Pinkalicious

Aaaand I'm back with pictures from the Pinkalicious Party.  To give you some background, the daughter of one of my besties turned a year old last week and because they are between houses right now, I offered up our house for the big par-tay.  You know I love to host a party. Emily came over the weekend before so we could discuss the theme.  Pinkalicious is one of little Alice's favorite books, so it felt right to use as a theme.  Emily brought the book with her to my house and I carved out a little time one night during the week to read it.  I had no idea what it was about and, in case you don't either, here's the shortened version:  a little girl makes pink cupcakes with her mom one day and then eats so many of them she turns pink.  The doctor tells her she has to start eating all green foods but she eats more cupcakes and turns red.  She gets sad when her friends don't recognize her so she eats green foods so she can return to normal colors.  Then her brother ends up eating the rest of the cupcakes and turns pink too.  The end.

We didn't stick completely to the book.  Mostly the theme was pink, pink, and more pink.  I spent Saturday doing some decorating.  In addition to the pink table runner, I also jazzed up my chandelier with some pink boas.

In the living room, I hung some tissue poofs that my sister-in-law had left over from Bren's tea party.

I added a big poof to the front door, too.  There were also balloons on each side of the door - they weren't really cooperating for this picture.  (Yes, I know my ferns look pitiful.  I'm trying to revive them.)

Back in the living room, I made these pinkalicious letters to hang on the mantel (not mantle).  I was originally just going to hang them on the pink ribbon, but they kept flopping over so I taped them onto the mantel too. I already had the scrapbook paper and I cut the letters using my Silhouette machine.

Atop the mantel were my white test tube vases.  I tied some ribbon around them to pinkify them for the party.  I know carnations aren't the fanciest flowers ever, but when I was at Kroger the morning of the party, carnations were all that were available in the pink category.

I threw the leftover carnations in a small vase and had them sitting in the kitchen.

The table was full of pink goodies.  Since the party was at 3:00, we were able to get away with just having some snacks instead of a full meal.

Emily dipped strawberries in bright pink chocolate.

We tag-teamed the pink-on-pink cupcakes.

Emily also brought bagels with strawberry cream cheese and pink wafer cookies.

I made a salsa and cream cheese dip that, after adding pink food coloring, sorta resembled a mystery dish in a cafeteria line.  Luckily, it still tasted good!

To wash down all that pink food, we had a big pitcher of pink lemonade.

Every first birthday party needs a smash cake.  I used my giant cupcake pan to make one for Alice, and I did my best to make it resemble the cupcakes from the Pinkalicious book.

I think the only pink decor I've left off are these pink buckets full of {mostly} pink candy.

The invitation to the party encouraged guests to wear pink, and they all did!  Here is the birthday girl with, from left to right, her maternal grandmother, her mom, and one of her aunts.

Even the guys wore pink.  (Those stripes on Matt's shirt are pale pink, even though they look white-ish here.)

For party entertainment, Emily drew out the girl from the Pinkalicious book for a game of Pin the Pigtail on Pinkalicious.

We had to use a pink scarf as the blindfold.  At least it went with the theme!

Little Alice only lasted helping open presents through a couple of them.  She was more interested in all the paper on the floor.

While the rest of the gifts were opened, guests were encouraged to submit guesses for the number of pink whoppers in the jar.

The total was 264.  I didn't win.  :(

One gift that did get Alice's attention was this cool pink car that her grandparents brought.  She doesn't quite have the steering down yet, but she knows how to work the horn!

When it came time to sing to the birthday girl, we switched out the "cherry" (a red gumball) for a 1 candle.

Sweet Alice wasn't sure what to think of all that sweet icing at first.  She was very dainty in her eating.

After getting reassurance from her mama that it was ok, she started really going for it.

That smash cake was finger-lickin' good.

Even after all that pink icing, I'm pleased to say that Alice did not turn pink!

Though I'm sure she won't remember it, I'd count this party a success.  Happy first birthday, Alice!

http://www.giveeverybodynicesweaters.com/miscellaneous/mantles-spaces-and-commas/

DIY: Quick & Easy Table Runner

Last Wednesday night after work, I headed to my parents' house to have dinner with them.  My mom had been to Target earlier in the day and scored these three sets of sheets from the clearance rack.

