One Year in a Flash – Birthday Party

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My friend Kia threw her son a first birthday party a few weeks back.  The party was decked out with all sorts of details and DIY projects.  As co-owner of Baker’s Bliss she also made all her own cupcakes for the party!  Party details as told by Kia…

For my son’s 1st Birthday I wanted to do something different and something fun.  Hopefully, along the lines of cost effective as well.  I looked through a variety of themes of things to do and most of them felt too kiddy.  As every parent knows the first birthday party is more for the adults than the kids and so I wanted a fun theme that all ages could enjoy.   I searched the internet high and low and ultimately fell in love with the posts I had seen from different moms who had decided on the “one year in a flash” theme.

I didn’t have a lot of time to put the party together being a full time mom of 2 plus my full time job left me with not that much time to put the grandiose party on that I wanted too.  However, my bestie and business partner Rebecca was in town to save the day.   And so began the party planning….

First, I made a list of what I wanted to do.  It was hard to come up with this list because I really wanted to do all the ideas I had seen on the internet.  They ranged from photo booths and custom chalkboards to custom banners and cupcake stands.  All of which I thought was ridiculously creative and cute, but I had to be realistic.  I really had about 3 days and unlike most of the other party planners I had intended on making my own cupcakes because that’s just what I do!  So these are the things I decided I was going to do for the party.

Decorations:

  • Custom Banner (What better way to say you are 1 then a year of pictures to remind you)
  • Custom Cupcake Toppers
  • High Chair Banner
  • Balloon Display
  • Photo Booth
  • Custom Thank you Cards
  • Custom Water Bottles

Food:

  • Dessert Table complete with custom chocolate covered Oreos in the theme colors and “camera” sugar cookies.
  • Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream
  • Vanilla Bean cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream
  • Pigs in a blanket for the kids
  • Veggie Tray
  • Fried Chicken
  • Queso Dip
  • Chips

This all seemed pretty overwhelming so I ended up ditching the Photo Booth.  I simply just didn’t have the time or the energy given the list of other things that had to get accomplished.

For the Banner, Thank You Cards and Cake Toppers I needed photos!  It was already Wednesday and the party was Saturday so I had to come up with the photo digging through all my digital memorabilia over the last year and get them printed and ready really by Thursday.  CVS photo online to the rescue!  I uploaded the pictures and picked them up at the CVS down the street from me the next morning and it was only .19 cents a picture!   This really came out very cost effective since in addition to the 12 pictures I needed 24 cupcake toppers and 20 thank you cards.

Here’s how the banner came out:


Here are the Thank You Cards:

And the Cupcake Toppers:

Here’s how the dessert table turned out:

You can see my nice balloon display courtesy of Party City.

Admittedly, most of the food items I purchased them from the local super market.  The Fried Chicken was purchased the hubby and then he made the veggie tray and queso dip.  I made the pigs in a blanket and here is what the food table looked like.  The table display was done by my friend Monique!

The chocolate covered Oreos were a big hit and proudly displayed on the right and the custom water bottles on the left.  After all the work it all turned out great.  We all had an amazing time.  I hope you enjoy the pictures and the ideas.  It was a great party!

Check out the Baker’s Bliss website or like them on Facebook.  Thank you Kia for stopping by and sharing your party tidbits with us!!

Happy Party Planning!

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Photo Friday – Washington Monument

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Despite living in the District of Columbia I often forget to take advantage of all the touristy things there are to do.  One afternoon the husband and I went to see the Korean War Memorial.  As we were walking towards our final destination I snapped the photo below.  I didn’t even realize how the white puffy clouds seemed to pop in the beautifully blue the sky!  It’s funny how sometimes a picture can highlight details that I didn’t notice/appreciate in person.

Have a great weekend.  Happy Friday!

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Photo Friday – Great Falls, VA

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Each time we go to New York to visit my husband’s sister and her husband or when they come to visit us we do a little day trip someplace.  It’s really fun and this summer when they came for a visit I had a specific day trip already planned before they even arrived!  We packed a picnic lunch and headed to Great Falls Virginia for the day.  Since we had planned an all day out door adventure we brought the SophDog with us to Great Falls as well!  Sophi is surprisingly good a fitting her little paws in between the rocks and climbing around.  It was a great day and this is one of my favorite pictures from the day…

I’m definitely looking forward to the warm weather returning so we can head back to Great Falls for some picnicking and hiking.

Happy Friday!  I am so glad this was a short week … aren’t you?!

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Happy New Year – 2013!!

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Happy New Year!  Can you believe it’s 2013?!?!  Last night we hosted a New Years Eve pot luck dinner with some friends.  It was a great way to welcome 2013.

