God Bless Us Every One!

Wow! It's been over a year since my last post! Time goes by so fast.

I established the blog because it was required for a graduate course I was taking at the time. As I sat here on Christmas Eve thinking about how much my life has changed in the past year, I realized that there are some comforting constants, and those are my family and my friends. I am truly blessed. I want to take this moment and acknowledge how lucky I am, and I want to wish my family and my "best gal pals" a very Merry Christmas! I love you all very much!

Happy Birthday, Jane!

I have to begin the day by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jane. I am not sure what she has planned for the day, but I hope it's fabulous! The picture posted above is the 4 of us at her birthday celebration last year. This took place at McCormick & Schmick's at our favorite shopping center (Northpark). Jane wanted Northpark Gold for her birthday. We know how much Jane loves bodacious bling, so Wendy hot-melt glued the Northpark Gold coins on to some earring backs and made Jane a pair of Northpark Gold earrings worth $50 each. Jane loved them, but her biggest dilemma -- does she keep them or spend them?

Her annual birthday luncheon is scheduled for Monday, December 11th because that was the first day we could all get it on our calendars. Can't tell you what we have planned for this year because it would give away the surprise. We will be having lunch at P. F. Chang's (at Northpark, of course).

Here's to you, Jane. Hope your day is wonderful!

Good Holiday Recipe

As promised, I am going to share some holiday ideas. Here is a good holiday tip for my gal pals and anyone else looking for a good dessert recipe. Yesterday, I had to bring a dessert to my aunt's thanksgiving feast. I made a Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle that I saw on the Food Network's Paula Dean cooking show. While it didn't turn out looking exactly like the one Paula made, it was a huge hit. Everyone tried a sample of it and thought it tasted great. The recipe can be found on the Food Network's Web site.

You don't have to wait until next year. You could serve this at any holiday party. The recipe makes a LOT, so if you are serving a smaller group, you should only make half. I ended up using my salad spinner bowl because it was the biggest one I had. Not the prettiest, but at least it was effective.

If anyone wants the recipe for the cranberry jello salad, please let me know. It's my cousin's favorite, and I had to bring it as well, by special request.