Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Cheater, Cheater Mar-ga-ri-ter!

See that blue thing with Rival on it? I got one for my kids.....you know, for their shave ice treats in the summer....because I got tired of running them up to the shaved ice stand 18 times a day.....its HOT in Louisiana ya'll!


Well, you GOTTA get one. Not for the kids. I mean, you CAN get it for the kids....but use it yourself too.......why?

Because.......you've all had those days when you want a margarita right? But you don't happen to have the 'tub 'o' rita in the freezer from the store, right?

And since you DON'T live in Louisiana, you can't get them through those drive thrus like we do. (yeah, we do...but that's ANOTHER story!)


So you want a cheater right? Something that hits the spot but you won't go off walkin sideways....right? Okay, so heres how:

First, run lime around the rim and dip in salt....or SUGAR like I do (...come ON, salt is for CHIPS.)
Then OVERFILL your glass with shaved ice from the little Rival shaved ice thingie:


add your bottled margarita...My sister's fav is Bartles and James so don't go thinking we are ENDORSING A PRODUCT HERE....I'm NOT gettin paid for this....its just I had a few leftover from when my family visited and so I used it....so there.....

Top with a squeeze of fresh lime and ...PRESTO!!!!

you've got a CHEATER MARGARITER!


Now, if you wanna make it taste a teeny bit more authentic (I mean, if you can actually make a BOTTLED margarita actually TASTE authentic type of authentic)....do what my (other, badder)sister does and add a little splash of tequila.....she's so naughty! Is badder a word? Is margariter a word? Do we care? Think not!

Monday, April 27, 2009

FIESTA! and ROCKA-DOODLE-DOO!

Last week was a GREAT mail week!

First, I got my FIESTA apron package from Trudy.....she did GOOD! I think I scared the neighbors. I was jumping up and down squealing!

Look at this cute apron and all those goodies.



me doing the model thing...so not right...


and I HAD to make myself a margarita....right? I wouldn't want to hurt her feelings by not using those glasses right away!


and that cute little metal flower....yep, already has a home in my pot of cilantro!


Thank you Trudy!


Then, just when I thought my week was made, I got ANOTHER package!


This one is from Christy for Shawnee's latest Flirty Apron swap,

Vintage Linen Remix.



I about freaked when I saw this........I don't think I could have cut such a pretty vintage tablecloth! I mean, roosters and avocado green and those other COLORS!

It SO fits my kitchen theme! Plus, the extras...the potholders ROCK ...and how did she know I just wrote down 'wooden spoons' on my grocery list!?


Thank you Christy!

I was seriously spoiled with these two partners!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Curly Girls special night....

Last night was a very special night for Curly Girl!


We went to the reception for "SALAD DAYS!" .... a juried art show for local school age children. (The term salad days refers to green, inexperienced artists.) Being in a juried art show means that in order to even get in the show, your artwork is judged. (sort of a prejudging before the judging kind of thing.......)

Last year, they had over 200 entries competing for the 50 spots in the show.

The artwork we saw was AMAZING. I was in awe of the amount of creativity I saw.


Curly Girl wasn't in art last year so we didn't know about it to apply. This year, we were all so sick that I forgot about it.
Her art teacher reminded me the day before deadline so we grabbed 3 pictures and rushed down to present them.

We were SO excited when we got the card in the mail saying Curly Girl's PANDA got accepted into the SHOW! Here she is with "Bamboo."


Here she is with her art teacher and the Mayor, he was presenting the medals and ribbons. Curly Girl received a certificate of accomplishment, a medal and t shirt.

She got an Honorable Mention...not bad for her first painting and first art show!
Congratulations sweetie!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Avocado Basil Pasta

Some of the avocados from Nicki are ripe, so I made avocado basil pasta for this month's recipe box swap!

It is SO good.....


Avocado Basil Pasta
8 oz bowtie pasta (I used 'trumpets' in the photo)
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2/3 c fresh basil, chopped
2 ripe avocado, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon (I use 2)
1-2 TBLS olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2-1 tsp salt
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
Cook and drain pasta, set aside
Make dressing from wet ingredients and put into large bowl
Add avocado and bacon and mix well
Toss with the pasta, mix well, taste for seasoning
Mix in 1/2 of the parmesan
Sprinkle remaining cheese on top when serving I serve this with grilled chicken breasts sliced on top.
This serves 4-6

Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

A family visit.......

