Visited the Lovely Schedel Arboretum & Gardens for Mother's Day!

You know that if I am couponer that I could not resist free admission to Schedel Arboretum & Gardens on Mother's Day!!!!  My best friend and I spent several hours touring the grounds.  We had hoped to make it a YaYa trip, but 2 of the gals could not so I'm sure we will be making another visit!  Schedel's is located at the other end of our county and is about a 30-40 minute trip.

This was a private home/grounds of 17 acres that is now open to the public and run by a foundation.  If you'd like to see their website just click here.  It is open April - October.  Where you see areas of dirt -- annuals will be planted there very soon.  Here in northern Ohio it is usually safe to plant annuals after Mother's Day as we sometimes have frost in early May.  Enjoy the tour --

This is an example where annuals will be planted soon.  I hear in the fall there are lots of  mums planted and I would love to see that!!

The Schedel's loved the Orient and you can see all the lovely touches in their Japanese-inspired grounds --

My friend, Barb, taking a photo (and we took lots!!!) --

Can you see Barb peeking in the middle of the statue?

Can you see the frog in the middle?

Loved the bonsai area --

The end of the tour --

I cannot wait to come back to see it all decked out with annuals.  Plus, want to come back in the Fall and see all the mums (I love mums and Fall!!!).

Lucy is really bored with all this because if it's not about her -- she doesn't want anything to do with it!!!!

I am linking to Savvy Southern Style's - Wow Us Wednesdays.  Just click here to see some great ideas!!

Also, linking to The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sundays.  Just click here to see all the awesome posts.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all you 'Moms'!!!  You know who you are - whether your children have 2 legs or 4 legs - whether your children live in your home or far away - whether you gave birth to them or nurture them - whether you should be their Mom because they spend enough time in your home or whether you just care about them so much -- I hope that you all have a great day!!!!

Special wishes to my daughter (top of photo) and my sister (bottom left) --

Love my little (??) Lucy --

What A Day!! Cinco de Mayo and Kentucky Derby!!!

I love that we could combine Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby and celebrate with my good friends - the YaYa's!!  We had a food-filled fun day!

Awaiting the guests --

First Barb (our YaYa bartender) made us Margaritas --

We then started off the Cinco de Mayo celebration with Individual Seven Layer Dip --

I found the recipe for the Individual Seven Layer Dip thru Pinterest at The Girl Who Ate Everything Blog.  Just click here for the recipe.  It was so good.  I used Organic Tortilla Longboard Chips for Dipping from Trader Joe's --

Next, we played Pin the Tail on the Donkey!!  Why??  I'm not sure, but I thought it would be fun--

Barb & I were the closest - if you count hers on the sign - LOL!!! --

We were going to watch the movie The Three Amigo but there was a problem with the DVD.  So we did the next best thing in keeping with the theme - we put on the Univision channel --

And enjoyed some frozen mojitos (courtesy of Barb) --

We had Crockpot Chicken Tacos that I also found thru Pinterest at  My Chocolate Therapy Blog.  You can click here for that recipe.

I had lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, & sour cream to add to the tacos.  These are so good and I am enjoying these leftovers the next day --

For dessert Gwen made Mexican Chocolate Frozen Bananas & Sopapilla Cheesecake --

Now, it was time to switch to the Kentucky Derby --

We put in $5 and passed the container around and drew names until we each had 5 horses --

The above were my horses.  I thought I might be lucky - we'll see!  We started this portion of the food-fest by having Benedictine Spread as an appetizer.  Again, I found thru Pinterest (if you look on the right side of my blog you can follow my pins.  I have a board devoted to Cinco de Mayo/Kentucky Derby where these and more are located).  The recipe is from Taste of Home and can be found by clicking here --

It is only fitting that we played a game of Pin the Jockey on the Horse --

Helen Jean was the winner --

We drank Mint Juleps, of course, courtesy of Barb --

Our Kentucky Derby entree was Kentucky Hot Browns and they were just delicious.  Thank goodness Barb helped me with it because it was a 2-person job if you are serving these at a gathering (as opposed to your family for dinner).  The recipe was again found thru Pinterest and came from My Recipes and they found it at Southern Living.  You can get the recipe by clicking here.  Note - we only added 2 1/2 C. of milk to the Mornay Sauce (it called for 3 1/2).  Again, get this recipe and make it for your family -- it was that good --

Well, none of my horses won the race -- even though one was leading the entire time until the end!  Helen Jean was the big winner ($15) and one of Gwen's horses came in last so she got $5 --

To end the day Helen Jean made Chocolate Bourban Pecan Pie --

So delicious!  Were we full??  Beyond that, I think!!!  LOL!!  But, we had a great day and the time went by quick.  I had us on a schedule to fit everything in!!  And, what was Lucy during this time?  She was playing SPY!!!!

I am linking to The Tablescaper - Seasonal Sundays.  Please click here to look at her amazing blog and everyone else that has linked up.  My friends thought that I had a lot of dishes that I used for this celebration -- well you should see what The Tablescaper has.  My idol!!!!!