Things I Love: Half Birthdays

Today I turned 29 & a half.

AND A HALF.

And let me tell you, that half matters. The past 6 months have been a whirlwind (Tornado? HURRICANE?).

And I've gone through probably the biggest life change I have had thus far. My 29th birthday on June 14th marked a year since I sick with pneumonia.

During the two months that I spent in & out of the hospital, I began to reflect on why I was so unhappy with my life and I began to make some changes.

I decided I didn't want to be a teacher anymore. And I took a leap of faith that I could propel my blog into something more then a hobby.

I grew a pair (Mom, just Urban dictionary it) and started going to every party, event and meet up I heard about.

It might look easy, but it's hard to do. Going blindly into an event, party or situation is scary, and I'll be the first to tell you that.

{You don't even know how many times I got back in my car, drove away, and FORCED myself to go back and go inside}.

But I did it, and it paid off.

A year later I go to parties and events several times a week, and I couldn't be more gracious and excited about EVERY single one I attend.

And I am MORE then grateful & blessed with all the new friendships I've made, all the reconnecting I've done with old friends & all the relationships that have grown stronger these past months.

I have met some AMAZING people these past six months, and it's been unreal.

I'm looking forward to my next 6 months and you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be celebrating every SINGLE last day that I have in my Twenties.

It was a decade in my life that shaped and changed me into the woman (a Grown Ass one, obvi) that I am today.

I hope you're living the life you love, and if you're not, try to make some changes.

Big & small.

Loving your life is an amazing way to feel, trust me, I haven't always felt this way.

Don't be afraid.

Time to start party planning, my birthday party is going to be a doozy!!

Photobooth's are going to be necessary, duh.

Things I Love: Party Rock

If you know anything about me, you know I like to party, plan parties, and well go to parties. Recently my Vanessa invited me along to attend her co-worker Renee's Wine Tasting Party and it was a blast. Renee is a very creative chick has an awesome group of friends who also all have the same creative mind-set. We enjoyed wine and cheese pairings, played Apples to Apples and blasted girly music like Justin Timberlake. Yup, right up my ally.

Check out how cute this party was:

Oh there I am.

You know, Rocking a Gap hat and Forever 21 Cheetah shorts.

I hope you all find something to celebrate this Thursday.

Tonight I'll be celebrating my awesome San Francisco Blog Friends who are pretty much the raddest.

Things I Love: On a Hippie Trail, Head full of Zombie

Saturday night's '80's party was a huge success and my outfit for it came together perfectly. My Madonna-esque look came together just as I imagine -- complete with the lace bow and an '80's "perm" courtesy of Jen. We pretty much looked like we got in a hot tub and woke up at Ridgemont High. Neon, acid washed jeans, and leg warmers all were appropriately represented. The '80's music jammed and we rocked out our dance moves like it was 1982. It was pretty fun pretending we were from the era we were born in and to think how different things were back then. My iPhone seemed strangely out of place but thank goodness it captured all the fun times from the night...the only thing missing was a Vegemite sandwich.

Jem & Rockers + Madonna

You know I couldn't help but brings along some '80's treats.
Although they didn't pop nearly as much as I remember!

The Girls.

Group Shot.

June's off to a good start so far, I hope your weekend was a fun one too!

Party Prep: Will You Be my Valentine?

On Friday I hosted a small {last minute} Valentine's Day craft party. I was thinking of hosting one but that dates weren't quite working out right so I never fully planned anything. But on Friday evening Annie and I gathered our craft supplies, V grabbed some hummus and pitas and Jen grabbed some cupcakes and we got crafting.
Glitter is always a must.
And thanks to Annie, I now need the Martha Glitter pen set!

Since the party was set the night before, I didn't get to go all out on the decorations.
Instead I gathered anything that was pink, red or heart-shaped and placed them strategically around to act as decorations.


I cut a heart out of construction paper {elementary school style} and dusted the hummus with paprika.
Heart shaped hummus was the perfect Valentines Day party crafting snack!

Red, pink, purple glitter and crafting supplies were set up for guests to get creative with.
Martha was there in spirit to inspire.


We were all happy campers.

Some of the crafts from the night.

We hope the recipients of our handmade cards will enjoy our crafts.
Who doesn't enjoy a fun treat in their mail box?

Dreaming Of: Retro Pool Parties

This morning I started to get the hankering for throwing a retro pool party.
Is it too early to be planning my pool parties?

