Hosting A Backyard Theater Party

We love watching movies as a family curled up on the couch with big bowls of popcorn. The drive-in-theater is a special treat, I will always remember the night we went with my friends family. All of us kid sat in the back of their grandparents truck on a blow-up matrice eating cupcakes (it was my friends birthday) and pizza. Or the time we went to see Prince Caspian with my grandmother, we made a bed in the back of our mini-van and ate way too much popcorn. 

We would go way more often than we normally do, but not all the movies they show we want to see. Bummer right? So we decided to make our own outdoor theater- no screaming kids, no obnoxious teens talking through the movie and no snoring *looking at Mr. Cottage* and we only show what we want to watch. Score! 

 Mr. & Mrs. Cottage bought Brianna and I an ANDYER mini projector for our birthday (if you missed that party you have to check it out!)  because we have been wanting to do this FOREVER! Unfortionetly it called for rain on the day of the party so we couldn't set it up outside, but we got to play with it on the living room wall. I have to say it's a great little projector. Super easy to set up, and connects a bunch of ways so you can play your movie. We watched Casablanca (that movie has an AMAZING sound track and looks awesome that big) on the wall in the living room. 

After looking at Pinterest *WARNING WARNING* I decided we needed a sign (doesn't everyone?) to announce what we are showing. So I borrowed the base to one of the cabinets that we took out during the Kitchen Remodel that Mr. Cottage was going to trash *Seriously sometimes he has no imagination!*

After cleaning it up a bit (it was in the trash pile for a couple weeks) I hit it with a couple coats of chalkboard spray paint *That stuff is so much fun!*. I sprayed down the sides with regular black spray paint that we had left over from another project let it dry and it was ready for chalk.

We set up a table with these fun movie camera lights, giant lanterns we picked up at Ross a few years ago to give people a bit of light to grab a snack.

If you haven't guessed it by now, we have quite a collection of baskets (kind of a must with the orchard), we lined one with wax paper and filled it with popcorn and a scoop for people to grab some and discourage the use of fingers. We filled a mix match collection of salt shakers with seasonings for the popcorn and taped tags beneath each. We used another basket to stair step them and add a splash of color.

 We covered the table with a black table cloth we picked up at dollar tree. Which really popped the black on the salt shakers. PS. Download our labels for free!

We made these delicious Molasses Cookies (recipe coming soon) for a hint of fall, which is very appropriate for the end of summer. We mimicked the popcorn on the other side of the table and filled a basket lined with waxed paper with these delicious cookies.

 For drinks, we served ice water and sweet tea (this is the south after all!) in our pioneer woman twin drink dispensers and these fun milk bottle glasses.

We used the clothes line *shhh! Don't tell Mrs. Cottage!* and clothes pinned a white sheet on to it to make a screen.

We strung out door lights over the screen to give it an old movie theater feel, and ensure everyone gets to their seat safely before the movie starts.

We decided to do mismatched seating and skip the hay bales, and simply spread blankets on the ground with these fun reclining pillows garden benches.

The butterfly benches are from Kirkland's *Love that store so much!* and Home Goods. They are such a cute addition and I love the splash of color the blue one adds.

And Lights. Roll film!

Have you ever done a backyard theater? What do you think of our set up? 

Soy Free Mushroom & Zucchini Chicken

Today we are sharing one of Brianna's best dishes with you. We love good Chinese food here at the Cottage, but Mrs. Cottage is super allergic to soy so we make it ourselves. This is an amazing dish, that is a great treat! 

Ingredients

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into thin bite-sized pieces)
olive oil (enough to cover your pan)
¼ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup cooking sherry
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons organic honey
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup of mushrooms, sliced
1 medium zucchini, cut in ½ inch round slices
3 tablespoons cornstarch or tapioca flour
Himalayan salt, garlic powder & onion powder to taste

Related Article: Soy Free Fried Rice Recipe

Directions:

In a Ziploc bag toss the chicken with cornstarch or tapioca. Add to the bag  red wine vinegar & sherry, let sit in bag for about 20 minutes. Heat oil in a large saute pan. Add mushrooms and zucchini and saute until they start to brown and get soft. Add chicken and seasonings and cook on medium-high until done  Add the balsamic vinegar and honey and stir to coat.
Serve with rice.

