Weekending -- And the Oscar goes to...

What a whirlwind of a weekend!  It was a great one -- mostly spent getting ready for the Oscar party we had at my house.  Did you guys watch?  What did you think of NPH?!?

Friday night we had hopes of seeing Whiplash -- but mother nature had different plans.  It was sounding like the weather was going to get cold and icy, so we decided to stay home instead of going out.  Good choice!  Around 6:30 pm the rain started coming down and the roads began getting slick.  Luckily, it warmed up enough on Saturday that by noon the road were back to a normal state and we could carry on with our normal business.

The girls were coming over Saturday afternoon to help prepare for the Oscar party.  Thank goodness for these guys!!  They helped so much with all the prep.  The party wouldn't have been the same without their help.

We had a great time putting everything together.  After getting things in order, we decided to head to a new restaurant in our area -- Peel.  We had visited Peel in Edwardsville before, but some of us hadn't been to the O'fallon location.  This place has fantastic wood fired pizza.  The salads are great too.  I really need to venture out on their menu and try some different things, but the pizza and salad are so good I always end up getting that.

                          

Sunday was more prep for the party.  The rest of the post is going to be photo heavy.  The party was a blast and I'm so glad many of my friends got to come by.  Let's take a look.

Every Oscar party needs a red carpet!  Also a must -- a ballot.

We played Oscar bingo and filled out a ballot.

Here's the favor table.  The favors my guests took home didn't quite have the same value as the Oscar presenters ($160 thousand each), but they still had some fun stuff in them.

Favor Table

 We had Oscar touches throughout the house.

Carol and Tracy were two gals up for an award.  It was all fun until......

they got in the fight over who was going to take it home.

Have a happy Monday!  Thanks for stopping by -- hope you come back soon.

Check out what others were up to this weekend.

Champagne and Suburbs

B Loved Boston

I Should Be Mopping the Floor

Life of Meg

More Pieces of Me
Bella and the City
Oak and Oats
A Cute Angle

Five on Friday - February 20, 2015

Friday is finally here.  Boy am I glad!  Sunday night is my Oscars party so I have a ton to do between now and then.  Thank goodness I have friends coming over tomorrow to help.  But before then, here's this week's Five on Friday.

1.  Apothic Crush
We tried a new wine on Valentine's Day -- and it was wonderful!  I'm a fan of Apothic wines and here's another one to add to my list of favorites.  Apothic Crush is another limited release and will be on shelves between February and April.  Per their website:  "The limited release blends Petite Sirah and Pinot Noir to create luscious aromas of caramel and chocolate, with a velvety smooth mouthfeel."  If you see a bottle, pick it up and give it a try.

                                        

2.  BLT Salad
Speaking of Valentine's - I made a BLT salad I found on allrecipes.com that was superb and complimented our Shrimp and Scallop Stroganoff perfectly (see it hiding in the upper left corner of the picture?).  If you missed the recipe for the stroganoff, you can get it HERE.  Here's the recipe for the fabulous salad:

Ingredients

1 pound bacon

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Salt to taste

1 head romaine lettuce - rinsed, dried and shredded

2 large tomatoes, chopped

2 cups seasoned croutons

Directions:
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet.  Cook over medium high heat, turning frequently, until evenly browned.  Drain, crumble and set aside.

In a blender or food processor, combine mayonnaise, milk, garlic powder and black pepper.  Blend until smooth.  Season the dressing with salt.

Combine lettuce, tomatoes, bacon and croutons in a large salad bowl.  Toss with dressing, and serve immediately.

3.  Oscars Host
I'm anxious to see how Neil Patrick Harris does hosting the Oscars.  Little Doogie Howser is all grown up and will be hosting one of the most challenging events, especially after Ellen was such a hit.  I'm rooting for him!  If you want to print a ballot or an Oscar bingo card, pop over HERE.

                                     

4.  Macey Hensley
Did you get to see Macey on Ellen this week?  ADORABLE!!  In honor of President's Day, take a look.  I would love to have her on my trivia team if presidents was one of the categories!

5.  Feeling
It's been cold here -- like REALLY cold.  Makes me feel like this...
                                     
                                             

Enjoy the weekend guys!  I'll be back on Monday to let you see a peek into what I did.  Please keep your fingers crossed that the weather doesn't mess up people's ability to get to my house.  This darn weather!!

