My mother always uses her China for Thanksgiving because I think she feels it doesn't "go" with any other season, and it doesn't help that the name of the pattern is called Autumn. I love the pattern because I think it's bold and very different than what brides are picking out these days. I hope as a family we continue to use this China for many more Thanksgivings. She also pulls out her Silver which is something I don't own and am very jealous of. However the serving spoons shown above is not her pattern, but my Grandmother's on my Dad's side. My grandparents were artistic people and I think this modern pattern reflects their style perfectly.
My sister has started two traditions: 1. Tutti Frutti Fruit Salad and 2. Brie wrapped in puff pastry. #1 was started when she was in pre-school and they were learning the letter T, I guess they made this salad and as a family we fell in love with it. I couldn't really tell you how it's made but I'm sure there is not much nutritional value in it even though it has the word Fruit. #2 is something she learned while living in Germany. You basically just cover a wheel of brie in "pop can" pastry dough and top the brie with fruit before covering it completely. I was very upset I could not enjoy the brie, since I am 3 months pregnant I can no longer eat unpasteurized cheese :(
On to the Meat... Meat is a man's job in my family, before I could take a photos of our gorgeous turkey my Dad had it all carved and ready to serve. Now normally my mom doesn't serve ham but this Thanksgiving we celebrated it 3 days late due to my dad getting the swine flue, so for those that were sick of Turkey, you could have ham instead, my husband was in HEAVEN, his two favorite things!
To end a wonderful meal we had pumpkin and apple pie complements of ME. YUM!
This weekend was jammed packed full of too much to do. One of thing on my to do list was create this fresh floral chandelier for a co-workers friend's engagement party. I honestly didn't know how it was going to turn out when I took the job, but to my surprise I think it turned out great. It took Chris and I 2 hours and what I think were 250 roses (the bride provided the roses from Costco) When we drove away Chris turned to me and said "I hope it doesn't start to fall apart, you know gravity could start to kick in" (It probably weighed 50-75lbs) I was like, WHAT, you tell me this now, now that it's all done. The rest of they day all I could think about was, please don't fall apart, please make it through the party in one piece. Well, I just got confirmation that it did make it through and it's still in tact! yeah go team Loda!
It took me awhile to find a "runner cupcake" and this is the best I could do. I have two friends named Ashley that were born 2 days apart so for Ashley G. this cupcake is for you because you have become a running freak. I don't know how you do it, keep it up and have a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
I haven't posted a cupcake in forever that I forgot to post one yesterday for my baby sister, Elise. Yesterday she turned the big 25, 1/4 of a century!!! She went to Vegas last weekend to celebrate and I'm afraid to ask how it was, you know what they say, "What happens in Veagas, stays in Vegas"
I was a Junior in College getting ready for my 10am class when I watched live on the Today show the announcement of the first plane hitting Tower 1, than saw the second plane crash into the second tower. I numbly got on the bus and went to class, thinking what just happened? My class insisted my professor turn on the TV so we could watch what was happening but he only allowed us to keep it on for 5 minutes, then turned it off to continue teaching. I don't think at that moment we all knew the impact that day would have on us for the rest of our lives. 
Bridal Bouquet
To suppliment the already purchased flowers I bought purple listhanus, purple and lavendar sweet pea, purple carnations for the pomander ball and greenery for the corsages and bouts.
One of my biggest things I spend time on is packaging, ok I lied, that's what Chris does, but still, some how we have to transport the flowers and figuring out how is always a concern. Chris does an amazing job figuring out how it's all going to fit in the car and not get crushed, this wedding was a challenge and we almost didn't have enough room, I had to hold the box of bouts on my lap.
We first dropped off the bouquets in the historic farm house located on the property, where all the girls were getting ready, you can kinda see the old historic wood plank floors.
The arrangements turned out great but took a little time to fill with water and floating candles. The bride also had a box of butterfiles laying around, no one knew what to do with them so I put them in the flowers, I hope she liked it. 
The last thing we did was hang the pew buckets and re-fill the water, by then we were hot, tired and dreaming of beer, here is Chris with his, "I"m ready for this to be over face" 
Don't they look great!
It had over 150 breweries with over 300 beers to try. Don't under estimate this event, it was sold out immediately with over 2,000 people attending.
Our red carpet moment, and I think we look pretty good considering we just spent 2 days doing flowers, and yes I was a sucker and paid $15 for this photo.
The food was ok, but the oyster bar was what blew us away.
By the end of the night, everything looked like this.
