The Crazy First-Time Mom's Guide to First Birthday Party Planning

Having just experienced the excitement and build up leading to my daughter's first birthday, I thought I would share my experience.

At first when I began thinking about my first-born daughter's upcoming birthday, about two months prior to the big day, I thought that I would try and keep it really simple.  I'd heard the stories of exhausted babies throwing fits or falling asleep before their cake came out and I decided to avoid that scenario by doing 'cupcakes at the park'.  This way I thought it would be very simple with very little preparation or clean up so we could all enjoy the day. 

About two weeks later, I began worrying that maybe cupcakes at the park wasn't quite good enough for my first baby!  I mean, this is an important milestone after all and there will be pictures that reflect how much effort I did or did not put into the affair, so not wanting to scar my child for lack of implied effort, I decided to try and make it at least a bit special.  It helped that a catalogue from Party Express, a cheap mass-produced party supply company, arrived.  There was actually a very cute pink and brown owl pinata for babies, so I decided on this as the theme for the party and proceeded to order the pinata as well as some balloons etc. 

So now that I had a theme I was committed.  I decided paper invites sent via snail mail were an absolute must, as they really are so much nicer (and more rare) than e-vites!  So I ordered a digital invite on Etsy.com and printed them up at my local Kinko's.  I mailed these about six weeks prior to the day to give everyone plenty of time to save the date.

Next came favor bags!  I purchased paper bags, tissue paper and goodies (old-fashioned candy, small polka-dot rubber ducks, kaleidescopes, etc.) from Party City and then printed the round labels and stamped them with an owl.

The day before the party I spent several hours making owl cupcakes.  I would love to take credit for the creativity involved in putting together the adorable owls, but alas I got the idea from a book called 'Hello Cupcake'.  Very cute indeed and the centerpiece of the food table (see below). 

Other food included various tea sandwiches (chicken salad, cucumber and cream cheese, and my childhood favorite, pimento cheese) and fruit cups. In keeping with the pink and brown color theme I offered pink lemonade as well as Pimm's lemonade, a tranditional british summer drink that is super yummy (and also slightly alcoholic!). 

 The owl pinata took center stage on the 'gift table'.  This is at the very beginning of the party.  The gifts certainly piled up from all of our generous friends!  I think Lily's toys actually doubled that day!

 I couldn't imagine dressing Lily in just any old outfit for her special day so I ordered a custom-monnogrammed onesie and matching bloomers from Etsy.com  The onesie also had an owl in keeping with theme.  These paired well with a tutu that my Aunt Ardy sent her when she was born.  Seriously, she had to wear a tutu even though my husband was at first opposed to the idea.  Here she is with the 'ball pit' I put together for the party ($10 inflatable swimming pool plus 3 $10 bags of 100 balls from Walmart).  Doesn't she look fab?!

And seriously, how about that monnogrammed butt?!! 

Here I am with the birthday girl and my husband.  It was quite a day and everything went really well!  Aren't we looking very pleased with ourselves? :)

And finally, here's a group shot of everyone that came out to celebrate.  Well, many who came out to celebrate, as we couldn't quite corral everyone at once!!  My husband had almost demanded that I use my powers of persuasion to get everyone together for this shot and, at the time, I didn't see the value, but now I LOVE that we got this group shot!  So well done, hon!!

So that's it in a nutshell.  Three days of preparation for a 2-hour party, but hey, at least she'll have pictures that prove we actually do love her enough to make an effort for her.  Love ya, Lily!  See, now you have proof for all those future instances where I'm sure you'll question this fact! :)



My Simple Weekly Management Calendar

Well today I thought I'd lay it all bare and talk about how I attempt to manage my days and weeks as a stay-at-home mom.  I have always been a big fan of 'to-do' lists, but have never gotten hooked on any of the fancy planners that are out there (e.g. Franklin Covey, etc).  So in an effort to be slightly more organized (i.e. I used to jot down all my lists on scraps of paper that would inevitably get lost!), I have started using a weekly calendar that I simply draw up on computer paper.  I use this in conjunction with a monthly calendar that sits on my fridge. 

Here's this week's calendar and you can see by the scribble on Monday that it is now Tuesday!  My daughter's 12 month well-baby check up was this morning (she had five shots, poor baby!) and the cross-out through the eye appointment is because my husband took my car for the afternoon since his is in the shop - ugh!  I did, however, manage to purchase tickets to see The Blue Man Group, which was a key to-do item for the day since tickets just went on sale today - yay!

You can see too that I have a row going across the bottom where I've done some meal planning for the week.  This means I look in the fridge, freezer and pantry to try and figure out which meals I can make with my existing ingredients. Any items that I don't have on-hand, I write at the top of my weekly calendar in my little 'shopping' box. Tonight we will have the Parmesan garlic chicken breasts and accoutrements. 

Also at the bottom I have a row called 'Weekly Goals'.  Each week when I'm creating my little calendar (usually Monday morning) I try to determine which of my many to-do items should take priority that week and then I jot them down in this section to be crossed off or checked off as I complete them. 

Speaking of which, one of my goals this week was to complete (yes, actually COMPLETE and not just START, which is never a problem!) one sewing project.  So I rolled up my sleeves and knocked out a throw pillow cover out of some fabric that had been collecting dust!  Here it is ...

