NOLA: Four days of food

My work trip to New Orleans went a bit like this...

Fly all day....arrive and eat a delicious meal.



Next day, hang out in 2nd grade with a fabulous team of educators, enjoy the best grilled shrimp salad.  Then work more, and then dinner includes pecan crusted catfish and a bread pudding.

Repeat the same thing the next day, but instead substitute a shrimp po'boy for lunch ....



and a decadent dinner at The Bon Ton Cafe.













Last day, breakfast from Cafe du Monde, work work work, and then have lunch catered by John Besh's Luke restaurant.  Shrimp and Grits.  Probably my favorite meal.





Then hop on a plane and come home.  Fortunately, there was a bit of time for knitting on the plane and reading.  Goodness, the girls I worked with in NOLA insisted I download and read Fifty Shades of Grey on the flight home...finished it in one day.  

Now back to eating healthy, physical therapy, and swimming...and KNITTING!  I've missed my needles these past few weeks with all the party planning and traveling.  Definitely looking forward to relaxing a bit this weekend!

Happy Weekend!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Bridal Shower Tea Party

When my sister requested a tea party-themed bridal shower, I immediately went to Martha to find some inspiration.  My sister-in-law and I took those ideas and ran and I think we put together a lovely shower!  The only thing I would change: having a bit more time before and during the shower to take proper pictures.  Hostessing and taking pictures were too much I guess :) 

First thing....the invitations.  Overwhelmed by all the cheesy ones I saw online, I just asked Jill to do her thing since I had seen some of her other custom invitations.  She knows me so well, that this was it on her first try!



Thank you Jill! 

Then there was the food.






I made four different kinds of finger sandwiches:  Egg Salad, Herbed Goat Cheese, Turkey Tea Sandwiches, and for the bride, almond butter and strawberry jam.  I used Madeleine's scone recipe (ok, technically this one, but Madeleine first introduced me to them) and one I found from the Ravelry Cuppa Tea group.  Ravelry, can find anything there :)





My sister-in-law made the cake and red velvet cupcakes too!  I am so impressed with her cake decorating....amazing!  And delicious too.  Lemon bars, shortbread cookies, and pecan shortbread cookies were made by me, all courtesy of the fabulous Barefoot Contessa.







Here are the favors we made.  Vintage mix and match tea cups, with shortbread heart cookies, heart sugar cubes from Wishingwell Arts and Crafts, and individual tea bags that we made with tags of the couple's initials and wedding date (and without a picture?!).





My sister's godmother hosted the party in her gorgeous backyard and she coordinated the tables to look just perfect.




















The bride-to-be and the mother of the bride



Little Snowboarder and I had a great time Friday afternoon putting these together.  We took this big pile of flowers....



.....and turned them into these centerpieces.  I just love the tea tins as vases!



I spy a little snowboarder..





I'm pretty sure my sister had a wonderful afternoon!


The Sisters



Oh, and the tea.  I've become a bit obsessed, I'll admit.  Between Harney & Sons and Teavana, I'll be drinking the good stuff for awhile :)  There are extra shortbread in the freezer, so feel free to stop by for a spot of tea soon.

Happy Tea Party!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing everyone a happy mother's day today!



Relax, smell the flowers, and enjoy a spot of tea!

The last few days have flown by preparing for my sister's bridal shower tea party yesterday (well, technically it is Sunday, but to me it is still Saturday night as I'm writing this).  It was a wonderful day and I can't wait to share lots of pictures.  Above is one of the centerpieces that we made.

But first I need to fly to New Orleans for a few busy days of work.  Best thing about that is that I'll be able to knit on the plane and in the evenings....something I haven't done since last Tuesday!  Crazy!

Have a wonderful day!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Made of Win

Saturday was a perfect day!  Katie and Nick had an awesome bachelorette/bachelor party as the Giants beat the Brewers.

The gorgeous day started with a tailgater...








My brother and his BFFs

and goody bags.....



The 30 of us were a large enough group to rent the special Corona Beach Club dugout down the 1st base line.  It was awesome and definitely a special way to enjoy a baseball game!














Perfect combo don't you think?!






Josh even made a new friend...

who then gave him a ball...





You know I was happy...






It was so nice to see Katie and Nick's friends and family all together celebrating their future together!  Makes me excited for their wedding!



Go Giants!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

May??

How did it get to be May already?  Seriously.

Best thing about May is that it is a new month, one not filled with crutches!  It has been three weeks now without crutches and I've been swimming and doing PT as much as I can to try to get my range of motion back.  Slowly, but surely.  I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  Yay!!

But the swimming and PT is still pretty exhausting and has been cramping my knitting style.  Each day it gets a bit easier though, so hopefully by the time summer rolls around I can get back to cranking out a few projects at a time. 

I did finish the sock design on my needles.  This weekend will involve pattern writing and getting things ready for test knitters.  The sock and baby sweater will go out to test knitters next week I hope :)

I think I've been in denial about it being May because....

• it means less than 2 months until my sister gets married
• My sister-in-law and I will be throwing one heck of a bridal shower tea party next weekend for my sister!  Good news is that I have been indulging in all of the tea taste-testing and I've done a great job of almost kicking my diet coke habit.  Wait for it....I'm down to 1, maybe 2 diet cokes a day, and a few weeks ago I went an entire 5 days without it!  Woohoo!
• I have to find a cute outfit for the shower.   Did that tonight after work!  Thank you Nordstrom.  And I even got a cute little hat to wear....well, it is more of a posh little flower thing. 
• The day after the tea party I head to New Orleans for 3 busy days of work.  Wish I was staying longer, but I know I will be eating the best food for a few days!
• At the end of the month, we'll be heading to LA for another family wedding and hopefully a day at Disneyland!
• it is one of the busiest months for my day job.....end of the school year, lots of IEPs, fun fun.

But May kicks off with some fun starting tomorrow.....

• My sister's bacherlorette/his bacherlor party will be tomorrow!  About 30 of us will be in a dugout on the first base line of the Giants game!  Tailgate starts at 9:30!  I can't wait! I've got the veil for the bride-to-be (really for just a few photo ops), brownies came out of the oven about an hour ago, and the mexican roll-ups are chilling in the fridge.

Here's one of their engagement pictures.  Doesn't she look beautiful?!! 

What do you guys have on your agenda for May?  Anything fun? 

Happy Weekend! Go Giants!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits