{Real Party} LSU Chancellor's Welcome

With the start of a new Fall semester at Louisiana State University comes one of my favorite events! Chancellor's Welcome occurs the Sunday before the first day of classes for the Fall semester and involves the Golden Band from Tigerland, the LSU Cheerleaders, Miss LSU-USA and more! It is a very fun and spirited event that officially welcomes the new students to campus, which this year is the Class of 2016...feel old? Yep, me too!

LSU Dining provides an awesome jambalaya dinner on the concourse of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and the LSU Office of Communications and University Relations provides an impressive video to finalize the evening! The meat of the program involves an official welcome by Interim Chancellor William Jenkins, SG President Taylor Cox and Miss LSU-USA Elizabeth Conner followed by performances by the Golden Band from Tigerland, the LSU Cheerleaders, LSU Tiger Girls, LSU Golden Girls and the LSU Colorguard...whew! Did I mention the event is MC'd by Dan Borne?!? What a fun evening!

I love organizing this event but...I was stuck in the front row and was very limited on the photos I could take...but try to enjoy!

Jambalaya Dinner from LSU Dining!

The Golden Band from Tigerland!

Taylor Cox (SG President) and Elizabeth Conner (Miss LSU-USA)

Dr. William Jenkins (Interim Chancellor) with Mike the Tiger

Mike the Tiger taking a little break while the Golden Girls perform!

The Golden Girls and the LSU Colorguard

Hey Fightin' Tigers!

The LSU Alma Mater

One of the largest crowds we've seen!

So, after the event, Chris, Lily and I headed down to the arena floor to get a pic with Mike the Tiger...she didn't think that was a good idea! She was scared to death...poor baby!

Step One: For Sale!

Happy Friday!

Well, we have big news...

We finally took the plunge and put our home on the market!

So, if you are looking for a fabulous three bedroom in the Baton Rouge area, I'm your girl! ;)

This is a weekend full of events so stay tuned on Monday for a fun wrap up!

Have a blissfully fabulous weekend!

{Recipes} Garden-Style Lasagna

When having friends or family over for dinner, our biggest challenge has been finding meals that both vegetarians and meat-lovers can enjoy. Anytime we find something that fits the bill PLUS is super simple, tasty and pretty on a plate...rest assured, I'll be sharing! Starting with...

Garden-Style Lasagna

This is a fun dish to serve family-style...very tasty, very colorful and pretty simple! 

Thanks to Cooking Light for the fabulous recipe!  Enjoy!

 

Ingredients

Cooking spray

2 onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons olive oil, divided

1 zucchini, chopped

1 yellow squash, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

1 head of broccoli, chopped

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 1/2 cups milk

1 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided

1 (10 oz) package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 1/2 cups cottage cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Pre-cooked lasagna noodles

Dashes of nutmeg, salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375°.

Now, coat your pan with a little cooking spray and saute your onion. Once lightly browned, add your garlic to the party. After about a minute, move your "onion mixture" to a large bowl and set aside.

Next, heat 1 teaspoon of your olive oil over medium-high heat then add your zucchini and yellow squash. Let them saute until tender and then add to your "onion mixture".

Heat another teaspoon of olive oil over medium-high heat then add your carrots and broccoli. Once they are tender, toss them in your "onion mixture" with a little salt.

So your beautiful veggie mixture will be all colorful and yummy smelling!

Now, in a medium saucepan, toss your flour and gradually add your milk. Stir with a whisk until nicely blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and add 1/2 cup of your Parmesan cheese, your dashes of salt, pepper and nutmeg and your spinach. Stir until smooth.

In a separate bowl, combine your cottage cheese and 1 1/2 cups of your mozzarella cheese. Make sure to stir well!

Now, let the fun begin! Spread about 1/2 cup of your spinach mixture in the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish then arrange some of your lasagna noodles on top. You will notice that I didn't use a 13 x 9 baking dish...take note that I wish I would have! It will just make it all a little easier to layer!

Layer half of your cottage cheese mixture and half of your veggie mixture with 1 cup of your spinach mixture next.

Cover with more lasagna noodles and repeat, ending with noodles. Then spread the remaining spinach mixture over the noodles and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese and the last 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese.

Cover and back for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes or until the cheese is nice and bubbly/beginning to brown.

Let cool about 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!



{Etsy Shop} New Secondline Umbrellas

Just wanted to share a couple new Secondline Umbrellas to my Blissful Etsy Shop...enjoy!

Interested in a custom secondline umbrella for your next soiree? Email me at blissbyrachel@gmail.com for details!

LSU Commencement Lunch

This past Friday, 686 students were awarded degrees at the 278th commencement ceremony at Louisiana State University. The excitement was just palpable on campus! I love commencement day!

The speaker was former LSU baseball player turned actor, Michael Papajohn. I had the distinct pleasure of working with Mr. Papjohn on the logistics of commencement and on a luncheon in his honor following the ceremony. What an awesome individual! His excitement is just contagious and I have the utmost confidence that he is going to make a huge impact on the Baton Rouge community very soon! If he looks familiar to you, it's because he has an pretty impressive resume! Learn a little more about him on his personal site: www.michaelpapajohn.com. Pretty cool, right!?!

Anyway, I just wanted to share some of the detail shots from the day. Enjoy!

Isn't this photo awesome! source

Chancellor Martin's last commencement. It was a truly touching farewell! source

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After the ceremony, we headed to Alex Box Stadium for a luncheon in the Champion's Club.

I had every intention of taking pictures of the food but it was gone so quickly that I never had the chance. Just know it was delicious!

Venue: Champion's Club, Alex Box Stadium, LSU

Food: Drake's Catering

Flowers: Billy Heroman's Flowerland

Blissful Weekend Round Up

Well, we had a fabulously "busy" weekend! Shopping, Eating and Painting...oh boy!

With "school" (ok, daycare) starting back this week, we had school supplies to purchase and new school clothes to find...mainly shoes. Wow, that little girl's feet just grow and grow! So we headed to a little boutique, Little Beaux Feet, to find some adorable shoes for Lily.

What a cute little shop! It had tons of adorable options and just enough distractions for the little ones without getting them in too much trouble! Lily especially loved the "playroom".

We decided upon a truly cute pair of Mary Jane Keds to "kick off" her second year of school!

After our trip to Little Beaux Feet, we headed to Noelie Harmon for some fun! Lily loves TOMS and how fun are these new Mary Jane Tiny TOMS...I'm in love!

Oh, and you'll notice my little happy from the trip...a Mimosa necklace featuring the state of Louisiana!

This concluded my shopping excursions during a "tax-free" weekend...so we headed home for one of my favorite themed dinners...TACO NIGHT!

For those of you new to my personal rantings, the Henry's enjoy a fabulous vegetarian diet. When we were flirting with the idea of becoming vegetarians years ago,  I was super nervous about trying tofu. My husband, being very wise and awesome, suggested tacos...and boy, was he right! There is just enough distractions with the taco seasoning and other toppings to ease the nervousness of any first-timer!

I went a little crazy this time and added an onion, zucchini and squash to the tofu scramble...yum!

Lily got a mini-taco salad and..

I think it's safe to say she liked it!

We then spent the rest of the weekend painting, painting, painting! I'm so ready to get this house on the market and can't wait to start making the plans for our new home...LOTS of fun DIY projects on the horizon friends! Get ready!