Destination: Blooming Hill Farm

We have joined a CSA for the summer through Blooming Hill Farm.  I had never been out to the farm itself, but heard that it is very fun.  We decided to check it out one recent Saturday morning.  It was dreamy.  I didn't have very high expectations....but wow, this place is just precious.  I want to live in a place like this.  I found serious inspiration everywhere that I looked while we were there.  Our quick stop turned into a nice long visit with playtime in the stream and a yummy brunch.

Check out the attention to detail....
beautiful herbs...
loved the drink presentation!
quaint inside seating area...notice the flower box separating the shopping area from the eating area...cute!
YUM.
love.
notice the mountain rising in the background beyond the tables...
love the rustic charm that abounds...
I want that sign!

Pinecones

I have an ample stash of pinecones that Sean and I retrieved about 6 years ago from Fort Benning.  I have such fond memories of hitting the less beaten path and scouring around for the best ones.  We filled up the entire Jimmy (RIP) with these large pinecones.  I have given many away over the years and they are a staple to my Christmas decorating...mostly because:
a.  they are free
b.  they have sentimental meaning to me (and I am such a sap for things like this...no pun intended)
c.  I like them :)

Anyways, in this house, I don't seem to have many places to display things.  Both in Columbus and Boston, I seemed to have many more shelves/nooks, etc.  So...this is probably a good thing for me...hopefully it will encourage me to continue to donate/sell things that I simply don't need. 

Back to the topic...I recently saw a cute idea where someone painted some pine cones white and then strung them across a window on the second level of a bunk bed.  It got me thinking about somehow trying to adapt that idea for our house. 

My mom helped me while she was here (thanks again, Mom!) and we tried to first string them (using baker's twine) across the window, but that just looked silly.  So, I am still not sure that I am in love with this idea, but I love the fact that I can see these sentimental objects!

Halloween Grinch

I am a total Halloween Grinch...maybe that is what I should have dressed as for the party we went to on Saturday.  I love to blame it on my 6th grade Halloween when my friends and I had our candy stolen from some 'bullies'...one friend was even flipped to the ground.  Most of the girls just laughed it off...I was a little more shocked by the whole thing.  What?  Halloween bullies in Glen Ellyn?  How could that be?

That is an easy excuse, so I stick with it.  I am hoping that kids will make Halloween more fun again.  Or...maybe if Sean and I could ever come up with a good costume??  We try to think of good ideas, but come up short.  We were going to have one of us be a Chilean miner, and we would just have one of us stay in the basement all night with a pipe running downstairs.  Okay, not the most practical idea.

All that being said, we were invited to our neighbors for a party the other night.  I knew 'A' & 'B' would be all over the details, and 'A' blew every little detail out of the water.  She claims she copied everything (which is all I seem to do!), but just pulling together all these details in one party was definitely all 'A'.

They have these very detailed cut outs in their windows and the perfect lighting behind them...'B' did the cut outs himself, and he even incorporated a rat being dropped into a cauldron as a 'shout out' to our little rat issue.


So, 'A' is clearly the champion of themed parties...check out all the food and the perfectly coordinating names!

This 'spooky punch' was super tasty, and it had an ice skull floating in it!  I wish I would have gotten a better picture of that...

Mummy Marshmallow Treats...

Boo-tiful Brownies...

Spiderweb Eggs...a Martha idea...

Marinated Moons...little buffalo mozz balls marinated in yummy spices...

Guacamoldy with Jack-o-Lantern dippers ('A' cut out all those pumpkins from tortillas and then baked them...so yummy!)

Pina Ghouladas...notice the corn syrup/red food coloring mixture that mimics blood running down the glass...nice...

On the walls, they even blew up pictures of all the families that were at the party where they had 'photo-shopped' our pictures and placed us in front of haunted houses...adorable!

There were even more perfect details, but I didn't get great pictures, so I will stop here.  Thanks for the great time, 'A' & 'B'!

Square Root Baby

So, Sommer has an awesome theme for her son's first birthday party.  He was born on 3/3/09, making him a rare "square root baby"...which turned into the theme for the party....LOVE IT!  (I already told Sommer I may have to sort of copy her and do a Friday the 13th theme for SP.)

She made adorable invitations, and is planning a menu where everything fits the theme.  She is going to take lots of pics...I am hoping I have convinced her to either guest blog here or I will link to her inspiring new blog when she posts all the fun details!

I asked if I could help from afar and make a few little fun accessories for the throwdown!  So, I kept with the theme and color scheme of chocolate brown and black.  I created some straws, food picks, and food labels.  They were all so much fun to make...thanks for letting me help, Sommer!

The front of the 'party picks'...
 
The back of the party picks...
  
 The straws...
 

Don't you think things are even more exciting when they come in cute packages?  I whipped these up, just for fun...


Simple tent cards to place near the food, if she wants them...

I was so happy to have the little glassine bags on hand that just happened to work for these!

Happy early birthday to the Square Root Baby!