I imagine I would have to have some chilled Coke in glass bottles, and perhaps a punch bowl - just don't blame me if it gets spiked!
And I'll be sure to serve some '50's appetizers before I fire up the grill.

Naturally, I'll don some cat eyes and a retro inspired swimsuit.
Perhaps this look, a 'la the original '59 Barbie.

Via http://everybodysfree.tumblr.com/
click photos to be linked to their sources

So darlings, who wants to join me? Just don't forget your beach ball.

Bonus points if you arrive in a '57 turquoise Bel Air!

Party Planning: Where We Go Hard-Core and There's Glitter on the Floor.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas, We party.
Here is a run down of my December 11th Christmas Party.

What we ate:

Panini Bar

To keep things simple and easy for me to enjoy my party, I set up a Panini Bar. Complete with cheeses, spreads, produce and deli meats. It was easy to organize and my guests were able to help themselves when they felt like eating. It's also fun, interactive and took the pressure off me to prepare food. In fact Vanessa, the foodie of the group, took over for a bit and made sandwiches for other people. I provided a list of flavor combination's to spark some ideas.

What We Drank:

Wine Sampling Selection

As part of my invitation I asked each guest to bring a wine in a paper bag to share. And we held a mini wine tasting. We sampled the wines covered in bags and discussed the flavors. All while guessing who brought what wine, and guessing what wines we thought they were. Again it was fun, interactive and took the pressure off me to provide all the drinks. Everyone thought we should do this at every party from now on.

To differentiate glasses I picked out reindeer names for all my guests and made easy-to-make wine charms. I made sure to match their personalities to the reindeer names. It was a fun way to know who's drink was who's. In case you were wondering, I was Prancer.

What We Did:

Ornament Decoration Station

I purchased the Martha Stewart glitter set (only $15 with my 50% off Coupon) and some ornaments from Joann's, at 60% off I only spent about $6.00. I set out glue guns, glitter, sequins and tinsel. My guests went ahead and decorated their little hearts out. Needless to say glitter was everywhere -- because who doesn't love to glitter things? This was such a hit we didn't even get to my second planned activity, decorating gingerbread houses. All my guests went home with their homemade ornaments as favors.

forever 21 ring, alice and olivia dress

What We Wore:

Playing Dress Up

Ya'll know I love costumes and outfit changes so I encouraged my guests to dress festively, some of who forewent their normal garb and dressed up just to appease me. Of course I had reindeer antlers, Ruldolph noses, Santa hats, and gaudy earrings and pins around the house for guests to decorate themselves with. I didn't take any pictures of my outfit but my dress is the one I am wearing in my blog header, it's an Alice & Olivia sequin dress.

Coincidentally this picture just won me $200 to Rent the Runway from Styleit Style Sheets.
I guess that means I need to plan another party to dress up for!!
For more pictures of my Christmas party click here.

'Twas the Night of My Party

And all through the house. All the creatures were stirring.
Yes, even the mouse.
The decorations were hung around the kitchen with care.
And soon glitter would soon be just about everywhere.

My party dress was snug, I thought in my head;
but that would not stop me from being feed.
While I in my apron and in my hand, a night cap. I had just settled down for a long winter's craft.

When out in the porch I heard such a clatter.
I sprang from my chair to see what was the matter.
Away to the door I flew like a flash, but first making sure to secure my apron's sash.

The moon on the breast of the new fallen leaves,
gave luster to guests with enthusiasm hard to believe.

With a perky attitude so lively and quick. I knew in a moment,
I must fix them a drink!

More rapid then eagles their courses they came, I whistled and shouted and called them by name.
"Rock on Dasher and Dancer. And Prancer and Vixen.
Drink up Comet. On Cupid. Go Donner and Blitzen.
On top of the roof. On top of the wall.
Dance away. Decorate away. Party away, all!"

Then in a twinkling I heard from the booth.
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew my head in and was turning around, the party revelers all came in with a bound.
All dressed in fur and sequins from head to boot, no ones clothes were tarnished
not one spot of soot.

Their eyes how they twinkled, their dimples how merry.
Their cheeks were like roses, and one's nose was like a cherry!

They spoke lots of words but also were hard at work.
All the ornaments got decorated, no one acting a jerk.

I sprang to my post to give my team a good whistle and away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard them exclaim as they drove off in sight,
"What a fabulous party, and we all had a good night."

Party planning details to come tomorrow!