Pinterest inspired wedding gift

My niece, Lauren, got married last weekend.  Although our standard wedding gift is a check, I decided to add something to unwrap for this, my first niece to get married.

I saw this idea back in August, which was just in time for the wedding, scheduled for September.  Unfortunately, the poor groom ended up in Texas for mandatory training when he was supposed to be getting married.

I was anxious to see what the new date was going to be.  I was constantly looking for new numbers, trying to assure I'd have the digits I needed once I knew the revised date.

 I was very relieved to find exactly the house numbers I needed but even more delighted that the happy couple finally got to enjoy their special day and begin their new life together.

We love you, Lauren and Brian, and wish you a lifetime of love and happiness together!

Bacon Blue Cheese Mac & Cheese

I thought about titling this "Love it or Hate it Mac-N-Cheese" because I'm sure the common reaction to this is one or the other.


I suspect this is not a kid-friendly recipe in most households but my girls love it.  Then again, they don't eat the stuff in the blue box at all.

Earl and Kathy gave me some fantastic smoked blue cheese recently, which prompted me to tell them about this dish with the promise to blog it so they, too, could try it.

I got this recipe from a Better Homes and Gardens year end cookbook that I picked up used.  I don't follow the recipe exactly (no surprise there) so I'll post the recipe as I make it.

Bacon Blue Cheese Macaroni and Cheese

4 slices bacon
2 large onions, thinly sliced
6-8 ounces dried macaroni or other medium sized pasta
4 ounces (1 cup) shredded mozzarella cheese
2 ounces (1/2 cup) blue cheese
1 cup half-and-half (or milk)
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp, over medium heat.  Remove to paper towel, crumble and set aside.

In reserved bacon drippings, cook onion until tender and golden brown.  (The original recipe says "5-8 minutes".  I cook my onions low and slow-over an hour and a half this time-because I like to caramelize them if I have that much time.)  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350º.  Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and place in greased 1 1/2 quart casserole dish.  Add the crumbled bacon, onion, mozzarella, blue cheese, half-and-half, and pepper.  Toss gently to combine.

Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes.  Stir gently and top with additional mozzarella, if desired.  Bake for 10 minutes more, or until top is brown and bubbly.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

There you have it.  Are you a "love it" or "hate it" person when it comes to blue cheese?

Point Iroquois Lighthouse

When we left Tahquamenon Falls, we spontaneously decided to take a road that somewhat followed Lake Superior's shoreline.  We were so glad we did because it gave us a chance to see the Pt. Iroquois lighthouse, an unexpected bonus.
 

We were excited to be able to go up into the lighthouse, as well as visit the home attached.  The girls read something inside the house that said that three families lived there at the same time.  I've always thought of lighthouses as being maintained and run by one family so that was quite surprising to me.

I think it was 94 steps up to the top of the lighthouse.

The view was worth the climb.

We planned to visit a lighthouse in Mackinaw City (and we did, the next day) but this one was a completely unplanned side trip that we really enjoyed.

Tahquamenon Falls

We left for Mackinaw City after Clarence got home from work and we ate a quick dinner.  That got us there by about 10 PM, just in time to settle in for the night.

The next morning, we headed for Tahquamenon Falls.  My parents took us there when I was a kid but my memories of it were pretty sketchy.  I was quite glad to have a chance to see the falls again.



We visited the lower falls first. 

We found this little bridge in the woods on our way to the lower falls.  We joked that the little creek running under it was a warm up act for the actual falls.

They have installed a boardwalk to the falls-I don't think it was there 35-40 years ago when my parents took me.

We opted not to walk the 4 mile trail between the upper and lower falls.  During tourist season, they have a shuttle to return you to your car but we would have had to turn around and walk back.

The brownish color of the water is caused by tannins, not minerals.  I can't quite wrap my brain around that-that's a lot of tannins!

The day warmed up nicely into the 60's, with nice, bright sunlight so it ended up being a perfect day to explore the falls. We were so glad we had this opportunity!

Off to da U.P, eh?

It recently came to our attention that although the girls have lived in Michigan their entire lives, we had never taken them to the Mackinac Bridge or the Upper Peninsula.  I really had not realized this.

Kind of spur-of-the-moment, we decided to remedy this oversight.



We reserved a cheap room in Mackinaw City.  When we arrived, they gave us a free upgrade to a beach-front room, which gave us a very nice view of the bridge...

as well as a lovely view of the sunrise in the morning.

We packed a lot of driving and sightseeing into 48 hours but we all agreed that it was a fantastic trip.

I've got some pictures of some of the things we did but I think they deserve their own posts, so stay tuned.

Why I didn't take Julianne's senior pictures...

Our friend, Julene, agreed to be the photographer for Julianne's senior pictures. Julene has a great eye and takes fantastic pictures so I was thrilled when she agreed. We had the bonus of a wonderful visit to Julene's home in Wisconsin and chance to spend several days having fun together.

Julene's photography skills weren't the only reason I enlisted her help, though. I needed her because she can get smiles I'll never get...I tend to get facial expressions like these:

I have no illusions about my photography skills but there's just something about those expressions that no amount of photography skill can overcome, don't you think?

I must admit to getting some great shots, too. But those don't make for such a fun blog post, now do they?

Shower gifts

My niece, Lauren, is getting married.  Her shower was held a couple of weeks ago and we were busy bees preparing some handmade goodies for the occasion.  So busy, in fact, that I snuck up to the gift table after the shower to snap these photos because I ran out of time to get them beforehand.



Julianne created this pillow from a felted sweater (it buttons on the other side), then she crocheted the embellishments for it. It's so unique-I loved it.

I made a shirt apron and cloth napkins in a few different fabrics.

Allison embellished napkin rings (the reason I decided to make napkins) with the fabic flowers she so enjoys making.

Both girls worked on the dish towels and dishcloths.  Allison crocheted edges on the towels (a first time project for her that turned out beautifully.  She's not a pattern follower so this was a stretch out of her comfort zone but she did a great job.), while Julianne embellished the dishcloths with edging on one and crocheted flowers on another.

The girls and I enjoyed making some things for Lauren, especially since she will be moving out of state after the wedding.  We wanted her to have a few things that would remind her of our love for her in her new home.