Sunday, November 29, 2009

Anthropologie Inspired First Birthday

So much eye candy here! This party makes me swoon....








Is this first birthday not one of the most gorgeous parties you have ever seen?! I just love the sophisticated vibe. And can we talk about how the bunnies were wearing dresses! I mean, how cute is that?!

Photographer, Sarah K Chen along with event planner, Lindy Ly, planned this elegant soiree for her daughter's first birthday. Anthropologie, the retail store and catalog, served as inspiration for all of the party details. I am loving the backdrop for the dessert table which resembles Anthropologie's logo.

To see more pictures of this beautiful party, visit JL Designs.


Wednesday, November 25, 2009

So Thankful & Giveaway Winner!!!

I am so excited to announce the winner of my first giveaway!! Is it so lame that I got all giddy typing in the numbers on random.org and then pushing enter?! Anyway...on to what really matters. Congratulations Ashleigh Hansberger! I promise you will LOVE your personalized notecards from Hayley!

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway and for leaving so many comments! It was so fun reading what everyone had to say and I know Hayley greatly appreciated the feedback.

Also, I cannot say thank you enough for reading this blog!! I have been having a BLAST with it and have loved "getting to know" many of you. Thank you, thank you!!

Happy Thanksgiving!


Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!!!



This year, we decided to send out Thanksgiving cards instead of Christmas cards. We have lots of celebrations coming up in December and January, so I did not want to overload our friends and family with mail!

Please excuse my TERRIBLE scanning job!! I am so happy with how the cards turned out...although you can't tell here. I love the mustard yellow and grey color combination. It feels like fall and gives me warm fuzzies. =)

I'm not sure if I will be able to write a post (besides the giveaway winner) until after the holiday, so please let me wish everyone a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!!

Remember to enter the giveaway! The contest ends tomorrow night!

Photography and card designed by Candid Chic Photography


Sunday, November 22, 2009

Thanksgiving Centerpiece

This centerpiece is stunning and would be perfect at your Thanksgiving table!

I have always loved this picture from Martha Stewart. You can find the instructions at here.

Please let me apologize AGAIN for the lack of posts lately. We have had so much going on and my oldest has been sick with a nasty cold. I'll post a few things this week, but I will be back with LOTS of great real parties after the holidays!


Happy Thanksgiving!!!


Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Conversation Napkins

I just love this idea! These cocktail napkins would not only work for a wedding reception, but would be great at any event...rehearsal dinner, engagement party, couples shower, lingerie shower...you name it!

photo via Keely Thorne Events on Facebook


Tuesday, November 17, 2009

My First Giveaway!

I am SO excited to announce that I am having my first giveaway!! My good friend and stationery extraordinaire, Hayley Hardcastle, has generously offered
to donate 25 personalized notecards to the lucky winner. Be sure to read below on how to enter.




How to Enter:

1. Hop on over to HH Design House and browse the notecard section under galleries. Leave a comment here letting me know which style is your favorite.

2. To better your chances and to gain lots of party inspiration, look through however many invitation designs you have time for and let me know which one caught your eye.

Be sure to leave two separate comments and please include your e-mail address, so that I can contact you.

The winner will be chosen by random.org on Wednesday, November 25th.
Good luck!!




Sunday, November 15, 2009

Real Parties: A Fall Birthday Celebration

Here are pictures from Henry's second birthday party put on by his mom and my close friend, Julianna. She always throws great parties that are perfectly coordinated!









Party Details...especially for the for the Dallas crowd:

Gorgeous fall cake and cake balls - Tart Pastry Boutique
Caramel apples - Daffy Apple
Whoopie Pies - Corner Bakery
Popcorn balls - Candy Corn's in Snyder Plaza
Paper goodies & invitation - HH Design House
Tables, chairs & tablecloths - Ducky Bob's
Copper accessories - Target


Friday, November 13, 2009

A Walk Down Memory Lane


Hello all! I apologize for the lack of posts!! It has been a hectic, but fun week. We have had lots of fun things going on and I've hardly had time to sit down and blog away. Thanks for bearing with me!

Today is a special day for me. My husband and I are celebrating five years of marriage! Five years and two kids later, I still love him to pieces and am so thankful for him everyday.

Here are a few pictures from our wedding day. Some of the images are a little blurry (long story). I'm so bummed I do not have more decor photos to share with you! For some reason, I just have this random bunch that was given to me by my photographer.




We had such a great time at our rehearsal dinner! Since our wedding was ultra-formal, we decided to have a very casual dinner the night before. We went with a Western theme, of course, since we are from Texas...and we were living in New York at the time and wanted to show our NY friends the Texas way. =)



Photography by Wedding Stories


Thursday, November 5, 2009

Real Parties: Cupcakes & Cocktails

Without further ado, here are the pictures from the Cupcakes + Cocktails event I coordinated for great friends! It was so nice to have the opportunity to dive back into the professional party planning world, even if it was just for a short time.
As always, my friend Hayley Hardcastle came up with the perfect invitation for the soiree!

Since the bride is having her wedding in November, the colors of the party reflected the rich colors of fall...burgundy, pumpkin orange, gold & chocolate brown.

A Fare Extraordinare catered the event and the food was delicious! The focus of the evening, as you can imagine, was the cupcakes + cocktails station. AFE styled the area to perfection with the help of floral designer, Events in Bloom.

Cupcakes were displayed on stacked lucite boxes.

Three signature drinks were offered that evening and each had a special name that related to the bride and the wedding. The drink names were printed on swanky paper and displayed in a gorgeous frame.


To further help the ladies decide which drink they wanted to order, we had a tray with a mock up of each beverage.


The cupcake choices were also displayed on a menu for guests to read.



Mini grilled cheese sandwiches cut out in the shapes of hearts along with tomato basil soup shots were passed around to party guests.







Since this was a cupcake party, what better favors to offer guests than cupcake mixes elegantly packaged! Guests could choose whether they wanted to take home a chocolate or champagne mix. The brown satin ribbon indicated the chocolate and the gold ribbon indicated the champagne flavor.


Thank you Kristen, Cindy and Paige for asking me to help make this a memorable event! Hopefully we can come up with another party one day soon!

Angela Francis of Bella Smile Photography documented the evening.