Quick Gift

Yesterday was the kids official last day and it was utter "MAYhem" the last month.  

Here is my rant: The last week of school is a super hectic time for moms (and, like, one dad) whether they work or stay home (or work an outside job but seem like they stay at home). There is an ever-increasing list of things to do before life is totally turned upside down on Friday afternoon. I am not sure why this is also the time that there are 17 mandatory engagements at the school or why this is the week that every important cause needs to hold an event. Yes, I know these are choices, but not really..... I have taken the bar exam, worked full-time and had two babies--all pieces of cake compared to this week! Before you assume someone is totally free and available because they "stay home," consider the value of their time. 

Okay, back to my regularly scheduled fluff!  For the last day , between (no-joke) four other school events, I threw together these cute lemonade themed gifts for the teacher:  Who doesn't love an acrylic drink dispenser on their patio??  I filled them with stripey straws and jalapeno lemonade mix.  To complete the Tex-Mex theme, I added Patron Gold and a small bottle of Tito's.

While I had the supplies out, I also left  a special note and some candies in the girls' lunches.  I won't miss packing lunches for 12 weeks!!!!

Why I love my community: Flowers, Favors, and Friendship

Where we live is the butt of some jokes on all ends of the spectrum--too nice, not nice enough--we can't win.  On a the sarcastic "judgmental map" of our city, we live right in between "Snobs," "Snobby Jews," and "Some Black people" (these were the words on the map, not mine).  The really fancy and less diverse area is a little south of us; its residents think that we are leeches on their good school system.  We have also been accused of being cliquish in general . How can we be cliquish snobs and leaches at the same time??!!

I prefer to look at it as that we live in a nice area of town that happens to have great diversity.   I say we are just a community of people who take care of one another.   If you get cancer or have a car accident, the community wraps you in love for months. If you have a baby, home-made meals arrive by the truckloads!  The same is true of life's celebrations.  We all pitch in and help out.  We are the recipients and givers of favors and kindness.  The giving feels even better than the receiving! Here are two sweet favors that I got to pull off recently:

A friend of mine is giving a graduation party for her daughter and 3 friends this weekend.  To add some collegiate flair to the celebration, she is going to have giant balloons with each of the girl's future college logos.  I used my cutting machine to make these logos (plus ones for two other U's).  So adorable!

Also on the cutting machine, I embellished some vases last week.  I later filled them with flowers for a friend whose daughter's bat mitzvah was last weekend.  She needed a few arrangements for their family's Friday Night dinner and then for Sunday's farewell brunch.  Aren't they sweet?

These are just a few of the kinds of things we all do for one another and I receive the kindness back ten-fold.  Sound like a horrible place to live, right???

Scenes from Teacher Appreciation Week

This was my second year co-chairing teacher appreciation at the baby's school.  If you read this blog much, you know that we are responsible for things all year-round, but our biggest task is National Teacher Appreciation Week.  Monday morning found me loading the car with these goodies:

 Several generous moms met me and my co-chairs in the teachers lounge to set up a Palm Beach inspired brunch.

In hindsight, we should have done a backdrop with Lily-fabric, but some kids made cute posters for us!










Tuesday was the actual national day of celebration so we had  "special delivery" notes of appreciation.  We even had a cute post-mark (which I can't show for privacy reason).

Wednesday, we had a Pie Bar--who doesn't like pie???

 

I should crop this to show you how precious it was in person, but I am so lazy right now!

Thursday, Cinco de Mayo, was our luncheon .  As we had done in previous years, we had to go Mexican!

Friday was the Grandest Finale of All: The Gift Card Game! Our cute 3rd graders walked around to teachers and staff with a precious poster board filled with gift cards with denominations ranging from $5 to $100 dollars. The idea was that it was a total gamble how much you got or where it was to:

Of course, most people got $5 or $10, but a precious first year teacher got 100 to Gap/Banana/Old Navy and above is a pic of our favorite vegetarian getting $50 to Ruth's Chris.  See,its all a gamble??!

It is not hard to want to celebrate these teachers because they do so much above and beyond for our kids.  I hope that your teachers are as great and that   you get the chance to tell them so!  If you are a mom too, you will know this phase of little kids is so short: you might as well celebrate everything!

Pretty Passover Post Mortem

Every time we have a big event, my friend Anna and I like to do the recap.  You know, the post mortem where you go over every detail of an event--the good, bad and the ugly?  In this case, it wasn't really ugly because I had a pretty Passover Seder.  I don't have any pictures of the actual meal or the way it looked at night,  because we were in the middle of a religious holiday.  I do have some good shots of the table as it was being set! Wanna' do the recap with me???

Our group has outgrown my dinning room.  We held the service and dinner in our basement.  This isn't the best picture, but here you can see that we had one long adult table and two rounds filled with kids!

I served Champagne Cocktails, Sparkling Water, and crudites upstairs as guests gathered.  I am in love with these ""Next Year in Jerusalem" cocktail napkins that I custom-ordered from Stationery Studio!

