September 19, 2009

What A Polite Puppy!

On Wednesday my sister and Bill brought home an adorable cockapoo puppy named Winnie! Winnie is bringing joy to our whole family and last night I had the chance to babysit her while her mom and dad went out to dinner in the city. Winnie played all night and when my sister and Bill came to pick her up she was out like a light!

Having Winnie stay with me inspired me to create some puppy thank you notes. I made these notes as a gift to Jenny and Bill so they can write on behalf of Winnie when a friend watches her or gives her a present. Already little Winnie is learning nice manners. What a polite little puppy!
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September 16, 2009

"Dress Up" A Cocktail Party

The New York Junior League Homecoming theme this year is "Flappers and Dappers". Each party hosted by the Astor House Committee has a theme and it is one of the reasons why our parties are consistently a hit! Next time you throw a party, center it around a theme with the opportunity for guests to dress up if they want to. Last night at my committee meeting a bunch of us were discussing our themed accessories. What a fun way to "dress up" a cocktail party!

For those of you ladies in New York who wish to attend NYJL Homecoming on Friday, September 25th, please visit http://www.nyjl.org/ for more information!


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September 9, 2009

Gratitude


Sometimes when you are reminded just how precious life is, you begin to appreciate each happy and healthy day even more. Your very worst day is someone else's very best day. Never take life for granted and feel blessed for even the smallest of things in your life. Most importantly, tell those you love how much you love them and how grateful you are to have them in your life.
-This post is dedicated to my loving Grandmom

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September 8, 2009

Royal Icing

Over Labor Day weekend I made my sugar cookies again (the recipe I posted in May from Mrs. Fields) This time instead of just adding colored sugar decoration, I added royal icing and they were deeee-licious!! You can use royal icing on cookies, cakes, donuts, just about anything you want and it works wonders if you are trying to make flowers or other intricate confections. Here's the recipe- it's soooo easy!

Whisk together 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice with 2 egg whites. Add in 3 cups confectioners sugar and a dabble of gel food coloring. The proper consistency is when the ribbon of icing that falls back into the bowl remains on the surface for about 5 seconds before disappearing. To cover the cookie neatly, take the cookie and place a small amount of icing in the middle of the cookie. Using a small knife or spatula, push the icing to the edge of the cookie. If the icing runs off the edge, thicken the icing by adding a little more confectioners sugar. The icing will harden quickly when exposed to air so you must work fast or else cover the icing in an airtight container if you need to take a break. If you are using the icing to pipe flowers or write letters, add a little more confectioners sugar so the consistency is a bit thicker and optimal for piping. Pipe with a fine metal frosting tip and plastic pastry bag that you can throw away in case the icing hardens inside the bag.

If you really want to wow your crowd, sprinkle colored sugar decoration on the surface of the cookies while the royal icing is still drying. Whoa baby, look out!
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September 1, 2009

Girls Only!

Last year I joined an NFL survivor pool through a friend of a friend. Basically I paid $100 to enter the pool of 80 and I took my chance each week at picking different winning teams to advance to the next week. I was eliminated by October but I had fun watching and caring about games I wouldn't normally give a hoot about. I had enough of a good time that when I got an email from the pool leader today to sign up again for 2009, I thought: yeah sure, I'll do it again this year! Well... When I went to the website to sign up, I discovered that I could start my own pool. To my ultimate delight, I did just that- set up a "Girls Only NFL Survivor Pool" for me and 20 girlfriends!

Yep that's right! Move over boys, the girls have it under control and we are doing one ourselves this year. The best part of running my own pool is that I can set it up however I wish, survivor style, fantasy football style and so on... I decided to stick with survivor, I mean who do I think I am am trying to run a fantasy pool??Haha! So I set up double elimination to prolong the fun and it's only $20 a girl. I mean no one expects to win the pool- it's all about the excitement along the way anyway!

So that's my great idea for the night: Start a football pool just for the girls this year. Here's the site ladies! http://www.officefootballpool.com/



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