Friday Favorites – Week 301 – With New Year’s Foods + My Thoughts for the New Year

Happy New Year!  And welcome to our last party of 2015 and our first party of 2016.  Woohoo!  In honor of the new year, today I’ve got some foods that are perfect for your New Year’s celebrations!

But  first I have a few thoughts on the new year and what’s to come.  First off, I want to say thanks to everyone who’s linked up here at any time during 2015.  Whether you’ve come by each week or just a time or two, your visits are much appreciated!

Secondly, although I’m proud of the work I did on my blog in 2015, and I feel I accomplished a lot, I have to admit that I feel like I slacked a bit on parties this year.  My husband was in the hospital last spring, and I had to help him in his recovery time.  And then we also had a number of household projects to tackle and other things that came up.  Long story-short, even thought I managed to get a party post up each week, I felt like some of them were just “thrown together” and I didn’t get to visit you guys and comment nearly as much as I would like.  BUT I promise I will be getting back on track with that in the new year, as well as some other things that I feel I’ve “slacked on.”

Now in honor of me “not slacking” I am planning some posts for January, which will be on setting goals and getting things done in the new year.  In fact, my words for 2016 are “simplify” and “focus,” which I will be posting about this weekend.  So you can expect to see a lot of posts on my blog this year that revolve around these two things, especially “simplify” because simplicity is at the heart of my blog, hence the name “SIMPLY Sweet Home.”  So if you love simple solutions or feel you just want to get back to the basics of life and homemaking, please join me here in 2016.  And as always, I invite you to subscribe to my feeds and allow along on all my social media pages!

And last but not least, you can expect to see a bigger and better party this year!  Soon I will be posting a call for new party hostesses, and anyone who’s interested in being a Friday Favorites host will be welcome to apply.  And I’m also doing a little brainstorming with the current hostesses to see what we can do to make the party better.  If you have any ideas for me, or if you may be interested in being a hostess, feel free to email me.  Cheers! [Read more…]

Game Day with T.G.I. Friday’s Potato Skins #TGIFGameDay #CollectiveBias #shop

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser.

Game Day with TGI Fridays

Do you love TGI Friday’s?  I love eating their appetizers, and when we can’t go out, I love buying their frozen appetizers.  They are especially great for game days.  Just visit your local Wal-mart, pick out a few apps, and you’ve got enough food to create an entire spread for a house full of sports fans!

In the past, I’ve tried their Boneless Buffalo Wings, Mozzarella Sticks, and Spinach and Artichoke Dip.  All of these are fabulous, but this past weekend we decided to try something new for game day: Loaded Cheddar & Bacon Potato Skins. [Read more…]