Weekend Roundup

This weekend was packed with all sorts of fun--lots of pool-time, a mermaid birthday party, and bowling!Saturday morning we headed to mermaid-Ella's pool party and the boys had a GREAT time! Ella's party was AWESOME! Ella's mom is one of the most creative people I know (maybe the most creative person I know) and her parties are always the BEST! Check out the picture of Ella's cake table and snow-cone station and you'll see exactly what I mean....

And see that PRECIOUS "5" shaped pinata--you can learn how to make one for your next party by clicking here for the how-to! See what I mean by creative!

The boys really had a great time swimming at Ella's mermaid hole--can't you tell?! After a much needed nap, we took the boys bowling. We had a great time and the boys were HILIARIOUS with the bowling balls!

Sunday afternoon, we enjoyed some more pool-time and got ourselves ready for the week. The boys had fun riding in the backseat of Daddy's car (we didn't go very far--only our neighborhood) and Macklin made me chase him to get him out of the car! It was a really GREAT weekend!

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Cucumber & Celery Salad with Tuna

I am always looking for yummy salad recipes and I can't wait to try this one from

Martha Stewart's Everyday Food June 2011 issue!

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 cucumbers, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch half-moons (6 cups)

3 celery stalks, cut into 1/4-inch pieces, inner leaves reserved

2 cans (5 ounces each) solid white tuna in water, drained and flaked

Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions:

1.In a medium bowl, stir together poppy seeds, vinegar, sugar, and oil. Add cucumbers, celery, and tuna; season with salt and pepper. Toss well to coat. Sprinkle with celery leaves and serve immediately.

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Homemade Bookcase

Have I told you how talented my husband is? Well, if not, let me brag and say--he ROCKS! When we first got married we used to watch Bob Villa's "This Old House" and laugh at how Riley, Bob's assistant, was the real "brains" behind the show. Bob would have all these great ideas and projects and Riley would make them all happen.

Over the years, I started calling Ray my "Riley". I would have an idea on something I wanted to do, some way to set up a room, or something I wanted to make and Ray would be the brains that helped me figure out how to make it happen. This AWESOME homemade bookcase is no exception!

I've struggled with our sitting room since we moved into our house 4 years ago. This was an added feature to our floor plan and it really is a nice bonus space. My struggle has been how to best utilize the space for our lifestyle. It's been a storage/staging area, a make-shift nursery, a temporary office--you name it. Well, I was kinda tired of it not being a designated space so when I took my Design 101 class, I used this space as my project space.

I browsed magazines and websites for photos of what I wanted for the space. One idea that stuck with me was sorta a library space that would utilize one side as a place to relax with a book and the other side as a work-space for blogging, crafting, etc. I knew I would need a large bookcase to eat-up some of the wall space and provide some much needed display for "stuff"! I gave Ray some "go-by" photos and presto, here's the end result. I really LOVE this bookcase and the wonderful brains of my "Riley" which made it happen!!

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L.A. (Lower Alabama) Caviar

I like finding new dips and appetizer recipes I can use for gameday weekends. There's nothing like a good dip to go with some chips on a Saturday while you watch football. Here's one I recently found in Birmingham Home & Garden magazine which is from LuLu's in Gulf Shores--it's AWESOME!

L.A. (Lower Alabama) Caviar

Dressing:
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Caviar:
4 (15 oz) cans black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained

1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped red onion
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

Putting it all Together:
1. Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar; cover tightly, and shake vigorously to dissolve sugar. Set aside.

2. Place peas in a large glass or stainless steel bowl.
3. Add all bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and parsley. Pour dressing over top and toss well. Transfer to a plastic container, cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
4. Serve with tortilla chips or saltine crackers.

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Vacation

Forgive my absence. We've been in California for 8 days and I'm playing catch up in a lot of areas! Here's one of my favorite pictures from our trip , mostly because all 4 of us are in it! I took over 1600 pictures with my new camera (I'll tell you all about that in another post soon) and I'll share those pictures and the details of our adventure soon!

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