Eli's Treats

I just wanted to share my son's graduation cake with all of you. It came out very cool and masculine just as I had hoped. Go to Facebook and like Eli's Treats. He has so many incredible works of art/cakes on his page under photos. You would not believe that he is a young college student who has been blessed with an incredible gift!

The top layer of the cake was a white cake, filled with cream filling and the bottom layer was chocolate, with chocolate cream filling and the whole cake was covered in fondant. The black fondant was chocolate and decorated with Tyler's favorite colors and represented his love for four wheeler racing! Delicious! 

Thanks again Eli!

Stuffed Artichokes

I bet you thought I was never coming back!?!! Well here I am and I have lots of things to blog about!! Thanks for checking in on my blog and know that it is appreciated! Enjoy!!

Tracy Porter's stuffed artichoke recipe

Wall of mirrors/family tree

I will be back to blogging in a couple of weeks! I will share all that I have been busy doing!! Thanks

Recipe

Fresh Green Bean Side Dish

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 Salsbury steak and green beans.

Recipe

1 lb. Fresh Green beans - ends snapped off

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1/4 of a large yellow onion

6 slices of pre-cooked bacon, diced

2 tablespoons minced garlic

Kosher salt and Pepper

Rinse green beans, pat dry with paper towel and snap off ends. In a large pot preheat olive oil. When oil is hot, cook onions until soft and add the diced bacon. Cook together until onions are translucent. Meanwhile, add the minced garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir and add the green beans. Stir again and cover for 30-45 minutes stirring occasionally and cook to your liking. Enjoy!

The Last of the Sedums

Okay, I probably went a little crazy with the sedums. However, in saying that I feel that I spread them out far enough that nobody would really notice. I have a few indoors, some on the porch and these by the pool. Hope you enjoy these plants as much as I do! I will be doing some more planting of different plants and flowers in the next couple of weeks and will defintely be sharing. Thanks for stopping by!

A Sedum by Many other Names....

I have labeled all the sedums that I bought this year so that you can go to Lowes or your local Garden Center and find the exact plant you are looking for. It is amazing that sedums come in so many varieties.

This is my plant pot after the winter.  I did not take it inside but I did cover it and assumed that since it was on the porch it would be okay. Well, you know what they say happens when you assume! Take them inside when the winter months have freezing temps. I lost several sedums.

Plant sedums in your pots or garden. You will not be disappointed. Enjoy!

Sedum Week

They are known by several names.....sedums, cactus, succulents etc. The best name is hardy!! Sedums work great for me. For one thing, I live in the south, where we have scorching hot summers. Two, I am really bad about remembering to water. Three, they are super hardy. Just remember one thing and that is to take them inside in the cold winters.

These are my pitch pots. I purchased these at Marburger in Round Top.

I had some moss left over from another arrangement so I am going to use that too. I think moss is great if you are going to be putting your pots inside.

This is what I used to plant my sedums...and a watering can.

I made a hole in the center, deep enough for the sedum to sit in.

I Spread the roots out a little.

I added more soil on top and watered.

Take your moss and spread around the sedum.

Sedums do need lots of light, whether you are indoors or out. So find a happy home for them in your happy home and enjoy!

Over the next few days I will be showing lots of different kinds of sedums. They come in all shapes and colors and some even flower! I hope you can get lots of planting ideas for these magnificent, hardy plants! Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday Side Dish

The Pioneer Woman's Fancy Macaroni and cheese

This is such a delicious dish! Why wouldn't it be with 10 strips of bacon, a stick of butter and 4 different cheeses! I used bow tie pasta instead of macaroni pasta. It is what I had in my pantry. I try and avoid the grocery store on the weekend! Absolute chaos!!

Enjoy!!

Round Top Finds

This is my collection of Hungarian pottery, circa 1890. I purchased this pottery from Singleton Antique Imports in Round Top/Warrenton.

This Italian Gold Leaf mirror is from Marburger.

The mirrors will be hung together, a long with others. The small mirror is not from Round Top. It is from the Funky Onion Gift Shop in Houston, Texas.

This is an old Italian wine jug.

picture before....

picture after.

These pillows are made from homespun linen, circa late 1800's-early 1900's, with zippers and feather down inserts added for easy cleaning. My plan is to have the pillow with the blank canvas monogrammed. The seat cushion is a cushion from Pier One that I inserted into this blue striped grain sack. All of this material is machine washable. Thanks for stopping by!

Star Sighting at Marburger!!!!

While we were shopping at Marburger, we saw Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott. A camera crew was following them around taping for their reality show, "Tori and Dean". 

Here are some of the items they purchased...

The gentleman in the background is part of their entourage, maybe a producer, part of the camera crew etc. You never know who you will see or what you might find during antique weekend in Round Top. Thanks for stopping by!

Round Top Antique Weekend

Let me start by saying that Round Top Antique Weekend is a huge deal for Cypress, Texas and surrounding areas!!! Thousands of Vendors/Dealers from across the country gather in the middle of Round Top, Texas for some of the best shopping around. It's not all about antiques, crafts and art. It's about the experience.

First stop....Marburger Farms. In my opinion, this is one of the best shopping areas in all of Round Top.

Next stop, over by Zapp Hall is Singleton's and Junk Gypsy, among other vendors.

Every year, Junk Gypsy throws a Prom one night before the ending of Antique Weekend. Yes, I said, "Prom". Really it is a huge party. If you need a reason to get dressed up in dresses and cowboy boots, you found it!

This is a stop we make every trip to Round Top. Anna Bugardi's shop. She has the best grain sacks, for the best prices in a variety of colors.

This is a great idea, Valerie and I are going to take this idea and run with it!

What a beautiful drive, passing all the blue bonnets on the way to and from Round Top.

Hope you enjoyed this post! Stay tuned for the next post, star sighting at Marburger!!!