Instant Party Pizazz

I just have to share with you one of my new favorite things.  My friend Tonia found them for her wedding that I just styled, and now I think I want them in every color.  They are awesome.

Paper Straws

 

They come in loads of colors and patterns.  I'm thinking I need to have them on hand...you never know when you might need a little extra pizazz in a drink.  And they do add that extra fun factor for sure!  Plus, there are loads of crafts you can do with them too...think little flags, make a sunburst looking mirror or wreath with them for some extra whimsy, use them as sticks for chocolate dipped marshmallows...who knows what else. Get creative...they're so cute!

Source

Just thought I'd share.

Happy hump day!

PS.  HERE is a link to a blog that I found yesterday that has some suggestions about great places to pick these beauties up without breaking the bank!

Rustic Chic Wedding....Finally Have Pictures!!!

Oh my words....GIDDY as I write this!

You know the wedding I told you about, that I did the flowers and decor for a couple of weeks ago?  The one I told you I was so busy working on that I didn't get to take a single picture of any of the arrangements or staging that I'd done?  The one I'd have been sick to my stomach over not documenting myself had my good friend Kim Deloach not been the photographer?  Yeah...that wedding?

I'm sure you get sick of me droning on and on about Kim's talent....but seriously ya'll....she's talented.  Like....UH-Mazing.  And while I felt pretty good about all that I personally accomplished to help our friends Tonia and Rick to make their wedding day extra special....well, Kim made that all look even better.

Check out these few pictures...and then don't stop here.  I'm posting a link to Kim's blog so you can all check out the full amazingness of this Rustic-Chic wedding at an old church and reception at a farmhouse that's chocked with old town charm and fun!  Seriously...I'm just giving you a taste here...head over to Kim's blog to really feast your eyes on some serious visual candy!  (And pay extra special attention to things like the flowers and staging....those were the things I did!)

I present you my friends....Rick and Tonia Hawkinson!

Before I move on here....I have to tell you how much I LOVED making her bouquet!  After I finished and stepped back to look at it, I honestly cried.  It was really special to be able to make something for them that I knew she'd love...and she did.  Her words to me before they left their reception at the end of the evening were "You saw my vision and made it even more amazing than I'd imagined."

That my friends, is the best compliment I could have ever received! Ok ok....more eye candy!

Cool church huh?  And that little fella just to the right of the bride and groom...the tallest of the little ones, he's mine!  He did such a great job carrying a sign that read "Here comes the bride" right before Tonia processed into the church.  You can see them all below a bit more.  That precious little girl in the top right is Tonia's daughter McKenna.  She is absolutely adorable!

Our friends who own the farmhouse just happened to have this truck and crate of old bottles lying around. (They actually have a real old timey town recreated on the property.  Seriously...there's a general store, a barber shop, an old post office, and more.  And it's all chocked full of authentic period stuff....it's so much fun!)

There was a real deal pig pickin' (as in, you can get it right off the pit, you can see it below) and bluegrass music too.  It was nothing short of perfect.

Recognize that bench in the top right corner of this photo collage above?  Yep, that's the one I made.  Remember it from awhile back?  And, Tonia found those red and white striped paper straws that we put in all the drinks online...aren't they awesome?  I might just have to make sure to always have some of those around from now on...they add instant old fashioned cool factor!

And thanks to another friend who happens to be in the fireworks biz....Rick and Tonia ended the evening with a bang!

Ok...now, head over to Kim's blog to really see the good stuff!  You'll get a lot more pictures of the awesome little town on the property too....it's so so neat!  You. Will. LOVE!

Wedding Weekend Success!

Well, the weekend wedding is over and I'm still trying to recover!  I didn't write for a few days because literally I haven't even had time to breathe normally.  The wedding was gorgeous, the couple amazing, and of course I thought the flowers and decor were stunning....other people did too.  Yeah...that's a pat on my back...blatant.

