Happy New Year!

We're off to Pittsburgh to celebrate the New Year with some of our favorite people!

A Beautiful Mess House Tour

A Beautiful Mess is one of my favorite blogs 

and she is currently doing a bunch of house tour posts.  

I'm loving every bit of it...

Makes me want to redecorate!

Sunroom

Kitchen

Closet

Bedroom

I wish there was this much interesting stuff to look at in my house!

Brussels, Stuffing and the 2011 Christmas Menu

My other assigned Christmas dinner dishes.  Both were fantastic!

These roasted brussel sprouts are my go-to favorites and new this year I made this balsamic glaze and offered it on the side for drizzling.

And I made this sourdough mushroom stuffing for the first time ever.  Everyone loved it!

The rest of our Christmas menu included:

beef tenderloin stuffed with roasted red peppers, sauteed spinach and goat cheese

(I eat red meat like twice a year, this is one of those times!)

crab stuffed shrimp

mashed sweet potatoes

fresh cranberry relish

 

Challenge: Master Bedroom Pt 2

Remember when I wanted to spruce up the master bedroom before Thanksgiving?  

Yeeeeah well that didn't happen.  

I took baby steps, but was crazy busy with other life happenings.

Well, while some families spend the day after Christmas relaxing and hanging out, 

we spent it busting a move towards the master bedroom goals!

Rugs were customized, walls were painted, bedding was purchased 

and many a thing was spray painted.  

A little sewing project, a wall stencil and one more painting project and I'll be ready to share!

Need a color teaser?

daffodil, charcoal, slate, guava, polished silver & white.

(mixed in with lots of natural woods and metallics)

I'm going to say it will be done by MLK day... Presidents day at the latest.

Fingers crossed!

Christmas Dessert

I was assigned 3 things for Christmas dinner.  

Roasted brussel sprouts with balsamic glaze, sourdough mushroom stuffing 

and any dessert I wanted to make.  

Well, I kind of dropped the dessert ball and found myself Christmas Eve eve at Sam's Club talking myself into whatever the bakery could sell me.  

Best decision ever.

I bought the Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake and decided to make a 

fancy bitter-orange whipped cream.

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar 

1 orange, zested

1/8 teaspoon Agnostura bitters

1/4 teaspoon orange extract

Beat cream until soft peaks form.  Add sugar and beat to firm whipped cream peaks.  

Add remaining flavors.  Beat to combine.  Chill until served.

Pretend you made the cake by putting it on a cute cake plate.  Slice the bundt and serve each slice with a huge dollop of whipped cream.

Next time I'm going to garnish the slices with candied orange peel.

Christmas in a Nutshell

It was merry.  It was bright.  It was festive!

We did a good old run-around-see-everyone Christmas of yore.  

It's been a few years since we scheduled so much into 2 days, but it was a jolly good time.

Christmas Eve:

Brunch with the Shields crew: presents, laughter, stockings (!) and puppy cousins

Late afternoon/dinner with my second family in Tyrone: a festively dressed BABY, more presents, Asti, B&B surprises and fire truck Santa!

(here)

Late night party time with our good friends:  Annual Christmas puzzles, yummy late night munchies, personalized wine, lots of hugs and warm fuzzies.

Christmas Day:

Early morning cooking, cooking, cooking.  

My family at my house, monkey bread, more presents (we were spoiled this year) 

and more champagne.

Christmas movie and chill out time with the little sister and bro.

Pack the car scramble and rush over to Grammy's house for more cute-shoe wearing baby time, the most delicious dinner of all time, even more presents, a little more champagne, the best dessert I have ever "made" and a Christmas surprise of childhood ornament divvying.

Could not have been a better Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

(here)

See ya after the merry-making...  Cheers!