Right now it's sitting on my bed, but I'm thinking it will work better in the living room since the cream is kind of fighting with the white of my duvet cover!  But anyway, now I can check off my weekly goal of completing one sewing project - hooray!  Another goal for this week is to complete at least one blog post, so as soon as I sign off on this post I am looking forward to the satisfaction of crossing off one more goal :).

One new addition to the calendar this week is a section for me to track my alcohol, caffeine and desert intake!  After a weekend of serious indulgences while visiting my sister in the Bay area, I decided I need to be vigilant for at least this week to try and get myself back on track.  So, I am only allowing myself 4 units of alcohol and caffeine, and 3 deserts for the whole week.  As I consume these items I will tick off the boxes and, once all have been ticked off in any category, I'm no longer allowed that item!  I know some of you may think this is pretty generous, but seriously, if you had any idea how many of these items I generally consume on a weekly basis, I'm sure you would see what a challenge this is going to be for me!  So it's Tuesday and I still have 3 units of alcohol and caffeine left, and all 3 desserts!  This is a big achievement for one who could easily have consumed all my weekly units in one day in my former life (i.e. before yesterday!).

So now maybe in liue of the afternoon coffee or tea and cookies I'd usually have, I'll go drink some more of that herbal-infused water I'm hooked on lately! Persian cucumber water is calling my name! 

Have a wonderful day, friends!



Summertime and the Livin' is Easy

In the eternal words of Billie Holiday, it's 'Summertime and the Livin' is Easy'.  I love these old lyrics and this morning, as I watered plants in my garden, I took a few minutes to attempt some easy livin' myself!

I looked around me and saw some of the many butterflies and spiders that have taken up residence in my garden over the last few weeks.  As they floated through the air, flitting from one flower to another, and industriously worked on their webs, it made me think about the simplicity of their lives.  They are simply living their lives in the moment, with no worry or care for what tomorrow might bring.

So I took a queu from them, put down my hose and opted for one of my favorite summertime treats,  flavored water.  During these warm days it's more important than ever to stay hydrated and how better to do that than through homemade flavored water?  I love this concept because it completely reminds me of fancy schmancy hotels like my favorite, The Parker in Palm Springs!

So kiddos, DO try this at home!  Grab an herb from your garden like the fresh mint I added to my ice water (see pic above) or something from the kitchen (try watermelon, cucumber, berries, etc.), mix with ice water and enjoy!!  How refreshing and easy is that?

So make it an easy summer, friends, and enjoy each moment!

Finding Joy in Everything You Do

Since this blog is about enjoying the simple pleasures of life, I thought it appropriate that my first post be about learning how to find joy in everything we do, including the mundane tasks of life. 

As a homemaker, I find that my day is generally made up of a string of monotonous tasks such as loading and unloading the dishwasher, feeding my daughter (Lily, 12 mo's) and subsequently cleaning the highchair and floor many times each day, picking up the items that Lily has unceremoniously tossed out of cabinets, drawers, etc.  It's easy to get frustrated and annoyed with the seemingly purposelessness of these tasks, so in order to find happiness and contentment as a stay at home mother, it is essential that I learn to find joy in everything I do.

I think the most successful people in life are those that find pleasure in their work by doing it to the best of their abilities.  That is, whether you're a janitor cleaning toilets, a stay-at-home mom wiping runny noses, or a CEO running a Fortune 500 company, the best way to enjoy your work and life is to do everything as well as you can. 

For me this means that when I clean my kitchen and tidy the house umpteen times a day, it is important that I focus on doing it well. It is easy to do the task begrudgingly and only well enough to squeek by, but this only leads to further frustration since it immediately works its way back into the messy category.  Isn't that the way it goes?  It's like the case of graffiti on the wall or a broken window.  Once these items are left and not cleaned off / repaired immediately they only pave the way for further destruction!  There have been many test cases where this has proven to be the case and I think it's the same with housework!!  You must do the best job you can so that others (and yourself!) will respect the cleanliness and strive to keep it in order.  Plus, there's something deeply satisfying in a job well done!

Something my pastor said yesterday at church really resonated with me and caused me to think about the concept of finding joy in every little moment.  In talking about God's plan, he said that Jesus knew from birth that he was headed to the Cross.  This was only a by-note of his sermon, but really got me thinking about living purposefully.  How would we live our lives differently if we each knew that we had a certain amount of time allotted to us, as Jesus did?  If we were all born knowing we would have 33 years on this earth, how would our lives be different? 

None of us are guaranteed a moment longer on this earth than the present moment.  If we lived our lives continuously aware of this fact and not, as we do, taking each moment for granted, how would this change our lives over the course of a lifetime?  Imagine lying on your deathbed and looking back over your life if you had lived life in this way, making the most of each moment.   

This ties back to the concept of finding pleasure in everything that we do because if we live each moment as if it is or could be our last, then we will want to enjoy whatever we are doing in that moment.  Whether we are cleaning a toilet, changing a diaper or preparing a major presentation, we will want to live in that moment and enjoy the simple (or not so simple in the case of a CEO) task at hand.

So on that note, I'm off to fold laundry and to enjoy every minute of it!  Have a wonderful day, friends!!