teach him! ;) - and glue guns, plural. Because one is never enough. Or something. And now that the room is organized I can actually use the workspace on top to Make Things. Isn't that just crazy?? Sigh.

I'm very blessed that my husband knows how to build things and make things and organize things. And since we've recently discovered our love languages, I know that his "acts of service" in helping me with this big project means, in fact, that he looooves me! So when I look at my craft room and think about his help, I can always remember that. =)

Happy Valentine's Day to my sweet, handy, and extremely funny Valentine! I love you so, so much!!

Happy Heart Day to all of you, too! Thanks for coming here and reading and commenting. I enjoy our visits quite a lot. =)

P.S. There's one more thing (again, a great Jeremy idea) that will make this craft room complete. Care to venture any guesses?

HaliHannigan's Cupcakery

I'd been hearing rumors of this new cupcake shop in our neighboring town of Jackson for awhile now. So while I was out running errands the other day, I stopped in to HaliHannigan's to take a peek. I cannot lie...and also to conduct my own taste-test. =)

First of all, this place is CUTE. And charming. I wish I had a picture to show you. It's got a pink floor, to which I immediately said, "Yes, please." (Jeremy's agreed to paint our hardwood the same color. Happy Valentine's Day to me!! Also, April Fool's Day is soon, is it not?) The rest of the decor was super cute also, but the real draw, of course, are the cupcakes themselves, all pretty on display in two glass cases.

They offered 4 cupcakes for $10.00, which seemed reasonable for beautiful (and delicious) cupcakes. They had about 10-15 flavor offerings and the cashier told me the varieties change constantly - their Facebook page will continually spread the news of the current menu options. I could tell they had a great selection of Valentines cupcakes at this time of year, so I wanted to be sure to tell you about about this place before this weekend. In case you live around here - and in case you're not a baker or you're too busy or you're what-have-you...

I picked out the Peanut Butter Chocolate Explosion, Cherry Cheesecake, Turtle Cheesecake, and Chocolate Raspberry. We had friends in town for the FHU Bible Lectureship this week (and had such a great time with them!) so we had a cupcake-tasting party after one of the evening lectures. I had given my mom the turtle cheesecake one, but we really had plenty left to taste because our friend Matt doesn't really like sweets. (Something I will never understand.) Jeremy, Julie, and I are the normal ones - and we enjoyed every bite!

My mom's Turtle Cheesecake

Chocolate Raspberry

Cherry Cheesecake

Peanut Butter Chocolate Explosion

The consensus: The Cherry Cheesecake one was incredible! And the hands-down winner. The tastes and textures were amazing. Running a close second was the Chocolate Raspberry, which had pink edible glitter. (Pink glitter that you can eat!! Oh, yeah. Happy day.) We were so sugared up that we barely even got to the PB and chocolate one. It was good, but we were all partial to the others.

From their Facebook page, it looks like they will also have chocolate covered strawberries and some other fancy Valentine treats during the next few days. Mmmm! HaliHannigan's Cupcakery is located in The Columns, near Ashley Furniture - and whatever gym is over there. ;) You should check them out. I think they're pretty sweet. And no, they're not paying me to say so. =)

Happy Friday!
Kristen