Sneak Peek: Ealy Wedding

11 bridesmaid bouquets!

Lemon Raspberry Layer Cake

Here's the other cake, again from Beantown Baker, I made for my grandmother's birthday - and this one was especially for her. She loves fresh fruit and sweet frosting and this has both! (Again I didn't get to taste the whole thing due to Ida's sensitivities but I did get to taste the cake itself and I love this white cake recipe!  That almond flavoring does wonders to enhance it!)

(Don't you like my nephew's finger pointing to which raspberry he wants?)

(Again, I assembled these super late at night while we were doing a Settler's of Catan tournament, so they aren't they smoothest or most level cakes ever.)  My notes are in italics.

Recipe after the break

Triple Layer Oreo Cake

I have a number of blog posts in my brain that I've been meaning to actually post - this month has just slipped by!

We had a bunch of relatives in town for the weekend of the 4th and it turned into one non-stop party! This included celebrating my grandmother's 87th birthday. I volunteered to make the cakes and couldn't decide on just one recipe - so I made two (I'll post the other later). This was a ton of fun to make and I so wish I could have tasted it (Ida has been extremely sensitive to dairy and chocolate.)! But I trust my husband's taste buds and he loved it. How could it not be good - it uses a WHOLE package of Oreos!

The recipe is from Beantown Baker and I didn't alter a thing. I will say, however, that next time I'd use 9in pans - the 8in overflowed. (I didn't have the smoothest icing job as I was literally assembling layers in between my turn on Settlers.) The recipe is long and time-consuming but oh so worth it!

Recipe after the break

Weekend Fun

Can you tell we had a blast in Seattle this weekend?!

Supper Club

After having a baby and everyone's crazy summer schedule we finally got around to another supper club. I'm not going to remember the names of everyone's dishes but Katie's salmon appetizers were amazing!

Mike and I were in charge of the salad course and palette cleanser. We made a Grilled Shrimp "Ceviche" Salad from Gourmet's Grilling Magazine.

This picture does not do justice to how colorful these veggies were - beets, brussel sprouts, squash - yum!

Champagne Sorbet - this was delicious and so refreshing! Recipe here. Sorry the pictures are so dark - we should do this in the middle of the day for good lighting.

Roast lamb and risotto style couscous. Everything was really delicious.

Brian made us guess what was in the ice cream that he made - avocado (pictured) and fig!  They were so smooth and velvety!

Inspiration Board: Festive Orange

Harry Potter Party Ideas

We're headed to the final Harry Potter tonight and I happened to stumble on this today!  Fun fun!
Butterbeer recipe here from Heather Bailey via birthdaygirlblog.
Broomstick tutorial here.

White Roses

I had some extra roses leftover and pulled them together into a spiralled bouquet. These make me want to do a pure cream rose wedding. (added bonus - it'd be budget savvy!)

Inspiration Board: Casual Shades of Blue with Wildflowers

Inspiration Board: Orange and Red with Gold and Silver Accents

Sneak Peek: Hui Wedding

Here's a quick look at last week's wedding.  I can't wait to see the photographer's shots!  Mine aren't the best as the lighting was pretty dim.

Cecilia gave me bracelets for all the bridesmaid's bouquets. I wrapped them around the top of the stems right at the base of the flower. A fun accent and great gift for the bridesmaids.

The bridal bouquet - the brooch is her "something old and borrowed"

All ready to go!

Shelbi's Catan Cookies

This past weekend a bunch of my relatives came up to celebrate the 4th. We're all Catan fans so we had a Catan tournament night. (Well every night became Catan night actually...) My cousin-in-law, Shelbi, came up with the brilliant idea of making the game board out of cookies. She did a whole post on the details over here. Take a look for the how to and her amazing photos. They were delicious!

(oreo - ore, marshmallows - sheep, butterfinger - brick, orange sugar wafers - wheat, nilla cookies - sand/dessert, mike and ikes - roads, gummies - cities and settlements, gummy bear - robber baron, candy melts - numbers)