Party Planning

My niece Olivia is turning one soon! Sooooo that means I kind of get to help a little with her first birthday party. My sister-in-law loved the idea of doing an Olivia themed party, which I am totally into because could Olivia be any cuter?

A few months ago I bookmarked this adorable Olivia party that was featured on Emma's World. Isn't this cake adorable???

I love the idea of signing a book as a guestbook.

And these straws are so clever! :) She just printed these out and adhered them to the straws. I mean, I could do this!

For more of the traditional, black, white and red Olivia readers, Hostess with the Mostess featured this Olivia party. We must find a life-sized Olivia cut out!

This cake is also very cute featured at Sweet Mint Studios.


Now my sister-in-law's life is a little more exciting than mine, so she might not have time for all of the crafting. I thought these Olivia party supplies were still really cute and would be fun with a few handcrafted accents from Aunt Cake (that would be me). :)

Any ideas for the party ? Let me know! Olivia will turn one in January, but we are going to have her party at Christmas while she is in town visiting. I love having something to look forward to!

Making my list and checking it twice...

I am sure you all have been waiting with bated breath to see what I am asking Santa for this year. So here you have it...

I may or may not have already ordered this adorable bag to be given to me by my inlaws. Isn't it cute?? Love it! It is from Ann Taylor and I have had my eye on it for some time. This weekend everything is 40% off, so thank you Mary Ann and Vic. I will try to forget about it in the next 27 days.

Confession: I love Family Fued. Love it, love it, love it. Well, playing it mostly...not so much on tv. It became an obsession in college when I only had 8 hours my last semester. (Clearly, I had a lot of spare time on my hands.) The only problem with Family Fued is that I have been playing it recently on my phone and I apparently do not think like the masses. Maybe this is why I am in the creative field...

I am in need of new sheets and I love the Beech Sateen sheets from Bed, Bath and Beyond. They are all-natural, environmentally friendly and so, so soft. And they are really affordable, especially with your 20% off coupon.

I also would love a subscription to Rachael Ray's magazine. Right now you can get a year subscription for $5!!! What a great deal for a gift!

I am also in need of a fireplace screen. Believe it or not, Tommy is actually picky about this. Who knew? I like this one from Plow and Hearth. He thinks "it is fine." So, maybe this one is a go?

I am dying to know what is on your list and what I am missing out on! Do tell in the comments!

It definitely looks like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

And the winner is!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, all! Our winner of the Chocolate Chip Okies giveaway was NatRenfrow! Her response was: Fun!! Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip would be our favorite.

Congratulations, Natalie!!!

PS

There is still one more day to enter my contest!! If you haven't entered yet, click here for a chance to win 20 gourmet cookies from Chocolate Chip Okies.

How did I not know about this????

You know how Oprah had her Ultimate Fans on her Favorite Things Show? I am like that with Zumba - love it, obsessed with it, will tell all of my friends/acquaintances/people in the check out line about it!! How did I not know they now have one of the Top 7 Wii games out right now??? Tommy, are you reading this? :)

Flower Party

I know I have mentioned my flower business several times on my blog. While I loved to do flowers, the actual working with perishable items for people's weddings was super stressful.

Annually, my flower partner and I have made it an event to get together the Sunday before Thanksgiving to do flowers for friends, family and ourselves for the holiday. And it is always so much fun!

Saturday my mom and I went to Sam's and got tons of flowers. (So many that people even stopped us in the store to ask what we were going to be doing.)

Snipped and ready to go.

Lindy, my mom's good friend, came and had never done a flower arrangement in foam before. I think she did awesome!!!

I made three arrangements for friends.

All together now.

My mom did this for her next door neighbor. She did a great job.

And I love, love, love what Brenna did with her arrangements. Aren't these adorable???

She is so creative!!

My favorite thing is that we all had the same flowers to work with, but they all look so unique and different.

I also made one for myself. I wasn't going to work that hard without getting something for me :).


I hadn't worked with foam in ages. (I think I am too lazy to go to all of the trouble. Brenna prefers it because she has more control over it. I think this is why we made great partners.) So it was fun to get to do one of her arrangements.

Here are most of them. Can you believe we knocked all of this out in three hours? And this is excluding my sister's arrangement, my arrangement and Lindy's!

What do you guys think?

A Contest!! - Chocolate Chip Okies

I am super excited to introduce you to my friend Marie's new business, Chocolate Chip Okies! This week Marie sent me 20 of her Chocolate Chip Okies to try and if I liked them I could share with you. (Um, lucky me!!) And guess what? I LOVED them!!!

Marie and I became friends in an entrepreneur group. She has clearly become an overachiever. Me on the other hand...I just blog about my fabulous friends :).

The fun thing about tasting Marie's cookies is that they weren't just any chocolate chip cookie. While she does have those as well. (Her Original Chocolate Chip Okies tasted to me like Double Tree Chocolate Chip Cookies - only without the nuts. If that doesn't say amazing, I don't know what does!)

They are way more gourmet. Think Food Network type cookies. And I had to try each and every one of them. My job is so hard.

The Orange Zest Chocolate Chip Okies are definitely something you would find at a food contest. They have just a zest to them (I guess hence the name). This was the hands down favorite for my foodie taste tester.

If you love coconut (and probably even if you don't), you will love the German Chocolate Chip Okies.

I love that they are just stuffed with goodness. (My picture below, not Marie's. Hers are definitely way more professional. However, this one was taken with my new iPhone and I think the quality is pretty darn good.)

I loved this next cookie, the Mexican Hot Chocolate Okie. It was like nothing I have ever tasted. It was a chocolate chip cookie and then about 8 seconds into the bite you get the heat from the chile. It was so unusual and unique. One of my taste testers said this was spot on for her favorite Mexican Hot Chocolate that she got in Santa Fe.

The fifth flavor that Marie carries is Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Chip Okies.

Check out that peanut butter! If you like peanut butter or if you like sweet and salty, this is the perfect cookie for you.

So...now for the fun part - to enter to win your own twenty pack of cookies shipped directly to you, just leave a comment with the name of your favorite cookie.

If I don't have your email address or if you don't have a blogger profile where I can touch base with you, just leave your email address in case you win. The contest will go through Wednesday at midnight.

In the meantime, check out Marie's site with more information about her cookies, ingredients and how you can get her cookies here. And friend her on Facebook here.

Can't wait to hear about your favorites!