Eddie Ross Event June 17th

Like this photo of a powerpoint on a screen? Eddie Ross was here recently and I was fortunate enough to attend this event called Wow Without Work(even got a discount for being a blogger). If you are not familiar with Eddie, have a look at his website. He is an idea machine, has an amazing background in style, and a magnetic personality.

The picture above is a partial shot of the buffet table set with items from Scentimental Gardens in Geneva, IL. Debra from Scentimental Gardens presented alongside Eddie and, I have to say, they are a great team. Eddie is the foodie and style phenom, Debra is great with garden decor, and together they're a winning combination.

This Baby's Tears Cake (at least I think it was made from Baby's Tears was a cute idea. With some tall candles, lovely.

I can't tell you everything that happened...it was a long evening about 3-1/2 hours, but here's an idea I liked: using vintage swizzle sticks for drink markers instead of those wine glass charms. Each has a unique location, is colorful, and also acts as a conversation starter.

There were lots of yummy tidbits to be had. My favorite was probably a spiced popcorn with some candied nuts served in little individual brown paper bags. See the grease spots? Yum. Sorry for the blurry picture. I was trying to take it and grab a bag off the tray!

Speaking of individual servings...this was another great tip. Eddie talked about creating individual servings to be picked up by your guests. For instance, taking little shot glasses, adding a little cocktail sauce to each, and placing a cocktail shrimp inside. Your guests have a holder for the sauce (saving a nice outfit from red cocktail sauce drippings) and, after indulging, a place to put their shrimp tail. I usually do this with any sweet treat I make to take somewhere. When I make a dessert (brownies, lemon bars, raspberry bars, cakes, etc.) to take to a party or work or anwhere really, I cut it into individual servings and place each in a paper muffin cup. This allows everyone to take a piece without searching for a plate or napkin, and, for you germaphobes, people don't get their fingers in other pieces. I also think desserts get eaten faster this way. I would definitely take a piece of something that I don't have to cut and serve myself. Another good point Eddie made was the fact that by making individual servings you know you will have enough for the guests that are coming.

If they rsvp!!! What is it with people and the lack of rsvp-ing? Sorry, but I must go off on this tangent for a moment. I am a planner. I love to have a party with pretty items on the table: place cards, favors, gift bags,etc. It is extremely difficult to do this when people don't respond. So, if you are one of those people, kindly rsvp. I usually add my email to invitations these days because it makes things even easier. Sorry, tangent erased and I am back on track. Oh, and I apologize to anyone that I have failed to respond to for a party. Anyway...
A couple of other hors d'ouevres that were served: mini phyllo cups filled with mac & cheese and topped with bread crumbs. These were surprisingly good and even more surprising was the little canape with country pate topped with a piece of dill pickle. That's right dill pickle and pate. I had to try it. The dill pickle was really perfect with it.

During a break, I spoke with Jaithan for a while. We chatted about parties, and luaus, and how he has a good friend that lives on the Big Island, where one side of my family lives, and yada yada yada. We may have to have a luau the next time he and Eddie come this way. Took a picture with them. This screams, "Go to the gym, woman," and "What the hell did you have to drink?" I had one vodka, cran, oj. I swear; that's it! It also asks me, "Ooh, which one are you an Oompah Loompah or a Munchkin?" Believe it or not, I had on 3" high wedges!!!
This next pictures screams, "What the hell did the person taking the picture drink?" Oh well, she was kind enough to take them.

It was a wonderful evening and I know several bloggers were in attendance. I met Stacey from The Blessed Nest who sat next to me. We had each come alone, so it was nice to have some company from a fellow blogger in the area. Everyone left with some new tips to help create their own Wow party. Or, if anyone needs help, let me know. That way I can just spend your moolah instead of mine.

I am crossing my fingers that Eddie comes back soon to do one of his flea market field trips soon. I would really like to go on one of those outings!

Thrifty Deals

Friday was my highly successful garage sale day. Here's what I got...


Tall case with 5 pull-out baskets $7, small 3 legged table FREE (it pays to chit chat with people, I was looking at this and she said, "If you want that, you can just have it," so I took it), on the top of the case silver pitcher $1, Pottery Barn beeswax candle 50 cents, floral plate 25 cents.

