Weekending - October 27, 2017

Happy Halloween!!  It's Tuesday and I'm just now writing my weekending post.  For some reason I just wasn't in the mood to sit down on Sunday night and write a post, soooooo it's coming at you on Tuesday.

Last weekend was a fairly low key one for me.  Friday night I popped in the grocery store on my way home and gathered the ingredients to make some food for a friend.  It had turned cold in St. Louis so I decided to whip up some Loaded Potato Soup for dinner and curl up on the couch with some good TV.   A relaxing Friday night was just what I needed!

Recipe HERE

Saturday morning I was up bright and early to get started with my labor of love making the food I was taking to my friend's house.  I haven't been spending a lot of time in my kitchen recently and I had kind of forgotten how much I love cooking.  Lasagna was on my list of things to make and I wanted to try something new.  The last of my tomatoes from the garden were ripe and I wanted to use them for the sauce in the lasagna.  I'm sure this is nothing new to some of you, but it was new to me and I have to share.

I simply cut the tomatoes in half (or quartered for the larger ones) and put them in a bowl.  Drizzled a little olive oil over the top and put in some seasonings.  I used fresh thyme and basil from the garden, kosher salt, pepper and garlic.  Poured them out on a foiled-lined baking sheet and let them roast in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

When they were done roasted, I dumped them in my Ninja and blended to a fine consistency.  It was delicious!  Why had I not been doing this forever?!?  Sorry Prego - I think you just lost my business.

Eric and I went to our favorite spot after church place for lunch on Sunday before he had to scoot off to work.  Peel Pizza in downtown O'Fallon, Illinois just introduced their fall menu.

Their small plates are great for sharing.  We each got a cup of soup and shared the Brown Ale Sliders and Chicken Spedini.  YUM!  Just the memory from my pictures makes me want to go back soon!

Sunday evening we had Trunk or Treat at our church and I helped my friends Tracy and Jody out with their trunk.  We had a fishing booth and the kids LOVED it!  My only contribution to the decorations was the "Gone Fishing" banner.

My job was to stay behind the sheet and as the kids put their fishing pole "in the water".  I would attached a colored fish to the pole and give a little tug.  The kids would pull their pole out and see what color fish they caught.  Tracy and Jody had buckets with different prizes for each color.  

We were frozen by the end of the night, but it was a ton of fun!  

When I got home, I promptly crawled under a blanket and hung out on the couch for the rest of the night binge watching Nashville.  That show...  I have to be reminded that Rayna and Deacon are not real people!!

And just like that the weekend was over.  Can you believe that this was the last weekend in October?!?  This month went by so fast and now the holidays are knocking on the doorstep.  Only eight more weekends until Christmas!!  

Five on Friday - October 27, 2017

Hey, hey - it's Friday!!  It couldn't have gotten here fast enough for me!  I'm really looking forward to having a few days to get my house in order and chill out a bit.  Can you believe this is the last weekend in October?!?

My five today are all pretty fun!  Check them out~

1.  The Pioneer Woman Cooks Come and Get It!
Are you a fan of The Pioneer Woman?  Well, if so, Ree has a new cookbook you are probably going to want to put on your Christmas list!  It hit the stands on Tuesday this week and is definitely one I want to add to my cookbook collection.  It promises dinners galore and is split up by categories such as Under 30 Minutes, Under 20 minutes, Take Your Time, Sheet Pan Suppers, Meatless Marvels, and more.  Want one (or three)?  Click HERE to check it out.

2.  A Bad Moms Christmas
Did you like the movie Bad Moms?  I thought it was hilarious!  As a matter of fact, I had to see it twice because there were parts where I was laughing so much I missed what they were saying.  Well, A Bad Moms Christmas opens on Wednesday so get your gal pals together and plan a girls night out to see it.  Christmas may never be the same!

3.  National Frankenstein Friday

You gotta love a holiday named for Frankenstein!  Mary Shelly created this famous fellow when she was just 21 years old.  Frankenstein was first published in 1818.  The dude was made famous by Boris Karloff in the movie Frankenstein in 1931.  Cheer to you Frankie!

A few weeks ago on the Friday Favorites blog, my choice for the feature was some cute little Frankenstein cookies by Growing Up Gabel.  Wouldn't making these be a fun way to celebrate!

4.  The Original Lettermate

Do you have an event coming up where you want your envelopes to look amazing?  How about those holiday cards?  This letter gadget might be the answer to make your envelopes as beautiful on the outside as what's inside.  It works on a wide range of envelopes including square, A7, A6, and 4 bar sizes.  Check it out HERE.



5.  Halloween Humor....

Hope you have a great weekend.  I'm doing some low key stuff and am getting ready for a little trip out of town next week.  I'm behind on a ton of chores so I have plenty to keep me busy this weekend!  See you next week.

Linking up with:

The Peaceful Posse

Amanda at Meet At The Barre

Erika at Little Bit of Everything

Simply Sweet Home
High Five for Friday
5 on Friday
The Blended Blog
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Friday Favorites - October 27, 2017

Happy Friday!  Wait until you see the features we have for you today!  Don't forget to link up before and enjoy all the posts.

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Thinking Out Loud Thursday - October 26, 2017

Hello there!  Welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday!  If you read my Weekending post, you know that I still have Sunday to talk about.  That's what I'm thinking out loud about today!

