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Posts Tagged ‘Shanna Hatfield’

Slippers and Sippers Party Theme

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Party Theme, tagged , , , on October 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »

With chilly weather, days that are getting shorter and the holiday craziness approaching, think about hosting a party just for your girl friends.

Use a Slippers and Sippers Party Theme for a fun, relaxed evening they will long remember. Invite everyone to wear their favorite pair of slippers. They can be cute, wild, crazy, ratty – whatever floats their boat. Have a contest and give away some fun prizes for the prettiest, ugliest and most unique slippers.  Prizes could be something as simple as a bottle of lotion or some foot soak tablets.

Provide a few tasty beverages for guests to sip. A pot of mulled cider is not only delicious, but it fills your home with the most wonderful, welcoming scent. You could set up a hot chocolate station or a coffee station as well.

You could host a home party where your friends can sit and relax while doing a little shopping (think about companies like Scentsy, Pampered Chef, Willow House, etc.) or you could each bring a handful of catalogs to browse through and get ideas for Christmas gifts.

The main objective is just to get together with your friends and have a fun evening.

Keep the mood light and enjoy a few hours of connecting before the hectic hurry of the holidays sets in.

She Who Needs to Find a Cool Pair of Slippers

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Broccoli Cauliflower Salad (Christmas Salad)

Posted in Recipes, Salads, tagged , , , on October 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

A few years ago, I was looking for a festive, fun salad to make for a holiday dinner. Coming across a recipe for a broccoli cauliflower salad it sounded good right up to the raisins.

I’m not so fond of raisins. Apparently the feeling is mutual. So we avoid each other at all costs. The last time I ate a raisin was when I was 8-years-old and my mom made me eat a bowl of Raisin Bran. I was so sick all day. And we happened to be in Disneyland. It goes without saying, I’ve held a long and ardent grudge against raisins.

I also wasn’t wild about the dressing used on the salad which involved onions (ick!).

So I improvised and this is what I came up with. Even Captain Cavedweller likes it and that is saying a lot!

The colors are fun and festive and really do look pretty on a holiday table.

(Yes, I realize it is a bit early to be thinking about Christmas but I am in the downhill slide of finishing up my Holiday Entertaining tips book so my head has been firmly entrenched in the holidays for weeks, now).

 

 

Broccoli Cauliflower Salad (Christmas Salad)

2 cups of fresh cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 cups of fresh broccoli, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup buttermilk ranch dressing

Cut up broccoli and cauliflower florets, stir in cranberries, sunflower seeds and dressing (I just use the bottled dressing, but you could make your own if you are feeling the need to work extra hard). Sprinkle a few extra seeds and cranberries on top in the center and serve.

She Who Likes Easy Recipes

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Real Beauty

Posted in Family, Musings, tagged , , , on October 20, 2011| 1 Comment »


“You can take no credit for beauty at sixteen.  But if you are beautiful at sixty, it will be your soul’s own doing.” 

~Marie Stopes

I read this quote and it really got me thinking about youthful beauty compared to that of later years.

I see beautiful older women who radiate loveliness from the inside out. I want to look like that when I’m 60. My Aunt Robbie is one of those who just gets more beautiful with age, and she is almost 80! I used to think beautiful old people just happened, like some magical transformation.  I now know better.

When I was 16, I thought I was homely, fat and about as far from beautiful as a girl could get. What I wouldn’t give now to look as I did at 16! That was before chicken pox scars, before too many recipes made with butter, before (gulp) middle age started settling in.

Why didn’t anyone tell me how traumatic it was going to be to hit 40? Things you take for granted and have become completely used to just being have suddenly turned on you overnight. Gravity has become an enemy, every single thing you eat shows up not only on your scale, but also in the tone and texture of your skin, and wrinkles… oh, I won’t even get started on wrinkles. Or gray hair.

And for goodness sakes, why didn’t someone warn me about the need to be slathered in lotion a couple times of day in an effort to fight off the awful effects of aging skin? If I put on anymore at bedtime, I might slide right off the sheets.

I’ve come to the conclusion that being outwardly beautiful in middle age or older is a lot of hard work. You can’t just coast along hoping things will go well. You’ve got to dig trenches, arm yourself for battle and charge headlong into the war! It isn’t a fight for the weary or faint-hearted.

It takes fortitude!

It takes strength!

It takes patience!

Which is why I might just go sit a while and think about my game plan while eating some chocolate truffles. Maybe I’ll work on ways to enhance that inward beauty while I’m at it.

She Who Is Not Loving Her Wrinkles Today

 

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Brainy Quotes

Posted in Referrals, tagged , , on October 19, 2011| 1 Comment »

Many of you know I like quotes. Funny quotes, inspiring quotes, serious quotes. I like them all.

As in like them a lot.

As in I post quotes every day on my facebook pages.

I recently started using a new website to find quotes and I am really liking it.

Take a peek at Brainy Quotes and see what you think.

Thanks to their easy to navigate website, I find 22 quotes that I’ll be using at the beginning of each chapter in my new holiday novel.

She Who Likes Quotes Quite Possibly Way Too Much

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