.Tea For Three Please.

I did it.

I woke up at 4:55am and arrived at Adam's grandmother's house at exactly 5:30am to watch the Royal Wedding. My mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law awaited my arrival with hats, snuggies, and an AMAZING spread of English treats and teas.

I am one special daughter-in-law. So much so I call Adam's mom and grandmother simply "Mom" and "Grandma" and from now on will refer to them as just that! They are wonderful women. Women who have truly welcomed me into their family and who love me deeply. I love each of them and cherish our times together. 

This morning was no different. Mom created such a peaceful, relaxing, fun environment to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The three of us bounced our excitement and eagerness onto each other and it resulted with three giddy women eating tons and tons of food drinking not only tea, but a little coffee too..after all, it was 6 in the morning :)

Here are some of the photos I snapped quickly before we all dove in for food. All of the credit goes to Mom or "Mum" as Adam likes to call her. She worked so hard in creating English treats for us as well as decorating the tables with our wedding photos and other beautiful touches..not to mention a few Wills and Kates soaking it up in the "hot tubs" ;) 

There are a few photos of us in our snuggies and hats but I think those need to stay just in the family ;)

I hope you enjoyed our Tea For Three! Leave some love for my mother-in-law, she always reads my blog and would be delighted to hear what you think!

Happy Weekend To You!

.Valentine Inspired Dinner Party.

I'm back.

 Hopefully you saw a few ideas you liked in the making it pretty portion of our dinner party last night. As I have already said, we had a wonderful night and feel all of our guests enjoyed themselves and left with their tummies full, the way it's suppose to be :) Before I post our cooking, well, our "Making our own Raviolis," let me share these two pictures and simply caption it as:

I LOVE him.

Okay, let me focus and get back to the point of this post..sharing pictures from our dinner party!

 Introducing our guests:

Thanks to these smiling faces, Adam and I have felt at "home" in little Lynchburg, Virginia. The Lord has been blessing us with fantastic relationships and it is a joy to live life with them!

 (not to mention I get my baby fix EVERY time we get together, see below)

Jack Manley. Yes, that is his real name..amazing, I know. This big boy can now squat, stand, and WALK at 10 months! Oh my..cannot wait to hear him say "Katie." 

Liam Loper. Those eyes get me every time..and how cute is his little cranky face?! This was Liam being "fussy"--ladies, he only let out a few peeps, wrinkled his face and that was it! Such a good baby..Dear God, Yes Please!

Have I ever mentioned before how much I love babies?--Oh I have, in almost every other post, ok..just making sure ;)

Now to the ravioli part..sorry it took me long, but here it is!

Step 1: Mix 1 1/2 cups of flour with 1/2 cup of water. Get dirty, dive right in, and work those hands..knead away! (keep working those fingers for 5 min!)

Flour and water all measured out for our guests!

Step 2: After letting your dough sit for 10 min, divide into groups..it does not matter how many.

Step 3: Grab your rolling pin, extra flour and begin rolling! Roll until the dough is evenly spread and very thin. Hint: Imagine the texture of raviolis you have had in the past..if you prefer the texture of dumplings better, then roll a bit thicker.

Step 4: When your dough is nicely rolled out, grab a cookie cutter (any shape you want!) and press it in just like you're making sugar cookies :) We used heart shaped cookie cutters in honor of Valentine's Day..(cheesy I know, but I "loved" it!)

Step 5: Find a spoon and dunk it into your ravioli filling! Depending on the size of your cut out dough, place a mound of filling in the center.

(I made two different fillings for our party. 1st- Italian hot sausage and ricotta cheese. Cook meat fully and then blend it up! Thanks to my magic bullet, I had a gross looking goo after but it made for perfect, creamy filling..especially with the ricotta cheese! 2nd- Spinach, ricotta cheese, minced garlic. Using my magic bullet again, I got a wonderfully green, creamy goo that tasted delectable!)

Here are a few of my heart shaped raviolis! I used a fork to create pretty edges as well as pressing the two pieces of dough together. That nasty looking mush, yep--that's the italian sausage and ricotta cheese filling. Trust me, it tasted AMAZING!

