Lizzy For Halloween - Too Cute!

Seriously, does this need any further commets. Grandpa Mike sent it along to all of us to enjoy and well, Halloween was pretty lowkey this year and so I thought this would be a good capper to the month of Halloween.

Back in a few ~ Hit a Road Block!

Hey folks, some stuff is going on and while the final entries are just about done from the Ya-Ya weekend I need to take a quick break...catch up in the near future.

Ya-Ya's Weekend - The Dinner

This is an empty plate, but it represents the first two courses of an amazing dinner. The first was a mushroom soup that was to die for. And then we had a salad that was stacked. It was sliced apples and goat cheese plus greens. Our host did not feel it was the best of the evening, but we did take a moment and got the fresh homemade mayonnaise that Michael made. It was a heavenly moment.

Here is a picture showing Judy aka Butterfly Brain looking on with excitement that we would soon be enjoying the main course. Note that the blue bowl in the foreground is Michael's Homemade Mayo and yup, it made an appearance during this course as well.

Main Course included a Bourbon Beef Tenderloin that was so moist and delicious. This was served with a lovely mushroom risotto. To say the least, with the day of eating and drinking we could not even begin to think of eating too mucha nd this lead to deciding to have breakfast back at Sandy's place and not go out.

Yes, even Ya-Ya's pause to take those mandatory group shots at the dinner table. The lady in red is none other than Sandy! Gotta love her, she was just amazing this weekend as was everyone.

Ya-Ya's Cookie Camp

Jodie aka Jelly Queen brought fabulous crowns for all to decorate and after an afternoon of wine and games, let's just say it was a free for all...

Swandafag realized how important it was to present a good crown and stepped up to the plate. His was a blend of blue, purple, and classic white. It had everyone swooning!

Oyster Boy decided to try and honor hos brothers in the oyster world and create a purple gray frosting so they felt included. He was seeing stars with his creative energy and then "slugged" it home with a slug of white across the top. No one could figure out what he was thinking, but we all smiled and nodded to keep calm alive.

Here is Jodie's. I mean Jelly Queen's crown. Quite lovely and it was so inspirational to see he hog all the items until she was done. Thus, the lesson of sharing, when ready, was taught to all of the rest of us. Who knew!? You do nothing until the upper crust is done and done. But we pressed on to try and do our crowns.

an Our hostess, Sandy, aka Foul Mouth, wanted to do something and yet NONE of us knew what as she first did an under coat of black/gray bash frosting and the came an overcoat of sprinkles that ended as a base for the forth coming basket weave. How Lesbian for a Straight sister!

Cindy aka the newest name of SOB(Step-O-Bitch) decided to throw any and obviously all caution to the wind and throw up a "green crown" yes and I am Santa Claus! Rather she slapped white frosting on the crown and snagged the green gel to make a statement while sucking up a soda in a can and had all her drawings on poster size paper. It was sad, yet we all clapped to make her feel include. Welcome dear sister and it shall get better! Thankfully SOB will call me on my shot and it is as it should be.

Our dear sister Butterfly Brain aka Judy hams it up for the camera as she shows her skills of the cookie camp experience and what an afternoon it was. To think that dinner was hours away, there was no way this would interfere with dinner!

Ya-Ya's Wine, Food & Fun

So why is it that people love to get Chris with all the wine bottles? Seriously, could I drink all of this? No, I didn't think so. But I shall humor the masses.

Now, let the pictures begin. They both have cameras so this will go quickly, I am sure of that...
Seriously, they both have quick focus and click action. This will be done before noon. I mean, they are both so talented... I am honored to pose for the ladies of film...
Hello! Smile, click and shoot! Capture the moment...not the entire day! Hello...anyone there? Just trying to get this boring part of the day over and out. Alas, I must be patient!
Here is a game we played called Blockus, or one of a hundred other names we thought up during the day! Who knew it is a favorite of school children under 10. It was complex for us!
Here is our beloved hostess during a break from the kitchen where she created amazing meals for us to enjoy.
Sandy was an amazing host and put me to shame, seriously, I can bring together fabulous times...she makes amazing times. I fall to the side of the road as a piece of mud!
Here is Sandy giving me the "I am going to kill you look." Yea, I know she will not. I only took this in a way to show all the world how wonderful and fabulous she is and at the moment when the weekend could have fallen apart, she is steadfast and moving forward with a "let them eat cake!" attitude. Love her and all she did!

With everything else going on, she paused to make appetisers before dinner and here are the pear and Gorgonzola cheese on toasted rounds and can you say "Divine!"

Ya-Ya's Continued...Intense Discussions

While water and/or coffee was part of the kick-off for Saturday, our weekend was filled with discussing politics...
or fashions...which some of the Ya-Ya's body language said screw this (oops, did I type that?), but I shall not mince words for our dear sisters...never, to be sure!
And while some paused to contemplate what all the words really meant to the future of our very being, there were those that...
laughed it all off and said "cocktails anyone?"...let me tell you the bar never closed the entire weekend! And oh, the wine tasting was more like a suck-up!

Ya-Ya Saturday Brunch

Here are two of our dear Ya-Ya's, Foulmouth who is our host for the weekend and Jelly Queen who really does not like getting her picture taken but was willing to pause making the fabulous fruit salad to do me the favor. Thank you both for all you did to make it a great weekend.
The brunch was simple and delicious to be sure. Mimosa's were the beverage of choice to kick off the day along with great coffee and Bloody Mary's. The table is groaning with dishes and good food. Throughout the day it was transformed into numerous settings from wine tasting and game central to cookie camp and a magical dinner. All to be visited in the coming posts.
This was the main course for brunch. It was Savory French Toast with Parmesan cheese, using different variations. The one she created was the French toast with steamed asparagus on top of the bread, a little poached egg floating on top of that and finally a light blanket of Hollandaise sauce over the top. She decided that we needed to experience this beautiful and (I was certain) tasty dish for Saturday breakfast. This lovely dish can be found in a blog that Sandy enjoys called Closet Cooking.


Here are three of the chef's from Breakfast - Oyster Boy, SOB (Step-O-Bitch) which is a new name for her and of course, Foulmouth! How I love my Ya-Ya's!
No, they are not praying, but rather preying on amazing food. Shep in the foreground has just added orange juice to his champagne while Jelly Queen is doing her pouring and Butterfly Brain just is stunned by the amazing food we are about to just pig out on! Let the feasting begin. And oh did it for the next 12+ hours. More posts to come.