I’ve never been one for making new years resolutions mainly because I can’t seem to keep them.  Instead I used to keep a list of things to do or places to go, never really managing to stick to that list either.  Every once in a while I succeed a keeping a new years resolution, like passing the PMP exam last year, but 9 times out of 10 I’m an utter failure.  Despite my affinity for skipping the new year list of resolutions  I decided to give it one last try this year.  Maybe with the list out there in the world wide web I will feel more accountable and actually follow through.

I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew so hopefully this list isn’t too lofty a list.

1 – Improve Photo Skills and Take More Photos

My husband bought me a fancy camera a few years back.  I’ve slowly learned how to use the different features on the camera as well as improved the quality of the photos taken.  The Pioneer woman taught me a lot about apertures and shutter speeds here, here and here. A few photography books have been sitting on the book shelf waiting for proper attention to be paid to them.  In order to become a better photographer one must take pictures, so taking more photos goes perfectly as a sub-resolution.  Photography is something that has been on my “to-do” list for quite some time.  I love it and yet don’t make time for it.

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2 – Get in Better Shape

I put this goal on and then took it off, but inevitably it really should be on the 2013 list.  I find many people have a similar new years resolution, which is why gyms become PACKED from January to late February.  Purposely weight is not something in the title of the resolution.  Weight is touchy and regardless of how much I do or don’t weigh I should be in better shape.  If I loose weight while getting in shape, fantastic, but it isn’t the overarching goal.  I was in great shape for our wedding.  I spent a lot of time eating well (thank you weight watchers) and taking long walks with one of my friends.  She too was working out to prep for her wedding.  Although walking is good for the body it didn’t seem like we were working out.  We would chat and laugh and walk … before I knew it the “workout” was over.  So whether it’s walking, yoga, running or weight lifting in some way shape or form the end result will hopefully be an in shape girl (errr woman) in 2013.

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3 – Stay in touch with Friend and Family

Despite being in love with talking on the phone as a child I don’t really enjoy it as an adult.  Phones were the theme for my Bat-Mitzvah, that’s how much I adored talking on the phone.  I don’t know when or how the change in behavior occurred, but it is reeking havoc on some much needed catch up conversations with family and friends.  I have a couple of friends who I miss terribly.  They are the type of friends that no matter how much time has passed you pick up right where you left off.  I am fortunate to have that type of relationship with them!!  Despite that, it feels like I am missing out on big chunks of their lives (and them on mine).  I know I should really just pick up the darn phone and call them.  So this year I am going to try to be better.  Less email/gchatting and more calls or trips to see my friends and family!

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4 – Try one new Recipe a Month

This one should be pretty easy.  Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies.  I think it’s almost therapeutic at times, so making one new recipe a month shouldn’t be too tough.  My husband’s parents got me a subscription to Fine Cooking this holiday season, which should come in particularly handy for this new years resolution.  Hopefully the new recipes will include appetizers, sides, main dishes as well as desserts.   I’m not going to put any parameters around what type of recipe needs to be cooked though … regardless of the type of dish one new one will, hopefully, be cooked each month.

5 – Be a Lady (as my sister-in-law says hehehe)

So what does being a lady entail you might ask.  Well simply is means taking better care of yourself as a woman.  Over Christmas my sister-in-law and I discussed this list to include: doing our nails, putting on (and learning how to do) makeup as well as learning how to style hair.  The nail polish part I’ve pretty much got down.  The makeup I would say I’m 50% there. I wear makeup to work and I’ve been getting closer and closer to mastering the whole smokey eye look, but there is still lots to learn.  Hair styling could be an epic fail for me.  Having long hair as a child and adult, one would logically think I would know what to do with it … however … that would be a NO.  I can french braid other people’s hair and am a master at the ponytail.  Curls, buns or any other cute hair styling ability is lost on me.  Regardless I will give it a try and maybe share some of the hair styling tidbits along the way.  In an effort to gather ideas for being a lady there’s a special Pinterest board dedicated to this resolution.

So there you have it.  Bring it on 2013!!!  I really hope I am not taking on too much for my first official list of new years resolutions!

What’s your new years resolution?  Happy 2013!

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Photo Friday – Instagram Favorite

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I had been struggling to decide if I should stick with Instagram after they changed their terms of service.  As luck would have it though it seems as though they are reverting back to the old terms of service due to the feedback from their customers!!  Therefore I am going to continue posting on Instagram!  Soooooo please follow me on Instagram!

As I looked through the pictures I’ve shared on Instagram it was clear, I am obsessed with my dog.  90% of the pictures are of her.  Ummm hello?  Nicole it is time to take pictures of other things!  My favorite non-Sophi picture was taken in Boston of a willow tree.  My oldest friend and I met for lunch over the Thanksgiving holiday and since it wasn’t too terribly cold so we took a little stroll through Boston Commons first.  The lighting seemed perfect the way it was coming through the leaves.

Although I really do love this picture I wonder if part of why I love this picture is because it reminds me of spending time with my friend.  Either way … Happy Friday!

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