How To Tie a Bow Tie

I found this super cute, vintage illustration on how to tie a bow tie today. I just had to share!

Bridal Shower Goodies

This weekend I'm hosting my first bridal shower in awhile and I've been working hard on lots of goodies to decorate and yummy recipes to make. At this point I've scrapped most of the recipes to save time and I'm focusing more on the over all appearance.

Theme: French Cafe

Time of Day: 11AM

Food: Brunch yumyums

I plan on taking pictures, with a borrowed camera, of the happy party and sharing the highlights with you soon. For now though you can take a peek at my inspiration for the event.

Milk glass is a major component of my decorating scheme as white brings everything together of course.

It couldn't be a french brunch without croissants, it's so American in Paris.

Grey and Damask, equals dreamy



Paper Medallions are perfect in clusters.

I'm getting really excited and I can't wait to show everyone the finished product, especially the bride ;). big kiss, bekuh

Longhorn Cow Art

I was looking at some of my favorite Etsy store owners' treasuries this morning and came across this incredible, in my opinion, piece of art. It's called Stampede and it's by an artist named Dolan Geiman

Check out the rest of Dolan's work on Etsy!

Burn, Burn, Burn

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars."

-Jack Kerouac

My Curry Pictures

A couple of Fridays ago I shared a recipe I tried at home, the Slow-Cooker Curried Chicken with Ginger and Yogurt, I at last have some of the pictures I took of this food adventure to share with you.

The first picture, which is my favorite, Ryan took. I think he has a natural gift with photography. Must let him take more pictures. big kiss, bekuh

What did we get at IKEA?

I thought I'd share with you a little about our IKEA adventure and the goodies we bought on the trip. After a 3 hour drive and a delicious lunch we dared to enter the doors of IKEA in Charlotte, NC. Three hours later we exited with lighter wallets and some pretty awesome pieces of furniture and a variety of other fun things, like a duvet cover.

We did get the Red TV stand!!!! It's actually bigger than I anticipated, which is a good thing, and know all of our movie clutter is hidden and a sleek, grown up look is in its place.

We got this fantastic Expedit Bookcase for all of Ryan's vinyl and some of my bizarre goodwill knick knacks. I love it!

We also decided that we liked the striped duvet best of all so we purchased it. I haven't put it on the bed yet, it seems wrong since it's supposed to be for Ryan and I and he doesn't live with me yet.

Besides all this we got a wok for cooking, a milk frother, and a wall clock. All in all a very successful journey. big kiss, bekuh

My Absence

Sorry for my absence in the blogging world this week. Work, friends, and family have taken priority but I promise I will start blogging regularly again. big kiss, bekuh

Because I've been doing a lot of lists lately I'm going to take a step back and share with you a new recipe I tried last week from the March 2011 issue of Real Simple. It was delicious and a real slow-cook treat.

Slow-Cooker Curried Chicken With Ginger and Yogurt

José Picayo

Serves 6

Hands-on Time: 15m

Total Time: 8hr 15m

INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 tablesppon grated fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 10)
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
• 1/2 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS

1. In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, whisk together the tomato paste, garlic, curry powder, ginger, cumin, and ¾ cup water. Add the onion and stir to combine. Place the chicken on top and season with 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.

2. Cover and cook until the chicken is tender, on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours (this will shorten total cooking time).

3. Twenty minutes before serving, cook the rice according to the package directions.

4. Just before serving, add the yogurt and ½ teaspoon salt to the chicken and stir to combine. Serve with the rice and sprinkle with the scallions.

TIP

Like your curry spicy? Turn up the heat by adding 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper along with the curry powder.

for more great recipes, tips and tricks, check out Real Simple recipes. big kiss, bekuh