Pink and white stripe, green and white polka dot, and pink and white polka dot.  She got the queen-size sheet sets for under 20 bucks.  Love a good deal!

So why the sheets?  Well, we've got some more card table tent ideas up our sleeves and buying sheets is a lot cheaper than buying lots of yardage of fabric.  Plus, it's a bigger piece of fabric.  If you're ever making something big, sheets are the way to go if you don't want to have to piece your fabric together and have a seam down the middle.  Just a little tip from me to you.  We'll be able to get several tents made out of these three sets of sheets.

Before we started cutting out walls and roofs, I asked my mom if I could cut off a strip from the side of the striped set.  It didn't take me long after seeing the sheets to decide that they'd make a great table runner for a Pinkalicious party that's being held at my house later today.  Mom did not object, so I grabbed my scissors and cut off a piece.

It was a wrinkly piece because I used the fitted sheet so we'd have as much of the good flat sheet to use for tents as possible.  All I had to do was cut off the elastic and give it a good ironing and you can't even tell it used to be a sheet.

Since this was a spur-of-the-moment idea, I had not measured my table at home nor did I know the measurements of a standard table runner.  I didn't care, though.  I figured I could just wing it.

To give it just a little more detail (and because, truthfully, I was nervous it would be too short since I cut from the edge of the fitted sheet and not the middle where it's longer), I added a 3-ish inch strip of the same fabric turned in the opposite direction on each end of my long strip.

Mom still had some white sheets left over from lining Parker's tent so I was able to use a piece of them to line my table runner.  Like a good little sewer, I placed my right sides together and pinned all the way around.

It didn't take long to make my way all the way around, sewing them together.  I tell ya, sewing striped fabric is the way to go.  It's so nice to have a little line to follow!  I may make that a new sewing requirement for me - I'll only make things out of striped fabric.  It should would make everything easier.

After turning it inside out and ironing it, I did do some quick top-stitching all the way around so it'd keep its shape if I ever washed it.

When I got home, I threw it on our dining table to see how it'd look.  Guess I didn't really need to worry about the length being too short.  It's longer than any other table runner I have.  Oops?

When the chair is pushed up under the table, the edge of the table runner almost kisses the seat of the chair.  I'm ok with that, though.  I figure for something that I knocked out very quickly after work one day, it could be a lot worse.

For some reason, the end of the runner sometimes reminds me of the cuff on a man's shirt.  You know, something like this:

Did anyone else think that?  No?  Just me?  Well, alrighty then.

We're just a few hours away from the Pinkalicious party.  I'll be back with more details soon!

Beach House Update

Who wants a mid-construction house tour?! If you raised your hand, you're in luck.  Cause I'm gonna give you one.  And if you didn't raise your hand, well then you can just go visit another blog now. :)

We were so excited about getting to see the construction progress in person that we headed over to the beach house our first morning in town (and ended up walking back to it every day we were there).  Here's how she looked as we approached.

I'm sure a whole lot has happened since our last update, but all I can really tell is that she's been wrapped in white paper.  Oh, and the windows have been put in, too.

Since our first full day in town was a Sunday, no construction workers were in town.  Doc and I walked on in like we owned the place and scoped everything out.  You may want to check out the floorplans here so my pictures make more sense.  It's hard to get good pictures when everything's wood and you can still see through the walls into the next room.

Here is Doc standing in what will be the dining room.  The table (hopefully farm-style, possibly this one) will go right where he's standing.  Our plan is to have benches on both sides for two reasons: 1) so we can cram as many people in for a meal as possible, and 2) because it's a pass-through room.  Having a bench tucked under the side of the table is a lot easier to maneuver around than lots of bulky chairs sticking out.  At least those are our thoughts. The door behind Doc leads to the screened-in porch (and the "driveway" is just passed the porch so there will likely be lots of ins and outs through that door).

On the other side of the downstairs are the living room and kitchen.  They're really just one big room.  I was standing pretty much in the same spot to take this picture as the one above, I just turned around.  Doc is standing in the middle of the living room, and the bar from the kitchen will come out right past that window behind him.

