Through The Tulips Words of 'Wiz'dom

September 6, 2011

101 in 1001 – Something Outside My Comfort Zone

Filed under: 101 in 1001 days,Food,Things I Love — gardener @ 2:20 am

Number 8 on my 101 in 1001 List was do something outside of my comfort zone. At the time I made the list-I had no idea what that something would be, but it ended up being starting a business.

Some of you may know that I’ve recently started a cupcake business and am in the process of getting everything off the ground. It won’t be officially launched until after we complete our vacation with mom and diddy- but it has definitely been a continued learning process and a step outside of my comfort zone. I know there will be many challenges ahead that have me walking outside of that comfort zone we all find ourselves in- but I’m ready for the challenge.

August 7, 2011

Host a Tapas Dinner with Friends (101 in 1001 List)

Filed under: 101 in 1001 days,Food,Things I Love,Women — gardener @ 4:05 am

Things have been somewhat busy around here, so I’m a little behind in sharing here all of the things I’ve been able to check off my 101 in 1001 list- which you can find here.

Number 36 on my list was to host a tapas dinner with friends, so on July 30th- that’s exactly what I did.    My friend Bobbi and I were officially the hostesses with the mostess, but we had it at my home.  

It wasn’t tapas in the traditional Spanish manner- but it was more a mish-mash of everyone bring something to contribute in mini.     The idea was to have a lot of little things and mostly to laugh and have fun in the midst of friends.   

Since Bobbi and I were the ones hosting- we provided all the drinks- the tiny tapas containers to present the food and also we created quite a few goodies to add to what ended up being a huge table of food.

The picture to your right shows two of the the many things we had-   grilled shrimp with seaweed salad inside cucumber ‘baskets’.    I also made marinated chicken breast bites wrapped in bacon- and Bobbi made this delicious (colorful and spicy) mango salsa to go along with them. It was the perfect combination.

We ate Orange Cream Cupcakes-  Oreo Cheesecake bites- and some sinfully delicious Peanut Butter Brownies with Fudge that were to die for- literally.      We also had stuffed olives, grape truffles, cranberry cream cheese muffins, blueberry muffins, ham-cheese roll-ups,  roasted nuts in various flavors, veggies tray, zucchini rolls, zucchini bites, meatballs, curry chicken breast, dim sum and the list goes on and on.  You get the idea though-   There was a LOT of food!

It was a lot of fun and I do believe everyone else enjoyed themselves as well.   Some came early to help set everything up, and most everyone offered to help clean up,  which I thought was very sweet considering the huge mound of dishes that I had to do. 

I have new ideas for another party but that won’t be until the first of the year sometime- during the winter months when there isn’t much to do- but I’ll share more about that at another time.

July 28, 2011

Flowers- Pretty Flowers

Filed under: Home,Things I Love — gardener @ 9:43 am

Since I’m having a little party this weekend- I thought I’d go out today and pick up some flowers to brighten things up in here a little. I had a gift card from one of the local florists that Desere gave me back in February, so I thought this would be the perfect time to use it.

I stopped in and found two huge bouquets of sunflowers, plus two boquets of multi-colored roses that I loved, so I bought them all. I came home and got them in their prospective vases and couldn’t help but smile- it looks like a color explosion in here- and that just screams happiness.

July 11, 2011

Summer Days

Filed under: Food,Health/ Fitness,Things I Love — gardener @ 5:05 am

I am one of those people who get really excited when summer rolls around for many reasons. It isn’t just the typical great weather, but a combination of things that make me smile and one of those things is summer fruits. Watermelon, fresh strawberries, cherries, nectarines and the list goes on. I love them all. I love eating them and also think it’s great to give organic fruit of the month as gifts to people who don’t necessarily ‘need’ any traditional type gifts but who love good quality fruit. Tonight on the menu- a delicious fruit salad, filled with summer fruits and a touch of mint.

July 3, 2011

Unlikely Places

Filed under: Pets,Things I Love — gardener @ 9:47 am

This is a picture that I took a while back when JJ had surgery to be neutered.    I thought it was really sweet becuase Mister, who generally spends most of his time running away from JJ, couldn’t help but want to comfort him and make sure everything was ok.    In spite of the fact that they are both dominate creatures- they still love each other and I’d consider them close friends.

