...rainy weekend...

We got to enjoy Priest Lake this weekend...in all it's rainy beauty!

It rained and rained and rained and rained. But time at the lake is time at the lake no matter what the weather is! The rain let up for a little while on Sunday afternoon and people were outside so quick - it was pretty funny.

Our view of the lake has changed a bit - the association my Grandma belongs to was apparently over using their water right and had to remove their third dock - that was closest to our house.

Before:

After:

Our deck table blew over in the tornadic activity last July and we didn't find a good one to replace it with at the end-of-the-year sales. We decided to try out the Memorial Day sales and found a great table, chairs, and umbrella. It's pretty and looks nice on the deck. I think it will get lots of good use this summer!!

I read an entire book, got some burp cloths made, played some Rummy, took a nap, and enjoyed doing NOTHING! I think I got the umph I need to get through the last few weeks of school! Can't wait to go back in about 4 weeks!

I liked this sign: "Welcome back all you Priest Lakers"! It's good to be back!

...some old friends...

Last night, I got to visit some old friends...

Yep - Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte. :) It was a great reunion!

Mom, Melissa, Amy, & I went to see Sex & The City 2 on opening night.

I did my thing and read some reviews yesterday that weren't very flattering - I should've learned my lesson by now that I don't usually agree with movie reviews (case in point: The Hurt Locker won the Oscar for Best Picture - NOT my favorite movie AT ALL!).

The movie did not disappoint. It was great to be back in the company of some old friends.

As always, their clothes & shoes were out-of-this-world amazing! Like these, in the opening scene:

One of my favorite parts was this flashback to when Carrie met each of the girls:

Did you not expect Miranda to look like that in 1986? Seriously? It's too much!

Great movie - worth the $9.50 that they rob you of just to see a movie.

{I got an email this morning from Melissa with these pictures and this text: If I had a blog, I'd blog about this. Point taken. :) }

...jackpot!...

Last summer, I saw this quilt on this blog: Cluck Cluck Sew.

(click to go to the post about this quilt)

Since then, I've thought that it would be fun to make such a quilt. I've casually looked around at garage sales and places like that.

Well, tonight we stopped by to see my Grandma at her storage unit and one lone pillowcase caught my eye.

Well, that turned into this:

Hello! Vintage Sheet Jackpot!

So, I've got Grandma on the lookout for more vintage sheets.

I kept asking her if she was getting the vibe I was going for.

She kept saying yes, even though I'm still not sure she's actually got it. :)

Oh well - the more the merrier!

...i love mail!!...

I came home to two boxes...containting....

THESE!!!!!

YAY! Ready for VEGAS!!!

...brian & megan baumann...

Mom, Dad, and I headed over to Poulsbo, WA for the wedding of Brian Baumann and Megan Brose on Saturday! It was a beautiful ceremony, not only joining the lives of Brian and Megan, but joining their families as well.

Brian dancing with his beautiful Mom!!

And, the star of the show - Kamryn! I commented to her parents earlier this week that I was afraid she might steal the spotlight from the bride, but I think they shared it equally! Kamryn doesn't seem too enthused about the whole thing. :)

Dick and David Baumann - two great guys!

Auntie Ang and Kamryn enjoying the reception.

We explored downtown Poulsbo this morning. It's a cute little town with Scandinavian vibes and influences.

I spotted this sign at one of the cute, authentic bakeries and had to take a picture for my Heider family!

YUM!

THEN - I saw this shirt and HAD to get it for my Uncle Mark. TOO funny!!

Main Street, Poulsbo

A little alley way - so cute!

I really enjoyed Poulsbo - looking forward to going back someday! Thanks Brian & Megan for bringing us here!

We rode the ferry back to Seattle - one of my favorite things!

Does this remind anyone else of the movie "Double Jeopardy?!"

Arriving in Seattle to the beautiful skyline!

We made a quick detour to IKEA so that I could replace my desk chair that BIT IT in my office a few weeks ago.

Fun weekend...great celebration...

...props to Paula Deen...

A while ago, a Thursday treat tradition started at CHS. The teachers take turns bringing treats on Thursdays and today was my day!

I was watching Paula Deen on Saturday and she made this dessert that looked delicious! I had to try it. It's just as good as it sounds!