Here's a view of that same room, but this time I was standing in the kitchen.

Ok, let's head upstairs.  This is the view from the top of the stairs.  That's the laundry room and just past it is the owner's closet.  (See what I mean about the see-through walls and lots of wood?)

Here's the upstairs hallway.  The door at the end leads to the upstairs balcony.

Speaking of balcony, here 'tis!

The picture below taken in one of the jack-and-jill bedrooms (two bedrooms joined by a bathroom).  You can see through the bathroom and into the other bedroom.

And here's the master bedroom.  Doc's standing in the master bath, and that other opening is the walk-in closet.

That's about it for our mini-tour.  I have lots more pictures but they're kinda confusing unless you really know what  you're looking at.  And I'm guessing you all haven't studied the floorplans as much as I have.  :)

Mini Beach Getaway

Last Saturday, after Parker's birthday party, Doc and I were lucky enough to get to hop on a plane and head to Florida to spend a few days.  This was a last-minute trip we planned, originally scheduled to fall between Doc's job switcheroo but since he ended up staying with his same company, it was just a nice end-of-summer long-weekend getaway.

It was the perfect time to go to the beach.  The weather was perfect and, as you can see from my auto-stitched picture above, we didn't have to share the beach with too many people.  The locals said it would pick up again the following weekend for Labor Day.  I'm glad we went we did, especially since we beat the tropical storm's arrival.

I didn't take too many pictures because a) it was just the two of us and it's hard to get pictures together and b) all we really did was lay out on the beach or by the pool everyday.  The goal was to relax as much as possible, and that's exactly what we did.

I don't normally make a huge habit out of staring at my feet, but when there's a beautiful blue ocean just past them, I really can't think of a better view.

One of the last things I threw in my bag as I packed was my good friend Mr. Ziploc. I'm so glad I thought to bring him with me!

Call it cheap, call it redneck, call it whatever you want.  I call it the most genius Kindle cover ever, as there's not a speck of sand or saltiness on either of our kindles and we were able to read just fine!

So that's my little tip for you.  Don't spend money on a fancy shmancy waterproof case when you can just use a ziploc bag.

One of my very favorite parts about being on vacation is going out for breakfast.  Mostly because I love breakfast food and also the idea of getting to start the day with no real hurry to be anywhere.  I rarely eat breakfast at home because I'd rather spend a few extra minutes snoozing instead of sitting down to eat before going to work.  And if I do eat breakfast, it's not really breakfast, but more like a handful of goldfish or crackers or cookies.

So on this mini vacation, we went out to breakfast every morning!

The first morning we stopped at this cute little donut truck.

We thought we were fairly early since it was before nine (which is early for vacation!) but I guess the donut world gets going way before that.  When we arrived the only flavor left was chocolate covered with sprinkles, which at one point in my life would have been my first choice anyway so I wasn't too upset.

Our second breakfast was spent at a local coffee shop.  Definitely not somewhere you can usually find either of us, but the yummy smell lured me in.  I had an iced coffee (decaf) with a chocolate croissant.  I was a little leery of the croissant.  I thought it was one of those pre-made pastries that had been sitting in a display case for days, but it was delicious!  Doc had a blueberry banana smoothie with protein (yuck!).

Day three's breakfast was at a little place called Sugga Pies.  It was another nice morning to sit outside.  I had a regular waffle and Doc had a sausage, egg, and cheese croissant.  It was good.  Not the best, but still pretty good.

Our last day we went back to Another Broken Egg, a place we visited last May.  This place is insanely good!  I had a huge plate of Huevos Rancheros and Doc had eggs, bacon, and sausage.  It was so delicious!  But, it probably wasn't the best idea to eat there before spending the day shopping at the outlets.  I was in a food coma and in bad need of a nap and there's nothing fun about trying on clothes after stuffing yourself silly!

This is the only shot of the two of us we managed to get and it's pretty terrible.  We ate outside at Red Bar one night and as we waited for our food, I set the camera timer and ran around for a picture.

Oh, and one night we ate in Rosemary at a tapas restaurant and had chocolate fondue for dessert.  It was so good!

