I know! I know! I have been M.I.A and what happened to my 35 week challenge you ask… life! Life happened and there was nothing I could do about it but accept that I had, once again, challenged myself to an unattainable level. I will say, however, with the exception of a couple of weeks, I have been baking up a storm. The major challenge has been to transfer my pictures to the desktop and edit them and then proceed to write up a reader worty blog post. I assure you, I will get those delicious, Pinterest board delicacies on my post but for now I will leave you with a quick recap of my latest endeavor.
After begrudgingly attending a friends Norwex party, I found myself walking back to my car with a baggy of freebies in my hand, an order receipt in my pocket, and contemplation in my mind as I had purchased products and volunteered to host a party. The clever consultant, Jennifer, both lured me with her excellent presentation and played to my hosting obsession. Fast Forward to a few days after my friend’s party and I not only had a theme for my party but an catchy title as thought up by Jennifer The Consultant (Thanks Jen…I didn’t even ask her if I could call her that)….”Cleaning & Cocktails”. Oh be still my hosting heart.
Unfortunately in the middle of planning, I had a life situation happen that distracted me and took me out of town away from my children for the first time. I actually ended up returning only four days from hosting day. So you know what that meant, last minute shopping and running behind.
On the day of the party, I was really limited in my time. I was fortunate enough to have baked my cupcakes two days in advance and tossed them in the freezer (I can never thank the baker who posted this tip in a thread). Anyway, I will tell you one thing that has come out of all of this baking and cooking, I am getting pretty fast. I think I am ready for one of those speed baking cooking shows. In the morning, with my kids running circles around me, I was able to prepare a mint chocolate mousse (post to follow….at some point), mint flavored whipped cream (homemade), tart crust and shrimp bruschetta topping.
Since I had little decorating time, I chose to buy four gold balloons and instead of wrapping the gift boxes containing the most amazing coconut cupcakes I have ever tasted (oh yes I am boasting about something I made and you will be as well should you try it out) with gold ribbon I had purchased, I used the gold marker with which I decorated the mirror in the drink bar area to write a simple “Thank you!” and it looked pretty cute.
I was so behind, I was plating up dishes when guests arrived so the pictures are few and poorer quality than my usual and I even put Jennifer The Consultant to work on prepping the caramelized onion tartlets. She did an amazing job by the way!
In the end, the turn out was enough to make me smile and the food had everyone including myself eye rolling. You know what I mean…when the only response you can muster when savoring every bite of a delicious piece of food is just a slow roll of the eye.
Top all of that off with yummy wine and Moscow mules and I was a happy girl. I had almost forgotten someone was selling something in the middle of all of this.
A special thank you to all my guests and a special special thank you for your purchases. I made it to some freebies! Who could ask for anything more!!!
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