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Egypt's Sister Book Review

Book: 'Egypt's Sister' by author Angela Hunt

This book made me laugh, cry and ride the roller coaster of emotion.  The sweet innocence of young girls and the betrayal of a precious friend, anger, bitterness, and forgiveness and the thread of the names, the very character of God to remind the main character and even us as the silent partner walking through the streets of Egypt and Rome that even when we, in our frail flesh and finite mind cannot see God's hand in our lives.  In our turmoil and when things seem to be going horribly wrong, He is there.

I found this book precious.

I am sad as I finished it because the character has somehow become a friend and I hate to see her go.

My recommendation to you is to read this book, walk the dusty ancient streets with Chava and be carried away into the past with a dear friend.


We were asked to review the book for our honest opinion. This article contains affiliate links. Affiliate links cost you nothing extra but help to support the Rosevine Cottage Girls so we can continue bringing you recipes, travel posts, garden and farm posts and so much more.

Saving Seeds

We all love beautiful gardens, but buying seeds can be $$$$ and what do you do at the end of the season? Here at the Cottage, we hate for anything to go to waste so we save our own seeds. 

Spread seeds out on waxed paper and allow to dry thoroughly.

How To Make Seed Envelopes:

Card stock
Scotch Tape
Scissors
Glue Stick
Sharpie

Related Article: 8 Things To Plant Together

Slice a piece of card stock in half, fold over leaving enough for a flap. 

Fold flap over and press down.

Tape around edges except for the top. Scribble what you are putting in it on the front and fill with seeds. Glue flap shut. 

Exploring Nuremberg Part 2

Nuremberg Log Continued.

Because of this city’s relevance to the Holy Roman Empire and location in the center of Germany the Nazi Party chose it to bet the site of its Nazi Party Conventions “Nuremberg Rallies” held in 1927 and then in 1929, before annually hosting them here between 1933 and 1938. After Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 the events became huge propaganda events.

 In 1923 the rally was filmed by Leni Riefenstahl and turned into a propaganda film called Triumph Des Willens (of the will). At the 1935 rally Hitler ordered the Reichstag to convene at Nuremberg to pass the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws which revoked citizenship for all Jews and non Aryans. During World War 2 the city was headquarters to Wehrkreis (military district xiii) it was also an important site for military productions building aircraft, submarines and tank engines. A sub-camp for Flossenburg Concentration camp was located here also.

Flossenburg was built in 1938 by the SS for antisocial or criminal prisoners. The site of the camp was strategically built on the site so inmates could be used for slave labor to quarry the granite from nearby hills. During World War II most inmates sent to Flossenburg or its 100 or so sub-camps came from Nazi occupied eastern territories. In September of 1939 the SS transferred 1000 political prisoners to Dachau. 1941-1942 roughly 1500 polish prisoners mostly polish resistance were brought to the camp, between February and September of 1941 1/3 of them were executed. More than 1000 Soviet prisoners were also executed here by the end of 1941.

The SS established a Soviet prisoner of war camp inside of Flossenburg. In sub-camp Mulsen St. Mucheln staged a mass escape, setting their bunks on fire and killing Kapos (prisoner trusties that worked for the SS) but the guards crushed the uprising and in the end 200 prisoners were killed none escaped. The 40 leaders of the uprising were transferred to the main camp and executed.

On the 1st of September 1944 the camp became a training camp for female guards, 500 women were trained here before moving on to the sub-camps.

By 1945 the camp held close to 40,000 inmates, including 1,100 women they were forced to work in the quarry and armaments. It’s estimated over 1500 death sentences were carried out between April of 1944 and April of 1945.

In the last months of the camps existence the daily executions overtook the crematoriums capacity; the guards seeking to remedy the situation piled the bodies in heaps dousing them in gasoline and lighting them on fire.

