It's That Time Of Year

Yes, it is that time of year. Time to pull out my mini loaf pans and shower my family with delicious pumpkin bread. They all expect it just as soon as they feel a nip in the air. For the last 25 years I have given family members a small loaf of pumpkin bread as a little goodie to celebrate Fall's arrival. When my children were small we always delivered these on Halloween. I told the kids that it was our "treat" for family and friends. Many of the people we visited didn't have many trick or treaters so they always looked forward to our visit and the pumpkin bread. This year was no different. I still pulled out the pans and baked. I had to mail the loafs to my children and they were both happy to receive their treat!


I found some cute ribbon at Michael's to add that special touch. I wanted to share the recipe with you. It is one of those never fail recipes. The bread is so moist and just taste like fall! YUMMY!
The recipe came from my OLD Pillsbury Kitchens cookbook. The page looks terrible.....stained and faded so you know it has to be good. :-)

Pumpkin Bread
15 oz. can (2 cups) pumpkin
3 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour bottoms only of two 9x5 loaf pans (or 8-10 mini loaf pans).In large bowl blend first 5 ingredients. Beat 1 minute at medium speed. Add remaining ingredients; blend at low speed until moistened. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350 for approximately 50-60 minutes. Watch the mini pans closely ( they will cook faster). Cool 5 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely.


Your kitchen will smell wonderful and trust me the bread will taste great!


I love to light my pumpkin scented candle, fix a cup of hot tea, put up my feet, and eat a piece of yummy pumpkin bread.


I am ready to sit down and enjoy the moment. I am going to knit a while and eat a while.... just enjoy a peaceful evening. Did you notice that even my two knitting projects have the look of pumpkin bread.....It definitely is that time of year!

It Was All About The Shoes

The final day of the Southern Lady Celebration was filled with inspiration and laughter. Dr. Lael Melville gave the morning devotional followed by another wonderful breakfast. Then we all laughed until we cried thanks to comedian, Bobbie Staten. Phyllis Hoffman topped off the morning by talking about her new book, Honey, It's All In The Shoes.


Once again the room was decorated to perfection. In keeping with the theme, each table was decorated with an arrangement that featured a different shoe. The base was a plastic shoe box. The flowers were hydrangeas, yellow roses, and peach roses. The florist had bought shoes from Goodwill and elevated the shoe above the arrangement. I know it is hard to see in the picture, but our shoe was an old fashioned boot. I have plans for this shoe....just wait and see! Such a creative idea! At the end of the morning we were given the opportunity to purchase the centerpieces for $5. Needless to say I jumped at the chance! On the way home my daughter and I planned a tablescape and the next morning I made it come to life.


I knew the perfect place to set my table. What could be better than breakfast outside on a beautiful fall morning?


I used my Blue Willow china and some placemats I had recently purchased at TJ Maxx. My light blue stemware picked up the light blue in the arrangement perfectly.


I got you a small present in Savannah. It goes right along with the "theme" of the day!


Aren't these cute! We found these at a little shop. Trust me the "shoe" tasted just as good as it looks! :-)


My daughter had thought about using hydrangeas and yellow roses for her wedding. The convention certainly reinforced that decision. They just looked lovely and lasted for over a week after we were home.

Our gift for the day was a travel shoe bag. What could have been more appropriate? I plan to use it as a patten to make several more bags. After all, it is all in the shoes and as ladies we certainly must travel with more than one pair. :-)

Happy Birthday Southern Lady!

It has taken me a while to organize all of my pictures from the Southern Lady Celebration but I am finally ready to share some more of the fun with all of you! Better late than never .....right?

On the second day of the celebration my daughter and I started our day with a delicious breakfast and of course lots of good conversation with all of our new friends. HGTV's gardening expert, Erica Glasener shared some of her wonderful ideas for our Southern gardens. She took us step by step through the seasons with beautiful pictures and helpful advice. The cooking experts from Hoffman Media inspired and entertained us all with helpful tips and recipes for the upcoming holidays. I plan to share some of these ideas and recipes in the future.


The big event on Saturday was the "Birthday Bash" that evening. We were celebrating 10 years of Southern Lady Magazine and you can not imagine how beautiful the room was decorated! It was like the birthday party of your dreams. Dottie Smith of Edgar's Bakery in Alabama and her staff had decorated every table in the room with a four tiered cake. Each and every one was unique! Of course they were surrounded by packages wrapped to perfection. The cakes were done on a base of styrofoam. We had several discussions on how the decorations were formed on the cakes.....no one really figured it out. The picture above was of the table at the front of the room. Those cakes were huge and gorgeous. I have tired to pick a few of my favorites to share with you. Hope you enjoy!







