I’m excited to announce that the FoodieCrush Magazine summer issue launched this week and you can read all about an outdoor movie party I hosted with my neighborhood family! You’ll also get to read about my tips for hosting a successful outdoor party with friends. It was such a great night with food, friendship, fun – and The Muppets!

My dear friend, Jenn Hethcoat, used her talent to take some amazing candid party photos for us that night. Just flip through the pages and take a look at some of the amazing moments she captured! Every time I look at those pictures I’m taken immediately back to that evening, early on in the summer. Thank you, Jenn, for sharing your talent and for being a part of the evening and this feature. I owe you one!

In this issue of FoodieCrush you’ll also find fun features on more talented bloggers. My favorite happens to be the Boys of Summer article, where Heidi features some of my male colleagues in the world of blogging. They are a small but fiercely talented bunch!

I hope you’ll take a moment to check out the beautiful new issue of FoodieCrush Magazine. You can view the magazine by clicking HERE and you can also download it on your iPad.

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Today, I’d like to send you all over to an amazing website run by Heidi Larsen called FoodieCrush. I’m sure most of you know who Heidi is… she’s the creative brilliance behind the beautiful e-magazine, FoodieCrush.

Heidi and I had the chance to sit down and chat this past weekend via Skype and she recorded it. It was a lot of fun and I hope you’ll stop over there and take a look at some of the things we chatted about! There’s the fun video interview, where I discover I say “ummmm” way too much and have a habit of messing with my hair when I talk. We also did a written Q&A of other things we didn’t discuss in the video.

Make sure to stop by and check it out! Have a great day 🙂

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The post The Happiness Report #12 – Iced Coffee, Flowers and Moleskine appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Wow – what a week! Last weekend, my husband and I took our kids to Iowa to spend the week with Grandma and Grandpa. When we arrived home, I collapsed into bed only to be jarred awake a few minutes later by the phone ringing. It was one of my sisters and she told me I needed to get to the Emergency Room ASAP… our brother was not doing well and things weren’t looking good.

I arrived at the ER to discover my brother in a horrible state. He was hallucinating, dehydrated, extremely weak and his chest sounded like a fish tank gurgling along. His oxygen level was very low and he was in tremendous pain. To make matters worse, he was nauseous from the chemo he had earlier in the week and he couldn’t throw up because the tumor was blocking his esophagus. He also had pneumonia in both lungs, but couldn’t clear his chest because of the tumor blocking his esophagus. Can you imagine how horrible that would feel?

I watched helplessly as my sister-in-law dealt with the “do not resuscitate” orders… nurses came in and out just trying to keep him comfortable. It was one year to the day that my friend Ann lost her battle with cancer. I was cursing cancer and hating what this disease had done so quickly to my brother.

I ended up staying the night with him at the hospital. I had to leave for a short business trip to Chicago the next morning and as I gave him a hug and kiss goodbye, I honestly was fearful that this would be the last time I saw him alive.

Our friends here at home and those of you who heard the news online committed to praying relentlessly for him, his doctors and his family. I’m excited to tell you that those prayers have worked…my brother has taken an unbelievable turn for the better, thanks to your prayers and the innovation of a great doctor who has apparently gone through something similar with his own family recently.

It was discovered that the tumor had punctured a hole in my brothers trachea and esophagus causing everything from his feeding tube and other fluids to leak out into his lungs and body cavity. The doctor decided to perform surgery to put a stint in his esophagus and it worked! He came out of surgery and is now able to eat, drink, cough, breathe again. After seeing him on Sunday and then visiting him again today, I can’t believe the improvement in just these few short days.

His prognosis is still the same… he’s not going to be with us all that much longer, but we are thankful that we have awhile longer to have him in our life.

So, today’s happiness project is a long story but boils down to one thing. I’m thankful to have my brother alive. Actually, make that two things… I’m thankful for your prayers as well. I’ve received so many kind emails, phone calls, tweets, facebook messages from all of you. Thank you so much for keeping our family in your thoughts. It is so appreciated.

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Making ice cream is a little like magic, don’t you think? Dumping a couple of things into an ice cream maker and then peeking in just a short while later to find that it has turned into ice cream is just too cool. Don’t forget, you get the chance to whip up some magic of your own with the Cuisnart Ice Cream Maker and eCreamery Gourmet Flavoring giveaway I have going on. It ends at midnight CST tonight, so head over there soon!

This is not a sponsored post. I simply love eCreamery, especially their Gourmet Ice Cream flavorings and I think you would too! Hopefully you’ll take a minute to check out all eCreamery has to offer! I’m lovin’ eCreamery and sharing this link in the I’m Lovin’ It Roundup over at Tidy Mom.

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Happy Summertime, everyone! You know the warmer weather makes me especially happy after the harsh winter we’ve had. I thought I’d share a little dose of what’s been making me happy lately….

