Ugly Sweater Par-tay

So....You might think we are out and about ALL the time....Not true!!  We love to host parties at our house too.  Our latest swaray was our Second Annual Ugly Sweater Party.  And it was a blast if we might say so ourselves!

Just because it was so fun, I thought I'd share a few photos with you and some of the things we did to make out party a blast.  I'd love to hear your ideas too because we are always trying to make our parties more awesome!

We ordered some food from Hy-vee and I made a few things.  Red and green deviled eggs are always a must for our sweater parties to add to the tackiness.

We hired Brianna Dawson Photography to set up a photo booth this year because I wanted to enjoy the party and not worry about the most important of the party...taking pictures to document the tackiness!  She was fantastic and I'd highly recommend her for your party.  She brought in a 10 foot backdrop and even had silly pose ideas for everyone.  Check out her Facebook page and more photos from our party here.

Our cocktail of the evening was candy cane shots.  So easy and so good!  Just white chocolate liquor and peppermint vodka.  We also had cheesecakes from Sugar Creek Baking (My favorite cheesecake EVER).  If you love cheesecake or are in the market for the most fantastic pecan pie ever, check them out.  Here is our past review of Sugar Creek.  And don't forget about the Ugly Sweater cookies made by Three Chicks Bakery.  These awesome cookies exceeded my expectations when I told them I wanted Ugly Sweater cookies.  I loved them.

And to round out the unhealthy food smorgasbord, we did a chocolate fountain this year.  We of course had tacky prizes like leg lamps and fruit cakes for the winners of each Ugly Sweater Category.

Did you have an awesome Ugly Sweater Party this year?!  Share your tips!

Des Moines Holiday Events Extravaganza!

It just happened that my sister and my nephew were in town visiting this week from Boston, so what better time to fit in every Des Moines Holiday Event we could into the shortest amount of time possible.



The week started with the Ugly Sweater Run at Principal Park.  What a fun event!  Lots of gigantic Holiday inflatables for cool photo ops, candy canes and more.  Runner brought toys for Toys 4 Tots that went right to kids in our community.




If it wasn't -1 degree with the wind chill, it would have been a fabulous family friendly event.  There was a Groupon for it, so only $20 got you registration, a hat, hot chocolate along the 5k route and 2 beers or hard ciders at the end.  Fun event!  Looking forward to next year!



Next up, we hit the Jordan Creek Mall Santa and Build-a-Bear for their Holiday "Bears".  Nathan picked the Rudolph and of course we spent the ridiculous amount of money on the matching hat, scarf and sweater for Rudolph, you know, because it was too cute not to.



Our elf (Named Elephant) returned for the season which is fantastic because my kid always behaves a little bit better when he knows the creepy elf is watching him.




While at the mall, we also got to check out Live, Love, Bake which recently opened up near Banana Republic on the first floor of the mall.  They have a cupcake kiosk.  What a great idea and they have really great cupcakes!  I tried a gluten-free chocolate-chip and it was really fabulous.  It was a little more pricey than the competitors around town at $4, but it was huge!  It was moist and delicious though and worth every penny.





In the middle of all of this, we had time to meet my friend Carye for a painting class, via El Arte Uncorked, to make some festive Christmas ornament paintings.  We also got some matchy-matchy photos of the boys taken since they only see each other a couple times a year.




Continuing the fun, we had our Thanksgiving meal at Tally's in Beaverdale which was fantastic as always.  Robert's (the owner) wife has celiac disease, so there is always a ton at Tallly's that is gluten free for my family members to eat.



We don't discriminate around here and since we have all sorts of heritage going on in our family, we made time for Latkes and Hanukkah house building!  It was really for the kids, but they lost interest quickly and the grown-ups ended up doing the building...




What the kids did love was the chocolate we picked up at Beaverdale Confections! I just love this shop.  We picked up Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas themed chocolates along with fantastic gift baskets for only $10 each!  They'd make great teacher gifts!  (hint, hint...) A great stop to celebrate Small Business Saturday too.  



Once our Thankgivukkah celebrations were over (and my brief dabble in Black Friday Shopping in which I stood in line for an hour and a half for an iPad deal...not worth it),we headed to the Festival of Trees and Lights at Hy-vee Hall.  This is one of my most favorite events of the season and is for such a great cause that is very near to my heart.  Every year this events gets bigger and better is lots of kids crafts, train rides, beautiful trees including a scavenger hunt, snacks, silent auction and entertainment.  Definitely an event not to miss.


Luckily we still had time to take our annual drive through the Jolly Holiday Lights at Waterworks park where you can drive through thousands of holiday lights throughout the park for $10 (more for limos and busses and only $5 on Monday nights) to benefit Make-a-Wish foundation.  We love turning up the Christmas music, drinking hot cocoa and enjoying the lights.  They had 3D glasses available a few years ago and Nathan loves to wear them every year, they don't offer them anymore though, but that's what he's wearing in the photo.


