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Boy, those two things really go together well, don’t they? You should take that as a warning of the randomness of this post.

A few weeks ago, Hubby and I escaped  on vacation and so enjoyed it. You can read about the start to our fun trip here.

One of the places we stopped to visit had a prehistoric area filled with dinosaurs that actually moved and made sounds.

Hubby wasn’t going to let this big guy intimidate him at all.

I wasn’t getting that close to it. Nope, not me. I was too busy getting spit on by the nasty, sneaky little dinosaur that was hiding in the trees behind me. Other than being eaten alive or mauled to shreds, I guess you could say the experience was somewhat realistic. I noticed a few extremely frightened children who couldn’t get out of dino park fast enough.

There were honest to goodness real live animals in here, but don’t ask me what they were called. That information flew out of my head as I brushed dino spit off my shirt. And personally, they look more like dino toothpicks or appetizers than anything else

Once we were done having a great time in dino land, we ventured on down the road and came across a beautiful rose garden. I asked Hubby to take detailed notes because I want my yard to look exactly like that.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the acreage required to create a garden of this size. So I’d be happy to settle for some of the beautiful rose bushes.


And maybe a couple of these. I so want a lamppost adorned by blooming beauties.

I think I may have to find the name of this rose. I loved the deep magenta color. It was, as my young niece likes to say “gorgeous!”

This rose reminded me of a summer sunset. That could possibly be the name for all I know. Someone remind me to take photos of the name plates before I take a photo of the roses next time. Please?

After stomping through dino tracks and sniffing roses to my hearts content, my day was pretty well done.

More adventures later,

Shanna

You're Invited!

The other day I received an Evite invitation for my cousin’s virtual baby shower. I thought it was such a cute and clever idea. My cousin lives across the country, it is her first baby, and she’ll be home in a few months for her younger sister’s wedding, so her older sister is throwing her a virtual baby shower.

Not that you needed all those details, but the point of all my rambling is that Evites are a fun way to invite people to an event and that is why they receive my Wednesday shout-out.

You can check out their very fun and clever website here.

Once you register, which is free, you have access to hundreds of invitations (which are free) and you can click, create and send an invitation in just a few minutes to a group of friends. You can track your guest responses and, here is the part I get really excited about, it sends a reminder for you just before the party, so you don’t have to remember to call and remind everyone to show up. Did I mention it is free? Yep, free.

Check it out and have fun with it. You can get a variety of great party tips, ideas and more!

Happy Entertaining!

Shanna

“Summertime
And the living is easy
Fish are jumping
The cotton is high…”

When George Gershwin penned those words so many years ago, do you suppose he knew we’d still appreciate them today?
Summertime is all about living with ease and simplicity, particularly when we entertain. It is hot, backyards and pools call out to us and the last thing we want is to be tied down to a stuffy kitchen.

Make things easy on yourself when you entertain by making it easy for your guests to self-serve.

One really simple thing you can do is create an outdoor beverage station.


Start with the one thing you will need in outrageously plentiful amounts – ice. I can’t stress this enough, but have twice as much ice as you think you will need. Running out of ice is like a death sentence to your gathering. No one wants to sit around and drink luke-warm or hot beverages when it is 90 degrees outside. So buy ice, lots of it!

Have a party bucket or container that you can fill with ice and put in individual-sized bottles, like pop, water or juice,  or keep larger bottles chilled.

For a pre-mixed beverage, serve it in a pretty glass beverage server so guests can see of what delicious drink they are about to partake.

Always, always, always have water available. Serve it in icy cold pitchers or have individual bottles, but make sure you have it out and available.

Set up an area at the station with glasses. If you have a variety of different drinks that require a variety of glasses, set the glassware next to the beverage. If it is one-size-fits-all, place all glasses together. Offer charms or cute little stickers to put on glasses so each person’s glass is easily identified.

A tray set with fun little extras like fruit or olive accents on picks, little umbrellas, swizzle sticks and more can add a fun finish to most any beverage.

Remember to relax and have fun and connect with your guests. That is what savvy entertaining is truly all about!

Happy Entertaining!

Shanna

Gone Berserk

Today’s word of the week is berserk.

ber·serk

{ber-surk, -zurk}

1. violently or destructively frenzied; wild; crazed; deranged:
My kitchen stove has gone berserk!
Yesterday, after cooking dinner and sitting down to enjoy the meal, Hubby mentioned he could hear something beeping. We started listening and looking around only to see our stove had turned itself back on and was flashing an error code on its little digital screen. Not good. So I turned it off again.
We finished eating dinner and went back in the kitchen which was suddenly really warm.  I walked past the stove and felt a blast of horrendously hot air coming from it. Opening the door, the heating elements were blazing hot and bright red. It was then I decided my stove had gone berserk –  it is out to get me, burn down our house and wreak havoc with our mostly peaceful existence.
So I made Hubby unplug it. Hopefully it doesn’t find a way to turn itself on with absolutely no power available to it.  Stupid, crazy oven.
For a while I may need to sign off as the
Toaster and Crockpot Cooker