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Run For The Roses or a Mint Julep
The Kentucky Derby is tomorrow (always the first Saturday in May)! Attending the Kentucky Derby is on my life experience bucket list. The perfect excuse to wear a pretty dress, don a large hat, and watch magnificent horses all while sipping a cocktail, and not just any cocktail, THE MINT JULEP. Horseracing is in our blood. For nearly 50 years, our grandparents, William C. and Barbara Nelson, owned and operated Gunshy Manor, a 165-acre farm located in Redmond, Washington, that became one of Washington’s most successful breeding farms. It all started when Grandma Barbie bought a Thoroughbred mare named Triple Punch, a 1957 daughter of Triplean. Her first foal, the…
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Lets Talk About Lighting
Our new house has reached the point in the renovation process where I need to order lights. 45 new lights to be exact. That number is both overwhelming and inherently expensive. And, of course, I complicated the selection process because I want our new home’s lighting to be cohesive with a nod toward the 1930s era of the home and, importantly, budget conscious. Here are the lighting decisions I have managed to make thus far (with a lot of support from Mallory) along with a little house update. The house has a new roof, new gutters, and new HVAC system. The rough plumbing is done and plumbing fixtures are ordered;…
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Una Bellissima Italian Bridal Shower
This past weekend, we had the honor of celebrating our future sister-in-law Laura (@laurafrieds) at the most beautiful Italian-themed bridal shower hosted by the equally beautiful and very talented duo Kiersten (@kierstko) and Sydney (@syd_mcintyre). We thought we would kick off the week by sharing some of the gorgeous details from Laura’s bridal shower! Guests were greeted to the shower with beverages including on-theme “Bridal Aperol Spritzes”. We loved the cocktail sign detail! And the shower décor included well-placed bowls of lemons and an Aperol-colored balloon arch to match the cocktails. Dinner was delicious Italian-themed fare. Sarah (@sarahcocanour) brought the most amazing Lasagna Bolognese to the shower. Sarah was nicest…
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Easter Menu Inspiration
What are you making your bunnies for Easter? Have you finalized your menu for your Easter celebration yet? Our mom asked us to bring Chrissy Teigen’s Everything Bagel Cream Cheese Breakfast Bake (recipe available here) to our family’s annual egg hunt but I haven’t decided what other Easter goodies I will be hauling to Redmond with me yet. As I was searching my Pinterest, Instagram, and iPhone pictures for recipe inspiration, I also came across these gems from past Easters that I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share. And, now that I have stopped crying…. back to Easter menu planning. Here are some Easter menu options we made…
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What’s Up, Doc?
We are just over week out from Easter and apparently have carrots on the brain because today’s post is all about CARROT JUICE. A carrot juice cocktail and a carrot juice pasta because, if you are going to buy carrot juice, you may as well buy the big bottle. Your eyes (and taste buds) will thank you! In the past, we have tended to post a cocktail or a pasta recipe on Fridays. Both seem like a celebratory way to kickoff the upcoming weekend. So we have really upped the ante by featuring a cocktail and a pasta in this post. Maybe should have saved this one for Good Friday…
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Kids Easter Basket Ideas
Anyone else feel like Easter came out of nowhere?!?! Up until Monday night of this week, I was totally unprepared. Think the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland running around with his stopwatch, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” Our Easter Bunny’s baskets were literally totally empty. The good news; however, is we are not too late! On Monday, all the items I selected were still available and able to be delivered and/or picked up prior to April 4th. So, hop on it (pun absolutely intended)! Both Sam and Emma recently made VIP Posters for school. On their posters, Sam picked gardening as his favorite activity and…
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day Week
We kicked off St. Patrick’s Day Week in our households with a rainbow scavenger hunt! Special thanks to @kelseynixon for the idea. It was a hit with Sam, Emma and Joe! Jack, on the other hand wasn’t all that interested until the chocolate “gold” coins were discovered. Just pick some rainbow colored objects in your house, get creative with coordinating construction paper and clues (e.g., “A delicious berry named after its color and picked by Sal in one of your favorite books”) and send your children on a ROY G. BIV-themed hunt. Extra points for a pot of gold (e.g. leftover Hanukkah gelt) at the end of the rainbow, i.e.…
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“Luck of the Irish” Garden Focaccia
While I have baked A LOT of bread during COVID-19 (make sure to check out our banana bread and no knead bread recipes), until this weekend I had yet to try my hand at Garden Focaccia. While the pictures are beautiful, I was intimated by the idea of baking focaccia until my husband Ryan reminded me that we had a recipe from our Stirred Travel cooking adventure outside of Sicily. So with Ryan’s encouragement and St. Patrick’s Day inspiration from @30minutefoodie, yesterday Sam and I made “Luck of the Irish” Garden Focaccia using the Stirred Travel recipe below. We also tried our hand at making @kingarthurbakig’s golden focaccia recipe. Turned…
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Kiss Me, I’m Irish…
Or at least your cocktail can be! Its the first Friday in March and I think everyone should celebrate with an Irish-themed cocktail to start setting the mood for upcoming St. Patrick’s Day. Maybe its because Mallory is in Hawaii and I’m not 🙁 but I really felt like this weekend needs a special celebratory cocktail. Heck, I even pulled out (and ironed!) my green striped shirt that I save in my closet just so I have something to wear to the office every St. Patrick’s Day. Maybe its the Irish cocktails speaking, but yes, I am indeed admitting that I keep a shirt just so I can wear once…
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Megan Had a Little Lamb
One of my new Instagram obsessions is @FiveMarysFarms. Do you follow this account? Maybe its because we grew up with dear friends that operated a small sheep farm just down the road where I spent A LOT of time or that in my next life I want to come back as a cattle rancher and play cowgirl for real, but for whatever reason I have fallen in love with this Instagram account. With four daughters and a mom all named Mary, this family moved from Silicon Valley where the dad practiced land use law (that’s what I do too!) to start a ranch. They now rodeo on the weekends and…
