Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Amanda's Seuss Shower

Sunday I experienced my first real baby shower. Granted, I've been to other baby showers in the past, but this was for a friend who is having a real live baby next month. I know, I can hardly believe that I am old enough to have friends are having babies.

Little Dino (since Amanda was one of those people who didn't want to know what sex the baby is - they call it Dino) got a ridiculous amount of presents this weekend!

The overall theme was Dr. Seuss, with a cute little play on words: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, New Fish! The new fish of course, being the baby. It was held in the daycare center where Amanda works. So, let's check it out:

Decorate a onesie!

sweet little candle favors

a ludicrous amount of raffle baskets!


Mama in the world's cutest maternity dress

Dessert table!

Amazing cake made by a friend of a friend who isn't doing this for a living!!!

Why isn't he doing this for a living?

The dessert table (which was my responsibility) featured candy that was related to Seuss books and characters



Of course, I had to make sugar cookies... apparently that's my signature move.



Amanda's mother-in-law made all of the table decorations



There was also a place to make a page for the baby's "letters, numbers and shapes" book. I did "D" for dog

Amanda's MIL also made this crazy huge diaper motor cycle. Since Eric and Amanda love the Red Sox, it was all decked out with proper gear for Dino.




just some pretty girls I know

Amanda and Amy... why yes, I do only have friends with "A" names.

Surprise! Amanda's sister flew in from Colorado - and she could hardly hold back the tears





onsies!

I really liked this guy...

But this was mine. Harper is their German Shepard

love the little 'stache

another one of my favorites.



Everyone was instructed to bring a book instead of a card. I designed bookplates (in Amanda's hand) so everyone could write baby Dino a message.

"Dude's Diaper Bag" which Eric noted, could also hold a beer nicely.

It was a good day, and I think Amanda enjoyed it. Can't wait to find out what baby Dino is on September 26th!

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

A Pretty Little Fail

My craft room, which is eternally messy, is a nice mix of calm cool blue and sassy hot pink. See?


So a while back, when I bought a $7 mirror at the White Elephant in Milford, I could hear it screaming to be pink and go in my craft room. So I spray painted it red.

What? Like that would be the first time I did something that didn't make sense?

Anyway, when I decided that the red obviously was a mistake, I bought a can of pink and waited. I was trying to find a nice partner piece to go with the mirror. Luckily, Goodwill stepped in and provided this old singer sewing machine and table for $10. STEAL. So I painted the top white, and the legs sassy pink.



I was pretty pumped by how cute it turned out. Pink, but not in a compulsive little girl way. So I started imagining how much easier it was going to be to sew on a nice flat level surface. Because, viola, the table holds the sewing machine platform level with the rest of the table.


Why isn't my sewing machine in that hole you ask? Well, that's where the FAIL comes in. As it turns out, my machine wont fit. It's too small to rest on top/level, and the holes that would normally secure the machine in place (even if it were a tad bit too small) are actually drilled too wide for my machine.

FAIL. fail,fail,fail,fail,fail. (that's not a typo... it's just how you have to pronounce it).

Leave it up to me to not take the time to measure this sort of thing before I go painting. So now I have this sewing table that wont fit my sewing machine. I also have my old desk in the center of the room (the sewing table was going to take its place). Now the room is even messier, and I still don't have a nice level sewing surface.

Le Sigh.

Suggestions?

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Sunday Muffins

This is a beautiful day.

It's 72 degrees outside. Like zero humidity.

And I made muffins, AND coffee.


Do yourself a favor...

When its Sunday, and you've got a month's worth of laundry to wash, dry and fold; when you've got paperwork stacking up on your counter because your husband refuses to let you file it until he "has seen every single comma on the page"; when you need to pick up all the fluff scattered around the living room because the dogs ripped their bed again...

