Event Planning -- Baby Shower Fun!

The baby boy is already 2 months old, so I am really late with this post. I've been meaning to post this for a while… Oh well!

A couple in our life group was pregnant so all us girls decided to plan her a shower.

We all chipped in on the planning, so that was a great help. We decided to do a casual brunch shower and there were about 20 people that attended. 

The inspiration for the colors was an orange and white chevron rug in the baby's room. Plus mommy and daddy both went to OSU, so the orange fit perfectly.

I designed the invitations and put them together which helped save on cost and they turned out fantastic! We made signs for the different food and drink stations and we even had a cute menu.

We found this great shop online, ShopSweet Lulu where we found orange and white rectangle plates, striped straws, striped napkins and orange and white tissue balls to hang. They have the cutest stuff at the shop—check it out! We also used mason jars as cups, which was super cute.

For food, we had mini quiche, mini fruit and yogurt parfaits, fruit, cinnamon rolls and blueberry scones. Then for drinks we had mimosas, coffee and water. We only played one game—bingo! Bingo was played while opening gifts. Everyone filled the squares with gifts they thought mommy would receive and if she opened that gift, then you could cross off the square. It really was a fun game.

Overall the baby shower was a success. The food was great, decorations were great and we all had fun. What is even better, is that baby boy is healthy! His mom is also super mom, because she birthed a 10 pound boy! Oh man!

I love the awesome ladies in my life group and I had so much fun planning the shower with all of them! I think we make a pretty good team. 

Hope you enjoy the photos. 

~Court

New Things and Old Things Revived

I have a few new "finds" that I wanted to share with you all! I love finding good deals and/or unique items that may not be the greatest deal, but I still like them a lot.

When Nick and I visited California in September, we had the chance to stop by our friends new shop Apples and Oranges at the OC Mart Mix in Costa Mesa. This is a little blurb from their facebook page that explains what the store is all about: Apples & Oranges is a non-profit organization which allows artist, designers, and charitable organizations to be able to have a place to showcase their products with a purpose.

They really have great stuff and I came home with this little hand made pottery item that is a little jewelry dish. It sits right next to my bathroom sink and I put rings and earrings in it. How cute is it?!?!

I love it and I also love supporting local artists(even thought I'm not local to Costa Mesa anymore). If you live in Orange County, then you should check it out.




My other new "find" it this set of teak wood bowls (six small bowls and one large) at a local shop here in Skiatook called The Shop Out West.  They carry all sorts of stuff, antiques, unique furniture, guitars, dolls and lots of other items. I stop in every once in a while to see what new stuff is for sale. I think I scored with this bowl set for $20. It needs a little TLC, but nothing a little mineral oil can't fix. They will be as good as new once I am done with them. As you can see I am using the large bowl for the ridiculous amount of onions I have right now. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to buy onions at Sams Club.


Lastly, I decided to work on my kitchen decor a little and went to Hobby Lobby to see what I could find. I ended up with 3 really great items that fit so well!  I got this lovely rooster and 2 spindle candle holders. See—aren't they fun!

And the pretty Royal Copenhagen plate on the left has been sitting in a cupboard hidden, but now it is on display on top of my kitchen cabinets. This china has been passed from generation to generation. Makes me think of family and Christmas time when we would have meals on this china. 

Thats all for now!

-Court 

FALL IS HERE!

I love fall. 

Especially when the temperature cools down and the leaves start to change colors, plus there is pumpkin flavored everything! 

It is still a little warm and the leaves haven't started changing too much yet, BUT it is time to get out the fall decor. We do not have a ton of fall decorations, just a couple things and its fun to see new stuff around the house.

Here are some pics of the areas where I added fall decorations in our house. 

Dining Table Centerpiece

New Pumpkin Decoration

Front Door Wreath

Fireplace with Some Gourds and Wildflowers 

All this talk about fall makes me want some Pumpkin Bread, luckily I have a great recipe that I will post later!

~Court~

What a wonderful surprise!

I have so many blogs to write. I need more time in my day.

First off–I arrived home from Montana late last night to a wonderful (well actually several wonderful) surprise(s). I will blog about my Montana trip another day. Back to my wonderful surprise, well I found this website a while back http://ana-white.com/ and I found plans for a headboard that I wanted Nick to make. Well this was several months back and we have been really busy all summer so we haven’t had time to work on it.  So…I was in Montana for 4 days and I had to leave Nick and home. I felt terrible about leaving him all alone and each time I talked to him he said not much is going on and he is getting bored. Well that was a BIG FAT LIE!

When I walked into our bedroom for the second time after returning home (the first time I just dropped by purse and took off to look for Dixie) I noticed something different about our room. For 1–our bed was made. And 2–there was this AMAZING headboard! WHAT! I *gasped* because I was so excited. Nick spent the entire weekend building and staining our new headboard and it turned out AWESOME.  It matches our mango wood nightstand and dresser and it is distressed and awesome. Seriously. I am so excited.

Here is the link if you would like to build your own. http://ana-white.com/2010/03/plans-reclaimed-wood-look-headboard-king-size.html

Nick said the cut list is great and the general directions are good, except for he added extra support. In order to get the distressed look, Nick used an ax, nails, chain, blowtorch, and all sorts of stuff. He also did several coats of a dark walnut danish oil and tung oil varnish. He did a great job. It ended up costing $170 and many many hours. But it looks awesome. 

The other surprises were that Nick cleaned the house, did laundry and cleaned the garage. The house looks amazing. Love him!

~Court

Hot hot hot weather...so I stay inside to decorate my bathroom!

It has been really really hot. 

I mean really hot, I took this snapshot of my phone today around 3pm.

 I am ready for it to be over.

Since it is so hot... 

I play with Dixie indoors.

Exercise indoors.

Watch a lot of TV at night, because I do not want to be out on the patio. 

Even the little froggie found a cooler place to hang out–in my basil plant. He knows I water it everyday. What a smart little guy.

And I find projects to work on indoors like decorating the bathroom (powder room) downstairs that has been empty since we moved in. I like the few additions I made and I might add a few more things down the road, but this will do for now.

I really hope it cools down soon, until then, I will keep finding projects around the house to keep indoors.

- Court -