Mental Vacation

Let's go....

Source: amberinteriordesign.blogspot.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Good things...under $10

A while back I did a post of my favorite things under $10, found here. Here are some new ones...

Downey Simple Pleasures dryer sheets in Sage Jasmine Thrill. I have never beeen a fan of dryer sheets, they are usually just too strong and overpowering for me. These leave just a faint scent, just simple...and pleasurable. hurray!

Valhrona Dark Chocolate 71% Cacao. The word is out that dark chocolate is actually good for you in small amounts, so this is my new nighttime snack. I have done extensive taste tests (okay, maybe I just tried 2 other kinds but anyway) and this is the best. Of course it is expensive at a buck for just a little bar. But if you have discipline it can last you 3 nights! I find it at the Trader Joe's checkout stand.

Kosher Salt. How did I cook before without this. Using table salt? Ugh. I'll never go back.

Clorox Bleach Pen...I just got this little guy because I spilled chocolate milk on my new white jeans, and the stain went bye bye!

Which reminds me of one of my other new favorite things...Sorry the ten dollar thing is out the window with the next two.

White Jeans from Zara....found here. Still affordable, under 50 bucks!

I love them with the J. Crew Vintage V-neck tee.  You can dress it up or down. I love J. Crew but I find their stuff can be hit or miss with me. Not this baby, this is my favorite tee out there, hands down, love it. Collecting all the colors...

By the way, if you are reading this, you most likely were re-directed from my old blog address, so thanks for coming over! I am trying to work out a few things, like my sidebar links coming back. Hopefully they will be fixed soon! And please follow me up on the top left if you can.

xoxo

Blog Finds

I just added two new blogs to my sidebar that I came across recently. One of them is called The Peaceful Mom. She is a mom of four, on a budget, and homeschooling. I am inspired! Her motto: save money, get organized, and enjoy life. Sounds good to me.

And Eat Yourself Skinny....lots of yum looking easy recipes that aren't full of fat. Check it out...

A Merry Un-Birthday to Carys!

Be prepared, this post has more pictures than usual, but my friend Andi got so many good shots, I couldn't resist. Carys just turned 4 so we threw her an Alice inspired tea party. I had a lot of fun planning it, and it was a lot less stressful because it we only had her girlfriends over so there was about 10 girls. I can definitely feed 10 girls and their mommies with no (ok just a little) stress! I tried to keep everything as budget friendly as possible. I thought I could find enough tea cups at thrift stores but there were hardly any. So I found a good deal on Amazon and the cups doubled as the favors too.

First, here was the invite done by the fabulous Joy Sexton...pretty much, you should hire her. You can see her website here.

Each girls cup was personalized with a name tag.

We decorated each chair with tulle and different wrapping ribbons.

Lots of paper lanterns in different colors (dark and light pink, orange, and yellow) and a couple diy tulle balls overhead.

There was a table for the girls to decorate their own hats with ribbon, flowers, and feathers.

Here's the birthday girl, 4 years old!

I already had this Ikea heart rug to put under her chair.

Love this shot...this is why moms throw parties, to see this face!
 Also, in the background is a 'Pin the Grin on the cheshire cat' game we had made.

Happy faces Annabelle and Sydney

I have to say I was proud of my girl because she is usually too shy or scared to play party games. But she did it this day!

Finally got her into this Alice dress to blow out her candles. The flowers were from Costco and the cute flower pot is from Ikea.

My mom had this garden rabbit and she dressed him up with a pocket watch, pink vest, bow tie and glasses so he was our "white rabbit". It was so cute. For the tea party food, we made two kinds of sandwiches, grilled cheese and strawberry cream cheese/banana and then carrot sticks with ranch on the side.

She also made sugar cookies that had "Eat Me" written in frosting.

My husband made these Wonderland direction signs, we had a bunch hung up around the party. I also made this playing card garland with cards from the dollar store.

The cake was delicious but the strawberries made the ganache run a little. Its OK, the girls didn't seem to mind.

On the gift table I put a sign that read "Open Me". For some reason I was really excited about this.

Thought this shot of her friend Katie was so sweet.

Watchful girls checking out the gifts.

Elena agrees...the cake was good. :)

Of course Miss Charlie was there too! I barely saw her the whole time, she just ran around in the backyard...such a good baby!

Resources:

Invites - Joy Sexton Design

Paper Lanterns - Just Artifacts (the best deal online)

Tea Party hats- Halo Heaven

Table cloth - fabric from Joann's

Runner & Tea Pots - Thrift store

Tea Cups - Amazon

Cake - Pavilions

Cheshire cat poster - Zazzle.com

Pins of the Week

I love this Palm Springs look. This is kind of what I'm going for with our house exterior, I am on my way with the paint color. And look, gold flamingos!

Source: 100layercake.com via Kathy on Pinterest

These e-cards are everywhere lately, and they are usually awesome....

Source: static.someecards.com via Kathy on Pinterest

Love these serving dishes...

Source: dwellstudio.com via Kathy on Pinterest

How cool is this animal-themed kids party....

Source: livethemma.ikea.se via Kathy on Pinterest

Summer is almost here! I mean, I don't have a boat...but yay summer is almost here!

Source: Uploaded by user via Kathy on Pinterest

Yes!

Source: everythinglovely.tumblr.com via Kathy on Pinterest