Halloween Party Round Up

Over the weekend, I took my girls to a Halloween party.  I love Halloween!  It is so much fun seeing all the costumes and merriment, not to mention all the yummy treats.  Here are some highlights from our party.  So much fun was had by all!!!

Book Club Monday

The next book on my list is Everything I Never Told You.  This has been named the book of the year by Amazon editors and other various outlets, so I am dying to see if it lives up to the hype.  The story goes like this:

 A teenage girl goes missing and is later found to have drowned in a nearby lake, and suddenly a once tight-knit family unravels in unexpected ways. As the daughter of a college professor and his stay-at-home wife in a small Ohio town in the 1970s, Lydia Lee is already unwittingly part of the greater societal changes going on all around her. But Lydia suffers from pressure that has nothing to do with tuning out and turning on. Her father is an American born of first-generation Chinese immigrants, and his ethnicity, and hers, make them conspicuous in any setting. Her mother is white, and their interracial marriage raises eyebrows and some intrusive charges of miscegenation. More troubling, however, is her mother’s frustration at having given up medical school for motherhood, and how she blindly and selfishly insists that Lydia follow her road not taken. The cracks in Lydia’s perfect-daughter foundation grow slowly but erupt suddenly and tragically, and her death threatens to destroy her parents and deeply scar her siblings. Tantalizingly thrilling, Ng’s emotionally complex debut novel captures the tension between cultures and generations with the deft touch of a seasoned writer. Ng will be one to watch.

You can purchase this book on Amazon HERE.

image target.com

Weekend Real Estate Stalking

This weekend Real Estate Stalking is a gorgeous house on the water in Rye.  The views of Long Island Sound from almost every room are incredible.  If you would like more information, please contact Barbie Haynes HERE!!  Enjoy!!!

Fashionable Friend Friday

This week’s Fashionable Friend Friday is Ashley Krauss, the owner of A Little Something White in Darien Ct.  Ashley is a Goldman Sachs transplant with amazing taste and an outstanding sense of fashion and style.  She turned these talents into the most beautiful bridal and special occasion shop where she carries unique and distinguished lines. In the shop, which houses her impecable brands, you will receive the utmost personal attention, as you try on dresses by such designers as made to measure Anna Maier, TLC’s recent feature, Heidi Elnora and mother-daughter design team from Israel, Mira Zwillinger, just to name a few.  She even has the most adorable children’s gowns by Nicki Macfarlane, who designed the attendants dresses at the Kate and Wills royal wedding, among other designers.  Take a look for yourself, A Little Something White not only has bridal couture but graduation gowns, bridal attendant attire, mother of the bride gowns and all types of special dresses for little girls.  Ashley also curates her own collection of vintage jewelry, which is not only incredible but truly breathtaking.  I hope you enjoy Ashley and her wonderful shop as much as I did!!  For more information on A Little Something White, click HERE . Bon Weekend!

Monastery Pumpkin Bread

This pumpkin bread has been a favorite through decades.  It is the recipe of the nuns of the Monsatery of Angels in Hollywood.  They have been making the bread and selling it in their gift shop for the past the 40 years to keep the Monastery going.  Over the years, their bread has been so well recieved that it has been sent as gifts all over the country, even to many presidents.  In fact most people say it is the best pumpkin bread in the WORLD.  Lets give it a try!

image LA Times

Adapted from the LA Times

Ingredients


3 1/2 sifted flour
3 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup oil
2/3 cup water
2 cups mashed, cooked pumpkin (canned will do too)
walnut halfs
butter


Sift together flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Combine eggs, oil, water, and pumpkin and mix well. Stir into dry ingredients.


Pour into 3 greased 8X4 inch loaf pans and top with walnut halves.  Bake at 350 degrees 1 hour or until wood pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool before slicing.  Serve with warm butter.  

Club Monaco

I have recently been so impressed with the offerings at Club Monaco.  Their clothing lines are so timeless that you will be wearing them year after year.   I have a Club Monaco dolman sweater that is still as chic today as it was when I purchased it years ago.  And if you can wait, their sales are amazing!