Valentine's Day Card Poll

Okay, I'm getting down to the wire and need to choose one of these two images for the grandparents' valentine's day cards (yes, that's my daughter, Ellie)! You can help by voting in the poll on the right... Thank you!

By the way, any of your images can be made into greeting cards! If I've taken your photo, drop me a line if you are interested in learning more!

Yummy soup recipe!

I love this time of year because I can make one of my favorite things to cook: soup! I enjoy experimenting with different combinations of ingredients and the more unusual, the better!

All week I've been looking forward to Friday night as we've been invited to a friend's home for a soup and salad potluck dinner. I was told about a particular Rachael Ray recipe for chipotle-pumpkin-blackbean soup and in searching for it on her site, stumbled across another that looked nearly as tempting: chicken tortilla with chipotle and fire-roasted tomatoes. Since my mom was unsuccessful in finding the original curried-tomato soup recipe that I had copied from her a few years ago, I found another one similar to it and bought ingredients for all three soups.

My husband, Nathan, has been a good sport in my experimentation this week which has stretched the limits of even his palate, but tonight gave 2 enthusiastic thumbs up to tonight's experiment, so I thought I would share. The winner...: chicken tortilla soup with chipotle and fire-roasted tomatoes!

My recommendations and substitutions: definitely include the fresh cilantro! It adds a special freshness. I didn't have a bay leaf so I found online that you can substitute some vinegar for extra punch. I also couldn't find fire roasted tomatoes, so I used diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano and added several drops of liquid smoke to give the 'smokey' flavor she was going for. LOVED IT! Definitely outshines the kind you can order at many chain restaurants!

Phone Issues Resolved?

I am super excited about my new phone which should be arriving any day... however, I discovered this morning that Sprint apparently activated my new phone before shipping it... which de-activated my current phone! So if you tried to reach me unsuccessfully, please try again! Who knows if I may not encounter a few other issues when I make the transition for real, so until then, e-mail or the contact form on my website may be the most reliable means of reaching me. Thanks!

January Bridal Show Over!

My sincere thanks to those of you who stopped by my table today! It was a pleasure to chat with many of you! I appreciate you taking some of your time this weekend to acquaint yourselves with many of the small (and some large) businesses in the Bluegrass here to provide services for your wedding day! They are a great group of individuals.

Drop me a note if you have any questions -- I'm happy to hear from you. Take care, CW.

Bridal Show...

I hope you are planning to attend the bridal show this Sunday in Lexington at the Embassy Suites! I will have a table there and would love for you to stop by and introduce yourself! The doors open at 10:15 for registration with the show running from 11AM-5PM.

Tua and her parents...

Here are some photos from our family vacation this past week in Virginia. I'm proud to show off my niece, Tua. It's a special treat to have some time with her and her mommy and daddy who reside in Vermont!