As American forces neared the camp staged a perfunctory trial and executed Wilhelm Canaris, General Gans Oster, Military Jurist General Karl Sack, Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Ludwig Gehre on April 9th 1945. (In August 2007 a memorial was unveiled at Flossenburg to the memory of the 7 members of the German Resistance who attempted to assassinate Hitler. On the 20th of April the camp began the evacuations of the 22,000 inmates, forcing them on a death march to Dachau leaving behind only those to sick to walk. Anyone who could not keep up was shot, before they reached Dachau more than 7,000 inmates died. By the time US troops freed the camp on April 23, 1945 more than 30,000 people had been killed at Flossenburg.

The city of Nuremberg suffered severe damage in Allied Strategic bombings from 1943 to 1945. On the 29th of March 1944 the RAF endured its heaviest losses, out of the 700 planes that went out 106 were shot down or crashed landed. 700 men went missing as many as 545 dead and more than 106 becoming prisoners of war.

January 2 1945 the city center was systematically bombed by the RAF and US Army Air Force, in an hour 90% of it was destroyed. 1800 residents were killed and another 100,000 displaced. In February the city was again attacked, it’s estimated 6,000 people were killed by air raids.

Nuremberg was a heavily fortified city, after fierce fighting from house to house and street by street that lasted from the 17 to the 21 of April 1945 the city was captured by US 3rd infantry division, 42nd infantry division and the 45th infantry division. Despite the destruction the city was rebuilt after the war and to some extent restored to its pre-war appearance however half of its northeastern imperial city was lost forever.

Between 1945 and 1945 Nazi officials involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity were brought before a tribunal in Nuremberg. Twelve prominent Nazi officials were sentenced to death; most defendants admitted to the accused crimes but insisted they were following orders. Those directly involved in the killing received the harshest sentences. Many more criminals never were tried, some fled to live abroad.

In my next article we'll visit the zoo to see some beautiful animals (including my favorite the penguins), stop in at some of the beautiful building this city hosts and tour Dachau concentration camp. Until then, God bless!

For more information on Nuremberg contact

Tatjana at

Congress- und Tourismus-Zentrale Nürnberg

Frauentorgraben 3
90443 Nürnberg
Tel:   +49 911 2336-144
Fax:  +49 911 2336-166
tourismus.nuernberg.de www.facebook.com/tourismus.nuernberg
www.twitter.com/Nuernberg_Info

instagram.com/nuernberg_travel

End Of Log.
Mr. Cottage

Strawberry Trifle

Summer is quickly coming to an end, but there is still time for a few more BBQ's! So today we are sharing this delicious strawberry trifle with you. Not to sweet, super easy to make and the perfect addition to any meal (especially if you love whipped cream)!

Ingredients:

1 Organic Angel Food Cake 

1 Half Container Fresh Organic Strawberries 

Whipped-cream

Angel Food Cake 

Cake Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Powdered Organic Sugar 

1 Cup Organic Sifted Pastry Flour

1 1/2 Cups Free Range Egg Whites (11-12 Large Eggs)

1 1/2 Teaspoons Cream of Tartar 

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 Cup Organic Sugar 

1/4 Teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt

Directions:

Sift together powdered sugar and flour together twice. In a large bowl beat egg whites, cream of tartar, Vanilla, and salt until you get soft peaks. Slowly add organic sugar about two tablespoons at a time until stiff peaks appear. Place one-quarter of flour mixture back in your sifter and sift over eggs. Fold in by hand gently. Repeat this for the rest of the mix. Pour into an ungreased bundt pan. Bake on your lowest rack at 350 degrees about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and invert pan. Cool completely. Serves 12. 

Whipped-cream

Ingredients:

1 Small Container Organic Heavy Cream 

Stevia Drops (to taste)

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Directions:

Take beaters and bowl and put it in the freezer until cold. Put Stevia drops into the cream to taste. Put it in a bowl and beat on high until stiff peaks appear. 

Trifle

Directions:

Cut up angel food cake and strawberries. Layer Cake, berries and whipped cream. Top off with berries and whipped cream.

In The Belly Of The Whale -When Your Prayers Hit The Ceiling-

Do you ever feel like your prayers slip from your lips only to collide gracelessly with the ceiling? No petition, no hope, no whisper ever makes it to heavenly ears. Much like talking to a brick wall, your words fall on deaf ears.