Linking up with:

Rebecca at XOXO Rebecca

Jennie at The Diary of a Real Housewife

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Amanda at Meet At The Barre

Erika at Little Bit of Everything

Hill Collection

Simply Sweet Home
High Five for Friday
5 on Friday 
The Jenny Evolution

Thinking Out Loud Thursday - February 19, 2015

Hello!  Here we are at Thursday before the Oscars and I'm busy in my mind trying to pull my Oscar Party together.  If you don't mind, I'm going to do a little thinking out loud about the party.  Over the years, I've had several Oscar parties so I know the lay of the land, but still need to mentally think through all the logistics of Sunday night.  This is one party I love to throw -- sitting around eating great appetizers with my friends, being catty watching the red carpet is always a good time!

At the time of publishing this post, I've seen six of the eight best picture nominated films.  My favorite for best picture right now is a close race between The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game.  Selma has dropped out of many theaters near us so I'm going to have to do some searching to see it and Whiplash is on my agenda for Friday night.  Has anyone seen all eight movies?  Which are your favorites?  I know everyone is saying Birdman is the front runner, but I just didn't love it.

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

If you're thinking of having a little Oscar-themed soiree, some of the below items might help you out.

First -- everyone needs a ballot.  Not only does it help answer questions like "who is up for best actor", but it also is fun to see if you can guess the winners correctly.  Sugar and Charm has this adorable free printable.  Even if you're watching alone or with your roommate, this is a fun thing to print out and have handy.

                                                          

To have a little fun while watching (and to keep you focused on the actual award ceremony), here's a printable Oscar Bingo card.  Over at punchbowl.com, you can find this cute set of 15 bingo cards for you and all your guests.  

                                                     

I'm still working on my menu and decorations.  Thankfully I have this crew coming over on Saturday to help me set up.  They are the best friends ever and I'm looking forward to the set up as much as I am the actual party.  You know how fun pre-parties can be!!

So that's my thoughts for today.  I'll show you the end result next week!  Don't forget to link up and share with me and Vanessa from X-tremely V what you're Thinking Out Loud about -- we'd love to hear from you.
                                               

Enjoy more Thoughts for Thursday at

Home of Malones

East Coast Chic

A Handful of Everything
Hodges Podges
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop
The Deliberate Mom

Let's Be Friends Blog Hop - February 17, 2015

Welcome to the Let's Be Friends Blog Hop!

A blog hop is a set time frame for current or aspiring bloggers to find new blogs and quality content. It is a great way to make new friends and find inspiration! It is also a fabulous way to promote your own blog and posts.

Dear Friends,

What a day to celebrate! This is the 105th week of the Let's Be Friends blog hop! Thanks for joining us on this special day. Chelsee and Tiffany are extremely delighted to see the way this hop has grown and love to see your faces each week!

Join us every Tuesday at 7am (MST). This blog hop focuses on content. LINK UP YOUR FAVORITE POST from last week in this fun content-sharing blog hop! I love the idea of blog hopping, but I love the idea of reading posts and quality content on new blogs I've never been to even more. Instead of simply linking up your blog button, you are now able to link up your favorite post you recently wrote. Have a delicious recipe to share, DIY tutorial, or heartfelt post? Share it with us! All hosts and co-hosts put up some unique and fun content from the past week. Make sure to check them out. P.S.- you may still link up your blog button and blog name, but it is encouraged to link up your favorite post instead. You will get more page views and interest if you do so! Some of the most successful blog hops I have participate in focus on content rather than just exchanging follows. You never know who will become a loyal follower or pin that delicious new recipe you posted!

The BEST part of this blog hop? Each week there will be a WINNER! That's right, each week we will choose one lucky blog to feature from the previous week's hop. This hop receives thousands of page views every week, so your blog will have the chance to be center stage for free. You must follow all the hosts and co-hosts in order to win. Only those who link up a specific post are eligible to be featured! *You must follow all the hosts and co-hosts in order to win.

The last exciting change is that the co-host spots will now be available to all sponsors of The Dwelling Tree or Southern Beauty Guide. If you are interested in co-hosting the blog hop, email Tiffany or Chelsee about sponsorship opportunities and how to co-host the weekly hop!

There are a couple of great giveaways going on right now at Southern Beauty Guide and The Dwelling Tree. Go check them out! :)

Let's Be Friend's Blog Hop Guidelines

1. Link up your favorite post from your week.

2. Follow your hosts and co-hosts.

3. Grab the button and post it on your blog so we can share the love.

4. Visit 3 other blogs, comment, and follow them along!

5. Tweet about this blog hop, using #letsbefriends

6. Pin the button on pinterest so we can spread the news!

***Once a week, one blog will be chosen to be the featured blogger from the previous blog hop.

Meet your hosts:

The Dwelling Tree: Blog, Bloglovin'

Southern Beauty Guide: Blog, Bloglovin'

Meet this week's co-hosts:

Penny @ Penny's Passion

Courtney @ Foster Party of Four

Chelsea @ Married Filing Jointly

***This weeks featured post from last week's hop:

Seven Graces

5 Tips to keep your Facebook Page Alive!

Thank you all once again for continually linking up at our blog hop. It is such a fun time and I am so impressed each week with all the amazing posts. Please continue to link up an actual post instead of your blog. We want to keep reading your content and it makes it more fun to pick a winner!

