Confessional Friday: Part IV

Another week has come and gone. Can you BELIVE next week is Thanksgiving? You guys, it's INSANE how fast this year has gone. It's probably because we packed soooo many things into it.

This week I'm linking up with the FAB blogs below.

Here we go!

1) I confess that we're taking another road trip this weekend.
We're headed up to Omaha after Justin gets off work to visit our friends Eric and Ashley. We haven't seen them in awhile, and we haven't seen their new house since they moved in this summer! We've been trying to visit each other at least once each month, but with Justin's work schedule it's just so hard to get time off over a weekend. I'm so excited! Tonight we'll be grilling out and catching up. Tomorrow we'll be making some gameday goodies while we watch the Huskers take on Minnesota, then hitting the town!

2) I confess I should be editing my seminar paper.
It's due in three short weeks. But after putting in sooo much time into it, I think I need to give it a break for awhile. Maybe I'll have a little time this weekend to work on it.

3) I confess Archie enjoys watching TV...I think. 
I always thought Peyton (and dogs in general) couldn't see what was happening on the TV because there would be dogs, cats, everything on there making noise and he would never bat an eye. But Archie...he can see (and barks at) everything. Also, he'll just stare at it like he's watching it. Earlier, I was catching up on How to Get Away With Murder (OMG!) and had it paused. He must not have liked what was on there because he started barking like crazy. Either that or he wanted me to start it so he could see what happened. ;)

3) I confess I went a little crazy in the Christmas department on Wednesday.
I ordered some wrapping paper off walmart.com and had it shipped to the store. I walked in there with the full intention of going straight to the back to pick it up....then I saw the Christmas aisles and the rest was history. I got bows, ribbon, boxes, cookie tins, and a few decorations! Oh yeah, and my wrapping paper. Now let the gift shopping begin!

4) I confess I'm excited for Thanksgiving next week.
We'll be heading home at some point, going to wings Wednesday, and spending some quality time with family. Oh yeah...and food. So. Much. Food. I couldn't be happier. This is one of my favorite times of the year, one of the reasons for that is being able to spend so much time with our families.

That's all for this Friday! Talk to ya'll soon!

-Emily

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A Baby Shower!

In lieu of Confessional Friday this week (and any other post...I've been a little MIA lately), I thought I would catch up on last weekends happenings! As many of you know, and I've talked a little about before (here and here), this weekend I helped host my sister-in-law's baby shower this weekend. It was an amazing time, filled with laughter, great food, awesome gifts for Baby Calvert, and even a few tears I think (happy ones of course!)

When Mallory's sister first asked for my help, I said yes right away. For some reason I've been gravitating toward baby items on Pinterest (...baby fever anyone??) and planning a baby shower gave a real reason to start pinning. =)

We started out by choosing a date and time. Several factors went into deciding which day it would be held on:

1) What did Mallory want?
2) What day would most people be likely to come?
3) What time would be most convenient for people?
4) Which date and time made the most sense for us host-ies?

First thing's first, it's always a good idea to make sure the guest of honor/mommy-to-be is going to be available on the chosen date! Otherwise, what's the point of having the party?! Also, we thought it would be important for the shower to be on a Sunday, given that Saturdays in the fall always seem to be super busy with football games, children's activities, what have you. Given that, we chose a 2 PM time on Sunday, November 9. Some thought went in to the 2 PM time as we wanted to give people enough time to go to church and eat lunch but not cut it too close to dinner time. Plus, having an early afternoon shower allowed us to cut back on the food amounts some since we figured most people would have eaten by that time.

We also had to find some place to have this shin-dig! A couple of options that came up were the party room at the Dakota City Fire Hall and the fireside room at Mallory's church. After talking with Mallory, she told me she thought the fire room would work well (she meant the room at the church). LESSON #1: Clarify, clarify, clarify. Upon learning this from Mallory, I told her sister to book the fire HALL room for the party, which meant the Dakota City Fire Hall. Big miscommunication. We got the fire hall, but Mallory didn't know this until she got the invite. Big fail. But, it turned out great so it could have been worse.

Once we settled on the place, next came the invitation and decoration selection. I was in charge of invitations, and after consulting with Mallory, I selected ones Mallory's sister had found on Pinterest sold by a shop on Etsy. (Man, I love that place.) We got them in grey and yellow to match the gender neutral theme! So cute!

Then we started talking about decorations! Pinterest had the cutest diaper bouquets and salt water taffy bouquets inspirations ever. Mal's sister decided to do the diaper bouquets and I made the taffy ones. Here's how they turned out...pretty good I have to say! (Side note: Yellow salt water taffy is EXTREMELY hard to find!).

The diaper bouquets

Taffy bouquets

Mal had also sent me a picture of a streamer and balloon backdrop she saw...so I thought it seemed do-able. I got all the supplies, got the picture, and got Justin and his dad Dave to work on making it happened. HUGE thank you to them because it looked amazing! LESSON #2: Don't be afraid to bring men to help get up. 

Inspiration Photo

In progress...

Final result...so great!

She also sent me a photo of some sucker favors with a little label on them thanking everyone for coming and the saying "Look who's ready to POP!". Below is the inspiration picture, and then my final result picture!

Inspiration Photo

My version

I used shipping labels and designed them using two columns on Word

We also knew we wanted to have some games. I had seen a Pin about a "The Price is Right" game where you have guests guess about the price of common baby items. Mallory's sister say one about putting several baby items into a diaper bag and then have guests feel around for 30 seconds and try to write down all the items they felt. We decided to do both of those as well as a "Guess the Baby Bump Size" game where guests cut a piece of measuring tape as big as they think the momma-to-be's baby bump is around. They were all super fun!

