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Posts Tagged ‘Savvy Entertaining’

Fall Leaf Party Theme

Posted in Entertaining Ideas, Party Theme, tagged , , on October 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »

It is really starting to look like fall in our neck of the woods. The leaves are beginning to change color, the weather is cool and rainy, and the apple pickers are across the road from my house busily gathering in the harvest.

I don’t know about you all, but I hate raking leaves. Absolutely dread it. Captain Cavedweller isn’t much better. We always hope for a wild windstorm to blow our leaves away before we get too ambitious and  get them raked and bagged.

What if you could combine a party with getting the leaves raked up out of your yard and that of your neighborhood?

Think about roping, er… I mean inviting, your neighbors to participate in a block leaf raking party. You could be the “host house” that provides the bags and refreshments and then all participating neighbors would go from lawn to lawn raking and bagging leaves. When it was finished, everyone could converge at your home for a fun fall-themed meal.

Sounds like a win-win situation, doesn’t it? You get your leaves raked, you get to spend time with neighbors and you all get to celebrate fall and a nice clean neighborhood.

Keep your refreshments simple – you could make a fall stew with hot bread, green salad and apple crisp for dessert. Sliders are another fun option. If the weather cooperates and you have somewhere to build a bonfire or a firepit, think about roasting wieners and marshmallows.

Send each neighbor home with a “bagged” sugar cookie cut out like a leaf and decorated in fall colors.

The main thing here (besides getting your leaves raked) is to connect with the friends who live around you and enjoy the fall season.

So give it a whirl and let me know how it goes!

She Who Must Rake Her Leaves This Fall

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Birthdays

Posted in Captain Cavedweller, Musings, tagged , , on October 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »

My Aunt Robbie has a theory about birthdays… they are the one day out of the year that belongs just to you, so make the most of it.

I like the way she thinks.

And I like her.

And I like the fact that her birthday is the day before mine. She’s just extra special that way.

Her birthday was Friday which means mine was Saturday.

I can’t tell you when I’ve had such a nice day.

It started the day before when Captain Cavedweller sent me these at work:

Then that evening he grilled tenderloin steaks for dinner that nearly melted in your mouth, they were so tender and good.

Saturday morning, CC woke me up with singing a rousing rendition of  “Happy Birthday” then made me cinnamon french toast and bacon. Then he cleaned up the mess in the kitchen while I took a shower and spent half the morning lazily getting ready for the day, which was a beautiful, perfect fall day.

We drove off to a bigger city so I could drool over these:

I couldn’t quite bring myself to test drive one because I wouldn’t want to give it back and that would have put a damper on the day when I was arrested for driving off in the car. Really, it would have.

After taking me to a fun restaurant for lunch where I somehow managed to order bacon on my sandwich, we spent the afternoon at some of my favorite stores before driving to one of our favorite steakhouses for dinner where I ordered prime rib. And amazingly enough the side dish of green beans had bacon. (Sensing a pattern here?) I think it is the only time I can remember eating bacon at every meal. I realize I will have to walk approximately 14.7 more miles this week to compensate for it, but it was worth every salt-laden bite.

We went home after dinner and I got to open my pile of presents, which CC had beautifully wrapped. I have to tell you, he’s come a long way since our first year together when he handed me a brown bag wrapped package finished off with duct tape. A really long way.

He bought me fun things like:

This beautiful velvet trench coat from Gallery. (And yes, I do wish I looked like this model, wouldn’t that have been a great birthday present!)

This memory foam bath mat. When we stayed in the Yurt, she had these on the floor in the bathroom and I loved the rugs. If you haven’t stood on one before, you must. They are positively divine and your feet will sing a hallelujah chorus.

CC also got me several more presents that all made me smile and my heart melt into a warm little puddle.

And my wonderful cousin Brad and his beautiful fiancée Denise sent me these:

Everyone needs more chocolate in their life – especially for their birthday!