Make these muffins. Make some coffee. Collect your thoughts, pins some pins on pinterest. Realize that all that stuff will be there tomorrow. It's Sunday, and you are gonna do whatever you like today because Mandy said you could. And anyone who makes muffins that look this delicious obviously knows what they are doing.





Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Shopping Local

Call me "green".

I love my street treasures, it gives me great satisfaction to "save" an old piece, and a fresh coat of white paint can solve nearly any furniture dilemma.

But this brings an entirely new level of style to the whole "green" thing.



and... my personal favorite:


These pieces are all made from galvanized metal by an industrial artist here in Connecticut... Thomaston to be exact. If anyone out there reading this wants to buy me a $250 bench, here is the link: http://newlondon.craigslist.org/fuo/3206773843.html

gawk and enjoy!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Dog Party!

Hi everyone. I want to report on something exceptionally important before I get to the dog party, so please be patient.

This morning, I overslept and was not interested in getting out of bed. When I finally did, I put on my flip flops and braced myself as I turned the door knob to go into the hallway. Our bedroom has AC, so it's usually about 20-25 degrees colder than any other space in the house, and with the humidity we've been having ALL SUMMER LONG it also has a much better air quality about it. So when I brace myself to leave the bedroom, I REALLY brace myself.

But this morning was different. I opened the door, walked into the hallway and felt... a breeze. At least, I think it was a breeze, it's been so long that I've forgotten. The air was cool and dry, the house didn't smell damp, I didn't feel suffocated, and I didn't break into an immediate sweat. A sign.

GOOD THINGS ARE COMING PEOPLE! And that good thing is fall... and winter! Sweet, icy cold winter.

Ok, back to the dog party.

fun times outdoors before the humidity went away

Adorable dog-dish and cute planter turned utensil holder

I tried to make cupcakes that looked like our dogs: these are the Aero cupcakes - cookies and cream with vanilla frosting and chocolate sprinkles

Bruno Cupcakes, marbled vanilla and fudge with fudge and vanilla frosting complete with chocolate and white sprinkles
 
We had two take-home treat, one for dogs and one for people. The human treats were sugar cookies in the shape of dog bones. The Dog treats were homemade pumpkin and peanut butter bones

Some dog-style decorations

A few dog photos on our board

Oddly enough, Bruno's middle name is Bruski - more for the football player than the beer, but it stills works!

For drinks we had my favorite margarita and some strawberry sangria. 

We hung a ton of photos of the dogs - I couldn't narrow it down because the dogs just looked too damn cute in every single pic!

There were also non-alcoholic drinks available for the crazy amount of pregnant women in my life.

This was the cutest thing ever. I made chocolate fondue and asked my Aunt Dawn to bring fruit. She brought the fruit and marshmallows in dog bowls and added this mug and the dog toys, HOW CUTE?!




We did some hanging on our newly refinished non-redneck back porch

and sat around chatting. It was a nice group of people, not too many to make it crazy

I strung up some lanterns just for whimsy. Would have been nice if they were lighted, as it got awfully dark late in the night.

Fortunately I did have the foresight to hang the globe lights from my wedding on the porch. I love the way they look so much that I'm going to leave them up!

Here are the babies, already resting. The party really tired them out!
As for food, we had a "burger bar" complete with a bunch of different condiments and accents like jalapenos and french onions, BBQ sauce, etc. There were also a variety of cheeses available. I made sliders so that people could try a bunch of different combinations if they wanted. My Dad did the grilling, thank god! As for other options, well you heard about the fondue and cupcakes, but we also had a tortellini salad, spinach salad, some salsa, a lovely goat cheese roll surrounded in cranberries and pistachios, caprese kebabs, pickles that my parents made with cukes from their own garden, pirates booty, on and on the list goes!

It was a fun time but as usual, I couldn't enjoy the company as much as I would have liked. I suppose that is the downfall of hosting. But other than that, it was a nice casual summer BBQ, and I think everyone had a wonderful time.

Especially the dogs...