Weekending- Festive Friday and Saturday

Linking up with Holly and Sarah for Hello Monday (on a Tuesday...)

Friday evening, we drove to downtown Cincinnati to see a Christmas concert. We had just made plans to do so earlier in the day. My friend Nicole texted me to ask if we wanted to go with her and her husband to the concert. Nicole had heard of the concert earlier in the day and that tickets were still available. It was held at the Arnoff Center- a beautiful performing arts center in downtown.

I had never heard of the performers before (though I did recognize one of the singers songs when she performed it)- they are Christian artists and the concert was mostly a Christmas one. It was a great show- from the singers who had the marquee role to those playing instruments. The singers were Katy Nichole, Tauren Wells and Jordan Smith.

I should have known about the concert because it was sponsored by my favorite radio station 93.3. But I don´t listen to the radio much so I shouldn´t be surprised that I hadn´t heard of it...

After the concert, we stopped at a restaurant we had noticed on our way to the Arnoff Center. It was right across the street and looked like it had good food and ambiance. We decided to eat a later dinner there.

This picture is not good but my burger was- it was lamb and beef and so good!

Earlier on Friday...

I subbed on Friday and, after I arrived home, knowing that we were going to be hearing Christmas music later got me in the mood to wrap presents. Well, that and the fact that our bedroom was starting to look like we were hoarders- just so many boxes. I still have much more to wrap but this was a good start. I enjoy seeing presents under the tree. 

Saturday, goodness, most of the details are fuzzy since I am writing this several days later... Unless something very exciting happens, I don’t recall the details well. I know that I got the house ready to have guests over later. And, I made a couple of desserts for when we had guests over. A group of us went out to dinner to celebrate my father in law and his wife’s birthdays. Afterward, we came to our house. We all watched some college football- I thought it was kind of neat for Georgia to get beat. I’m not a big fan of Alabama but upsets are always good (unless my team is the one that is supposed to win!)

I made a yellow cake with homemade chocolate icing. I used Hershey’s chocolate frosting recipe but did not use Hershey’s brand cocoa (Aldi cocoa is cheaper and just as good!). I subbed heavy cream for the milk for extra richness and the only thing I did wrong was not double the recipe. (Delicious but thin frosting is kind of depressing- like why bother making something good but not having much of it 😆)

I also made a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough dip. It was really good! I used this recipe but halved it. 

And of course busted out one set of Christmas china!

Happy belated birthday Don and Donetta!

Sunday morning, I headed out of town.