My Beautiful Friend Has Cancer - Now What?

You know what I hate? CANCER! It doesn't matter a person's age, whether they exercise every day, what their ethnicity, whether they're a nice person or not - it seems nobody is safe from the "C Word".

I have a beautiful friend - the picture of health & fitness who has been diagnosed with lymphoma. The prognosis is good, but she is in for a rough road of chemo & radiation therapy. 

So . . . now what? How can I show my love & support? One idea - a quilt. 

There wasn't enough time to whip one up, so I called one of my "quilt-a-holic" friends who happened to have several of her hand made lap quilts on hand. I chose the one with the happiest color scheme & ran around to a few of Jackie's closest friends to sign some of the white squares. 

The idea is that she can take her lap quilt with her to her treatments - a tangible representation of the warmth & comfort of her friends.

I also created this printable about what Cancer Cannot Do.

{Please feel free to use it - you can print it on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet.}

Do you have neat any ideas about how to support a friend or family member with a serious illness? 
{Please leave a comment to share it with us!}

Sharing at these great parties:
Tutorials & Tips at Home Stories A to Z

What's for Supper? Cilantro Lime Chicken

Looking for something to cook for supper? I love to make this yummy chicken on the grill.

Cilantro Lime Chicken Marinade

• chicken breast {we use skinless, boneless}
• minced garlic {I like "Spice World" in a jar}
• 1/2 bunch cilantro - finely chopped
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• juice of 2 limes
• ground pepper

Marinate chicken overnight. Soak wooden skewers in water & put chicken on them. Grill & enjoy!

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BTW, I hope all your wonderful moms out there had a Happy Mother's Day! My boys spoiled me & made me so happy. I wish we could have Mother's Day more often!

{my teenager surprised me with my favorite chocolates in this shape . . . }

Shared at these great parties:
Show Me What 'Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife

Quotation & Printable of the Month - May

I ran across this quotation while reading a magazine & I was taken aback by it. Because it's so true! Whenever you talk about your trip to New York City, do you laugh about the crazy cab driver you encountered? Do you get a chuckle when remembering something crazy your child said while you could hear a pin drop at church? 

Barring really catastrophic events - all the quirky, unexpected things that happen are really just "first world problems" that are pretty hilarious later.

PS - The quotations is also a free printable - enjoy!

Creating Joy - Some Things I Learned from SNAP

I recently attended SNAP - which was a conference about blogging - and also about living. One of the keynote speakers was someone who lives in my neighborhood - Julie de Azevedo Hanks. 

source 

She is one of the most extraordinary women I've ever met and she spoke to us about CREATING JOY. 

Source - Julie Hanks Pinterest

Julie taught us:

•  Joy is in the present. Live there.
• Most emotions fall into 6 categories: happy, sad, fear, disgust, mad, or surprised. Feeling joy requires feeling & expressing a full range of emotions. {In other words, you pray for rain, be prepared for some mud!}
• We've all made "To-Do Lists" at the beginning of the day, try making a "Ta-Da List" at the end - a list that celebrates the things you did. These items may not be the same goals you started the day with: you took the time to comfort a friend, you were patient with your teenager even when he didn't deserve it - you know, THE IMPORTANT STUFF!

I wish you could have been there. I came away so uplifted. I hope this little snippet helped you catch the spirit of the message.

Thank you Julie for the inspiration!

700 Follower Celebration - Random Acts of Kindness are My Gift to You

What a pleasure it is to be celebrating a blog milestone today!

It is a lot of work to keep a blog going & I'm so thankful to you followers & readers who make it so worthwhile! Many thanks to the 700 "Google Friend Connect" friends & nearly 200 Google+ followers for your support. 

As my gift to you, I have been working on

{The number is for the Sandy Hook Elementary School victims in Newtown, Connecticut  USA -

 one random act of kindness to honor the life of each.}

The plan: NOT to include things I do for my own children & my Hunny {because I would have been done in about a day!}, but rather to look outside my everyday routine. If possible, I tried to help strangers. Here are a couple of examples:

- Let people in front of me in line

- Picked up garbage on the walk home from church

- Gave an elderly man a ride. He was waiting for the bus {in the cold} in front of his sister's assisted living home. This was one of my favorites - he was SO delightful to talk to!

- Rounded up some stray grocery store carts & put them away {my son used to have this job, so he made me aware of it}

- Gave the garbage man a soda because there were lots of cars parked in our circle & he had a hard time maneuvering around them - it made him smile . . . 

