BeautyRevealed | The Blog of Melissa J. Dillon

Yes, okay, okay… I’ve been a very bad blogger. But this is why… this fun Bridal Shower that we hosted for my dear (almost) sister-in-law, Angela. (And then I needed a week to recuperate) but now I’m back to blogging ~ I promise!

We decided to do an outdoor Garden Tea Party on my front lawn. And it rained all…week…long. I was pretty nervous since I knew we could not fit 25 ladies into my living room! I prayed and prayed… and Sunday morning dawned clear and beautiful (Thank you, God!) We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day… upper 70’s and blue skies.

Our dear friend, Mary, offered to loan us all of her beautiful teacups and teapots, goblets, plates and silverware for the shower! We were so delighted! It would not have been nearly as special without all her beautiful china.  Thank you again, Mary, for your kindness! (We missed you!)

It was such a blessing to have so much help for the occasion from my mom, my Auntie Shirley, my Auntie Kathy, and especially my cousin Mary who ran even harder than me to prepare and serve and clear dishes, etc. I couldn’t have done it without her! She also brought beautiful flowers and hanging baskets to put all around the yard… it turned out so beautiful.

Mark and my dad were so great, as well ~ bringing all the tables and chairs from various places for the occasion. I was so pleased to see all of our hard work coming together to create such a special day.

Here is Angela with her mom, Char (middle) and my mom, Bonnie.

We served a light luncheon of croissants, my Auntie Shirley’s yummy chicken salad, and fresh fruit with dip. For dessert, my Auntie Kathy made a wonderful mandarin orange/pineapple cake. I cannot believe that I don’t have a picture of it… it was lovely!

Mary serving Lemonade Punch.

These little princesses are my second cousins, Olivia and McKenzie. (I’m not sure how their mom, Darla, escaped the picture).

Angela received more lovely gifts for their home. I can’t wait to see them all in use… They will have such a cute place!

I had quite a few requests to share the recipe for the Lemonade Punch, so I thought I would share it here to save some time.

Easy Peasy!

It was such a lovely day! We leave in a little over a week to head down to Bloomington for the Wedding Preparations!!! So exciting and so close!

Along with the warm, summer evenings comes the wonderful aroma of smoky barbecues wafting through the neighborhood. Mark and I are not expert grillers by any means, but we are learning… and are so enjoying the process (as we must taste-test all of our experiments).  I am trying to cut back on the amount of carbs that I eat, so grilling is a good way to try new things with protein: salmon, tilapia, shrimp, chicken, turkey, etc.  I have been enjoying a magazine called Clean Eating, and have been trying out some healthy recipes that we really enjoy. We’ve even been grilling our dessert! Last night we tried grilling pineapple, bananas and mangos to make a Tropical Vanilla Fruit Salad. Soooo yummy! But I’ll save that for another night. 

Grilled Shrimp

Ingredients:

1 T. olive oil, 3 T. lemon juice (about ½ a lemon), 2 garlic cloves (minced), and 1 pound of fresh medium-sized shrimp. 

Instructions:

In a small bowl, stir together olive oil, lemon juice and minced garlic well. Place shrimp in another bowl and pour marinade over top. Let sit for 15-20 minutes.

Thread shrimp onto 10-inch skewers (previously soaked in water for 10 minutes) or put into grilling basket. Place over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes, turning halfway through cooking time. Serve immediately. 

Ultimate Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:

1½ pounds ground turkey, 1 medium red pepper (diced), 2 garlic cloves (minced), 1 T. parsley, ½ t. sea salt, ½ t. freshly ground pepper.

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients together well. Make into patties (should make 6). Grill over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes on each side (or until burgers are golden brown and firm in the middle).

Serve burgers on whole grain buns with lettuce, tomato and onion. 

Well, hope you enjoy these as much as we did! What are some of your favorite grilling recipes??

“In summer, the song sings itself.”

- William Carlos Williams

“Just now the lilac is in bloom, all before my little room.” 

- Rupert Brooke

Oh, I wish you could smell them! They are simply heavenly. We have a long lilac hedge separating our backyard from the alleyway… I wish I could take credit, but these bushes have been around for over 50 years. They weren’t really taken care of by the previous owners, so it took a lot of thinning out and pruning to get them to bush out like they should. And only two years later, we are enjoying hundreds of gorgeous lilacs. I wish they lasted all summer, but I’ll enjoy them while I can. I love to make bouquets for every room in the house and it makes the whole house smell wonderful. They remind me so much of my childhood… my mom had lilac bushes at our house in town, and the scent brings me back to barefoot summer days in the backyard. 

For those of you who live close by, come on over and grab an armful of lilacs anytime. And make sure you stop in for a glass of iced tea. Hope to see you soon!

“I love the sweet smell of dawn.”

-Emme  Woodhull

I’ve been waking up at 5:45 in the morning the last couple of weeks to take care of Jackson, and I must say, mornings are my favorite time of the day in this house. I groggily poured myself a cup of coffee one morning and turned around to see how gloriously the light bathes my great-grandma’s cupboard in the early morning hours. I was mesmerized. As the sun rose higher in the sky, the shadows crept back all too soon. But for a short time, all I could do was stare at the beauty of the light. 

So this is where I’ve started to bring my Bible and journal in the mornings before the baby arrives… here to the kitchen table to share a cup of coffee and fellowship with the Lord. Soaking in The Light in the early morning hours and renewing again my discipline to make Him the first priority of my day. 

Psalm 5:3 “My voice you shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.” 