I am slightly mortified with myself though because I didn't take a SINGLE picture of anything.  It wasn't that I didn't want to, but I honestly didn't have time to even grab my camera and snap a few shots.  This is not an exaggeration.  Every spare second was used up, and since I knew that my amazing photographer friend, Kim Deloach, was shooting the wedding, I didn't stress over it.  My flowers and decorating efforts will be chronicled much more fabulously than I could ever even attempt to do.  Once she has had a chance to edit the pics, I'll beg her for a few to show you.  She will make my floral efforts look like a real professional! :-)

I love a good wedding....and this one was great.  Our friend has been waiting for his "one" for longer than most of us, and when he finally found her, he slipped a ring on that finger and set a date fast!  She is amazing and it has been such fun getting to know her the past few months as well!  We look forward to years of fun all together!

But I have to be honest and say that I'm sure glad the wedding part is done now!  It was a blast doing the flowers and decor, but I'm glad that it's off my plate too!  I have to tell you though, every second of hard work was completely worth it when the bride told me "You saw my vision and made it even better than I'd imagined."  Yeah....about the best compliment I could have received!  I have to give a massive shout out here too to our friend KC who busted her tail coordinating the wedding and helping me set up.  There is NO WAY I'd have finished styling it all had I been by myself!  Didn't hurt either that the venue was our friends' amazing old farmhouse which is a stunner in itself.  I'll have to round up some pictures and post them soon to share with you...because while I'm sure I could come up with 1000 more words to describe it all....1 picture is worth all of that!  I'll see what I can find!

Oh...and the secret for this great illusionist this weekend was dirty hair!  I arranged wildflowers all afternoon on Friday and had to bust it to get to the rehearsal dinner in time.  My biggest fear the whole night was having some critter crawl out of my hair!  There were SO MANY BUGS on those flowers when I was arranging them....I thought I was going to show up with itchy, bumpy, red arms from all the bites...and since I was so rushed I didn't have time to wash my hair!  I was SO sure something had made it all the way north and was hibernating til just the right moment.  I hate bugs!

Then Saturday, I was rushing around all day and again...dirty hair at the end of it....no time for anything greater than an updo!  They say dirty hair is easier to style great anyhow...so while it was a filthy head weekend for me...it was a great hair styling one!

Flower Power

I'm doing the flowers for a wedding this weekend.  And by "doing,"  I mean arranging...all of them.  From all the bridal bouquets to the centerpieces for the 250 person reception...I'm their flower gal.

And you know I'm excited about it!  A little overwhelmed, but not by the flowers, it's by the other parts...like that my husband and son are in the wedding, which means that I'll be arranging and staging between things like the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner...and having to get myself and my family ready in time for the actual wedding.  That, and driving the flowers out to the church and reception, and placing them all to make sure that everything looks unbelievable for our friends.  It's going to be awesome...a lot of work, but awesome.

I'm excited too because the flowers are going to all be cut from a master gardener's garden...mixtures of fabulously wilder looking things.  Envision with me for a minute...hand tied bouquets...mason jar drinks...old fashioned red/white striped paper straws...burlap and jute....old chippy paint doors and frames....you know, the kind of stuff that's right up my alley.

And just to give you a taste of what I think some of this weekend's flowers might feel like, I thought I'd post a few pictures of the flowers that I did for the bride's lingerie shower a couple of weeks ago.

I love flowers.

 Don't you?

Went to my neighbor's garden today...I'm feeling culinarily inspired.  Hope that feeling holds through the weekend since I won't have much time for cooking the next few days.  Guess what I picked though today?  Figs....oh sweet heaven on a tree!  Yummy goodness coming up for you soon!

Secrets of a Great Illusionist....How To Do It all!

This morning I had the super fun surprise of talking on the phone to an old friend from high school.  She asked me how on earth I was hosting 2 parties in one week (the Egg Hunt on Saturday, and Tid Bit's 5th birthday party today,) so I thought I'd share about how I'm making it all happen in a quick list.

 How to do it all

• Don't sleep as much as you should, which we all know isn't good for me in particular because oftentimes I end up acting infantile and doing things like throwing raw eggs at the wall when I'm tired.

• You serve Pillsbury Funfetti boxed mix cupcakes instead of the homemade ones that sunk in the middle and will only look good to the K4 class at school.

• You reuse as many of your Easter Egg Hunt decorations as possible and convince your Birthday Boy that the pendant banners look really "bluegrassy" and festive for a boy's birthday too despite having pink in them....after all, it "matches our dining room." Make as much use also of the flower arrangements from the Easter party too...just pull out the dead  flowers and change the water that looks like a perfect breeding grounds for sea monkeys and tadpoles.

