Pumpkin Carving with Our Little Pumpkins

It’s that time of year where all of us in Southern California pretends that it feels like fall andante our autumn festivities going!  Actually, on the day we held our 2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party, it rain just enough to wet the ground, so pretty close to fall weather!  I was working the day of the party, so decided to keep it simple with ready-made dessert and take-out pizza.

Halloween Pumpkin Carving Party:  Sunday October 30th 4:30-6:30

Adults:  24    Kids:  16

Supplies and Set-up:

• 2 rectangled tables, 2 square tables, covered with plastic table cloth and newspaper
• 6 pumpkin carvers, plus 1 deluxe set, 3 pumpkin scrapers, 2 kids brought their own.  Would buy at least 12 total
• Stickers
• Markers
• Trash cans
• Lighter and tea lights

Food:

• 6 extra large pizzas cut into 16 pieces each
• Water, juice and beer
• Snack bowl with pretzels, popcorn, goldfish
• Cuties
• Cute pumpkin-themed desserts from TJs-macarons, chocolate mouse cake shaped as pumpkins, pumpkin-shaped chocolates, mini pumpkin pies, pumpkin chai cake (too sweet!) and cupcakes for the kids.

4th of July

It is once again that time of the year!  Having a home with an awesome view of the city fireworks is just asking for us to host for the festivities.  This year, we kept it more simple having a new 8-week old at home.  I did not want to prep, cook and clean all day this year.  Instead we opted to invite people for savory nibbles and dessert (ice cream sundaes=no prep time needed!).  This cut down on the prep and the guest list since less people are willing to trudge to our house for 3 hours or so and then fight traffic to go home.  I also asked for people to bring something which I hardly ever do….I think this was only the second potluck I’ve hosted.

Here’s a run-down of the menu

• BBQ Chicken Pizza:  Store-bought whole wheat dough topped with BBQ sauce, mozzarella, store-bought BBQ pulled chicken, thinly sliced red onion, sliced black olives, frozen roasted corn and cilantro to garnish
• Loaded Nachos with:  Store-bought BBQ pulled pork, BBQ sauce, Mexican blend cheese, black beans, caramelized onions, guacamole, pico de gallo
• Sundae Bar: Vanilla, Cookie Dough & Mint Chip Ice Creams.  Salted caramel sauce, hot fudge, sliced almonds, strawberries, bananas, brownies, sprinkles and whipped cream

Little S’s 3rd Birthday

This year, I decided that S and her friends have outgrown our house, so we threw her 3rd birthday at a local park.

Menu (for 37 very distracted adults and 23 kids)

• PB&J sandwiches
• Turkey and cheese sandwiches with mayo and greens
• Gogurt
• Fruit Salad-cantaloupe, green grapes, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, apples (B made it look so so pretty!)
• Southwestern quinoa salad
• Watermelon
• Egg rolls (80) – all eaten!
• Spring rolls (40) – all eaten!
• Water, diet Sprite, Brisk ice tea, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
• Chocolate, Bananana and Rainbow Chip Cupcakes
• Peppe Pig birthday cake

Party favors were bubbles and seed packets

Starry night in SD

Light pollution is a problem in big cities. It has been quite a long time since I’ve seen a starry sky. But last week, my friend M held her bachelorette party which brought the stars back…at least on a canvas!

When I found out that we were going to celebrate M’s upcoming nuptials with a painting class, I cringed…a lot. I envisioned myself sitting in front of a canvas covered mixing all the paint colors into a mess of greys and browns, a result of my desperate attempt to create art. I don’t have a creative bone in me, and I’ve been notorious for having little patience for art projects. I wasn’t expecting much fun to come out of this night for me aside from the wonderful company and the wine that accompanied the class.

Was I so wrong! I actually found the class to be therapeutic and relaxing. I loved creating the colors and layering the paint over the canvas. Was I very creative? No, not at all. I just followed the teacher’s instructions-it must be from the YEARS of education I’ve had. But in the end, I had a wonderful time, and I was pleasantly surprised at my artwork.

M has selected van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ to the be the night’s inspiration. The instructor, Amy, was a cute girl who had recently moved from England to be closer to her fiance-an American soldier now deployed in Afghanistan. She walked us through the painting, creating her own version alongside us.

I have to say that I am very proud at my work.  I’m shocked that I was able to create this in under 3 hours.  I would have liked to have had more time to touch up, but I am still happy with the result.

So how did I do?