St. Patrick's Day Centerpiece

I've always been one who plans ahead . . I hate waiting until the last minute to do anything . . .until lately. Lately it seems as if I do every dadgum thing at the last minute. We hosted our supper club last Saturday night. We've been together since March of 2004 (or March of 2005) - I need to go and look that up! On Friday night, I realized that I needed a centerpiece. I had written "flowers" or "shamrock plants" on my grocery list but didn't see either on Friday when shopping. I even called two other stores from the car to see if they had shamrock plants. It is the month of March . . and March should bring shamrock plants, should it not? My grandmother was Pearl Murphy - can't get much more Irish than that!! So Friday night found me looking all over the internet at images of centerpieces for St. Patrick's day. I knew that I was going to use a yellow tablecloth and I knew that it would be advantageous if I had a centerpiece that could be used all month for Tuesday nights.  I found a centerpiece that looked like a leprechaun hat with fresh flowers coming out of the top of it and I took that idea and ran with it (not even on pinterest!!)

Saturday morning, I woke up and prepared my Sunday School lesson (first priority!!) and then took a shower (really second priority - maybe should have been first!!).  Then I drove down the hill in the snow flurries to Hobby Lobby.  I went straight to the clay pot aisle.  I bought a large clay pot - regularly $5.99 but 50% off!! and two clay pots of the next size down - $3.99 each (not on sale?).  Then I breezed down the silk flower aisle and picked out some gorgeous white flowers (remember - these flowers need to last all month or I would have definitely preferred fresh flowers).  The flowers were the big expense.  They were $1.99 a stem (you could certainly do this part in a much more budget friendly way - maybe even the Dollar Tree)

so I spent $17.91 on the flowers - but remember - I don't have to replace them all month and can re-use them!!  Then I went back to the paint aisle and found the green paint and some sponge brushes.  I bought way too much green paint.  I'm going to take the unused/unopened ones back.  I only used one large acrylic craft paint (and didn't even use it all).  I put two full coats and a few extra touch ups and the pots dried VERY quickly . . .which was a good thing because supper club was going to start at 6:00 p.m and it was 1:00 p.m. by this point :-)  I really hate doing things at the last minute!!  oops - back to the store (I jumped ahead) I bought black ribbon from the wedding section.  It was cheaper in that section - just bought the small bolt.  Then I went to the fabric section to look for real buckles.  THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY.  So . . .I had to improvise.  I bought gold braid and made my own buckles.  They aren't as pretty as real ones.  Maybe next year I'll buy some real ones and fix the hats. (actually . . .I may have to make pilgrim hats with these pots . . . .)

So here is the finished table . . . pretty yellow tablecloth . . .three green leprechaun hats complete with buckles and flowers . . .made a pretty cute centerpiece if I do say so myself.

Now this was what I did next . . .or maybe while the pots were drying.  I hand squeezed (I want one of those little glass bowls like my momma had where there is a hump in the center and you mash the lime or lemon on it and twist to get the juice out - am I going to have to go to an antique store???) 24 . . .yes, I hand squeezed 24 limes because I made homemade Pomegranate Margaritas.  Bonnie makes them all the time and they are her speciality and we all love them so I got the recipe and made them.  I also squeezed one cutie just for good measure!  Would you like to have the recipe for these margaritas that my husband calls, "juicy juice" . . .which means you need to be VERY VERY CAREFUL when you drink them because they taste so very good and are so very dangerous??? (by the way, it was snowing outside and my kitchen smelled divine!)

The recipe is originally from southern living - they always have some of the best recipes, don't they?

Pomegranate Margaritas

Heat 1/4 cup water and add 1/4 cup sugar and stir until dissolved (simple syrup) - of course, I quadrupled the entire recipe

Add these next ingredients to the simple syrup:

1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice  (I could not find juice ANYWHERE this time - so I used Ocean Spray Cran Pom and the drinks were delicious)

3/4 cup tequila

1/2 cup fresh lime juice (6 limes)

1/4 cup orange liqueur (Triple Sec)

I mixed and put in a large pitcher in the fridge to chill and then poured into my cute dispenser to serve (E courtesy of my silhouette machine!! - stole that idea from Bonnie, too - I love you and your ideas Bonnie!!)

It was a great night - we had a wonderful shrimp and artichoke and chicken casserole that another friend (Laura Williams) served us years ago when she invited us to dinner in her home (and she graciously shared the recipe).  We also had wild rice and green bean bundles (prepared by Laura) and salad (Kim) and blackberry cobbler and ice cream (Bonnie) and wonderful appetizers (Phella) and lots of laughter and good conversation.  I didn't take any pictures at all that night but I was looking back through my pictures and I found this one of most of us when we hosted a shower several years ago.  I cannot imagine life without this group of friends.  We have been together through thick and thin and through good and bad and I thank God every day for bringing them into my life. (I guess Michael and Laura are the stand-ins for Guy and Phella :-)