IHWSH - A Dance Party

This week was a long one, so I'll Have What She's Having - a friday afternoon dance party!

 

Baby Boy, You Stay On My Mind

Over the weekend I was so lucky to hang out with my great friend Megan and attend her baby shower - it was so fun!  I also got to visit with her lovely Mama, her husband Alex, and their pug, The Captain.  Megan and I share a love of TV, and within the first 30 minutes of being together, we were already discussing how much we love the new show "Nashville."  It's so great!  And Megan then led me to my new favorite Youtube video, of two sisters who are on "Nashville":

Aren't they AMAZING?  They have a lot of other songs you can find on Youtube by searching "Lennon and Maisy" (love their names too!)

Megan's condo is really nice and she has done some cool decorating - I grabbed pics of a few awesome ideas:

This is a framed tea towel (of Chapel Hill landmarks, so of course I love it) - what a great idea!  The mat and frame make it really look nice. 

This is their office (love the pug art and the bright yellow lamp).  Megan picked out this awesome stick-on wallpaper that looked amazing with the wainscoting in the room.  This might be something I could talk Henry into because it just peels right off when you're done loving it.

She made these cool jewelry frames!  She just painted the plain frames around 3 little cork boards and added fancy paper to the cork (I think glue or tape would work for this) and used push-pins to organize her awesome jewelry.  I really need some of this organization/action at our house.

Close-up.  You can see that she used special push-pins too.

Me, Megan, and her Mama before her shower.  Wish I had some pictures from the shower, it was so cute!  My favorite party details were the book plates with The Captain on them, the one-of-a-kind Friday Night Lights onesie she was gifted, and the blue nail polish favors (it's a boy!).

Thanks for such a fun weekend, Lady O!

Baptized Baby

Back to reality after Superstorm Sandy hit DC the past couple days - we are so thankful to be safe and warm.  Sending goodness up to those areas hit harder.

Before we came home to Sandy on Sunday, we had a WONDERFUL weekend in Indiana to celebrate Nora's baptism.  We are a lucky little family, to be so loved.  Grhonda and Grandbob hosted a fun and delicious brunch for us and the whole family before the ceremony.  Here are some highlights of that party:


I ordered a glitter garland from "The Flair Exchange" - LOVE IT.  I plan to use it at all of Nora's parties.

Cake from Joy Ann's bakery in Richmond, IN - our favorite!  I love that it said "Bless Her Little Heart" - something we actually say all the time.



My mom had framed tons of pictures of Nora and used them all over the place.  She also took pink and orange ribbon and pinned it into the top and bottom of white pumpkins for centerpieces.  She made it look really easy, and it turned out so cute for a Fall party!



I bought this beautiful garland at Paper Source - you can make it say whatever you want!  I also plan to use this again and again.

Party favors from Nora - smiley face cookies (again from Joy Ann's).

 

I used this little bow punch on the tags for the cookies and a little program at the church.  I also plan to use it on the Thank you cards I send out (later this week...?)

And the baby of honor:

This gown has been passed down in my family for over 60 years - my Dad was baptized in it, I was baptized in it, and now Nora was too.  The Chuck Taylors are new - but her Godfather, Uncle Sam wore Chucks when he was baptized (in this gown) too!

She wore this dress from Zara Baby when she wasn't in her gown - it was SO CUTE on her!

The ceremony was perfect.  My great uncle, Father John (who also married Henry and I) performed the baptism, Aunt Jayne read "On the Night You Were Born", and then  Aunt Jayne, Godmother Tia Mia and Godfather Uncle Sam led everyone in singing "Tell Me Why."  We are so thankful to everyone who was there to help make it such a special family gathering!

IHWSH - Halloween Whatnot

Halloween is such a fun holiday - dressing up, yummy treats, and no presents to purchase!  (Don't get us wrong, we LOVE buying gifts for others, but the lack of pressure for Halloween is nice.)  For this week's "I'll Have What She's Having," we chose some Halloween-ness that we'd like to have in our lives this year:

Katie's picks:

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Source - love that door color and the topiaries too!

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Jayne's picks:

Graveyard Pie - Source

Choirboy/Glee Squashes - Source

Etsy - Source

Apparently I like Martha Stewart. Broomstick Favors

Celebratreats

You would never guess that I made that up, right?  WELL, I DID.

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CELEBRATREATS

So, you know about Pinterest, right?  If you don't, more power to ya, but I sure do love it.  The main problem with Pinterest is that it can make you feel bad about yourself and your skills.  Any kind of skills.  Stuff on Pinterest is AMAZING.

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Well, this is where Celebratreats come in...to make you feel good about yourself!  Everyone can make these, in about 5 minutes.  That's not much of a commitment.  Creating these Celebratreats is about the maximum amount of time/energy/etc. I am willing to spend right now to make something fun/cool/special/pinteresting.  I made these to take to some friends who just had a baby (Henry made them super-delicious enchiladas, I will share that recipe soon).  So the next time you feel like getting crafty or doing something nice for someone but lack true motivation, hop on the Celebratreats train.

I just sprinkled a boatload of sprinkles into the treat mix after the rice krispies.  Magic.

IHWSH - Fall Treats

Hooray for Fall!  We're excited for the cooler temperatures and all the apple-pumpkin-spiced treats we can find.  Below you'll find some things we're thinking about making over the next couple of months - those scarecrow treats need to happen soon.  Our mom loves to put salted peanuts and candy corn in a dish together - pretty sure she "invented" this combo (it tastes like an extra delicious "Payday" candy bar).  Now it looks like someone's created a zert out of her tasty combo!  

Jayne's Picks:

1. Pumpkin Poppers
2. Acorn Donut Holes
3. Scarecrow Treats

Katie's Picks:

1. Pumpkin Pie Bites
2. Caramel Apple Martini
3. Apple-Cranberry Pocket Pies

Enjoy!

Cheap Date

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My idea of a good time.

Use whatever ratio you prefer (I'm about 1:1 usually) and I like plenty of ice.  Any red wine will do, really - it's refreshing and delicious and cheap.  In fact, I'll Take Two.

Posy to Go-sy

Something else that comes with buying a house? Space to entertain! Wanted to share a couple awesome party ideas I've seen lately.

Spotted these personalized coasters in this month's Martha Stewart Living:

Get the details on Martha's site. Her satin craft paint comes in lots of fun colors. This would be great when you're invited to a party, as a hostess gift tied to a bottle of wine, or would be a super fun little station at a party where guests can make their own. ALSO would be a make place card, with each guest's initial.

Another clever idea that's right up my alley. A sweet little vase of flowers AND a pun? 

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Quick house update: We are officially through the inspection process/negotiations. Now it's just the loan approval to go - and probably a few other things I don't know about yet... but we're getting so close!! Plan is still to close early to mid October. Can't get here soon enough!

Sparkle System

Tissue Tassel Garland, $32

Found here on Etsy...I want one!  Or twelve!  I think it would look so cool to have a bunch in rows up and down a narrow space.  I'm sure Henry would LOVE it (every once in a while, he complains that he's living in a girl's house).

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I love them all.

IHWSH - Summer Eats on a Stick

With (seriously) rising temperatures, we're not eating a lot of soup these days.  Instead, we want to enjoy these refreshing treats on a stick for this week's "I'll Have What She's Having":

Katie's Stick Picks:

Frozen Grape Kabobs

Root Beer Float Pops

S'mores on a Stick

Jayne's Stick Picks:

Burger Spears

Italian Lollipops

Watermelon Pops

Be cool.