 After a critical mass we gathered, we headed downstairs for the service and dinner.  Here is the adult table bathed in late afternoon light. All the food was eventually on the buffet.

From this angle, you can see that there was a dessert and coffee station in the rear.

We also had a wash station, as hand washing is a part of the ritual.  Some people have a special pitcher just for this, but I set up my own with things that we have:

Even though this is a very special holiday, I don't have enough good china to serve 40, so I went with upscale disposables and my "buffet" silverware--very industrial stuff for large crowds:

I used every wine glass we own and pulled out these adorable plastic L'Chaim cups for ice water.  They were shatterproof for kids and adults alike:

I had already purchased vases to do an arrangement of peonies and garden roses when one of our swet guests asked if she could provide the flowers.  I gave her florist my vases and they made these lovelies!  I am not going to lie, it was HARD handing over the reigns.  In the end it was a huge help to have one thing off my to-do list.  Aren't they sweet??

 On the kids' tables, we had bottles of grape juice and Passover finger puppets ( a plagues set and a four questions set).  The puppets were given to as baby gifts and we still use them!  Thanks Mindy!!!!

The meal is served in four courses--the ritual foods, a soup course , which I served in mugs, dinner and dessert.  All of it was beautiful, but I have no pictures because we were in the thick of it.  I will leave you with a picture of the sweet creation made my daughter. Not pinterest-worthy, but a yummy precious craft! From our house to yours, we hope you Celebrate all life's moments!

Put it in your pocket

I am swamped getting ready for my 40 guests for Passover dinner Friday night!  One of the things I crossed off my list yesterday was preparing the place cards and napkins. I wanted a cute way to display my DIY Haggadah (prayer book for the Seder), so I went to a pocket fold.  Pocket-folded napkins are a great way to show off programs and menus and are super simple to do! Since most people only see these at weddings and events, it is a fun way to elevate a home celebration!

First lay your napkin flat on a surface with the "good" side up.

Don't worry too much about seams as you can smooth them out as you go.  I got my napkins 5/$2.50 from Smarty Had a Party years ago.  Next, place your program or book/menu in the very center and fold the bottom up about half-way over your object:

Then, fold the bottom of the napkin up again to meet your top fold like so:

Now is the tricky-ish part.  Flip the whole thing over and fold one side to the center:

When you fold the second side in, you want to tuck it into the flap created by the first side:

And voila!  Pocket-folded napkins!

Fun, huh?  Whatever you celebrate, celebrate it beautifully!

Rock On (The never-ending saga)

Remember when I wanted to get two pieces of marble art like this one Grandin Road?

They were perfect, but I needed two of needed the more expensive 48" ones!  You may remember that my husband likes "real" art, whereas I like to get stuff that matches the decor.  We both actually liked these but not the $510 price tag for the gold framed-pair.

                                                

Well, the HomeGoods-Powers-that-be smiled on me once again.  I found this exact thing in 39" for a cool $100, but, alas, only one.  I couldn't buy a mate on Grandin because they sell a smaller one and a larger one but not the medium size.  I started scouring every Home Goods in our area for the mate--I even drove to an out of state (but close by-ish) location.   I didn't find the mate, but bought several things that were close-enough until finally my dining room started to look like the HomeGoods or Tuesday Morning art department.  Forgive the blurry pics, but here were some choices: 

 Some were brightly colored while others were more like muted waves.

 Others were the exact same picture but sans gold speckles or frames:

Finally, I conceded it wasn't going to happen.  In a last ditch effort, I decided to using Google Reverse Image Search to see if a 39" Gold framed piece was out there.  If you aren't familiar with this feature--you actually upload an image and google will find the image on the web.  I have saved lots of money by price comparison this way.   

Low and behold, Lamps Plus had the medium sized piece at a medium sized price with gold speckles and all.  I was all set to order just one from them to be the mate to my Homegoods Find, but I noticed the frame was silver.  I thought about buying one and painting one or both, but decided just to buy a pair from Lamps Plus. I returned the rest.

The lamps Plus packages arrived quickly and the pieces are absolutely beautiful!  The packaging was perfect and they arrived in fantastic shape.  We unpacked them and threw away the box.  Three days later, we got out our ooks and hung them.  We gazed upon them lovingly--they are really dreamy!

Then a half an hour later, we heard the crash.

In some sort of  weird accident, the actual hook on the frame fell out, sending the frame crashing down.   With only a short while until guests were set to arrive, I did a quick repair on two of the four corners, but it is clear that the frame is forever ruined.   

I spoke to the most helpful and polite customer service rep and she is helping me through this process. I am not sure of the outcome yet, but my experience with her alone is very positive that I think it will work out favorably!  I still love the image.   Until then, the saga continues.....

Passover Planning and Online Party-Supply Shopping!