• Get creative and use the astroturf (that you originally bought for your Easter party but didn't use because it looked tacky) as table coverings...because it kind of looks like grass and Daddy wasn't pleased to have $30 worth of unused astroturf anyways.  Then you loan it to your neighbor for her son's sports themed birthday party...because plenty of sports are played on astroturf.

• Serve hummus and pita chips that you already had and tell your Birthday Boy what a great idea that is because "that's being a good steward and plus, it's one of his favorite things to eat."

• Have Capri Sun drink pouches for the kids, because it only takes 2 seconds to open a box and dump into a drink tub, and then you don't have to clean out your glass drink containers later.

• Eat lunch and dinner out every night of the week because apparently it's only possible to actually cook 1 healthy meal and throw two parties in a span of 6 days.

• Make fruit salad to use up all of the bits of fruit that you have in your house and won't eat since you're going out of town for the weekend.  People will think you're just healthy and went to extra trouble.  The Birthday Boy will remind you that this, in addition to the hummus use, is demonstrating good "stewardship."

• Don't do the laundry, and continue to ignore the 2 baskets of clean laundry that you haven't had time to fold or put away.

• Don't pack for your out of town trip even though you're leaving at noon tomorrow.

• Only clean the parts that people will actually see (and even more so with kids parties) you NEVER mop.

• And, as always, at the last minute, throw things in the beloved junk drawer.

There you have it...how to do it all!

(And the secret is out....to do it all, you actually DON'T!)

The Egg Hunt

Ok, it's finally here.  The Easter Egg Hunt post.  I hope it doesn't disappoint since I'd been working on the actual party for so long.  It was a blast.  I was worried that it could have been rained out, but the weather dried up and even though the ground was damp beneath the grass, it turned out to be just fine.

I could probably do a post on just the flowers alone...and maybe I will at some point.  One of my MOST favorite things to do is to arrange flowers.  I bought about $50 worth of flowers from Whole Foods and the rest I got from my neighbor's garden...way more from my neighbor's garden.  Amazing stuff.  Here's a peek at a few of the arrangements.

All of the flowers were in things like antique mason jars, tin cans, and old timey milk bottles.

Everyone came around 10am and brought brunch items with them.  We had quite the yummy spread.  By 10:30 everyone was eating and around 11am we sent all the menfolk out to hide the eggs.  We have found to maximize fun for all ages, it's best to divide up hunting areas by age.  Ages 3 and under hunt in one space (where eggs are obviously hidden), 4-6 in another area (getting trickier hiding here), and ages 7 and up all hunt in my neighbor's yard where the dads really have fun hiding!  Works out well and all the little kids aren't having to fight bigger kids for obvious eggs.  Plus, each child hunts til they find 12 and then are encouraged to help one another.  Was a good time had by all I think.

I really love having new people I've never even met come to the party...family and friends in town of our friends.  And even better than them just coming is when it's obvious that they honestly had a good time!  Of all the compliments I could receive about my home or hostessing...that is definitely the best one for me.  And I think that's a compliment to our friends as well!

This was the set-up in the dining room where the food and coffee station were.  And I'm shooting myself for somehow not getting pictures of my favorite drink station outside.  I've been refinishing a china cabinet and a dresser lately, but they were just junking up the garage unfinished, so I moved them outside and had drink dispensers in the cabinet and cups, napkins, etc on the dresser.  It was so cute!  (So if anyone who came has a picture of this...I'd love a copy!)  The perils of hostessing...last minute finishes didn't make it to the photo memory card!

I found these cute aqua sandwich boards at an antique store probably 2 years ago and got them for $15 each.  I finally got around to painting them with chalkboard paint last week and I'm super pleased with how they turned out.  I've put them out in the past and just taped a sign to them, but I LOVE the way they look with the chalkboard on them.  We even used one later in the day for a lemonade stand (with the leftover lemonade from the party.) 

View of the hunters and gatherers in the front yard and on the back porch.  

One day I want to screen in that porch....ahh the list of things to do...

