Summer Loving: Antiques Road Show & Other Travels

I know that many of you have noticed I haven't been around all that much this summer, so this week, I thought I would share some of what we have been doing before the summer is over.

Back in July, I was able to take 10 days off and spend some time with my mom in Colorado. But we started our 10 days visiting my grandparents and also going to Antiques Roadshow in Rapid City, South Dakota.

We all brought treasures with us--I had my minature books and a bracelet, my mom had a Santa figurine and her collection of glass cocktail toothpicks, my grandma and aunt both brought jewelry, and my grandma also brought a ship in a bottle she got when she worked at the POW camp in Scottsbluff in exchange for a suitcase. We didn't make it on TV (even though I thought we had the coolest stuff) but we had a lot of fun.

The rest of the week, I was able to see some friends and spend time with family and do a lot of summer Colorado things I've missed, like swimming in the lake. We also worked on a couples shower we were having for my best friend from high school. It was a "Colorado Living" shower, so we used blue, red, and yellow for the colors. Mom made table squares and napkins, and we used mason jars with candles. Joe did the catering, BBQ pork and beef + all the best sides that go with it, and we had lemonade and tea with vodka. We were having so much fun that I didn't take any pictures to share with you, of either the process or the finished product. Nathan was able to come out for the weekend, too, so we had a fun mini-vacation together, too.

A Dirt Party

This weekend, Nathan hosted a dirt party. Because I'm not especially capable of helping with things like moving, digging, or anything else that might require some arm strength and height I do not have, we bribed some truy awesome friends with beer and food.

Speaking of food, this was the first time I used our kitchen since it's been up and running (which yes, did happen the day before/day of the dirt party.) Because we essentially doubled (tripled?) our counter space, both my mother-in-law and I could chop vegetables/fruit AT THE SAME TIME. There was enough space to serve everything on the counters, too. Amazing.

On the Menu, in case you ever have a dirt party:

Chips/Salsa/Pretzels
Sloppy Joes (make sure you plug the crockpot in)
This pasta salad (for those of you were were asking for the recipe)
Fruit Salad
Grandma's chocolate cake (basically Texas Sheet cake)
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting, from Elisabeth Hasselbeck's Deliciously G-Free Cookbook
Rice Krispie Treats

Shelby had a friend come over, too, and just saying: Best. Dog Exercising. Ever.

Wedding Shower Recipes

Here are the recipes for the treats I made for Kelley's shower this weekend.

Petit Cheesecakes from the “Colorado Cache” cookbook
18-22 servings

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
1 t vanilla
2 cups sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1/2  t vanilla

Cream until fluffy the cream cheese and 1 cup sugar. Add eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes in paper line muffin tins (2/3 full). Remove from oven and allow to “sink in.” Frost with sour cream mixed with 1/3 cup sugar and 1/2  t vanilla. Return to the oven for 5 minutes. Cool and freeze, muffin tin and all. When ready to serve, thaw at room temperature for 30 minutes. Top with fruit.

Devil’s Food Mini Cupcakes from “Cupcakes” cookbook
18 cupcakes

3 1/2  T soft margarine
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper (need 18 regular-sized cupcakes, can be mini). Put the margarine, sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda, and cocoa in a large bowl and using an electric hand whisk, beat together until just smooth. Using a metal spoon, fold in sour cream. Spoon batter into cups. Bake for 20 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool. Frost with cream cheese or chocolate frosting

Lemon Cupcakes (recipe turned into mini cupcakes, not a loaf cake. Frost with favorite cream cheese frosting.)
White Sangria

A Book-Themed Bridal Shower

So, our little Shelby kept us rather busy last night, so I didn't get to post about the shower I had for my friend Kelley this weekend. I imagine my blog "schedule" will be off for a while as we work into our routine with her. And focus on potty training. She is a pretty smart dog though—last night she mastered going down the stairs and today she was playing fetch. She really likes her fabric turtle and chewing on her bed, so I think we need to get her some other fabricy toys, like a rope. She also had her first treat, and she is really picky about them. She only likes the soft treats, it seems. We might make a visit to PetSmart today, depending on how tired she is later.

So, anyway: the book-themed bridal shower. Kelley and I were both journalism English majors (from Colorado at UNL), so it seemed fitting that we asked guests to bring her books for her bridal shower gift. I made up the invitations in yellow and wrote a poem for the occassion: "Cathy had Heathcliff, Elizabeth had Darcy, Kelley has Shawn, So let's have a party." Then I instructed people to bring a book: a cookbook, a favorite book, or just whatever they thought she'd like. I had planned on doing custom bookplates for Kelley to put in the books later, but I wasn't sure if she'd want to return them if she got an accidental repeat, so I didn't. But she didn't get repeats, which was exciting. Kelley also wanted to have recipes from people, so I included two library cards with each invite for people to write on.

We didn't really have a shower game, but had people explain why they brought her the books. It was very laidback and we just drank sangria and ate desserts. I made food that corresponded with her wedding colors, which were black, white, and yellow. I made devil's food cupcakes and lemon cupcakes, both with cream cheese frosting, and mini cheesecakes. I intended to make a jello mousse, but it did not turn out, so Nathan and I just ate it. It was stilly pretty good. Decorations were super simple—I just pulled a book vase out from our wedding and bought daisies to put in it. Then I had black and white plates and napkins. I'll try and post the recipes I used later tonight while watching Glee!

It was a really fun shower, and it was fun to get book recommendations, as well. I might try and make an adapted "book shower kit" to sell in my etsy store.