Last Christmas, Ian and Kayla gave Eric and me a gift card for a winery and inn in Hermann, Missouri.  Frankly, it's one of the best gift we've ever gotten because it meant we got to spend a weekend with them.  If you're like me, no matter how much time your adult children spend with you, it's always special to have more.

We got up Sunday morning, packed the car, and headed to Hermann.  Ian and Kayla weren't far behind us and we stopped together to have breakfast before travelling the rest of the way to our destination.  Our first stop was Hermannhof Winery located in the heart of downtown.

The weather was really not cooperating - it was cold and rainy.  We did a tasting inside and then headed across the street to Tin Mill to grab some lunch.

Since we were in a German area, we decided to give the sausage sampler platter a try.  It did not disappoint!

After lunch, we headed to our Airbnb to drop off our bags.  Kayla had found a cute little two bedroom place that was conveniently located in downtown Hermann called Wine Alley.  Our host graciously allowed us to check in early and was very responsive to our texts.

We called the Hermann Trolley and they came right over to pick us up.  They were on their way to Adam Puchta winery.

When we arrived at Adam Puchta, we did a tasting and shared a bottle of wine before moving on to another local winery.

The next stop was Stone Hill.  My parents were meeting us at this location and when we arrived we decided to take the tour of the winery.  Stone Hill is on the National Register of Historic Places and has quite the history.  If you visit, definitely plan on taking the tour to hear all about it.

We closed out the day at Stone Hill and headed back to our little Wine Alley apartment.  Hermann is such a quaint little town.  I've visited twice recently and there are still places I would like to visit that I haven't had time to yet.  Guess that means another trip to Hermann is in my future.

Before we headed out of town on Monday, we popped in just a few more places.  One of those places was Expresso Laine Coffee Shop.  I'm not a coffee drinker, but Kayla is and she needed some caffeine.

This place was a true find!  The environment just makes you want to sit and stay for awhile.  They had the cutest little things to purchase in the gift shop and games sitting around you could play.

My favorite thing about this shop was the pay it forward board.  You could buy a coffee for a future patron, write a note on the cup sleeve and hang it on the board.  How adorable is that?!?

Our final stop on this trip was OakGlenn Winery.  The views from this place are phenomenal!

So all these fun memories of the weekend is what I'm thinking out loud about today.  What are you thinking out loud about?  Link up below and share.

An InLinkz Link-up

Enjoy more Thoughts for Thursday at:

Home of Malones

East Coast Chic

Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

This is How We Roll

Weekending - October 20, 2017

Hello!  I took Monday off work and enjoyed a three day weekend.  I've been trying to get this post together since Sunday night and I'm just now finishing it.  Guess that means it's been a fun and full weekend!  It's always good when I get to spend time with Eric, Kayla and Ian.

Here's a recap of the last few days ~

Friday night, immediately after work, I headed over to my friend Jamie's house for the Scandal Viewing Party.  Watching shows like this is so much more fun with a room full of friends all making catty witty comments.  Before we settled down to see what Olivia Pope was up to, we dined on a taco feast.  Jamie made tortilla soup and we all brought items for tacos.  Talk about a great dinner! Oh, and the margaritas!  YUM!  I brought a pitcher made with 6 Corona beers, a can of frozen limeade and a cup and a half of tequila.  So easy, yet oh so good!

Eric had to work on Saturday, so I was looking forward to have a nice relaxing morning before heading out for an afternoon of fun with Kayla.  When I woke up, I tossed in a load of laundry, fixed a cup of tea and headed back to bed.  The next few hours were spent reading blogs, sipping hot tea and listening to Nora Jones.  Pretty darn nice way to spend a Saturday morning if you ask me!

Saturday afternoon was the event Kayla and I had been anticipating for a couple months.  One of my favorites bakeries, La Patisserie Chouquette, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter by having high tea each Saturday in October.  We made our reservations ages ago and anxiously waited for our Saturday to roll around.

The bakery was decked out in Harry Potter effects.  They totally transformed the place to make you feel like you were stepping  right into the life of Harry himself.  And now for the picture overload ~

Check out the menu ~

Every item on the menu tasted delicious!

Even if you can't get in on the tea, they are selling many Harry related items in the bakery.  Pop in and get some for yourself!

After the tea, Kayla and I meandered around the Chouquette neighborhood and did a little shopping.  There's a shop across the street, Union Loafers, that makes bread that I had never been to.  It's now on my list of places I want to try for lunch.

After a trip to Ikea, I dropped Kayla off and made my way home.  When Eric got home from work, we headed out to see a movie.  Only the Brave was one we both wanted to see, so the choice was easy.  Touching story, but honestly, it wasn't as good as we had hoped it would be.  It's not bad, just okay.  Eric gave it a 3 out of 5.  I scored it a 3.5.  Have you seen it?



Sunday morning we packed up early and headed to Hermann, Missouri for a few days.  We were sharing an Airbnb (Wine Alley East Suite) with Ian and Kayla and were looking forward to spending a few days them.  Beth, the Airbnb host, was superb!  We texted her on Sunday to see if we could check in a little early and she responded immediately telling us the apartment was ready for us.

We called the Hermann Trolley and they picked us up right in front of our place.  If you go to Hermann and want to visit several wineries, Hermann Trolley is definitely the way to get around!

I'm going to do a separate post on our Hermann trip because this one is already getting waaaayyyy too long!  Let's just say that despite the cold, rainy weather we had a great time!

Hope your week is off to a wonderful start!  I'll be back to fill you in on our Hermann trip soon.