“The highest joy of all is to possess the Father – till there remains no shred of darkness nor cloud nor even a mist between us and His endless pure light. The highest joy is to see Him as He is, to feel all the sweetness of His being nourishing our soul, rejoined to Him in our very substance… I saw that the only thing that blocks us from living in the rays of God’s pure light now is sin: first, our hunger for sin; then the action of sin itself; finally, the wasting starvation sin causes to our souls. For such empty darkness can never feed our souls, which were made for endless light.” – Julian of Norwich

“Words are the voice of the heart.”

- Winston Churchill

(Make your own wordle at www.wordle.net. It’s fun!)

“Women derive a certain satisfaction from the gentle toil of the needle.”

- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Project #339: New pillows for the couch. I think I must be in some sort of contest to see how many projects I can work on at once. Seriously… I think I’m about to pass out.

“What a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about

three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.” 

- Robert Fulghum

I think our great-grandma’s were on to something when they set aside a day a week for their homemaking duties (Monday: wash day… Tuesday: Ironing… Wednesday: Sewing… Thursday: Market Day… Friday: Cleaning Day… Saturday: Baking Day… Sunday: Rest). Of course we all need to adjust ours to our own schedule and needs, but I’m finding that it really helps. I started a baking day every Wednesday a few weeks ago, and its really simplified my life. I make my kitchen a gigantic mess and bake 3 or 4 different things for the week. Then I clean up, put everything in the freezer and we’re set. Then I don’t have to buy the preservative-filled things at the grocery store. I am trying to develop healthy recipes for muffins, cookies, breads, etc, so if you have any good ones, let me know. My mom has been teaching me how to substitute healthy ingredients in my recipes… I’m still working on cleaning out the junk from my pantry and replacing it with organic, nutritious ingredients. If anyone has some good health tips for me, let me know! 

Here’s a cookie recipe that mom and I adapted, and they turned out really good. Mark really likes them, too, because they are soft and chewy. 

Now I just need to pick out my days for laundry… gardening… grocery shopping… cleaning… sewing… and the list goes on and on…

“The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day.” 

- Robert Frost

I’ve been in spring cleaning mode this last week. Lots of organizing, deep cleaning, redecorating, and baking while listening to “The Best of Billie Holiday” on my ipod. Though the days have been a bit chilly still, the sun is bright and cheery… I love spring. I’ve been scouring old issues of Country Living and Victoria magazines for some inspiration. I’m in a blue faze, I think. It’s so summery and fresh. Today I dyed Easter eggs… I actually boiled a dozen eggs without cracking any (that’s a first for me!) I had to call mom for some tips. 

Easter is at Mom and Dad’s this year. We’re still deciding on the menu as it kind of crept up on us all of the sudden. We do know that we want to watch “The Passion of the Christ” and have a time of worship, though.  I wanted to ask if any of you have any fun or special Easter traditions. It’s always fun to hear how other people celebrate holidays and make them their own. What kind of meal do you usually have? Egg hunts? Sunrise Service? Please share in the comment section. I’m always looking for new ways to make our holidays more special and meaningful. 

I thought I’d share some of my Easter/Spring decorations that I have up around the house. It definitely feels springy around here now. I changed the curtains from red to white which gives the house an airy feeling. Now it just needs to warm up so I can open up the windows and let the fresh air in. My next project is to put screen doors on the front and back doorways to allow light and air to flow through… mmm, I can almost smell the fresh cut grass already… and the lilacs… and the barbeque grills. Can you tell I love summer? This winter has been way too long! 

After this weekend I should have some pictures to share of all the projects we’ve been getting done around here. Lots of power tools, pounding and painting going on in this 90 year old house. It becomes more and more of our dream home everyday. My dad has been coming over every day after work to finish up the baby’s room, and this Easter weekend we start on putting a new oak stairway in. He’s also helping me put some finishing touches on my Creative Closet, so I’ll be able to post some pictures of that soon as well. Thank you so much, Daddy, for all your hard work. (I think I may owe him my soul when all this is said and done! ha!)

I hope you all are having a happy Spring and Easter Season. Spring is a time of new life, growth, and fruitfulness after a long winter. It is a refreshing time for me and I hope it is for you, as well. 

The angel answered, “… I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead…” 

So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy…

~ Matthew 28

” ‘Stay’ is a charming word in a friends’ vocabulary.”

-Louisa May Alcott

I had some dear friends come over for tea yesterday, and wouldn’t you know it, I was having so much fun, that I completely forgot to take any pictures. Mom came too, and we chatted the afternoon away over hot cups of tea and Orange Cranberry Scones. Friendship is such a blessing. There was a time when I took it for granted…  but not anymore. It is meant to be cherished.

This teacup was passed down to me from my Mom. It’s my favorite… it has been since I was a little girl. When I think of how many women have drank from this cup, I am blessed. Mom always had a way of making moments special… whether it was a friend at her kitchen table pouring out her heart or a full blown Anne of Green Gables tea party for me and some girlfriends, she always pulled out her beautiful teacups. They were meant to be used… to be enjoyed. In so many of my childhood memories are teacups and doilies, a plateful of goodies, and lots of happy chatter. 

It reminds me of the scripture, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” (John 7:37) When we have Christ in us, we truly do have something to offer: Hope, Rest, Comfort, Blessing, Peace. He is able to love through us, and offer the beauty of friendship. I, personally, have felt the love of Jesus through many friends over the years.

 Yesterday I felt a warm glow in my home after everyone left. The teacups clinked together as I cleaned up, and soft music played in the background, “… life can be so sweet, on the sunny side of the street.” I carefully washed out my teacups, dried them, and put them back in the cupboard where they will be ready for more friends and special times… and more kindred spirits.