That takes us to our road trip to The Scenic Valley Railroad and Museum in Boone for the Santa Express train ride!  This is always a hot with the kids.  You ride the train out to "The North Pole", read the Santa Express book, drink hot chocolate and eat cookies and there is of course a visit from Santa.  It was my 2 year old nephew's first train ride and he was enthralled for every minute of the hour and a half excursion.



We fit in a trip to the Science Center, which I highly recommend during the holiday to catch the Polar Express in the IMAX theater and check out the current traveling exhibit which is very cool.



Today, we end our very busy visit with family with DIsney on Ice at Wells Fargo Arena.  Many Iowans have made this a Thanksgiving week tradition every year.



Are there any Holiday events that you love to do in Des Moines (or close-by)?  We'd love to hear about them!



For me, it's back Ugly Sweater Party planning!  Our annual Contest/Party is being held soon and we can't wait!  Here's a photo of some of our friend's from last year's event!  I'm getting the fruit cakes and leg lamps ready!

PS...I almost forgot!  A new find (for me) this year is the Lincoln Place Lights this very cool house at 129 Lincoln Place Drive in Des Moines (not far from DMU).  They have a fantastic holiday lights display, that if you set your radio to 94.3, their light show is in sync with the music!  Check it out!

Della Dolce Bakery

Today's guest post is by my friend Christie who knows a good cookie when she tastes one!  Check out her experience at this brand new bakery and make plans to attend the Grand Opening for some samples!

I had the chance to be one of the first customers at Della Dolce Bakery on their opening day yesterday!

This is the most beautiful bakery I’ve ever been in.  No surface was left untouched when turning this space into a cozy bakery.

Stop in the morning for a cup of tea or coffee and a scone, cinnamon roll, caramel roll, quiche, or turnover.  By afternoon they have dessert favorites such as cookies, cupcakes, pies, and tarts.  I had one of the chocolate chip cookies and it was DELICIOUS.  Crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside.

Owner, Catherine, also makes wedding cakes and caters other beautiful desserts for events. 

Catherine is hosting her Grand Opening Ceremony on Saturday, November 2 from 5-8pm with the ribbon cutting at 6pm.  She will have light appetizers and samples sizes of menu items for everyone to try.

You can find Della Dolce Bakery at 13435, Suite 300 University Ave, Clive  IA 50325.  Phone: 515-330-2848.  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DellaDulceBakery

Grounds For Celebration

In Windsor Heights, right near the Mustards Restaurant on University Ave is Grounds For Celebration.  They have other locations in Beaverdale as well as the Somerfield plaza on Mills Civic in WDM too.

This is more than just your typical coffee shop.  They of course serve your normal line-up of lattes, smoothies, shakes and teas.  But, at lunch time, they have a full menu with table-service.  The menu includes pasta, salads, sandwiches fruit plates and my favorite, the chicken salad croissant.  The chicken salad is full of relish and grapes.  Sweet and tart with tender chucks of white meat chicken, just how I like it.  For about $8.75 you can choose two menu items served with fruit for a wonderful lunch.

They atmosphere is cozy and the staff is friendly.  They also carry an assortment of locally made bakery items including gluten-free cookies which is great because coffee shops don't always offer something for people with allergies.  They also had some gorgeous looking cakes and muffins all from locally-owned bakeries.

They had a selection of breakfast sandwiches available and even have gelato.

This is the perfect place to meet some friends over a cup of coffee or lunch and dessert!  I once attended a baby shower here and it was perfect.  Casual atmosphere with a relaxing feel and good food and coffee.  Check it out!

Cupcake Emporium

You might have heard of this cool little cupcakery named Cupcake Emporium located in Ames in June when they competed on the TV show Cupcake Wars along with Des Moines dessert shop Creme Cupcake.  While they didn't take the trophy, they did give us a glimpse into the shops cool decor and yummy cupcakes and I knew I would have to make the trip to Ames and check it out.  So we did!

I didn't realize that this isn't strictly a cupcake/milkshake shop like Scratch Cupcake in WDM or Carefree Patisserie which is cupcakes and cakes and cookies, in Valley Junction.  Cupcake Emporium actually has a full lunch menu including sandwiches, soups, salads and walking tacos.



They serve their cupcakes and lunch in the cutest retro-soda shop themed diner-type restaurant.  The decor really is a style all their own as is the menu and personalty of the restaurant.




I'm pretty sure you can't go wrong with any of the cupcake flavors, but we really enjoyed the cinnamon "roll" cupcake because the cake actually had cinnamon chunks baked right in to the batter and my son thought the pie-crust star cut-outs on the cherry pie a-la-yum cupcake were ingenious, as did I .  The frosting on the pink champagne was to-die-for and the peanut butter cup was rich and smooth.  The cakes were all moist and the frosting weren't overbearingly sugary.  We liked them them all and had to refrain from trying more.  I see another trip in our near future.



We also enjoyed a chocolate milk-shake on our visit, but have yet to try the lunch options.  I am looking forward to coming back soon to try some of the soups.



You could really plan a Fall day trip to Ames hitting Center Grove Orchard on your way up to play at the Farmyard and hit Cupcake Emporium for lunch and cupcakes.  Sounds like a great day to me!