It was raining the night before the party and I had several things that needed to be put outside the next morning, so here's a little entertaining trick that I pulled out to make sure I didn't miss anything.  A quick little sketch of my front and back porches with notes and pictures of everything I needed to remember.  Never a bad idea to draw out what you want to get the idea of what you're putting.  And even though I forgot to take a picture of the drinks on the back porch, you can at least see the general idea of what went on back there!

Sorry it's taken me forever to get this posted!  Tid Bit turns 5 this Friday, so in addition to getting the Egg Hunt undone in our house,  I'm re-doing things now for a bluegrass themed birthday party tomorrow.  This is just the month of parties around our house! 

I'll go ahead and tell you not to be expecting anything as elaborate as Little Bit's 1st Birthday because I have a a kryptonite around here called sanity and sleep.  And I couldn't be more thankful that Tid Bit actually requested cupcakes!  I'm still making a more elaborate cake that he wants to take with us to a Bluegrass festival in NC this weekend, but I'll tell you more about all of that later on too!

In the meantime though I have some musical note sugar cookies to churn out this morning and a bluegrass table to set for tomorrow's birthday party!

PS. Let me just say that while this isn't the best picture of me, I do love the fact that the way I'm holding the baby makes my waist look about half of it's normal diameter...this is the result of creative baby holding, not a sign of restraint with Easter Candy consumption.

My Easter Basket of Perspective...

Last night I was cleaning the kitchen, picking up small toys around the house, and throwing away random junk in preparation for our Easter party tomorrow.  And I finally stopped about 11pm, at which point I felt that it was wildly necessary or iron and put in place a new dustruffle that I got for our bed about a month ago.  So important, I know right?!  I was busy last night...really busy.  I've got to get this show moving!

One thing I should tell you about me is that once my kids are in bed, I'm done for the day.  If I have something big going on, then I'll spend that time of quiet accomplishing things, but on any regular ol' night....I'm in my jammies and crawling into bed to read, or write, or watch a movie.  And yes, my kids go to bed early.  This means that while I don't go to sleep til probably 11, I'm winding down from about 8 o'clock on.  But not yesterday.

And then right before I went to bed, I checked my email and my new twitter feed.  And then I felt kinda guilty....and more than guilty, I felt sad. 

In my inbox were feeds of blogs I subscribe to, and on twitter were some really short blurbs about how people were preparing their hearts and minds for this Easter's real show stopper.  And that reality stopped my own show right where I was.  I'd gotten so busy messing with a party, that I wasn't enjoying the heavy reality of what these days mean. 

We don't do the Easter Bunny around here.  Gasp now, because we don't do Santa either.  And while there hasn't been a lost tooth yet....the Tooth Fairy's chances aren't looking good.  (I'll explain more on all of that later on, but just know I'm not a Debbie Downer...I won't let my kid ruin it for yours and I don't have any issue with other people taking part in the imaginary fun in their families.)  So... while in our house, we go to lengths to make sure that a Jesus-related holiday isn't confused with something else, I realized that my own focus on something other than Him was actually just as disappointing.  It didn't matter that it wasn't a big white bunny, or Cadbury eggs, or the contents of a basket. 

But I tell you what, if the way my house looks, and the decorating, and the preparing, the flower arranging...if it all clouds my view of a Servant Savior who washed his friends' feet yesterday, and marched up a hill bearing the burden of a heavy cross laden with the sins of the world today, and spent 3 days DEAD....

all for me,

Then I'd say my view of the bigger picture might just as well be one of bunnies, and men in red suits, and fairies taking a tooth from under my pillow.  Because all of those things, while fun and pretty...they don't even know my name.  They aren't real.

So today as I look at the pouring rain outside, and realize that my plans of clipping flowers from my neighbors garden are all but dashed this morning...I find myself feeling more at peace.  The darkness still in my room reminding me of the darkness of these days we're in.  The darkness of my own sins reveling in trying to smother me....the sin of the world itching to snuff out all of creation.  The plan of one enemy to take it all and keep it for himself...and ruin something that was created for beauty.  And then... a Savior...who came to the earth clothed in rags, and hung on a cross in them again....buying it all back when he could've gotten down.

Paying it all.

Paying it all.

“This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” - Luke 22:19

And I find myself not looking as much towards a party at our house tomorrow, but a party in the Heavenlies on Sunday.

Perspective....renewed.