French Dip Crescents

Happy Election Night! I have a feeling it's gonna be a long one!

I found this idea over at Plain Chicken. She has some *amazing* quick dinner ideas. These could not be easier, or more delicious.

 {Ingredients: Crescent rolls, roast beef, provolone cheese, spicy mustard, au jus mix}

 {Spread mustard onto rolled out crescent, top with roast beef and cheese}

 {Pop into the oven at 375 for 15 minutes}

 {Whisk up the au jus while the crescents are baking}

 {Fresh out of the oven}

{Plated up and ready to eat}

French Dip Crescents, from Plain Chicken

1/2 pound deli roast beef, thinly sliced

4 slices provolone cheese
4 tsp horseradish sauce or Ranch dressing ( I used spicy mustard)
1 can refrigerated crescent rolls
1 packet Au Jus Gravy mix

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Separate crescent rolls into 8 triangles.  Spread 1/2 teaspoon horseradish sauce or Ranch dressing on each crescent.  Top each crescent with 1/2 slice provolone cheese and roast beef.  Roll up crescents and place on baking sheet.  Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown.

While crescents are baking, make Au Jus according to directions on packet.  Serve with warm crescents.

Happy Halloween!

Harry was a spider this year...who got very cold...then very sleepy. He does love all the extra attention from the trick-or-treaters though!

Hope everyone is having a happy Halloween!

Friday Photo Dump

{L to R: Harry resting on his monkey, new goodies from the Fall/Winter line at MAC, dining set I fell in love with at Homemaker's, new sunnies from Marshall's, our romantic room upgrade at the Holiday Inn (GROSS), a new breakfast pizza recipe (coming soon!)}

Mood Board: Man Cave

Here's a peek at what I've we've been brainstorming for the man cave. We already own the couch, chair/ottoman, trunk and cowhide rug, but everything else I found online. Here's the link for all my sources:

{http://olioboard.com/boards/133122-man-cave}

Splurge v. Steal : Trunk Wars

I've been a *little* obsessed with trunks for a while now. After seeing them on a few home decor blogs and TV shows I decided we needed one as a coffee table for B's man cave. I just needed to find the perfect mix of rustic and modern. Enter the Mayfair Steamer trunk from Restoration Hardware.

{Mayfair Steamer trunk from RH}

I loved the mix of the brushed metal with the wood, leather and nailhead trim. Unfortunately there is NO way I could justify spending $1,795 on a trunk. EVER. So I sadly stashed away my dreams for the perfect trunk...until one day while wandering around TJ Maxx. Hidden under a table full of random decorative items was this beauty.

Isn't it pretty? It has all the same features I loved about the RH version, but for $129.99 it was quite a bit more reasonable. I'm also loving the drawers and the fact that the top is hinged and opens for storage. B got a cowhide rug last weekend from IKEA that this will look pretty cool sitting on. Can't wait for all the pieces of the room to come together!

B'day Highlights

I turned the big 2-8 last Friday and had a pretty great weekend! Just reminds me how lucky I am to have such awesome friends and family. Here's to the next great year!

{L to R: family pic before dinner, beautiful flowers and a sweet card from the hubby, creme brulee for dessert at the Radish, rainbow beads from Francesca's, jeweled collar tank from Loft (both sparkly gifts from my fam, they know me pretty well)}

Wedding Vendor Love: Part 1

I've been asked by a few people to put together a list of all the vendors we used for our wedding, as well as a short review of what we thought. Our vendors were all great, so I would LOVE to share them with anyone else getting married in the DSM area. I know I appreciated having references from other people when researching.

Feel free to e-mail me at glitterandgrits@aol.com if you want more details on any of these or have questions.

{Ceremony: Gloria Dei Lutheran Church}

I guess this one isn't really a vendor, but just thought I would share anyway. We got married at Gloria Dei in Urbandale by Pastor Tim Phillips. The church staff is SO great to work with. Our pre-marriage classes were with Pastor Phillips in the fall of 2011, so it was nice to get those out of the way. We also had a wedding coordinator who was super helpful with getting us all the information we needed and keeping things organized at the church. Our ceremony was perfect, and it doesn't hurt that the sanctuary is gorgeous.

{Wedding Dress: Bridal Connection}

I found out about Bridal Connection at one of the big wedding expos in town. It is located in a little strip mall in Ankeny and you would never know it was there unless you were looking for it. They were wonderful to work with and have many of the same designers as the bigger wedding stores in Des Moines. They were my first stop for shopping and I picked the 2nd dress I tried on. I got lucky because I was the only one in the store that day when I was shopping so it felt a little more special. The staff is great at keeping you updated and handles everything regarding fittings and alterations. I also purchased all of my bridesmaids' dresses at Bridal Connection and was very happy with those as well.