It was a fabulous day and I want to say thank you to everyone who helped make my birthday so extra-special this year. I so very much appreciate it!

She Who is Very Blessed

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Nostaligic Candy

Posted in Captain Cavedweller, tagged , on October 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Captain Cavedweller and I recently had the opportunity to wander through several shops that offered vintage candy and pop.

I was in seventh heaven.

He had a bottle of orange Ne-Hi soda while I had a Sioux City Sasparilla. I planned to go back for a Frostie Root Beer and get CC a bottle of Kickapoo Joy Juice, which he had never experienced. But as luck would have it, I got sidetracked shopping at an outlet mall and forgot the pop.

What I did manage to get home with was some fun vintage candy.

As we were strolling through the stores, we were remembering all the fun treats we had as a kid.

These were four things we just couldn’t come home without.

Owyhee Cherry Cocktail – like a chocolate covered cherry on steroids surrounded by a peanut and chocolate coating.

Bubble Gum Cigar – yes I know how awful that is, but they were so awesome when we were kids. CC especially wanted to get the cigar.

Pop Rocks – although you can find these at a variety of stores, I can’t always find strawberry and I remember how much I loved these as a kid.

Candy Cigarettes – I know, I know… but humor me. When I was little we had a little grocery store in our community where my Dad would take me and load me up on candy several times a week. I could usually choose one or two things and I often got a box of candy cigarettes because it lasted until the next candy run. As CC and I each tried one, they didn’t taste quite like we remembered as a kid. Because back then I’m sure they were the next best thing to chocolate especially if you weren’t allowed to eat chocolate!

It was a fun stroll down memory lane and really put me in a nostalgic frame of mind.

Captain Cavedweller fixed that problem by taking me out to dinner.

Need I say more.

She Who Misses the Good Old Days

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Barlow Road

Posted in Travels, tagged , , , on October 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

When Captain Cavedweller and I headed out on vacation last week, I wanted to drive through a particular area because my next series of books is set there. For visual purposes, I wanted to get up close and personal with the region.

Exploring the town, we decided to take a “short cut” on to the rest of our trip.

That short cut ended up taking a good hour if not two longer than if we’d backtracked and gotten back on the freeway.

 

But then we would have missed out on some hairpin turns, cliffs with no guard rail… and some really beautiful country.

We drove from Grass Valley to Tygh Valley, Oregon, on an old curvy road that was about to make yours truly car sick. But the views were spectacular.

 

We came down a winding hill and around a curve to see several people fishing the Deschutes River. Driving a few hundred feet up the road, the river was roiling and absolutely breathtaking to see. You could even feel the spray on your face.

We discovered part of our travels took us over the old Barlow Road. For those of you who aren’t history buffs, the Barlow Road  is a historic road  built in 1846 by Sam Barlow and Philip Foster, with authorization of the Provisional Legislature of Oregon, and served as the last overland segment of the Oregon Trail. Its construction allowed covered wagons to cross the Cascade Range and reach the Willamette Valley, which had previously been nearly impossible. Reports say it was by far the most harrowing 100 miles of the nearly 2,000-mile Oregon Trail journey. I could easily believe that to be true.

Before the opening of the Barlow Road, pioneers traveling by land from the east followed the Oregon Trail to  The Dalles and floated down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver, which was both dangerous and expensive.

The Barlow Road begins at The Dalles and heads south to Tygh Valley, then turns west and roughly parallels the White River on the north and then west. It  crosses the south shoulder of Mount Hood at Barlow Pass, follows Camp Creek and the Sandy River for some way, ending in Oregon City. When the Mount Hood Highway was constructed, the Barlow Road was mostly abandoned.  It still exists as a dirt road in some places, while most other parts have been paved over by modern streets and highways.

If you are ever in that part of Oregon and don’t mind windy, curvy roads, take a side trip for some scenery you’ll never forget.

She Who Sometimes Enjoys Getting off the Beaten Path

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