Guess the bump!

We used something similar to this found on Etsy...but Mallory's sister made ours!

One thing we did forget however, was a prize for each of the game winners. LESSON #3: Don't forget the party prizes! That was too bad, but since the gifts normally end up with the momma anyway, we'll just have to make it up to her later. ;)

Next, we had to figure out what we were doing for food. Since it was an afternoon shower, appetizers and finger foods seemed like a good choice. I wanted something easy to whip together so I chose little BBQ smokies, spinach dip, and glazed meatballs. Mal's sister said she would do the sandwiches (egg salad, chicken salad, and tuna) as well as a veggie pizza, fruit, and a cold salad. It turned out amazing and I think everything was a really good balance for people to choose from. She also got the cake. It was from HyVee, tasted and looked amazing, but she said it was a little pricey. LESSON #4: Ask about cake prices to reduce sticker shock. 

Part of the food set up

Adorable cake and dessert table Mal's sister put together

After that, everything was pretty much set! We showed up two hours before the party, got everything set up, and the shower went great! Baby Calvert got lots of cute items and should be ready to make his or her debut any time now!

Final set up!

Myself, the beautiful momma-to-be Mallory, and her sister Lacy

Words can't explain how excited I am to become an Aunt for the first time! My heart is so happy!

I've created a Baby Shower Planning Guide in case I ever throw another baby shower...maybe that way we won't forget the prizes! =)

You can download it by clicking here! 

Thanks for reading and Happy Sunday!

-Emily

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Confessional Friday: Part III

Good morning! I'm really liking this confessional thing! However, I've noticed I am less inclined to blog more substantial posts when I'm doing this. I'm going to try to keep up with a "long" post and a confessional post per week type of schedule...but we will see how that goes with the holidays and finals coming up.

Here are my confessions!

1) I confess that this weekend is the big baby shower!!
Sunday is the day! It should be a great time with family and friends getting together to celebrate Baby C.  Mallory's sister and I have been working hard to make sure we have everything accounted for. I know this is one topic I'm planning to post about later, not necessary every detail about the shower itself, but more about what we did to prepare and how everything came together. Now I just have to remember to take pictures... =)

2) I confess I'm excited to be spending the weekend back in South Sioux. 
Because of the shower, Justin and I as well as the dogs, are heading back to South Sioux for the weekend. We haven't been back since September, and that was for less than 24 hours. It'll be nice to have a relaxing weekend and catch up with family. Also, I'm super excited because on Saturday I'll be grabbing a drink with Molly and Alexa. It'll be great to have a little time to hang out, so I can't wait.

3) I confess my class schedule for next semester is leaving me frustrated. 
Basically, I got in to all the classes I signed up for in the lottery (which were clinics, so I'm working on real cases for low income individuals), but if I take all of them I won't be able to take Estate Planning and Business Associations. It's hard because I think Family Law Practice (working on divorce cases) would be super interesting, but the Estate Planning and Business Association  might be more useful when I get out into the "real world". I have the weekend to think about it, but it won't be an easy decision. Do I take the course that provides hands on interaction with clients, but in the specialized field of family law? Or do I go with two lecture courses in more broad topics, but with no hands on experiences? So hard!

4) I confess that I have a busy day today.
Archie woke me up early this morning (shocker), but I suppose it's okay being that I have a lot to get done before we leave town. I have to gather up all the last minute details for the baby shower, wrap gifts, head to school for a lunch time meeting, possibly mow, pack, and pick up the house a bit. I should also figure out something to fix the hole underneath my backyard fence. Peyton has learned to escape under it and go off on little adventures. In fact, I just spent 5 minutes looking for him before looked in the front yard and there he was! When he saw me he ran back under the fence to the backyard to come in the backdoor like nothing happened. Sneaky, sneaky. I'm lucky because he doesn't wander too far, but I'm afraid that one of these days he will! Anyway, lots to do so I'd better run!

Happy Friday,
-Emily

I'm linking up with A Blonde Ambition blog!

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Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread

So like most others out there...I'm guilty of falling victim to the fall pumpkin obsession. Last year, I made some pumpkin cream cheese bread. A couple of weekends ago it sounded pretty delicious so I went to look up the recipe. Well, do you think I could find it? No chance.

After scouring Pinterest, I found this recipe. It's not the same, but it seemed close enough. Here it is:

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread

*Cream Cheese Filling*
1 package cream cheese (8oz)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 egg

*Bread*
1 2/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar

Preheat oven to 325. Grease one large loaf pan or two small loaf pans. 

In a mixing bowl combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1 egg. Beat until smooth.

In another bowl sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. 

In a third bowl, mix together pumpkin, vegetable oil, eggs and sugar. Blend well. 

Mix the pumpkin mixture into the flour until combined. 

Pour half the batter in the bottom of the pan then add the cream cheese mixture and pour the rest of the batter on top. 

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove from pan and cook on rack.

I forgot to take a finished picture...so this is from the original source!

Review
Overall, this recipe was pretty good, but I think I like the old one better (which makes me even more mad that I can't find it). The old one had some orange zest in it and I threw in some chocolate chips as well so I could probably make those additions to this recipe.

One change I think I would definitely make is this: I used one large loaf pan and it took FOREVER to get done in the middle. I'm talking like 2 hours. And then by the time the middle got done, the edges were a little dry. The flavor wasn't affected, but I think the texture could have been better. I would definitely use the two smaller pans next time.

That's all I've got! What are your favorite pumpkin recipes?

-Emily

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