It’s odd how sometimes in the most unlikely places we find ourselves the best friends and that can be one of life’s greatest gifts.

July 1, 2011

Let’s Get this Party Started

Filed under: Life,Seasons,Things I Love,Women — gardener @ 8:14 am

First day of July and I’m ready to get this ‘birthday month’ party started! Looks like I’m going to start it with a bang… we’re headed out tonight to Hein’s birthday dinner celebration and tomorrow I’ll be seeing Pirates of the Caribbean with Bobbi. Sunday will be a day of rest for me and Monday- more fun and adventures.

I hearby designate July as a month of celebrations!

June 29, 2011

Gearing Up

Filed under: Gratitude,Life,Things I Love — gardener @ 11:21 am

I find it difficult to believe that we are two days away from the first of the month-   July happens to be my favorite month (Next to December) and that’s because it’s the month I was born.    I remember when I turned 40, I had this bright idea to eat cake almost every day- and well, needless to say that wasn’t a smart idea-   It tasted good at the time, but it showed up on the scales for sure.

Now here I am getting close to turning the big ’44’ and I have decided to celebrate the entire month of July…   I don’t know what I’ll do specifically other than the things I have planned with the people I love- but what I do know is that I’m going to enjoy every moment and surround myself with the best people.

I have much to look forward to- and quite honestly I’m feeling very blessed.

June 19, 2011

Learn to Cook Something that I’ve Never Cooked Before- (101 in 1001 List)

Filed under: 101 in 1001 days,Food,Things I Love — gardener @ 6:42 am

One of the things on my 101 things in 1001 days list was to Learn to Cook Something I’ve Never Cooked Before. When I created the list- I didn’t have anything in mind- but on May28th I ‘officially’ completed this item on my list when I made Lemon Curd for the first time ever. It was the filling for some Lemon Meringue Cupcakes that I was making to keep myself busy after losing my uncle and it also being the birthday of my aunt and best friend for years- We lost her suddenly in March of 2010, so it was a hard day and I needed to keep busy- cooking was my way to do that.

The Lemon Curd turned out great and so did the cupcakes. I’m now moving on to other curds- and will attempt Orange Curd in a few weeks, which will be the filling for some Orange Cream cupcakes that I’m hoping will taste as good as they sound. We’ll see about that.

June 14, 2011

Dreamin’ of London

Filed under: Things I Love,Travel,World — gardener @ 8:02 am

It looks like in the very near future that I may be planning a little vacation for Marcel, my parents and I to visit London.   I have never been and it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do,so I’m getting a little excited about the possibilties.

I’m thinking that it may be more cost effective to rent an apartment for all of us to stay in for the week, but yet  at this point I’m not sure-   There is still so much to be decided.

At the top of the list of things I would personally like to see-   A show- (Wicked preferably),    Harrod’s Department store,  Buckingham Palace,  The London Eye,  London Bridge, Big Ben, and the list goes on.

Anyone have any ‘must see or do’ suggestions?

This Little Piggy- (101 in 1001 Days)

Filed under: 101 in 1001 days,Shop til ya Drop,Things I Love — gardener @ 5:03 am

  Oink-Oink- 

One of the things on my 101 Things in 1001 Days List  was to Save 100 in 2 Euro coins.  I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to complete this task, but I figured since I saw it on someone elses list and since I do have access to 2 Euro coins- why not?

The piggy to your left is the pig I’ve been saving them in and a few days ago I decided to pull the plug on the bottom and see just how much I had saved.  Imagine my surprise when it was over 100.     Marcel wanted to know what I was going to do with it- and I told him that I was going to save it.    

I’ve since moved the 100 to another container and left the excess in the little plastic pig.    Since another item on my list is to save 1 dollar a day for the 1001 days- this gives me a good start.    Once I have another 100-  I’ll move it to the other container and so forth until the 1001 days are completed.  

Originally I had an idea that I’d use the money to buy something extravagant for myself- but I’ve since realized something else that I can much better plan to use the money for.    I can’t really talk about that right now- but I’ll get back to y’all on that when the time comes.   After all- it can’t happen until I’ve checked it off my list.

There are other things that I need to check off of my list- so expect to see more updates in the near future.

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