These are just a FEW of the lovely cakes we saw. Aren't they just incredible! I definitely need to take a cake decorating class.....Soon! I have so many ideas and really need to perfect some skills to be able to produce a masterpiece. LOL Oh well, a girl can dream.



I created a tablescape using something I brought home from the "celebration". I will be sharing it with you soon! Happy Birthday Southern Lady Magazine! Thanks for inspiring us all!

Be A Buddy.....Lend A Hand

Volunteers do not necessarily have more time; they just have more heart. Author Unknown

Fall has arrived in glorious form the past few days. This weekend my family spent the day together. We enjoyed spending time outside and helping out a worthy cause at the same time.

My son is a Music Therapy Intern. He is working on his degree, but is already able to work with individuals of all ages with varying degrees of mental and physical challenges. This weekend he sponsored a team for the National Down Syndrome Societies Buddy Walk. Of course we all wanted to support this worthy cause. My husband, daughter, and I met my son at the local event. Thousands showed up and thousands of dollars were raised for the cause. I was so impressed with those who volunteered to sponsor teams, staff booths, entertain, and hundreds of other things that must be done in order for an event like this to become a reality. Their were thousands of people who sponsored teams to raise money for these individuals. Like the quote says.......these folks (including my son) :-) have a tremendous amount of heart! We all are given the same amount of time in a day. Some just choose to use it in a very selfless way.


It was a rather cold and windy day and I packed a little Fall picnic for us. The society furnished hamburgers and hotdogs but I furnished the "fun" snacks. I got a new cake pan on Saturday and I tried it out on Sunday. My son was pretty impressed with the Georgia Bulldog cake! It wasn't perfect but for a first try....not bad. :-)


We enjoyed hot chocolate and popcorn as well and the kids took all of the leftovers home.

We were all so impressed with the entertainment that was provided by the kids and their family members. In my opinion it was a perfect afternoon, I didn't even notice the cold.....too much. :-)

I found a quote last night that really could apply to the volunteers and the individuals for whom they were working.

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. Edward Everett Hale


Son, your Dad and I are proud of you. Thanks for including us all in your day for the kids. You are a fine young man with a heart of gold!

White Elegance

My daughter and I entered the ballroom wide eyed. The room was aglow with a "white elegance".
The centerpieces and decorations were all done in white. So beautiful and the perfect "accessory" to the opening evening of the Southern Lady Celebration 2009.

We had a marvelous meal. The best part was the dessert....passion fruit mousse! Not only pretty to look at but also yummy to the palate. I would have taken more pictures but the lighting was very soft and it was difficult to photograph.


The first speaker was Diana Hansen, owner of White Flowers. This is an all-white shop located in Birmingham, Alabama. Phyllis Hoffman interviewed her in an "Oprah Style" setting. She was described as "a gifted artist - entrepreneur". She was truly inspiring and is a woman who has truly let go and let God have the lead in her life. She and her husband are both truly gracious and talented individuals. Their store is completely white. The ceiling, walls, floor, and all merchandise is white. She said that every Saturday night for the past 26 years she and her husband have repainted the floor of their store white. I thought that was a very interesting tidbit. You can imagine that it would definitely have to be done in order to maintain the cool, calm, environment of an all white store. The beautiful tea towel in the photo was a gift from Diana. I love the simple elegance of the towel and the beauty of the words inscribed on it.


Sister Schubert Barnes was the next speaker of the evening. She truly looks and speaks just as you would imagine. Sweet, southern, and classy are three of the words I would use to describe her. The bread we had with the meal was her famous Parkerhouse Roll. What started in her own kitchen is now a multimillion dollar business. They produce over 5 million rolls a day! Now that's a lot of rolls. She has phenomenal faith and has a true passion for the children of the Ukraine. Amazing is a word that would best describe all that she has been able to accomplish. The picture above is a cookie that was in our "goodie" bag for the evening.


