Bridal Shower Wine Basket

My family had a bridal shower today for my cousin’s bride-to-be, Jessica. Mom and I decided to do something a little creative for the gift.  I mentioned to my Mom a gift of wine with tags that tell the new couple when to drink them.  Mom took the idea to Pinterest and found someone that did just this!  The website is called Occasions and has a tutorial with printable tags in multiple colors. 

The tags were pre-made, so I just had to download and print them out on heavy card stock, cut them with a fun border and attach them to the wine Mom bought.  The tags are for:

• Wedding Night
• First Christmas
• First Dinner Party
• First Fight
• First Anniversary
• First Baby

Here’s the basket we put together:

Mom bought a wine and also a sparkling cider for the First Baby, so that’s why there are 7 bottles in the basket.

My next challenge was to wrap it all up.  I went to Wal-Mart looking for cellophane wrap, but I couldn’t find it anywhere!  I walked up and down the card aisle, party supply aisle, even the floral and basket aisle.  During my search I did find a plastic lace tablecloth. 

It ended up being perfect!  It was see-through enough so you could see the basket and the purple tissue.  The lace was feminine and bridal looking.

Everyone thought it was a great looking gift and Jessica didn’t even want to open it!  I’ll have to remember this gift idea (and tablecloth) for future bridal showers.

Circle Collages

Conform: to act in accord with the prevailing standards, attitudes, practices, etc., of society or a group.

Synonyms: be conventional, be traditional, do the accepted thing, obey the rules, play the game, match.

 

Nonconformity: failure or refusal to conform, as with established customs, attitudes, or ideas.

Synonyms: rebel, maverick, radical, eccentric, free spirit, individualist, oddball.

 

These words drifted through my head when I was asked to look at the children’s circle collages at daycare.  They were each given the same number, color and size circles and told to make a collage.  Simple task for three year olds and even little 15m Gabe participated in the fun.  Here are how the kids did:

 

Luke is one of Jake’s best friends, they are very alike in their personalities.  They both want the same toy and often fight.

 

Maverick is the new kid in the daycare.  I told Jake to tell him his name was Goose.  I find it interesting that Maverick is a synonym for nonconformist, so far he’s not really living up to his name.

 

Ryker is another of Jake’s friends.  Honestly I’m not very familiar with him and who he really is.  But I do like the small circles inside the large circles, very creative!

 

Gabe is only 15 months old and the youngest at the daycare.  He learned to walk and now run and tries to keep up the the big boys.

 

And now for my son, Jake.  He is everything listed in the nonconformist, but he may also have a slight OCD issue.  He stacked the circles by color, then glued them all together and made a circle sandwich.  Very creative and nothing like me!

I hope his teachers in school let him explore the world in his own way and don’t make him conform too much to society.  Yes, make him line up and obey the rules, but when creativity is involved let him do his own thing.  Maybe he will be in marketing or advertising when he grows up.

Greek Yogurt

I’m sure you’ve all seen Greek Yogurt either in stores or in commercials.  The most popular brand in the U.S. is Oikos which may have to do with their spokesperson, John Stamos.  I’ve had a crush on him since Full House and I must say he has improved with age.  So dreamy!

Ok, back to reality.  For Greek yogurt I am not a huge fan of the Oikos brand or the Yoplait brand, but I do like the Yo-Crunch brand.  I love the packet of granola you can add to it which gives it a crunchy texture which I prefer.  But to each their own as there are plenty of brands out there.

I recently pinned a recipe for pizza dough which consisted of just two ingredients: 1 cup self-rising flour and 1 cup plain Greek yogurt.  I wasn’t able to find plain Greek yogurt in a small single serving cup, so I went ahead and bought a large container.  All you do is mix the two ingredients together and then knead for 5 minutes.  I used the pastry hooks on my hand-held mixer then rolled it out flat.  We baked it for about 7-8 minutes at 400F then topped it with sauce, cheese, pepperoni, sausage and more cheese.  We baked it for another 15 minutes or until the cheese all melted. 

I liked the pizza dough but Jamie was less impressed, so now I had a big tub of plain Greek yogurt and not sure what to do with it, but that very night my friend pinned a recipe for a Banana Yogurt Smoothie. 

This recipe is super easy and even though it was for a post-workout dinner I’ve been making them all week for breakfast.  

• ½ cup Milk
• ½ cup Plain Greek Yogurt
• 1 small Banana
• 1 Tbsp Peanut Butter
• 1 tsp Honey
• ½ tsp cinnamon

When I first made it I didn’t have any honey and even with the banana and peanut butter it wasn’t very sweet so I went out and tried it with the honey and it is much better.  This smoothie keeps me satisfied all morning and I no longer get hungry at 10am.

To make the smoothie I use an immersion blender that I’ve had for many years and only recently have Jamie and I been using it almost daily.  It is super easy to use and clean up.  If you like to make smoothies then this blender is perfect and it doesn’t take up much room in the cupboard either. 

Now all I need to do is find some recipes for the remaining self-rising flour I bought.  I’m sure there is lots to make with that!