My mom's 50th birthday surprise!

Here are a few photos from my mom's 50th birthday weekend extravaganza. I hosted a birthday brunch in my home...to throw her off the scent of the surprise to come! My dad secretly put together a "Fiesta," inviting over 100 people to our local Mexican restaurant to surprise her that evening.
At my home, we had champagne and orange juice with fresh krispy kreme doughnuts, then the meal consisted of Paula Deen's bacon and spinach quiche, Emeril Lagasse's quiche lorraigne, Cracker Barrel's hashbrown casserole, and fruit salad. I think that she had a wonderful time. I sure did! Here are a few photos from the brunch...





My dad told her he wanted to take her out to dinner that evening, but on their way, they stopped by the Mexican Restaurant for a drink. The restaurant was closed just for the party, and when they came in, we all yelled, "Happy Birthday!" It was wonderful! She cried. I cried. It was great. And, she had no idea that she had cousins, an aunt and an uncle, and that her sister came all the way from southern Louisiana just for the party. We had been hiding them all weekend! :) We are soooo sneaky!!!






Hope you enjoyed the pictures... and if you are interested in the recipes for our brunch, you can go to foodnetwork.com for the quiche recipes. I'll post the Cracker Barrel (copycat) recipe below. Enjoy!

The Hashbrown Casserole recipe:

2 lbs frozen hash browns
1/2 cup margarine or 1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (10 1/4 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1 pint sour cream
1/2 cup onion, peeled and chopped
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Mix everything together.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Old Lamp, New Lamp

Last Summer, while we were visiting my in-laws in Ohio, I found an old lamp in the garage, that had not sold at their previous yard sale. It actually belonged to my husband's aunt...I think? Anyway, I've been seeing all of you bloggers out there, painting old ceramic lamps and using "barrel" shades... I really can't believe those are back in style...and I also can't believe that I love them! So, I just knew the potential that this lamp had! I never took a picture of what the lamp looked like before, so I found a lamp at orleansgifthouse.com, that reminded me of it...kind of.

I used almost a whole can of Krylon spray paint, in eggshell. It took several coats. I also found a grass shade from Lowes. Not a "barrel" shade, but I knew that I would like it. The end result was fantastic. It's now my new favorite lamp in the house! Here is the after:



Thanks for the new lamp Aunt Pam! See you this Summer!
I'm linking up to Wow Us Wednesdays:

Fresh, Creative Centerpiece.

For my mom's 50th birthday brunch, I wanted to do something different for the dining table. I found an antique-looking urn, and filled it with oasis. Then I scoured the woods for the perfect tree branch. I stuck the branch in the middle of the oasis. I bought crystals from the wedding section at Walmart, and fishing line, and used a hot glue gun to attach the crystals to the fishing line. I then tied each crystal onto a branch. Lastly, I filled in around the bottom with fresh flowers.
This was super easy, just a little time-consuming. Enjoy the photos!







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