I told you that I was inspired by many things at this celebration. When my daughter and I ate the rolls with dinner we both recognized the taste. You see they tasted exactly like my Mother's rolls. I have tried many times to make these rolls. I have never been successful. Well, I was inspired and motivated. I tried again today and I am proud to say that......I did it! Thanks Sister Schubert! Yes that is my roll pictured above with some apple cranberry butter. Yummy!
Fortunately, Sister Schubert was kind enough to give us a coupon for a free package of rolls....much easier than baking them myself. At least I now know that I can make them if necessary. LOL I was also inspired by a beautiful blouse that she wore during her speech. I knew that it would be perfect for some special occasions I have coming up. I did find one during our many shopping expeditions but I thought $350 was a little much. After a lot of searching on the internet I found the pattern. I ordered it and should have it in a couple of days. I will let you know how it turns out. Keep your fingers crossed!

When my daughter and I returned to our room we spent the rest of the evening enjoying some of the magazines in our "goodie" bags. Such fun! I felt like I was a kid again going to a party everyday. Next up is Saturday morning. Gardening and cooking.......something every "Southern Lady" loves!

Celebration.......Southern Style

I just returned home from spending four days with my dear daughter in the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia. We had a wonderful time. We were two of hundreds of "southern ladies" attending the Southern Lady Celebration sponsored by Hoffman Media. The publishers of 10 magazines including my favorite....Southern Lady!


We spent our days being inspired by fabulous speakers, pampered with special "goodies", eating delicious food, making wonderful new friends, and of course shopping! I don't think we could have had a better time. It would be impossible to tell you every detail in one post so I will be sharing bits and pieces in several different posts. My head is just busting with ideas. I am motivated and energized in every way. We got several ideas for the wedding and spent the entire ride home planning details that we want to include. Such Fun!

Today it's back to reality. Washing clothes, cleaning house, you know the routine! I do have a little extra pep in my step and I am hurrying to get the necessities done so I can get on to the creative ideas I have.

I will be back with news from Savannah and some of the inspiration my daughter and I received. This was my third trip to the Southern Lady Celebration and it was by far the best. I think that being there with my wonderful daughter just might have something to do with that!

Hope you all have a wonderful day! I will be back with some pictures and inspiring ideas from the Celebration.......Southern Style.

Napkin? Placemat?.......BOTH

I have been a "busy beaver" this last week. My home is finally decorated for Fall and many of the big home improvement projects are almost complete. I have lots of pictures to share in future posts.

One of the Fall decorating projects was my kitchen table. I probably enjoy this more that anything else I do because I actually use it at least twice a day. I had it all planned out in my mind. I bought some napkins at Walmart that had all of the beautiful Fall colors. Then I ventured to the cloth department and bought some orange broadcloth and an orange and black check print fabric. I wanted to make round reversible placemats. I thought the orange and black would be good to switch things up for Halloween. Well, I cut out 17 inch round forms. Then I stitched them together and quilted them. I wasn't pleased with the result at all. What to do?


I decided to turn them into napkins. I put wrong sides together and stitched 1/2 inch from the edge. Then I clipped the edge up to the stitching every 1/2 inch. I washed them twice and then dried them. The result was a frayed edge napkin that was perfect for my Fall table! I put them in my green carnival glassware and added a silk sunflower to the base. The placemat became a napkin. They also are really cute as a placemat with the frayed edge for a little different look.


Now I had a napkin but no placemat. Why not turn the purchased napkins into placemats? I couldn't be more pleased with the result. Obviously they can still be used as napkins at another time.


The colors go really well with my "Thanksgiving China". I always refer to it this way because of all the Fall colors in the pattern. I have used it in many of my tablescapes. I think the rattan charges add a touch of Fall as well. Gold flatware gives it the finishing touch.


I mentioned in a previous post (HERE) that I wanted to use some of my antiques in the centerpiece of my table. The dough bowl seemed to be a perfect container for candles but how could I make them stand up? I also wanted to incorporate green into the mix because it is an accent color in my kitchen. I bought 2 bags of split peas and 1 bag of bean soup mix. They made the perfect base for my pumpkin spice candles!


The rolling pin, antique candlestick, and ceramic pumpkin cookie jar created a great grouping for one side of the table.


My friend, "Mr. Scarecrow", balances off the opposite end of the table. He makes me smile each time I sit down to eat!

Hope you all have a great Fall weekend! I am headed to a warm and sunny destination for a little rest, relaxation, and inspiration. You will understand what I mean next week! I plan to share all about my weekend with you. Trust me.....it is going to be FUN!!!!