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!







I am linking to:

It's been a LONG time!

I know it's been a long time, and I sure do have plenty of excuses for not updating this blog before now... but maybe I can show you a few photos, and let you in on what's been going on the past couple of months.

We took our daughter to Disney World...




Disney was followed by 10 days in Daytona. Then we celebrated my nephews birthday! He turned 4 in November. This was a Toy Story themed party.



I made caramel apples for the guests' favors.



Before Thanksgiving, we took a quick trip to Louisiana to pick up my grandfather. We stopped in New Orleans for breakfast at Cafe Du Monde and Caroline posed in front of the St. Louis Cathedral.




More pictures to come. We just returned from a friend's wedding in Tampa, FL, and I've been doing a little decorating. Thanks for visiting! Have a great week!

The Loft

My sister and her husband recently sold their home. Meanwhile, they will be living in this "loft-style" apartment while they work on plans for the dream-home that they want to build. My sister seems to enjoy being down-sized for the moment. ...And she got a kick out of the fact that I stated that for once I would not envy her home, or her decorating skills... To my surprise, after she had moved into the apartment, how jealous I became. I think my words were, "Well, this just makes me sick!" Thankfully she knew how to take it. She just laughed. My envy is just a form of flattery. These pictures don't do it justice, but here we go...

Of course, what apartments DON'T have wrought iron hand-railing along the stairs? ...not to mention the gorgeous, gigantic wreath and the decorative iron on the wall.

And when you enter in the front door, you see the living room.


The TV cabinet in the living room... Gorgeous decor on top, don't you think?


And the coffee table...

And the perfect chair sitting next to her desk. One day, she will come home from work to find that chair missing...

These are her barstools. She painted them "buttermilk" and re-upholstered the seats. Of course, she managed to cover a pillow as well... I mean, really?


And I can't figure out how she tied in all of the blues, oranges, reds, and neutrals...but she made it work!

Speaking of orange...

She bought this from Pottery Barn. Fabulous, right? I seriously would have looked right past this bedding and never thought a thing about it.
I think it was when I saw the bedroom, and how well everything tied in so well...the dresser, the bedding, the pictures on the wall, that I felt like I needed to just go home and light a match. LOL Just kidding. Kind of.


This is a corner in her kitchen.

Onto the bathroom. Remember, this is a small apartment. 1 bedroom to be exact. I am just amazed at what she's done.

And zebra print towels. She's incorporating a little of this throughout her home...with pillows and ribbon.

And black frames above the toilet. Did I mention that there is a washer and dryer in this small bathroom. I couldn't get great pictures of this space because of the size, but it looks great!

Thanks for letting me post this, sis! You have become a great decorator!

Let me just say that she manages the family business which is in the line of natural stone. Didn't you notice the tile and granite throughout her apartment? Check out unitedsurfacesinc.com

Fall decorating in my home.

Things at our house have been busy, busy, busy lately. My sister sold her house and moved, my parents went on a cruise recently, and we are in the middle of the annual Fall Holy Day season.
Amidst all of this, my sister decided to sell her bedroom suite to us. We were in desperate need of a King-sized bed. This is our new room:


And with Fall just around the corner, which by the way is my favorite time of year, I had to start decorating.
This is what I added to the bottom of my china cabinet:


Don't you just love Brach's candy corn? I love to put out dishes of this stuff.


These are the french doors which lead to the back porch. I decided to hang a wreath on them this year:


This is the mantle above my stove in the kitchen:

This is a small arrangement I made to go in a small corner by the coffee pot. Those turkey salt and pepper shakers were a gift...I think they came from Cracker Barrel.

This is my kitchen table. My sister came by last week and helped me move a few things around. She gave me some great ideas, including putting this sign on my table, which I had never thought of!

This is a table by my front door. The shutters came from my mother-in-law. The big "S" came from Hobby Lobby. I painted both.

These are a couple of chairs and tables I have in my living room:



This is the top of my new entertainment center:


This is what I put on my coffee table. I like my lantern, and the Paula Deen books stays...but it lacks a lot. I think I need flowers. What do you think?

This is a new sign that I bought from Hobby Lobby for my porch. I love black birds.

I made this wreath last year. It's okay... I've been kind of "down in the dumps" about my poor decorating skills lately.


And I re-covered some old pillows for my front porch. I wanted polka-dots this year.




Hope you liked the home tour. Maybe you were inspired. Wait until you see my next post... my sister let me photograph her new home!!! She did an awesome job! Happy Monday!