While trying to do nice things for strangers, I noticed something - it was really hard! Even with all the terrible stuff that happens in the world, most people are so kind. When I tried to do something for others, sometimes they had the same idea & beat me to it! 

I had so much fun doing this. Thank you so much for giving me

something wonderful to celebrate! I heart you!

Shared at these awesome parties:

Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots & Jello

My Bridal Shower Menu & Chocolate Covered Pretzel Favors

When planning the food for a recent bridal shower, I realized that there is kind of a formula for feeding women: 

Salad + Bread + Fruit + Sweets = Success!

Do you agree? 

Most of the showers I host have a guest list that is too large for a sit-down meal. So, usually a light lunch fits the bill. 

This is what we served for the shower:

• Tortellini Pasta Salad {CLICK HERE for the recipe}
• Bread Sticks
• Fruit Tray with Dip
• Chocolate Bar Cookies
• Lemon Bars {CLICK HERE for recipe}
• Trail Mix- for something salty {I adore THIS BRAND}
• "Polar Blast" Hawaiian Punch {with a little frozen lemonade concentrate mixed in}

For the favors . . .

I asked my dear friend & domestic goddess, Melanie, to make her wonderful  Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Pretzels. They are so good! 

Turns out, Mel got her recipe from a blog - YAY BLOGGERS!

CHOCOLATE COVERED CINNAMON PRETZELS

{from 5 Boys Baker}

• 18 oz bag of small pretzels
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• extra cinnamon sugar for sprinkling
• white chocolate for drizzling

Place pretzels in a large microwave-safe bowl. In another bowl, mix oil, sugar & cinnamon. Pour mixture over pretzels & mix well - coating pretzels. Microwave for 2 minutes - BUT STOP THE MICROWAVE EVERY 30 SECONDS & STIR TO PREVENT BURNING.  {If any pretzels burn, Mel just fishes them out.}  Stir again after cooking in the microwave to make sure the pretzels are coated. Spread the pretzels in a single layer on waxed paper. While they are still warm, sprinkle with additional cinnamon sugar. Drizzle melted white chocolate over pretzels. {Melanie melts her chocolate in the microwave - stirring it every few seconds.}

We put them in plastic bags first, then in pretty little paper bags for the favors.

CLICK HERE to see the rest of the shower & my 

5 tips for success.

Shared at these fabulous parties:
Show Me What 'Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife

5 Tips for Hosting a Bridal Shower

Planning a shower? Here are a few ideas to get you started . . 

• 1 - Choose an unconventional color scheme. Whether I'm planning a party, or decorating a room - I love to find a source of inspiration. For this occasion, my "jumping off point" was the little vintage hankie under the basket in the photo above. I try not to worry about "rules" that certain colors mean certain themes. {CLICK HERE to see my twist on a  thanksgiving color scheme or HERE to see my surprise Christmas colors.}
• 2 - Use economical tricks to carry out your color scheme.  I often spray paint the same items over & over to use for the occasion {for instance the frame above}. I have a collection of thrift store plates I use so I seldom buy paper plates. Colored straws are inexpensive & SO CUTE. Tissue paper balls cost very little & they make a great impact. {CLICK HERE to learn how.} Boxes wrapped in pretty paper can help with the next tip . . .
• 3 - Vary the heights of the food & other items on your buffet table.  I don't know why, but this just makes everything look so much better! Study pictures in magazines or notice how this is done at your next fancy party.  Cake plates, wrapped boxes, crates - the sky is the limit to what works to achieve this look.

• 4 - Have things for your guests to do.  In my neck of the woods, most showers are open houses with large guest lists - so that makes it difficult to play traditional shower games. For this shower, on the invitation the guests were asked to bring a date night idea. Pretty paper & a jar were provided for the ideas & the jar was given to the bride-to-be. We also had a poster with fun photos of the bride at various ages. The guests were asked to guess her age in the pictures.
• 5 - If someone reliable offers to help, accept! Two good friends helped with the food & it was so great. They did an incredible job & it lightened my load considerably.  {Thank you Mel & Carolee! They are on the ends in the photo below. The bride & her mom - Colette & Katrina are in the middle.}

CLICK HERE to read more about the food we served & the cinnamon chocolate covered pretzel favors.

Shared at these fabulous parties:
Show Me What 'Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife
Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots & Jello
Nifty Thrifty Sunday at Nifty Thrifty Things