Happy St. Patrick's Day Celebration

It is March 17 and although I claim to have alot of Irish in me from my great grandmother, on this day every year I shout it even louder.  I have always loved to celebrate any occasion, it makes life so much more exciting but being of Irish stock I love to do this one up right!

Things change over the years yet some things ALWAYS remain the same.  Because our 4 children no longer live in our home I don't get to turn all the milk green, cook up green mashed potatoe paddys and add a little green food coloring to the eggs but I certainly hope they are carrying on this tradition for their own children.

I start our celebration by dragging out all of our decorations from the big green shamrocks for the windows to the Happy St. Patricks sign by the door, along with draping the chandeliers with green sparkles and more shamrocks.  Then I start baking my favorite sugar cookie recipe which calls for LOTS of butter and make them into shamrock shapes.  The final touch is to pile the green frosting on and they are sure to get gobbled up!  We had a darling couple last night who really enjoyed them so will serve our next guests tonight with those darling little cookies.  A glass of green milk would compliment them very nicely.

I can smell the corned beef and cabbage cooking as I am typing and it smells awesome!  The Irish soda bread has been baked, green beans are waiting in the colander and I have turned some butter into a soft green....Of course after participating in the New York City's Parade I also must have my Irish coffee as a perfect ending to this great day.  Thank goodness for leftovers as we will have reuben sandwiches tomorrow and I carry over the "green  theme" with green mayo.  I know I may get a little carried away but once again, this is what makes an ordinary day extraordinary!  I even pulled out the green treats for our dog JayJay as he needs to feel special too.

Our next celebration will be Easter but I have learned my lesson and will NOT repeat my mistake of painting our coffee table with purple, green, blue, yellow and orange dots, nor will I have our daveno recovered in these colors with stripes and circles.  It was great for about a week and then it was down right embarrassing.

Bridal Fair at Brickw.a.l.l.

Last night I participated in the first Bridal Fair at the Brickw.a.l.l. Spa in St. Maries.  It was a lovely event, even though there were not tons of future brides lining up at the doors to get in.  Lacy St.John is one of the owners of this new establishment and may I say, it is a classy place and a great addition to the St. Maries businesses.  I was there to represent the St.Joe Riverfront Bed and Breakfast not only as a honeymoon option in either of our beautiful suites, River and Roses or Provence which offer larger rooms, king beds and many amenities, but also as the picture perfect setting for the actual wedding along the riverbanks of the St. Joe.

We have held some absolutely gorgeous wedding events in the past and looking at some of the photos reminded me of just how perfect the backdrop of the river actually is for that special event.  Cary spends so much time on his yard and his talent and patience for this hard work speaks for itself.  The colorful flowers, vivid green sprawling lawn down to the waters edge, and the fountain with the impressive water sprays, makes it  just a fantastic place to "tie the knot".  We can handle up to 100 guests for a wedding, but have also had some awesome intimate ones with as few as 25.  It just depends on what the couple envisions for their big day.

Some of the other local businesses who were represented there were The Paperhouse for your invitation needs, Linda Appel with catering and cakes, Harvest Foods for specialty trays (they sent home some wonderful goodies), Lia Sophia Jewelry to compliment the gals attire, Speelman Photography to capture all the memories, Lasting Promises to handle all the wedding and event planning (plus guaranteeing that all things will run smoothly), and House of Travel for the most important part of the wedding...the honeymoon!  Since I have owned and operated the travel agency for 35 years it is so much fun to visit with these excited couples about the much deserved vacation after all the hustle and bustle of the wedding.

As mentioned before, it was not largely attended as this was the first one to be held, but I truly think it was a huge success.  The networking was absolutely wonderful and meeting other business owners who we can work with in the future to ensure a successful and beautiful wedding for the bride and groom was well worth the time and energy put into the event.  I hope every other business felt the same way.