Don't be tardy for the party!

The lovely ladies from The Pink and Blue Blog and The Fresh Exchange  have so graciously invited me to be part of their surprise party event! They are hosting this little shindig to celebrate the launch of their fabulous new series that you can all be a part of and get the chance to learn from the best bloggers out there. Stop by to check out some amazing party inspiration from over 30 different bloggers as well as find out about their new project!

Fiesta, Fiesta!

Happy Monday! This has been quite a relaxing weekend and I was able to enjoy some delicious meals, pool time, nights out with friends, the world cup game and finally got in some blogging. Last weekend we had a surprise party for my boyfriend's 30th birthday and it was such a blast! Shockingly we actually pulled off the surprise - including his fam flying in from out of town - which was the best part (although quite stressful since I am the world's worst liar)! Since he looooves Taco Bell Mexican food we had a Mexican-themed bash aka Fiesta de Blannin, complete with a margarita bar, taco station, a nacho cake, and costumes - party shirts, sombreros and fake mustaches. A huge thank you to all of the family and friends who helped make this party such a blast! 

The Birthday Boy!

Making the fiesta desserts was quite an adventure! I found a pretty great tutorial for Chili Pepper Cake pops here and used a recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate frosting and cayanne pepper chocolate to add an extra kick.  Continuing my foray into cake decorating, I made a cake that looked like a plate of Taco Bell nachos! Since nachos are supposed to be a big cheesy mess, this was great since it was pretty difficult to mess up. 

For the cake and the frosting I used one of my favorite recipes from Rachel Ray, Lime Margarita Cake which tastes like a delicious and refreshing margarita. (I cheat this recipe just a bit and use white cake mix out of the box as a base, which is MUCH faster and tastes just as delicious!)

Nacho toppings

Tomatoes: Swedish fish

Lettuce: Shredded coconut tinted green

Tortilla chips: Yellow fondant mixed with crushed oreos

Cheese: White chocolate colored yellow, melted into a block and shredded

Sour cream & guac: Frosting

The awesome dude at Taco Bell gave me some extra burrito wrappers to make this look extra authentic!

Red, White & Boom Weekend!

Hello friends! I feel like I have been mia from the blog world for far too long! After quite a busy trip to China and Taiwan I returned for a fantastic July 4th weekend full of sunshine, bbq'ing, fireworks and eating and drinking far too much. We had friends over for a bbq on Sunday complete with the requisite red, white and blue decor, delicious blue cheese and bacon burgers and jalapeno-cucumber lemonade cocktails, and fireworks that were 100% way to big and crazy to be lit off in our teeny back yard! (I'm pretty sure fireworks are not supposed to be scary). Our resident house band "No Big Deal" aka Nick and Jonathan put on a little acoustic show of patriotic favorites like Miley's "Party in the USA" and Katy Perry's "Firework." Monday we watched more fireworks in the park, but this time we left it to the professionals and just enjoyed the show without fearing for our lives :-) All in all it was a perfect summer weekend! Hope you all had a fabulous time celebrating America's birthday!

The Making of a Bachelorette Party Cake

I loooove to bake and have a serious weakness when it comes to desserts or any kind of baked good! I have recently tried my hand at cake decorating - we're talking fondant, sculpting, the whole shebang. It's almost embarassing how much time I have spent in the cake deocrating section of Sir La Table oohing and aahing over all of the fun tools that I definitely do not have room for in my kitchen. I have only experimented with fondant a few times before, but for the bachelorette party I went to a few weekends ago, I tried something a little crazy. I brought this guy with me to our little shindig...a man made of cake! (Well, part of a man). Some pretty strange things pop up on your computer screen when googling "man torso cake"...so after some awkward moments at work, I kind of just winged it. Made out of fun fetti with chocolate muscles and vanilla buttercream frosting, this guy was a pretty delicious hit!

Some great places for baking inspiration and delicious recipes - Bakerella, Cupcakes Take The Cake and the Hello Cupcake book.

Guest Post: Cornflake Dreams

Hi Friends! Let me introduce you to Jillian from Cornflake Dreams. We are doing a blog swap today, guest posting on each others blogs, with our inspiration for the perfect Memorial Day party. Enjoy her post below and be sure to check out my inspiration over on her blog!

hello there! it's jillian from cornflake dreams. much like miss. kristin i live in the midwest and i have been counting down the days til summer time. sure we get a few spring days here and there but chicago doesn't really heat up til the end of may. what better way to celebrate the sun (AND our military veterans and solders) by planning the perfect memorial day weekend party?! 

here's what i have in mind: 

a good grill space, a cute outfit. 

via, via

great food. 

bbq pizza, cilantro lime corn, orza salad, bbq bacon burger

some tasty drinks and desserts to finish it off! 

via, via, via, peach sangria

i hope all of you can enjoy this long weekend we have coming up. stop by and visit me over at cornflake dreams any time for more design, fashion, and travel inspiration. 

xoxo, 

jillian

Happy Weekend!

I am off to the Hamptons this weekend for the bachelorette party of my best friend Caroline! I cannot believe we are celebrating her wedding. It seems like just last week we were having sleepovers in her basement talking about boys, learning the tricks of the perfect make out from the pages of cosmo, and going to parties that our mothers definitely would not have approved of! I am so excited for a fun weekend at the beach and even more to be part of this amazing time in her life! Oh yeah and her fiancee Gordon is pretty awesome too. Love you guys!!!

Welcome Party!

Hello and welcome to Ten Scenic Drive! I am so excited to start this blog as place to share inspiration, projects, delicious recipes, snapshots of my life and just about everything in between. Thanks so much for stopping by and hopefully you will be back again soon! Cheers!

xxKristin

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