Is there anything we can do differently or better? Please share in the comments!

... onto the winner!

Hello everyone! This is Chelsee. I seem to always fail at keeping up my Facebook page. I am always on the go and most of the time working from my phone. I use to think this could be a hindrance, but after reading this post from Kristy, I know I will be able to now manage my Facebook page more efficiently. For those of you that feel that your Blog Facebook page is quite dead, just read this post! It is super educational and shows the best tips! Since this helped me so much I just had to pass it along. She also has tons of other helpful mosts that I refer to often and I find she gives the best tips! Make sure you head over and check out Kristy's blog! 

Keep posting awesome content! You make it so fun for us to read all your posts! If you can, please link up a specific post. It makes it easier for us to come and visit!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Shrimp and Scallop Stroganoff

Hey guys -- I'm here today to share the recipe for the shrimp and scallop stroganoff I fixed on Valentine's Day.  It had literally been about 16 years since I fixed this recipe and I was hoping it was as good as I remembered it being -- and it definitely was!

This recipe has been in my recipe box for so long I honestly can't remember exactly where it originated from -- I'm thinking it was a Good Housekeeping magazine.  Now that I've dusted it off and exposed Eric to this wonderful blend of flavors, I have a feeling we'll be having it again before 16 years pass us by.

Ingredients

1 lb. jumbo or large shrimp

1 lb. sea scallops

1/2 lb. mushrooms

3 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. dry sherry
2 Tbsp. flour

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 envelope chicken bouillon (I used 2 chicken bouillon cubes)

8 oz. sour cream

2 tsp. parsley (garnish)

Here's what you do:

Peel shrimp and slice mushrooms.

Cook shrimp and scallops in 2 tablespoons of butter until shrimp are a light pink.  Remove from skillet.

Add 1 tablespoon butter to skillet and cook mushrooms and sherry until mushrooms are tender.

Stir together flour, bouillon, pepper and 1 cup of water.  Add to mushrooms mix.  Stir.  Let cook until mixture boils and thickens.

Stir in sour cream.

Add in shrimp and scallops.  Do not boil.  Serve over noodles when warm.

The whole process took about 20 minutes from start to finish.  I served it over egg noodles.  If I were going to do anything different, I would probably add a few  more mushrooms.

Eat and enjoy!

Look at those scrumptious scallops and shrimp!

Linking up with:
Pint Sized Baker
Mandy's Recipe Box

Handmade Tuesday's with Kristen

Let's Be Friends Blog Hop with The Dwelling Tree
Green Fashionista and Martinis & Bikinis: Recipe Swap Eat Drink & Be Mary: Delicious Dish Tuesday Love From The Kitchen: Tuesday's Table The Diary of a Real Housewife

Weekending - Valentine's Weekend

If you're celebrating President's Day by being off work, I'm so jealous of you right now!  It's Sunday night and I'm preparing for work on Monday.  The only good thing about working on a holiday is usually the traffic is light, but we are supposed to get 6-10 inches of snow tonight so the drive in could be a little challenging tomorrow.

Many of you were asking for the recipe Vanessa from X-tremely V talked about in our Thoughts on Thursday link up party -- the dinner in a pumpkin.  You can find it HERE.  We would love for you to visit on Thursday and link up with us.

                                                     

So, did you make it through Valentine's Day?  We did and had a relaxing, lovely evening.  Eric worked on Saturday and I had the day to myself.  We went to the grocery store Friday night because the weather people were saying there was going to be 30 mile per hour winds and freezing cold temps.  Proved to be a good call because Saturday's weather was nasty.  Spring -- where are you?!?

I hit the mail jackpot on Saturday.  Don't you love opening the mailbox and seeing a bunch of fun stuff inside?  I had two products to try, an All You magazine, my February Ipsy bag, AND my quarterly check from Ebates.  Plus the UPS driver dropped off a box full of things I ordered for my Oscar party next weekend.  We didn't win the big lottery jackpot Wednesday night, but Saturday's mail almost made up for it.