{Reception Venue: Embassy Suites on the River}

Embassy Suites was always one of my top choices for a reception venue, and after checking out a few others they definitely won out in terms of service and packages. They just completed a renovation of the guest rooms and ballroom this past winter, and it was really nice to have all new carpet, fixtures, etc for our reception. Jessica, the wedding coordinator, was amazing to work with and helped us every step of the way. We even had a private tasting with full meals of each option we wanted to try. They worked with our event design company and coordinated a lot of the logistics of decorating the day of the wedding without us even having to worry about it. Our reception was beautiful, the food was great, and we were very happy with our choice.

{Wedding Cake/Cupcakes: Fancy Pants Cupcake Co.}

I first spotted Fancy Pants Cupcake Co at one of the big wedding expos in town. They brought tons of mini cupcakes of every flavor you could imagine and they were delicious! I had decided right away that I wanted our guests to have cupcakes and we would have a top-tier cake to cut. We had a tasting and decided on the margarita cupcakes. Not only were they yummy, but the lime zest on top with the black cups matched our colors perfectly. I took a photo of my dream cake and they replicated it EXACTLY. I was amazed when I saw it on the table at the reception. We cut the top tier, then the bottom two were simply styrofoam layers. You would never know by just glancing at it!

{Event Design: Bella Flora}

I cannot say enough good things about Bella Flora. I came into our first meeting with set ideas of colors and designs that I wanted. Kelly took my ideas and made them a million times better. I know nothing about flowers, so that was something I definitely needed direction with. After picking the heights, vessels and colors for the arrangements, she chose flowers that perfectly complemented the room. Other touches such as the ceiling draping, chandelier, and uplights around the room just added to the ambiance. Bella Flora took care of everything including chargers, candles, vases, flowers, table linens, runners, chair covers/sashes and table numbers. There is a huge variety of things to choose from in their showroom and it is a lot of fun checking it all out. It was so exciting to see our 'mock' table a few weeks before the wedding, and so great that I could always e-mail Kelly to bounce ideas around. Highly recommend Bella Flora!

{Photography: Paige Peterson Photography}

Paige was our awesome photographer for the big day. I loved working with her because it just felt like another friend there hanging out with us. She is so laid back and fun, and just let us do our thing without trying to force a bunch of posed photographs. One of my favorite things about her photos is that they truly capture a documentary of your wedding day. We were so thrilled when we got our photos back from Paige and saw all the little moments we didn't even realize were being captured. There are some beautiful outdoor shots as well as so many fun ones from the reception. I really loved looking through all our ceremony photos too since that part was a blur for me. Let's be honest, I really LOVED all of the photos she took. Definitely check out her website and blog, she does beautiful work!


In Part 2, I'll cover the videographer, invitations, programs, hair/makeup, and any other odds and ends I can think of.  :)

Home Show Expo

Today B and I headed up to Ankeny to the 2012 Home Show Expo. This year's event was held at Otter Creek Golf Course. It was a hot one, but there were some awesome homes to look at. We got some really great ideas of things we would want if we win the lottery anytime soon! 

 {B loved this office with the cowhide rug}

 {Who doesn't want a chandelier over their tub?}

 {Tuscan tile mural}

 {My fave home, the "Barn"}

 {Inside one of the ranch homes, love all the white paneling}

 {Downstairs bar}

{Upstairs sunroom in the "barn" house}

{Amazing kitchen, with an apple green painted island}

 {One of the homes was decorated for Christmas, this is a four seasons rooms that opens to the deck}

 {Outside of the ranch we LOVED}

{Another charmer, doesn't this one look like it belongs on the east coast somewhere?}

Next weekend is the last one to catch the home show for 2012 and we highly recommend it. There are 12 homes total to walk around and look at. It's always fun to dream!

Candle Holder Makeover

Over the weekend I decided this black iron candle holder needed a fun new look. There's nothing wrong with it as is, but it just looked kinda plain sitting on the window ledge. I love the color scheme of red and turquoise... so with a can of glossy red spray paint and some fun new candles the transformation was complete. The best part is that the cost was only about $5. Here's the before and after pics!

I'm baaaaaack!

Long time, no blog. I was just a *little* busy the last few weeks, gettting MARRIED. Now that everything is over I hope to start posting regularly again. I've had a few requests to write about all our vendors so I will try to work on that in the next week or so. Here's a few wedding pictures until next time.