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The post The Happiness Report #9 – Cozi, Cocktails & Instagram appeared first on Dine and Dish.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted a happiness report over here. It’s not that I haven’t had things to be happy about…it’s just that I have been so busy with regular life lately to actually sit down and share some things with you all.

First off, last week a friend of mine and I went to one of my newest places to go to in Kansas City. High & Dry is in a little house where my new pal Jamie does the most amazing thing with furniture and home goods. I’ve purchased a table from her and a hutch and keep going back for more goodies. I got the cute little red plate above plus a lot of other neat things at her studio during this past visit. Just walking in there and being inspired by her work makes me happy! (Also, if you are interested in where those little snack mix cones came from, head over to my guest post on the Mom it Forward blog where I give a review of the neatest cookbook, Picture Me Cooking.)

I had an absolute “pinch me” moment last week when Beth from I Should Be Folding Laundry asked if I would be interested in contributing some pictures to a March of Dimes fundraising Etsy store she was opening. As I read through her email, I kept thinking… “but wait, I’m not a photographer!” Then, as I read further down where she listed the names of the other 9 photographers who would be contributing, I felt so honored. The names on the list were all people I have greatly admired for so long now for their talent in photography. I’m not sure that I belong with this talented group, but I sure am tickled to be there.

The photo above is one of four pictures I have for sale at the Etsy store, June Afternoons. Click here to see all four of my prints for sale. To see the entire selection of prints (and books) available from all of the artists, click on over. All proceeds go to benefit The March of Dimes.

Kelly (7) and Ella (4) share a room and 99% of the time it is a complete disaster. Even when they clean their room, it is still like glimpsing at tornado alley. Today, as I do about once a month, I got totally fed up and spent a good part of the day cleaning their room. 5 large donate bags and 3 bags of trash later I was done. Their dressers were gone through, their closet was completely cleaned out… under the bed and dressers were cleaned and vacuumed. Can I tell you, doing this kind of work… when I actually sit down and take the time to really do it and don’t have a lot of interruptions, gives me the biggest happiness boost! It feels so good. Give cleaning and decluttering a try next time you need a happiness boost.

If you want a really good laugh, check out this website “Dear blank, please blank.” It is “spit diet coke all over your computer screen from laughing so hard” funny.

I hope you all have lots of happy encounters lately! What’s is on your happiness list currently?

The post The Happiness Report #8 – Pinch Me, Plates & Decluttering appeared first on Dine and Dish.

It seems kind of wrong to be posting about happiness today. The tragedy and devastation going on in Japan is so sad. I’ve found it hard to tear myself away from the news and worrying about those people still searching for their loved ones. I can’t even fathom what they are going through, and I find myself glued to the news updates, hoping for some glimpse of a happy ending for at least some of the people over in Japan.

With that being said, if you are anything like me and get pulled into news stories so deeply that it effects your overall being, then maybe a little reminder of happiness is in order. What do you think?

To start off my Happiness Report, I have to say as much as I love soup, I am more than happy to see salad weather finally approaching us! Sun, longer days, fresh fruits and veggies are just around the corner and I can’t wait!

Another thing that made me smile in a big way happened this week. I have been blogging for close to 4 1/2 years and for the first time in Dine & Dish history, my husband made a comment on my blog! Something about the Being Irish post and sharing his Grasshopper cocktail recipe made him feel compelled to come out of the woodwork and make an appearance.

I bought these cute pink polka dot straws and some other products from an Etsy store called Hey YoYo. All of the products they have at Hey YoYo are smile inducing. From colorful polka dot straws to fun cupcake liners… even her business cards bring a smile to my face! If you love fun and whimsy, you’ll have to check out the Hey YoYo Etsy store.

Photo courtesy of Beth from the blog OMG! Yummy

Earlier this week on Twitter and Facebook, I asked some of you to share your favorite posts you wrote or pictures you took in the month of February. In return, I received links from many of you that really made me smile. One such post that stood out to me was a post by Beth from the blog OMG! Yummy. Beth’s post starts out with this picture of her Grandma and then goes on to talk about her Grandma’s Bubula recipe. It makes me happy to read about how food can evoke such strong memories in people. Beth went on to tell me that her sweet Grandma lived to be 100, and if this picture weren’t cropped you would see her holding her great-granddaughter, causing her to smile that precious smile.  I told Beth that I think I’m going to print out this picture of her Grandma and hang it up where I can see it everyday. How can you be grumpy when you see a sweet smile like that each day?

Reading your favorite posts from last month made me happy to. If you didn’t get the chance to share your favorite blog post or photograph from February, please share the link in the comments below. I’ll make sure to head over to take a look and comment.

Here’s to a happy week for all! Best wishes.

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