Here's the recipe:

24 (3.5-ounce) ice-cream sandwiches, unwrapped

6 medium bananas, peeled and thinly sliced

1 (12.25-ounce) jar hot-fudge sauce

1 (10-ounce) jar maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped

1 (8-ounce) package milk chocolate covered toffee bits, divided

1 (12.25-ounce) jar butterscotch ice-cream topping

1 (8-ounce) container frozen nondairy whipped topping, thawed

Directions

Line a 13 by 9-inch baking pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil.

Place half of ice-cream sandwiches evenly over bottom of pan, completely covering bottom, cutting sandwiches to fit, if necessary. Top evenly with banana slices. Pour hot fudge sauce over bananas. Top with cherries and 1/2 of the toffee bits and pour butterscotch evenly on top. Layer with remaining ice cream sandwiches and spread whipped topping over sandwiches; sprinkle with remaining toffee bits.

Cover and freeze for at least 4 hours. Remove from pan, using foil handles. Cut into squares and serve.

(Note: I didn't use the foil - I just served it out of the 9x13. I also used caramel instead of butterscotch. And I didn't add the maraschino cherries. And - I feel a bit like Kate and her sewing. She can't make something from a pattern without altering it and it seems like I'm the same way with baking/cooking.)

I would recommend serving the bananas fresh instead of adding them into the layers. Also - fresh strawberries would be ah-may-ZING! :)

...watch out world!...

Melissa is sewing!

She asked me to help her make a baby shower gift for a friend - so we went to work this evening on a changing pad, receiving blanket, and burp cloths. She wanted to take a turn "pushing it through" as she said. I got her started on the changing pad and then she took over. She did a great job!

I told her she should've taken my old sewing machine when I offered it!

She looks like she's been doing it for a while now!

Here's part of the gift we completed. The changing pad is on left and the receiving blanket on the right.

Apparently, she got the sewing itch because then she wanted to sew pillow cases to go on her new guest bed. They turned out very cute too!

In other fun news today - I got a second monitor at work! YAY! I'm so excited!!

I was super duper DUPER jealous when Jennifer got one a few months ago....and wha la! I have my own now! Pretty exciting!!

...it's time for bingo!...

It's Bingo time again!

Check it out!:

http://the-quilt-shoppe.blogspot.com/2010/05/spring-fever-bingo.html

Here are my words:

abundant, basket, birth, clean, fresh, fruit, graduation, grass, lemonade, poppy, pussy willow, quilts, rainbow, sewing, spring break, swing, thunderstorm, tulip, wind, daffodil, skipping, sweet pea, showers, butterfly, bloom

...lilac parade...

Yesterday, Mom & I took the Jr Miss girls to the Lilac Parade in Spokane! We had a fun day with them - took them to lunch at The Onion, checked out the floats under the freeway, and enjoyed some shopping & the Royalty Reception at River Park Square.

They are fun girls to be with...Mom & I didn't realize we were giving them such an education by exposing them to the "big city!" Tipping at a restaurant is an experience. Walking across a crosswalk is an experience. :) What a big world!

After we sent them on the float to staging (read: hurry up and wait for another 3 hours) - we went to check into our hotel. Mom & I decided a few months ago to stay the night in Spokane after the parade since we had a Junior Miss meeting at Gonzaga on Sunday afternoon. When we'd decided to go ahead and stay, I found a GREAT deal on a hotel room at the Hotel Lusso...

As we were going up the elevator to our room, we commented that we should've asked to have a room on the street side so we could watch the parade...we got off the elevator and followed the signs to our room. It appeared we were on the right side of the building...this was looking good!

We got to our room - it was fabulous! It was the corner room overlooking the street where the parade would be coming! I would sooooo stay there every time I go to Spokane!!

This is the view we had of the parade:

(This is Lind's marching band - not too shabby!)

Not bad!!

After checking into our room, we walked the two blocks down the street to River Park Square and did some shoe shopping and Pottery Barn browsing! We walked back to The Davenport and enjoyed a little Lilac Parade pre-funk in The Peacock Room:

We went back outside to watch the parade....I didn't get great pictures, but here's what I got:

The Connell float this year is in honor of Connell's 100th Centennial. It's very classy and elegant.

It's beautiful.

I heard there was an estimated 160,000 people at the parade! Crazy! There were people EVERYWHERE!

Jenni stayed the night with us in the hotel. We enjoyed sleeping in, being lazy this morning, then an IHOP cheesecake pancake breakfast (delicious - Jessica - GO NOW!), the BEST pedicures EVER, and then went to a Washington Junior Miss Orientation/Meeting.

Fun weekend!

...libby rae clark...