I didn't really intend for this to be a post all about food, but I guess that's what its become.  My bad.  After spending four days doing nothing but eating and laying in the sun all day, I felt like I needed to detox or something when I got back.

Obviously while we were in the area, we got to check up on the beach house.  I took some pictures and will share 'em with you next!

Ninja Invasion

Dave Barnes is a singer/songwriter out of Nashville, TN that I've listen to since my college days.  He's one of the few musicians I've seen in concert multiple times.  I really like his music (the boy can write a love song) but I also enjoy his shows because, at times, he can be pretty funny.  I think he even does stand up comedy every now and then. Anyway, all that's to say that I like Dave Barnes and so I follow him on twitter.  He tweets about soccer (blah) and about his upcoming shows (if it's not my town I scroll through) and sometimes he just tweets about funny things.  Like the time a piece of fried chicken fell from the sky onto his patio while he was doing yardwork.  Or his interpretations of merchandise in the Sky Mall magazines on flights.  So it was no surprise when last night, he tweeted this:

davebarnesmusic: Fun game to end your Friday night?  Substitute ninja for woman in a song.

With his tweet he gave some song suggestions to get the ball rolling: More Than A Ninja, Pretty Ninja, Witchy Ninja, She's Always A Ninja To Me.

The rest of my night was spent checking my phone and giggling at all the new ninja songs people were coming up with.

• You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Ninja
• Man, I Feel Like A Ninja
• When A Man Loves A Ninja
• No Ninja, No Cry
• I'm Every Ninja
• Ain't No Ninja (Like The One I Got)

Yea, so ninja songs = totally pointless, totally stupid, totally hilarious.  I mean, come on.  Who doesn't want to sing about a ninja?

That was Friday night.

Today (Saturday) I spent the afternoon over at my parents' house working on a few projects.  One of the projects was to finally drag down two dressers from my mom's attic to see if they could be spruced up to use in the beach house (final verdict: they're too rickety and messed up).  The dressers used to be in each of my brother's rooms back in the day, but had been in the attic for a few years.  When my dad and I started dragging them out of the attic, we realized that the drawers were still full of old junk.

We managed to get them out of the steamy hot attic and into my bedroom at their house but decided we needed to clean out the drawers before attempting to carry them down the stairs, through the house, and out to the woodshop.  Mom had joined us at this point and the three of us spent 20 minutes or so pilfering through the drawers' contents.  For some reason one drawer was full of old pictures and newspaper articles of my dad (I have no idea why) and we spent the most time flipping through those.

Then, between the baseball cards and pile of old baseball socks, I found this:

A ninja costume.

Obviously, I immediately put it on and then started looking for my phone because you can't find, and then put on, a ninja costume without taking a picture.  You just can't.  I'm searching through the house looking for where I laid my phone when I remember that I left it out in the shop.  I've got one foot out the backdoor headed to go get my phone when I stop myself because it just hit me that my dad's got a crew of workers out in the yard working on his chimney and I'm wearing a ninja costume.  Close call.  I can only imagine what they would've thought if they'd seen me walking out to the shop.  I grab my dad's phone instead and decide I can just text the pictures to myself.

The story of the ninja costume is awesome for several reasons, one obviously being that it's a ninja costume.  You can't beat that.  Actually, I take that back because I can beat that - in the drawer was not one but two ninja costumes!  I cannot wait until we get an invite to a couples costume party because Doc and I are officially set.

But it gets even better than that.  We start talking about the ninja costumes and my parents are telling me that they were on vacation in San Francisco (or somewhere) and they brought them back to my brothers as souvenirs.  So, that's sweet and all but the part that takes this from warm and fuzzy to totally awesome?  Is that at the time, my brothers were approximately 2 and 5 years old.

TWO and FIVE years old people!  What 2 or 5 year old needs a full-out adult-sized ninja costume?!?

The only way I can make sense of this is that my dad totally wanted a ninja costume for himself and convinced my mom to let him buy one two by saying that they boys would love them.

I mean, can you come up with any other logical explanation?

Friday = ninja songs.  Saturday = ninja costume.  I can hardly wait to see what ninja-y thing happens tomorrow.  I hope it occurs during church.