They ascend to the ceiling- only to fall like shards of glass painful reminders of the silence. The unanswered questions, the problems glaring back at you. It's too big, He won't answer. He doesn't care. He's got other people to worry about other problems that need his attention.

I wonder how Jonah felt, sitting in the belly of that fish. Alone, in the dark, life looking pretty hopeless. I wonder if he felt like his prayers were pinging off the hulking smelly carcass of that beast. Each taunting him. The hours ticking by, SILENCE.

Related Article: Don't Stop Praying

Deafening, hopeless, lonely, silence. He didn't know that fish was going to spit him out again, only that it seemed that God had forgotten him.

I have to say I've had many "belly of the fish" moments. Stinking, lonely place where my prayers seem to barely reach the ceiling.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18 NIV

The loneliest places are the ones you can't hear his voice, and the devil whispers in our ears you're alone. You're unheard.

My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” Psalms 27:8 NLT

Today was a big day for many, people flocked to our area to see The Great American Eclipse. For several moments the sun disappeared behind the moon leaving middle Tennessee bathed in darkness. The God who created the world, and perfectly timed the rotation of the moon and the sun so that only a new moon can cause a solar eclipse listens to you and me.

Related Articles: This Is War

Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath! Psalm 116:2 NLT 

He bends down, leans close to hear about my struggles, my pain, my joys and my heartache. He holds me close like a father as I cry my eyes out, even when I can't feel his presence with me He's there.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

New Living, NLT, and the New Living Translation logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Lila Rose North Star Flexi-Clip Review

Last week we got a package from a dear friend of ours, Jayme from Katies Lullaby Lilla Rose. Inside we found this beautiful North Star hair clip. 

We've never had the opportunity to use a clip from this company before, but I've heard lots of good things. I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed. We girls at the Cottage have a lot of hair, so it's hard to find a clip that will hold it and stay put all day long. Enter the Flexi Clip. This beauty is so beautiful, and most importantly stays put which as you can see is a challenge. They have lots of styles to choose from and a size for every person from small to mega. If you are looking for the perfect hair accessory I highly recommend you check them out.

Follow Katies Lullaby on Facebook and check out all of the amazing styles you can create with these clips on Youtube!

We received this product complimentary all opinions are our own.

Beneath Copper Falls Book Review

Step with me into the pages of Colleen Coble's new book Beneath Copper Falls, a fast-paced mystery based in Rock Harbor. If you have read many of her books you may remember many of these beloved characters.

This book tells the story of Dana a 911 operator who returns to Rock Harbor in hopes to escape her abusive fiance. She must learn to let people in, and trust her new friend Boone. But danger lurks around the bend, and one day she answers a call only to hear her friends desperate cries. Can they solve the murders and the mysteries of her past before time runs out?

Beneath Copper Falls by Colleen Coble
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think I finished this in a day, I couldn't put it down! Such a great book! It leaves you guessing until it finally springs the killer's identity on you, drawing you into a race against time as the characters attempt to stop him before it's too late. Received this book from the publisher for our honest review.

View all my reviews







We received this book from the publisher for our honest review. This article contains affiliate links. Affiliate links cost you nothing extra but help to support the Rosevine Cottage Girls so we can continue bringing you recipes, travel posts, garden and farm posts and so much more. 

Indoor Garden Party

Over the weekend we hosted our indoor garden party for Brianna and my 20th birthday. If you follow us on Instagram and Facebook you may have caught our sneak peeks. This party was a huge success! Everyone loved it and with our unpredictable Tennessee weather, it was perfect. We were originally planning a beautiful party out in the garden- but we were expecting strong storms so that plan was quickly abandoned. 

You see we have a bit of a problem with events at the Cottage and the weather. Most of the time it pours, a few times we have even had severe weather and the tornado alarm blaring as Mr. Cottage grills out the back door. But we make it work. 

Therefore the indoor garden party was born! We gathered all of our mismatched yard-sale find chairs and a few fold out tables that Mr. Cottage got from his last job.

We decided to place one of the fold out tables against our dining room table, and the longer folding table across from those two.

Over the tables, we strung Edison lights that we picked up at Kroger on clearance last season on cup hooks to add a that our door garden feel. Plus it added more light! Score! I had to get Mr. Cottage to help me put them up so I wouldn't clank them together and break the bulbs.