As I was working my way through Saturday, I was thinking about other Valentine's Days I had spent with Eric.  I remembered one where we went to a restaurant and sat by their fireplace.  Loved it!  Then it hit me that we should sit next to our fireplace, so I decided to sit up our dinner table by the fireplace!  I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before.

The shrimp and scallop stroganoff turned out as good as I remembered it.  Recipe to come tomorrow.

Here's some other scenes from our dinner.

After dinner, we watched The Theory of Everything.  Eddie Redmayne did an AMAZING job playing Stephen Hawking.  Oscar Best Picture movie count:  6 down, 2 to go.

                                               

Now I must sign off to pay attention to SNL's 40th anniversary show.  They have so much happening, you can not look away for a second!  So many hilarious skits!!  Studio 8H is definitely hopping tonight.

                                
Have a great Monday!  I'm looking forward to sharing some fun stuff with you this week so hope you stop back by.

Check out what others were up to this weekend.

Champagne and Suburbs

B Loved Boston

I Should Be Mopping the Floor

Life of Meg

More Pieces of Me
Bella and the City
Oak and Oats
A Cute Angle

Five on Friday - February 13, 2015

Hello Friday the 13th!!  Don't let the fact that it's Friday the 13th scare you -- some of my best days have been on Friday the 13th.  Who knows - maybe today will be another magical one.

Today's Five on Friday is going to be a Valentine edition.  Eric is working tomorrow and neither of us are fans of going out on Valentine's to a crowded restaurant, so I'm fixing a special dinner for us at home - Seafood Stroganoff.  I haven't made it in YEARS!!  Pictures and recipe to come next week.  But for now, here's my Five on Friday.

1.  Ed Sheeran | Thinking Out Loud
This song just makes me melt!!  I seriously think it's one of the most touching songs I've heard in a long time.  His tour is coming to St. Louis May 10 and I'm going to do everything in my power to be there to swoon.  This will definitely be playing in the background of our Valentine's dinner at home.

2.  $10 Great Dates Book
This is a great resource for anyone - not just those of us who are married.    $10 Great Dates: Connecting Love, Marriage, and Fun on a Budget talks about economical things/places to go, gives you talking points and things you can take away from the adventure.  I could see this working for parents with the kids, people on first dates or just getting to know their partner and out of town visitors.  They lay out 52 "date" options so some of them will surely appeal to you.

                                                               

3.  Easy Fudge Recipe
What is Valentine's Day without a little chocolate?!?  Well, this is a winner fudge recipe.  Very few ingredients and VERY easy to make.  You need a little lead time (2 hours) -- so make it tonight for tomorrow.  You won't be sorry.

Foolproof Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients

3 cups (18 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

Dash salt

1/2 to 1 cups chopped nuts (optional)

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Line 8- or 9-inch square pan with foil, extending foil over edges of pan.

Melt chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk and salt in heavy saucepan over low heat.  Remove from heat.  Stir in nuts and vanilla.  Spread evenly into prepared pan.

Chill 2 hours or until firm.  Remove from pan by lifting edges of foil.  Cut into squares.

Variations
Creamy Dark Chocolate Fudge:  Melt 2 cups miniature marshmallows with chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk.  Proceed as above.

Milk Chocolate Fudge:  Omit 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Add 1 cup milk chocolate chips.  Proceed as above.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Glazed Fudge:  Follow above recipe using 3/4 cup peanut butter chips instead of nuts.  For glaze, melt 1/2 cup peanut butter chips with 1/2 cup heavy cream.  Stir until thick and smooth.  Spread over chilled fudge.

I borrowed this picture from the Eagle Brands website

4.  My Valentine
I'd like to give a big shout out to my Valentine - my husband Eric.  In 2000, I was a single mom looking for love and in walked Eric.   He stepped into the role of husband and father like a real champ.  Ian and I were both so lucky he came along!  He is my number one supporter, encourager and friend.  He truly is a wonderful husband for me.  When I go out with friends (which is often), he NEVER is angry or begrudging.  And when I say, "Hey, can you do me a favor?" (which again is often) he always says yes.  I love you, Eric!!

5.  Valentine Funny
                                         

Have a fabulous weekend!  It's going to be a cold one in St. Louis -- but, hey -- every day we're one step closer to Spring!

Linking up with:

Rebecca at XOXO Rebecca

Jennie at The Diary of a Real Housewife

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Amanda at Meet At The Barre

Erika at Little Bit of Everything

Hill Collection

Simply Sweet Home
High Five for Friday
5 on Friday 
The Jenny Evolution