Welcome to the World...

Libby Rae Clark

May 14, 2010

7:59am

7 lbs, 8 oz, 19.5 inches long

I went to visit Libby after school yesterday with Mom, Melissa, Kate, Karen, and Kamryn!

Libby & Kamryn had their first playdate!

These two girls are going to have a lot of fun together!

Delt was a very excited big brother. He wasn't sure what to do with himself!

The cutest thing I heard was that the first time he held Libby, he sang the ABCs to her. So cute!

Congratulations to Chris and Candace! She's precious!

...beta recipes...

Tonight was our last Beta for the year - we take a summer hiatus until September.

We played Bunco tonight as our last fling!

I made a few appetizers for the event.

One was an old Pampered Chef recipe that I remember making when I was like, 14. It was just as good as I remember!

(there's only 1/3 of a ring left of the two I made....I forgot to take a picture when it was fresh out of the oven!)

Chicken Wreath/Ring Thing

2 pkg. 8 oz. refrigerated crescent rolls

½ cup chopped red bell pepper

½ cup chopped fresh broccoli

¼ cup drained and chopped water chestnuts

2 tablespoons chopped onion

1 cup (4 oz) shredded Colby jack cheese

1 can ( 5 oz) chunk chicken, drained and flaked

2/3 cup canned condensed cream of chicken soup

Preheat oven to 350 F. Unroll crescent dough; separate into triangles. Arrange triangles in circle on greased 14-inch pizza pan with wide ends overlapping in the center and points towards the outside. In large bowl, combine bell pepper, broccoli, water chestnuts, onion, cheese, chicken and soup. Scoop mixture evenly onto the widest end of each triangle. Bring outside points of triangles down over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at center. (Filling will not be completely covered.) Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

 

 

I also made frozen margaritas. This recipe may be the find of the year. I love a good lime frozen/blended margarita, but who likes to stand over the blender when there is a party going on?! These you make ahead of time - I would suggest taking them out of the freezer 45 minutes to an hour before you want to serve them so they have plenty of time to thaw and get good and slushy.

 

4 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups tequila

1 (12 fluid ounce) can frozen limeade

1/2 cup triple sec (orange-flavored liqueur)

1 whole lime, cut into 6 wedges

Directions

1.Mix the water, tequila, limeade, and orange liqueur in a freezer-proof container with a lid; stir. Cover and store in freezer until it reaches a slush-like consistency, about 24 hours. Serve in glasses garnished with lime wedges.

(I quadrupled this and it filled two big Tupperware bowls. We only consumed one bowl - about 10 people - an average of 1.5 drinks each.)

...how will i be able to wait?!...

I pre-ordered this

tonight!

Estimated delivery date: October 20, 2010.

How will I be able to wait that long?!?!?!

...happy mother's day...

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends who are wonderful mother's to their children, but especially to my Mom.

We went to a new cardiologist this week who went over (in detail) her surgery from last April. He was amazed at what she'd been through and kept saying "Whoa....Wow....Wow...." Going over pretty much every detail reminded me again how lucky we all are for the skilled doctors and for Mom's strength to survive.

So - Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and my Grandma too.

{sorry I slept all afternoon!}

...hunky dory table runner...

I saw this table runner on Rachel's blog (p.s. i quilt) and thought - I love a good disappearing nine patch quilt...how cute would that be in a table runner!

So - I got myself a fun charm pack and went to town!

I was on such a roll, I even decided to try machine quilting it! I know - watch out!

I love how it turned out!!

The quilting isn't the best - but I think it's a decent try for my first time. It's a little more concentrated than I would've liked - so I'll have to work on that for next time.

Pattern: Disappearing Nine Patch as seen on p.s. i quilt

Fabric: Hunky Dory by Chez Moi (my current fav)

Quilted by: Marcie!

...birthday quilt...

I have been working on this quilt since Christmas (it feels like) so although I love it, I am happy to see it completed and out the door.

When I began making this quilt, I was making it because I wanted to try this pattern. Little did I know it would take A. LONG. TIME. to complete the blocks!

Anyway, here's the finished product:

{Whoops - Dad - Hold it a little higher so we don't see your white hair peeking out the top!}

I gave this quilt to my Aunt Kim for her 50th birthday. The colors go perfectly with her home...hopefully it's a cozy quilt for her to relax under!

Pattern: Wild Thing by Thimble Blossoms

Fabric: Simple Abundance by Bonnie & Camille

Quilted by: Marcie!