Mrs. Cottage and Brianna stopped by Dollar Tree and Walmart and bought those beautiful clear confetti balloons and the gold disk garlands. We cut the disk garlands in 1/4ths and used clear thumb tacks to hang them. I found some left over white balloons from another party so Brianna and I blew them up after the first to our pump died so we had to do the rest by hand- or should I say mouth? We hung them inspiringly by a bit of thread and more clear thumb tacks (I knew my obsession with all things office/stationary would come in handy!).

Mrs. Cottage picked up these adorable miniature roses at Kroger for 99 cents a piece- now who can pass up a deal like that? Especially on roses! We put a beautiful cupcake holder that we picked up from Ross several years ago in the center for a touch of bling. You may recognize it from the Mother's Day Brunch we did.

We used some vintage table clothes in white and cream to cover the table. One of the lace ones my grandmother use to use at every family gathering so it was almost like she was there with us.

We decided to incorporate a few benches into our set up. So we borrowed the one from the front porch that we picked up at the 400-mile long yard sale a few years ago. We also used the Butterfly bench from Kirklands Mr. Cottage gave Mrs. Cottage for their anniversary last week, which was a big hit. Everyone wanted to sit in it!

They also picked up some white Chinese lanterns that we hung from the ceiling also with small electric tea candles in them. Don't they add a romantic, magical effect?

For the second table, we used our purple garden globe between two miniature red roses. On the far side, we paired a single miniature white rose with to candle sticks. Above the mantle, you can see the Cottage sign we painted a few months ago.

We wanted to keep it really classy so we tried to keep our colors white, with splashes of gold, and of course silver confetti in the clear balloons. On the back wall, you can see another one of our DIY projects the collage print.

We served drinks in these adorable beverage dispensers our little red side table. Behind it is our chalkboard inscribed with Sail Away With Me.

On the opposite side of the room, we placed a three sum of cloche displaying shells, and a three tiered galvanized tray to serve chips on top of an antique dresser.

We picked up this beauty at Hobby Lobby years ago, it pulls in the garden feel and still adds a touch more bling (you guys know how I like shiny things!) with out over doing it.

We talked about painting these pots or adding a bit of glitter, but in the end decided to leave them just as they are. This is a garden party after all.

I love how the confetti filled balloons looked dangling from over head next to the crisp white ones. It gave the room such an enchanted magical feel. Which is really good because it took forever took forever to blow them all up.

Mrs. Cottage also found those beautiful tissue paper flower garlands at dollar tree. We hung them with some more thumb tacks. I love how girly they are!

Our menu included smoked bbq pork on brioche roll sandwiches (I'm drooling just talking about them), hot dogs and hamburgers for the kiddos, chips and salsa, baked beans, fruit punch and sweet tea.

We picked up this cute bee hive dispenser at Ross, it's so cute and summery. We found those cute napkins at dollar tree, they fit our theme so well that we got them.

We were expecting 20+ people to arrive for our indoor garden party, ironically we checked the weather the night before and it said 0% chance of rain... But with Tennessee weather, you can never really trust it to do as they say. The weather turned out to be hot and muggy so inside was perfect. The adults got to stay inside and enjoy the air conditioning while the kids fished for frogs in the ponds. 

At first, we planned to bake all the cakes ourselves but we just ran out of time. So we picked up that delicious chocolate piece of heaven in the middle from Publix and an angel food cake that we topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries and blueberries. We made the lemon cake up front (it was DELICIOUS).

We wanted them to be really pretty, so we served them on some of our favorite cake plates. The galvanised one beneath the angel food cake is from World Market (I swear I get into way too much trouble at that store- but I love every minute), the vintage glass beauty under the chocolate is sitting on a charger from Decor Steals and for the final cake we used an adorable green Pioneer Woman cake plate.

To all of our friends and family that came to help us celebrate, and to all of our dear followers that wished us happy birthday thank you so much! You guys mean the world to us. Much love!

~ The Girls

This article contains affiliate links. Affiliate links cost you nothing extra but help to support the Rosevine Cottage Girls so we can continue bringing you recipes, travel posts, garden and farm posts and so much more.