Gorgeous Gourds and a Give Away

My kids wanted us to decorate for Halloween like we did last year. Cue spider webs across the house, a cemetary in the front yard, and ghosts and ghouls hanging from trees. So not up for it. For once I am thinking less is more. Did I just say that?

 I want to be festive, but with 80 degree weather here, I'm finding it hard. So, I have opted for festive fall decor that has some staying power and doesn't involve slime and pumpkin guts.

How amazing are these? Sadly, I didn't make them. But am running out for more pumpkins as we speak!

I love this topiary from Wallace Gardens. It is so pretty and sophisticated and doesn't involve any carving. 

You know I will put nail heads on anything that will stay still long enough, why not these gourds? So pretty in the creams and grays. 

And now for the giveaway sponsored by our favorite local shop, Maran Anderson Home. They are giving us a Thomas Paul Skeleton Scarf to give to one lucky winner. He's lavender, light weight an incredibly slimming.

 It retails for $65 and we will be shipping it to one lucky reader and drawing a name on Wednesday, October 31.

Here's how you enter (and do so as many times as you like):

Using our blog email address: birdsofafeatherdesign.com

Enter: Email us your Halloween decor ideas 

Enter: Subscribe to our blog (if already a subscriber, invite a friend to subscribe). 

For each friend you invite, you get an entry! You can email us the list of friends you asked to join.

Enter: Follow us, if you already follow us, ask your friends to follow. 

For every friend you ask, you get another entry!

Good Luck and Happy Halloween!

Bye bye birdie,

~H 

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AN gourds, nail heads, pumpkins, Thomas Paul

Supper Club

Our supper club Saturday night was great fun. Of course, I was a little on edge and snapped at my loving and patient family (don't worry, I apologized) as we cleaned the house and prepared the food. I self-admittedly get a little tense when company comes. I'm not OCD, but you might think so on these occasions. Matt was so glad the house was looking nice, that he snapped some photos of our spiffed up crib.

Here's a candlelit view of the table. I hollowed out the big white pumpkin and placed a vase full of Trader Joe's flowers in the center.

"Aerial" view. Of course, I had not put out the napkins, silverware or glasses yet, but oh well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a close-up of my pumpkin place card holders. I spray painted all my pumpkins and gourds gold a la Eddie Ross. I just grabbed some leaves from the yard and scribbled on the names with a sharpie, then cut a slit in the pumpkins

Side note: some of the little pumpkins on the table came from our own little pumpkin patch. Our house backs up to woods, so last year when we were done with our pumpkins, we simply tossed them over the fence thinking the deer could eat what was left. Well, apparently, some seeds took root and this year we got about 5 pumpkins off the vine. Pretty cool.

And on the menu, Rosemary Rib Roast. It was delicious. Probably a little more rare than I intended because my meat thermometer malfunctioned.

I typically don't have recipes on my blog because I don't usually cook anything that interesting, but I pull out all the stops for special occasions. My friend Becky forwarded this recipe to me. It's one she got out of Southern Living years ago and makes every Christmas. I loved how easy it was to prepare! Here it is . . . 

 

Rosemary Rib Roast

Have the butcher remove the chine bone, and then tie it back on--this will give you the flavor from the bone, but allow you to easily remove it for carving.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Stand: 50 minutes
Yield: Makes 8 servings

Ingredients
6  garlic cloves, pressed
2  teaspoons  salt
2  teaspoons  pepper
1  teaspoon  crushed rosemary
2  tablespoons  olive oil
1  (7-pound) 4-rib prime rib roast, chine bone removed
1  cup  sour cream
2  tablespoons  lemon juice
2  tablespoons  horseradish
Preparation

Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl; rub over roast. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

Bake roast at 450° for 45 minutes on lower rack of oven. Reduce temperature to 350°, and bake roast 45 to 50 additional minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 145° (medium-rare) or 160° (medium). Let roast stand 20 minutes.

Combine sour cream, lemon juice, and horseradish; serve with roast.

That's it . . . easy peasy.

 

We're off to Memphis tomorrow to visit the cousins, aunt, uncle and grandparents. I'll be busy doing laundry and packing tonight. Some light reading I'll be taking along . . . 

And some not so light reading . . .

I'm more than halfway through this book and hope to finish it over the holiday. Some of the reader reviews on Amazon were less than favorable, but I'm actually enjoying it. Call me a contrarian.

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Note: Some of you asked if I got the chairs from Habitat. The answer is no. I haven't even had a chance to go back there. Secondly, I have put myself on a self-imposed chair diet. I have too many as it is. This could change next week.

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AN dining room, magazines, pumpkins, supper club, Thanksgiving