Step 6: Create a dough sandwich over your mound of filling. Simply take a fork to press the two pieces together while adding a very homemade, pretty little detail :)

Step 7: Collect raviolis (we had probably 10 plates or more as pictured above!) Place raviolis into a big ol' pot of boiling water. Keep them in boiling water for 5 minutes or until they have all floated to the top.

Step 8: Remove raviolis from boiling water. Place your delicious, beautiful, homemade creations on a plate..

Step 9: Smother your hard work in red sauce and spice it up however you'd like :) (Our choice in the Miller house, crushed red pepper and Parmesan cheese!)

Food table all set with food! I should have taken off the crock pot lid..there's yummy red sauce inside!

Step 10: ENJOY YOUR DINNER!

Friends, I will not lie to you. When I had my plate all fixed..I did not grab my camera, but my fork!! I did great capturing all night long except to get a picture of the final result, "silly Katie" as Grace and Joy would say :) So I am asking you--if you make your own raviolis after being inspired by ours, please leave a comment with a link to your post, I would love to check it out!

Step 11: Share your meal with amazing friends, talk up a storm, laugh until you cry, and then dig in to some coffee and dessert! (forgot to picture the brownies)

Thank you for joining me and taking the time to read about our Simple, Rustic, Valentine Inspired Dinner Party!

 Happy Living--Happy Cooking

and remember

--Little Things Bring Smiles--

.Simple, Rustic, Valentine Inspired...Dinner Party.

Last night was perfect.

 Adam and I hosted our first official dinner party and we could not have been any happier.

Our theme: Make Your Own Ravioli Night

It's February and LOVE is in the air.
 What better way to celebrate than a house filled with amazing couples, adorable babies, and delicious food..
not to mention some Valentine inspired decor :)

The best place to start is decor and set up (at least I think so)..cooking is a blast, but for me--
it's the part of "making it pretty."

Here is my making it pretty:

Time for a few close ups!

This simple heart garland was made by scraps and only took 30 minutes to make. I used scrapbooking paper and created a heart pattern to trace and cut out all of the hearts. Once cut, I simply made a heart sandwich using hot glue as my jelly around the twine. Final look is simple and sweet, perfect for Valentine's Day :)

As my table runner, I was planning on using some simple brown paper. A trip to the Dollar Tree led me to this beautiful wrapping paper..it's simple, regular brown craft paper with white flowers..how delicate and such a lucky find! Did I mention it was a $1? I used white table cloths, also from Dollar Tree, to brighten the room up while keeping simple and rustic! I just love the romantic touch the white flowers added :)

Centerpieces. My heart loves centerpieces. 

For under $2.00 each, I made these beauties (look up now look down):

My lovely ladies got to take home a candle and a heart bouquet home as their little Valentine.

Are you all still with me? I have more photos..let's just say I was a little camera happy :)

Sitting by candlelight is nothing but romantic and sets the mood, you know which one, perfect for the month of LOVE, ow ow.......okay okay, let's cool down and remember, this is Make Your Own Ravioli Night, we need light!!

Ready for our guests: 

Living Room rearranged, CHECK!

Cooking Stations ready, CHECK!

Food Station ready for food, CHECK!

Coffee Station ready, CHECK!

(note: the creamer made an appearance for the picture and then

 went back to it's home in the fridge until it was time to come out.)

I hope you have enjoyed my "Simple, Rustic, Valentine Inspired...Dinner Party" making it pretty portion. It was a blast designing and decorating for our dinner party. Remember, you do not need RED and PINK when doing Valentine's Day decor, think outside of the box and use soft color palettes. For all of you newly weds and stay at home moms--this party was fun and AFFORDABLE! Look through your house before shopping for any items and materials that can work for your party. Dollar Trees are a fabulous place for table cloths, plates, cups, utensils, decor, etc. It's important to pick and choose where you want to spend money..I chose to splurge on yarn ($1.29 for each color at Michaels) and mason jars ($1.19 each at Michaels) while everything else came from my home, outside, or the Dollar Tree. 

Be inspired and get CRAFTING!

"Cooking, eating, smiling. laughing, cooing, walking" pictures coming 

later this afternoon :)