I am linking up with Kelly's Korner.  She's talking on-line boutiques.  I don't buy a lot of clothes on-line anymore because I Stitch Fix, which I guess is my favorite online boutique.  BUT I sure do love a good on-line party resource, and thought I would share those.  I am using a lot to plan for Passover right now--you can skip the religious part if you just want to get to the shopping!

 I have been giving my house a deep, deep cleaning and reorganization.  For our family, this Extreme Spring Cleaning can only mean one thing: Passover is coming! If you are unfamiliar with the custom, Passover commemorates the Jewish people's Exodus.  It's a really meaningful holiday with themes of oppression, freedom, wonders,  miracles and G-d's mighty hand.  Central to the observance is to refrain from eating leavened products during the holiday because the Israelites had to leave Egypt without allowing time for their bread to rise.  Its why our Matzah (and other people's communion wafers) are so flat. You are supposed to clean your home so that not one crumb of "forbidden" food could be found in your house during the week-long holiday.  My observance is not as strict as some, but I think it is a perfect time to clean up my act (actually and spiritually). And, I happen to be having forty (yup 4-0) people to dinner the first night!!!!!!!!! Here is what I am planning:

I am always prepared to entertain a crowd and have oodles of folding tables and chairs at the ready.  This crowd tested even my massive supply--I have to bring in.  Rather than have a hodgepodge of mine and the rental company's chairs, I am just renting tables and 40 white folding chairs and these beautiful peacock-inspired linens.  I actually have 50 hot pink cloth napkins from a shower I gave once (more on that in a minute), so navy and pink became my theme.  Won't big pink blooms look so preppy and fresh on those navy cloths???!!!

The same goes for plates. I simply don't have service for forty and renting can become tricky as some of our guests will only eat on dishes specifically designated for Passover.  I know this can sound quite foreign if you are from a different religion (and I personally have a slightly relaxed stance on it), but I want everyone to feel comfortable. Which brings me to one of my favorite places to shop on-line:   Smarty Had a Party!

Find Smarty had a Party here .  It is on-line only and is my go-to source for partyware.  They have the most beautiful selection of disposables that leave you wondering if they are disposable at all.  With intrate shapes and amazing colors, they will wow you with their dishes.  I selected a silver polka dot set for this event.  They even have an eco-friendly line of bamboo if you are nervous about the waste factor!  My favorite are the picks and mini dishes that make even simple appetizers and mini-desserts that wow.  Find those here .

Another thing from SHAP that I love to the moon and back are their unreasonably reasonable cloth tablecloths, napkins and runners.  At about 50 cents each and in a variety of colors, the napkins are almost cheaper than buying paper.  These are not heirloom quality linens, but they are real, and people often comment on how nice it is to have cloth as opposed to paper.  I have used mine for gatherings and teacher appreciation meals, and oodles of friends have borrowed them.  They hold up!  Don't even get me started on the $3 pintuck runners!!!!!!  I was not paid to say this, I just love this website!!!!!  After countless orders, the only thing that didn't wow me were the   "satin" linens (which is probably just a matter of personal taste anyhow).  .....but they don't have is personalized stuff (whump, whump), which brings me to a second favorite online store for personalized party supplies.

I am a lover of personalized items and monogrammed notecards.  This extends to an extreme need to have foil-pressed napkins.  I think I got this from being in a Southern Sorority--we ordered napkins practically anytime anyone sneezed!  I am surprised we didn't have any with "achoo" written on them.   I like ones with our monograms, the theme of the party, clever sayings, and the like.  There are many, many websites that sell these items now, but it was not always the case. Long ago, long ago I discovered The Stationery Studio.  It was probably one of the first of its type on the web and can still be found here.

The Stationery Studio has it all from preppy papers and invitations to personalized bags and (of course) napkins.  I called on them for my Passover celebration to create Napkins that say "Next Year in Jerusalem!"  This is a common phrase for the holiday--it doesn't refer to actual Jerusalem, but more may we all live in a city of peace.  While I was at it, I had them make polka dotted cups that say "L'Chaim"--its like Jewish "Cheers!"

Finally, I have to say that I was inspired by have been drooling over these cups by Memphis-based party planner and Esty seller Natalie Chang.  Her Christian themed cups had this Jewish girl's mind racing.  I would have done custom with her and will do so in the future when I have more turn around time (I love supporting Memphis business even though I live away now).  How sweet is that coffee cup? She also sells pre-made napkins and other cups here: 

The last thing in my inspiration board is a graphic from the Haggadah I compiled.  That's the prayer book that you use to conduct the Seder (ritual meal the first night).  I cannot find the source where I got those sweet graphics but they really make the book pop and will help the kids know where we are in the service.  There are so many good Haggadahs out there, but the ones for small children seem too simplistic and my middle-aged kids would never sit through the adult version.  So I made these--mostly paraphrasing other people's smart words.  My cool fonts disappeared when I uploaded it,but I thought someone out there may benefit from seeing mine here

If you celebrate, have a meaningful holiday and if not, I hope you will spend sometime checking out these great shops!!!!