Christmas Cards

One thing that I LOVE to do - besides writing & blogging of course - is using my creativity and design skills to create some really cute stuff!  I designed our Christmas cards last year and thought I'd give it another go this year... I love it. 

As you can see, my design taste is very simple.  Less is more.  I am a sucker for clean lines and contemporary styled fonts.

I also decided to design a Christmas card for my mom.  Jennifer, my brother's girlfriend, took this precious picture of our pug Zorro this summer.  I thought he needed a santa hat for the season!  Cute huh?

Need some holiday cards?  I'd love to help!  I create them and turn them into jpegs so I can print at home to save money OR upload to a site like Shutterfly or Vistaprint depending on the stock I want to use.

Good Times & God Bless,
Steph

Willowed My House

A few weekends ago I held my second annual Willow House (formerly Southern Living at Home) party. First of all, I A-DORE their home decor. The unique touches, elegant patterns and high quality companied with reasonable prices allow me to decorate my home with nice items - not my old $2 junk from the clearance isle at JoAnn's!

I'm so excited about my new stuff that I wanted to share... So, without more rambling from me, here are the newest additions to my collection:

Medallion Mirror & Cordova Sconces: these SO completed the living room decor!



Cyprus Footed Bowl & Elegant Christmas Balls: I'm not done decorating here... Just wanted them out since they arrived yesterday :)



Filigree Iron Candelabra: Brandon's pick of the bunch. We will move it to the mantel after Christmas is over. My Santos Angel is also Willow House... Got her last year!



Lady Jane Vases: perfection! They are exactly what I wanted and much larger than I thought they would be, which is a good thing.



Framework Urn: I had to get this... My lovely friend Adrian has this and decorates so well with it that I decided I'd follow her lead. Now I just need some festive fillers!



Utensil Holder: completed the kitchen look... A LOT better than the old wooden one we had.



Candle Sticks: I found these in the outlet for $9 each (original price was $40 or so) - bought 2. They frame out my Christmas decorations fabulously!



So... Now that you've seen all my goodies, you have to understand why I was WAY TOO EXCITED when I came home to this:

Delish Deviled Eggs

Today, my husband's company is throwing a Thanksgiving lunch for their employees and spouses. (I know, so sweet.) BUT since I'm WAY down here in Norcross I wasn't able to make it. Yeah, I'm a bit bummed about that.

Since I couldn't be there in person, yesterday I decided I'd help my honey out by making the deviled eggs he had offered to bring. Can you imagine what our kitchen would've looked like if he had made them? Eeek!

Here is my yumm-o / easy recipe that you should use to treat you and yours this holiday season!





18 eggs (these are good y'all, people are going to eat a bunch)
3 spoonfuls of Mayo
4 pickle spears (dill please... Sweet pickles are nasty and you know it)
A splash of pickle juice
A squeeze of yellow mustard
Salt & pepper to taste
Paprika for sprinkling over the finished eggs

Boil your eggs. (If you don't know how to do that shoot me a message and I'll dive into it with ya.)

Peel eggs. Cut eggs in half and remove yellow/yolk. Set aside in bowl.

In food processor mix yellows, pickles, pickle juice, mayo, mustard, salt, pepper and 2 whole boiled eggs. Blend together well - the food processor makes the filling fluffy.

Scoop out into plastic bag and cut corner off to create an easy piping tool. Fill each egg white generously and sprinkle with paprika.

Done and delish! Happy Holiday Cooking!!

Good Times & God Bless,
Steph

Longing for a Good Read

One of my recent goals is to develop my reading investments into more than a once a year, beach trip, mindless reader. My entire life I've always said "I'm not a reader... Don't enjoy it", but have come to the conclusion that my statement isn't entirely true. My issue with reading isn't the fact that I don't like to dive into a great book, it's the being pulled back out to face reality. If I could curl up on the couch or sink into my rocking chair on my back deck and spend days reading volumes of books, I believe I would be content as could be. Unfortunately, doing such an extraordinary task would cause a lot of strain on one's finances... So, since I'm no millionaire with boo-koos of time on my hands, I've begun to set aside moments in the day where I can designate time for reading - perfect example is my lunch break. Thirty minutes of uninterrupted (well... I try if the bossman leaves me be) reading time. Perfection.

I'm also going to TRY to venture outside my typical comfort zone and try some new genres... I did read an excellent book on leadership that blew my friggin' mind. AMAZE-ING!

I've noticed that, since I have a limited time, my reading abilities have sped up... I mean, I'm reading at a much quicker tempo these days.


I've just finished a book by Tasha Alexander called Tears of Pearl. Her writing technique is intriguing as she develops her characters and storyline through the excessive use of dialogue, while painting descriptions of their surroundings with narrative text. The book was ok - meaning it wasn't great and it wasn't bad. I always try to take a stance but I'm sitting on the fence whether I enjoy her writing abilities at the moment. Her story, presumably suspenseful, was lacking. Her attempt to throw romanticism in on the action seemed half-hearted. Simply, it was (to me of course) an underdeveloped romance novel with a few murders/case solving thrown in. Not really my kind of book. However, I may venture to read one more of her novels in order to decide if it is her writing style or choice of plot that turns me away.

Now that I'm on a new path for reading what authors or titles shall I grab next time I'm at the library?

Good Times & God Bless,
Steph



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Mobile Blogging

Ok readers... Once again, I'm trying ANOTHER blogging app. This one I like much better because it allows me to use a little more bells and whistles. :)

As a trial run, here is a precious little photo of my precious little girl sleeping in the floor after sharing WAY too much popcorn with her daddy.





Good Times & God Bless,
Steph

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

You Can Call Me Sal...

Sal-monella that is!

Seriously, this is one of the worst, most drawn out, most embarrassing illnesses I've ever had! My life for the past month = too many trips to the bathroom. So bad.

Originally my doctors thought I had brought back a lovely little parasite from Jamaica, but after a few (and let me say VERY embarrassing) tests, the results came back with Salmonella. Normally treated with a little TLC and maybe a round of antibiotics, Salmonella goes unnoticed or hardly causes a problem. Of course you know me... I have to get the Mamajama Salmonella.

After 1 round of antibiotics my symptoms came back a week later with a vengeance!! High fever and aches - blah! So, dr has put me up for round 2 of antibiotics in hopes this gets knocked out... Prayers people... Needed!

According to the doc, picking up a simple food born thing like Salmonella is one thing inside the good ol' USA, but another beast entirely when it comes from a third world country. I know this first hand - ONLY a beast can keep me down for so long!

Here is to better health - and a tummy that allows me to actually KEEP my food intake down. :)

Good Times & God Bless,
Barfarella