This past weekend, Dean's sister and her family came to visit. His mother decided to make the trip too so she came down a day later.


We didn't really do much....just hung out, played games and ate! (The avocados Nicki sent me were very much appreciated!)

Curly Girl won this round of Dino-opoly!

the three boys playing on the WII


Mark opened his Christmas gift!!!


taking a breather from playing basketball!


we took the lil monkeys to play on the monkey bars

It was great seeing them all!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Movie quote Monday

Today's quote....


"Wait'll Otis sees us, he LOVES US!"


Can you think of which movie this came from? Do you remember WHO said it?

come on, you KNOW it, right?

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Flirty Apron Swap: vintage linen remix

I had so many conflicts with Shawnee's latest swap.
I couldn't find any vintage linens locally...and I looked high and low for several weeks. I found a couple items on eBay...both totally different. One was a remmnant of a lovely hand embroidered table cloth that had beautiful lace trim. And the other was a 50's tea towel that is just perfect for a bistro style apron.

The problem? I couldn't bring myself to cut either of them!

Instead, I went to a teensy little thrift shop and found a small table runner with lovely lace trim....and a couple vintage fingertip towels.
I quickly paid for them and when I came home, this apron was created!


The waistband is a vintage blanket binding...and a vintage button holds the tea towel I included.

I couldn't cut this either but with it being a table runner, I didn't have to!

I just folded it in half over the blanket trim to create the waistband casing and ties. Then I sewed along the diagonal through the lace edging.

I did eventually cut the tablecloth to make the pocket. (it was hard to do!)

Here is a close up:


and the rest....

I was very happy when Bley sent me a note saying she loved it!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Tent City

The kids have been out all week for Spring Break. We are between family visits so on Tuesday they created tent cities in their rooms.

They still make these things about twice a year.......then they sleep on the floor and the next day, usually continue to play in it for a bit....once we had one that covered the entire dining room!

Here is Ripstick Boy's...





and...Curly Girl's




bunny has an escape route...


Do you remember making these? I do.......I used to LOVE them!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Happy Birthday Dean!

Today is my honey's birthday! Look how handsome he is!
Here we are together...for once! We are never in pictures together because we are always TAKING the pictures!


At Mr. B's


outside Cafe du Monde...he's so used to taking pictures, he just can't help pretend...


snuggling with Curly Girl...you know it takes an especially good father to watch High School Musical 3!


I hope all your dreams come true! Love you!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Toadstool Tuesday

A while back, I was in knitsonya's mushroom swap. One of the participant's mushrooms got lost in the mail so she could not participate afterall.
That being said, Sonya emailed and asked if anyone was willing to send her a little shroom 'just because...'

Of course I did! We mushroom lovers gotta stick together!

I sent her a toadstool topper, along with a recipe for my cream of mushroom soup and a cute toadstool bookmark.

Imagine my very happy, delighted, squeal filled surprise when Rachel sent me this little guy in the mail.....


even the bag she put it in was precious...


Here it is with the others in my foyer....so CUTE!


Rachel...you ROCK! Thank you so much!

Monday, April 13, 2009

A surprise from California!

I got the SWEETEST gift in the mail Saturday.

Nicki enjoyed the Fiesta theme and decided to thank me by sending me a box of California Avocados!!!!! I was blown away by her generosity.

She also sent me a collection of wonderful avocado recipes.....I can't WAIT to try them out!

Thank you Nicki!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!

This weekend was full of lots of fun with my family. We played card games at home....for HOURS while the guys watched golf and other sports.


We went to Casa Garcia Friday night and then Saturday, we took everyone into the French Quarter for more fun and more food!

Here we all are at Mr. B's Bistro.....


Phil needed a bib........

and got his hands cleaned....professionally...


Curly Girl wore bread bag slippers...it was COLD in there.


I actually did ANTOHER toy society drop....couldn't resist since we were going to the Quarter.....I knew it would be picked up quickly!





And then before leaving for home, we all stopped by Cafe du Monde for some beignets....and LOTS of powdered sugar!

only Page managed to stay clean....

It was pretty crowded....lots of people eating lots of beignets!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Night out.........

Last night, my family came in from Florida for the holiday weekend. We went out to Casa Garcia and had lots of good food,



fun and.....





....margaritas!

We managed to squeeze in a toy society drop for fun.....


the little owl was gone when we came out.......


I hope he found a good home in time for Easter!
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