On the little table top: every single thing was 25 cents each. There is a little vintage tea pot, a glass decanter, glass rooster, 3 biscuit cutters, a hand painted vintage pitcher, 2 planters, a decorative bird statue, and a statue of two children (this one is made in Occupied Japan). All that for $2.25.

white shelf was $2 and the little vintage red case with white polka dots was $1. On the bottom shelf of the little table, is a milk glass plate $1, a pewter vase $1.50, a milk glass salt and pepper grinder $1, a vintage music box stein 25 cents, some wood shims 25 cents, a blue and white vintage scarf $1, and the green photo box on the ground was 50 cents.

Also on the ground is a box of old sewing notions for $3. I found a vintage advertising piece in the box that sells on ebay for more than that. My very favorite find is an old Italian wine bottle. That's right, the kind they sell at Pottery Barn for $99 and up. Got mine for $7!



Oops, I forgot a few things. This was a vintage strawberry shortcake tray for 50 cents, mug for 25 cents, and candle for 10 cents. The white ceramic basket was $2 and the melon baller inside was 50 cents. The 12 metal molds were 75 cents and the old milk bottle was 25 cents. The frisbee, which will be destroyed by the dog in one play session, and the decorative bead strand was free.

I would call it a highly successful day. Total for everything: $33.85 I'm sure I will make most of that back on ebay from a couple of those items.

Note: I just linked up to the Thrifty Treasures Party at http://southernhospitalityblog.com/thrifty-treasures-once-again/

WHAT SMELLS?????

Why do we do it? Why? Why? Why? Why do we smell something stinky, wrinkle up our noses, and immediately say to the closest human, "Ewww, smell this." Why? It's bad people, it's nasty, it's disgusting, it kills every pleasant olfactory sensation before it....so, come on smell it too, you know you want to.

What made me think of this? Smelly things, of course. My Copper (poor guy) was out training one day last week. It was outdoors and it was a very wet day. Rain, rain, rain. I felt bad for him. He came home with sore feet that had been sitting in soggy black socks and boots all day. His feet looked like wrinkly, wet dead things. He said they were so bad and smelled like dead fish. He didn't want to put them in the hamper (thankfully), so he put them in the laundry room. Did I know this? No. I just happened to have put a freshly washed load of darks in the dryer right before this. The next time I go into the laundry room, I see two black wet socks on the washing machine. I immediately think that I dropped them going from washer to dryer, so what do I do? That's right. I take a gigantic whiff of them expecting the rain fresh scent that the bottle of detergent claims of. What do I get? A gigantic whiff of stinky dead fish. So, what do I do? I go upstairs (laughing the whole way) and tell My Copper. What does he say, smiling? "They're bad, huh, I smelled them, too."

Why? Why do we do this? It must be leftover from our primal times when we had to smell to ensure something was okay to eat. Cavemen didn't have refrigeration. Smell could deter you from consuming something that could kill you. And, believe me, those socks could've killed me. I put them in the garbage instead of the next load. I just couldn't take the risk that they would infect other articles of clothing.

Dogs, of course, have a whole different view of what smells good...



In the end (ha, ha get it, the end), if we are going to sniff around at things, we should just continue stop and smell the roses.

Thrifty Treasure Finds

I am the lover of a good deal, sale, bargain, etc. I get a terrible pain in my head if I am not allowed to stop at a thrift, resale, garage sale, flea market, antique store...you get the picture. Okay, so I will post pictures when I remember to take some. I love to write, but don't always remember to illustrate!

Right now I have a few items that I still need to put away, sell on ebay or etsy, or do a little prettying up to. My garage currently contains: a cast iron bed (for My Girl's room). This was a freebie from my neighbor's garbage.

A buffet that needs to be sanded and painted for my dining room. I bought it late in the fall and it was too cold outside to paint it properly. It's nice now, so I will be working on it soon.

Bags of treasures that include: crystal plates, pressed glass plates, glass corn plates, a silver pineapple tray (that's right I am from Hawaii), a pressed glass tall dish, a blue small pedestal dish, a pier one frame, and other things that I really don't remember at this moment.

Today at the Salvation Army I found a tacky hula girl statue, but I have plans for her. You'll have to wait and see. A milk glass plate, some wire baskets, a table runner for my antique pedal sewing machine that I got at a garage sale for $20, a game for My Little Guy, and (my best find) pink depression glass salt and pepper shakers for 75 cents!

The best part of the whole Salvation Army (or as I have heard some people pronounce it Salivation Army; eww, I bet people do salivate on some of that stuff) shopping experience was the woman on the phone talking the entire time. She was having a vivid conversation about her divorce and how much it was costing her every time she went to court and every other word was the F word. I was laughing the whole time. My kids weren't there...pheww. Don't worry, I wasn't eavesdropping. I could hear her very clearly from three rows over!