Time to Party!

With the house freshly painted I felt like throwing a party! Finally we look like civilized folk and I wanted to show it off.  P turned 6 in November. It was the perfect occasion.  

Seventeen kids and their parents came.  I've found something very interesting about the kid's parties we throw. Almost always both parents come. I really like that. I've also found that everyone stays longer than normal. I also really like that. The Latin side of me loves this and so I plan the food accordingly.  We had Italian Wedding Soup, Black Beans and rice bowls with cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa and cilantro. We also had sandwiches, lots of cheese and dips and beer and wine. I feel it is often more important to care for the parents than the kids. If parents are happy, kids are happy. I did make mac and cheese. All but the sandwich platter was homemade. The party was from 2-4pm. The last person left at 7pm. No one left hungry! 

Peanut and I have a great time planning these things. We thought about what kind of theme and activities to do.  The big guest list…and I mean big for the size of our house, curtailed some of the activities we wanted.  A petting zoo required too much space. After much thought we decided on a garden party theme with a photo booth and boats for activities.  I also decided to build our own photo booth. I had a vision and calling someone in would have cost us too much money.  This is how the party turned out on such a beautiful November day! Couldn't have asked for anything more!

Dave is taking a time out before the party to have lunch in one of our many little seating areas throughout the backyard. There's the table we got off Craig's list. Loving it!

I got many ideas off of Pinterest. I'm not a good originator of ideas but I can mimick and even improve on many original creations. Here we used golf tees to stake balloons into the backyard.  

The vision of Peanut dancing through her maze of balloons will remain my mind for a long time. 

The backyard and fencing look pretty fantastic after all the staining and painting. That is until Penny, one of our dogs, decided to go to town on the fence. $1500 in fence stain work down the drain in 30minutes. We had to replace that entire section of the fence. A topic for a future post. I did manage to repot, plant and spruce most of our plants in the backyard.  Loving our new succulents. This is a great time of the year for them. 

It looked like everyone was having a great time and the weather was so ideal!

One of our food spreads. In the background a talented friend is creating a great work of art on the chalk wall. I love how artistic most of our friends are. 

The tent continues to be a big hit with the kids. However, the Santa Anna winds have taken a toll on it. It's time to build something bigger and more permanent. 

We had a" build your own boat" station and then the kids set them afloat in the pool. This was an activity that incorporated and captivated both kids and parents!  I ordered two packages of these and it was perfect!

Dave is capturing a funny moment in the photo booth! 

Then it was time for cake. I made P's cake. It's a creation of love that I can't wait to do every year.  Chocolate cake with an amazing butter cream frosting. 

The cake followed the garden theme with fairies and all.  I created the banner as well. In the background are the green utensils wrapped up in an orange napkins with green pipe cleaners to make them look like carrots. Doing all this is like breathing life back into me. 

 To keep with the garden theme we had the cake on a "tree pedestal". Again, another Pinterest idea. 

 

The four of us on a very special day. Surrounded by great friends, celebrating the life of one of my own and getting to be creative! This is all a life I dreamt about. Feeling very blessed to now be living it!

Craigslist: coffee table

Just got this off Craigslist today.  Excited to pair it up with the Hoop Chairs!  Dave says he'll set it up in the morning!  Hoping in person it's as cool as I've been visualizing it to be.  I've been looking for a low table so we can have another nice spot to casually eat outside.  These days lower is better for the kids. I'm big on providing self service for the kids. 

My true desire is this table from Potted:

However, I think it's over a grand. Until I can afford it. My stone and metal Craigslist find will have to do.

Image courtesy of Potted's Facebook page

Nothing Exciting

I spent the 4th of July weekend doing projects around the house. Nothing special or amazing but it was the kind of projects that take up time and need to get done.  


First, I mulched and landscaped a bit more of the front yard.  This is such hard work. Our soil is incredibly hard. We haven't watered this front space in months so to pull weeds I first have to wet it down for a while and then go at it with a pick.  I was exhausted when I finished this part.....and there is so much more of this space to do!  Bloody hell!

Next, I moved my work table from the back patio to inside our carport.  The table has been in the backyard for a while and it looks incredibly ugly. However, since I have to keep an eye on P when I do any project I placed the table here amongst her toys and near the house. D flipped a few weeks ago when he realized that table has been there for almost two years and it still looks the same: piles of materials and half done projects.  

I'm actually quite excited of my new work space. D cleared out a bunch of stuff from our garage in preparation for this move.  I've been hesitant to work in the carport because there are so many black widows in there.  They'll eventually come to see this is MY space and move out.  Once I got the table in there and started organizing my tools I really liked it.  I would love to have this kind of garage/work space below, but if I had the money to do this then I'd spend it elsewhere. Some place more visible.   

My third accomplishment was to paint our log holder.  D found it on Craigslist and gave it to me for my birthday. He knew I'd love it because he heard me oooh and ahhh over the one Morgan found at The Brick House.  Problem is, ours is cracked, and I didn't see it until I was painting it. So, now I need to find a cheap welder.  

Fourth accomplishment was hanging our dragon.  An artist friend of mine, Bill Kheel, made this dragon for P before she was born.  It's suppose to be her riding the dragon, except P is blonde and blue eyed. But Bill thought my daughter would look more like me...not my husband. I love this dragon.  It had hooks with wire attached to the back but the hooks fell out and the poor wood dragon was on the work table for months.  I finally decided to drill two small holes in it so I could properly hang it.  I'm sure Bill would not approve of me putting holes in his work but it beats the thing getting chipped in various spots.  

I also worked on another on-going project that I'll reveal later and I finally got off my butt and posted a faucet and sconces on Craigslist.  They were all here when we bought the house. Not exactly the appropriate style for our Mid Century baby.  


So, I worked my butt off. I'm sore, from finger tips to the hairs on my head but have nothing glorious to show for it....except for a sense of accomplishment. 

Dresser Score!

I found a fabulous dresser! Exactly the size I wanted, with exactly the lines I wanted!  Now, here's the most amazing part;  I got it for.....  $300?  No.  $200?  No.  $100? No!  I got it for $5 on craig's list.  F-I-V-E.  5 dollas!


I've been looking for this dresser for a while. I even put it on my birthday wish list but figured with all the other things we needed I couldn't afford to get something right now.  I love it.  It needs some veneer work on the top and on three drawers but other than that it's in great condition.  


Happy Birthday to me from Craig's list. Really it was from a dude named Keith in Brentwood.  Thank you Keith.  I will love your grandparents dresser for decades to come.  And thank you T & D for lending us your minivan this morning!  

Charlie Brown Tree

Back in April I got a free tree on Craigslist. It's one of my favorite trees, the Fern Pine or Podocarpus gracilior, but my husband doesn't like it. Because it was free he couldn't complain so he picked it up on his way home from work. The poor thing was in too small of a pot and not doing well. My hubby called it the "Charlie Brown Tree".

I have high hopes for "Charlie". He's starting to get fuller and I hope he'll give us some decent shade in two years. I've shown my husband various examples of how awesome the fern pine can be and I think it's growing on him. The Fern Pine is clean, pest free and an evergreen, all qualities I need for it's location. "Charlie" now resides on our south side median facing the school. I think he feels loved.