shower invites for Katya (by way of gocco)

Our friends Andy and Katya are getting married next month and because nearly all of Kayta's bridesmaids and family are coming in from out of town, we decided to have her shower just before the wedding. It seemed important to have the key members of her posse there, right?

Their wedding is on the beach in Del Mar, and even though it won't technically be summer anymore I decided to make her invites feel a little summery. Especially because it's the only season Katya likes. She's a professional triathlete with a major aversion to cold. If I had to ride my bike and swim and run for 8 hours a day I wouldn't like the cold either.



Back to the invites.

Here they are. After a nearly fatal gocco disaster (as always brought on by user error) I managed to squeeze the printed area into half of my stage to I could use my last 2 bulbs to burn the screen.

(Side note - I can't keep up with the gocco drama, people. First they quit making machines, but were still making supplies. Then they started making machines again. Then they decided to shut down the entire operation (turning thousands of plastic screen printers into paper weights), and now it appears that supplies are back on the market. Of course none of that matters when the only place to buy supplies is online and you need bulbs this minute. Plan ahead people. And always assume you'll mess the first screen up.)







I pondered using vintage stamps for these, but here's another tip. Counting them out and licking them and arranging them, even for just 40 envelopes takes, I don't know, at least 3 days. Soooo time consuming. And the king and queen stamps are just about the cutest things available right now. Aren't they?

Which reminds me, I should stock up before they sell out.

Melanie's shower

is up on 100 Layer Cake, dudes!

Sorry I've been MIA. Long weekend of ridiculous travel stories, recovery and now work other things are kind of cramping my blogging style, yo. Anyway, I guess I kind of needed the week off.

I shall be back next week, but in the meantime, Melanie's shower:

i left them out

It was really more of a time and busy-ness issue than a conscious decision. Melanie was all for letting them roam and we decided that if someone showed intense fear we would certainly put them away.



(see her there under the chair?)

Or if they started jumping on tables. Which they actually did. WHAT?? They all of a sudden became little social butterflies scavenging around under people's feet, hoping for teensy crumbs of cheese and beet dip and crudite. Which everyone seemed to think was great fun, or least sufficiently novel, until the jumping on the tables. I didn't even know they could jump that high. Luckily that didn't happen until just about dinner time which was when they needed to go into their coop anyway.

Funny times with farm animals at a party. Though really, the women were in general pretty excited about seeing chickens roaming about. Nice call everyone! Thanks for your advice.

Even though I kind of knew what you were going to say.

More pics soon. I was mostly incapacitated from exhaustion for the rest of the weekend so I haven't gotten around to sifting through the photos.

tablecloths + advice

YAY. Friday you are here.

Do you like my vintage tablecloths I've diligently won on ebay over the last few weeks? 2 were my grandma's but the rest are the result of hours of clicking and subsequent overbidding. I believe I mentioned that I was having a small problem with ebay as of late? But look at my spoils:





aren't they cute?

They are going to be perfect strewn about the tables on the back patio tomorrow eve. But the big question is, should I let the chickens roam free when the ladies are about?

They are relatively well behaved as chickens go. And they mostly keep to themselves. It's just that I'd have to put them away before 5 and that's like a full 3 hours before they normally go back into their coop.

Plus wouldn't it be cute to see chickens scratching around during my rustic-barn-wedding-that-I-didn't-get-so-I-instead-disguised-it-as-my-sister-in-law's-shower?



See her there, above the wheel barrow that I'm going to use as an open cooler-thing for wine? (I had to do a test run when I got home to find the rentals delivered and in the backyard). Wouldn't she make a nice addition?

Opinions please. Brock thinks I should put them away. But he doesn't know. Necessarily.

erica's baby shower

okay. i need an excuse to make bunting flags. bad.





how cute is this shower?? of course it's cute. it's for Erica from Thoughtful Day and Jenna Hein planned it.

birthday balloons and candles

Brock's birthday was yesterday. Happy birthday husband! (I do not call him husband in real life, btw).

So Sunday while he was out teaching a tennis lesson to a friend, (he is not a tennis coach in real life either, but he's an excellent teacher and player), I decided to decorate the house in old fashioned birthday stylings. ie. Balloons.



Might as well hop on the trend while it lasts, right? It's amazing how a balloon forest can transform a regular Sunday afternoon into a fancy little party for 2. Immediately upon wrangling the bouquet into the living room, I popped a bottle of good champagne into the freezer and celebration was officially in order.

(Side note: having an engagement party is an excellent way to stock up on quality bubbly that will last you at least a year. Worth the effort of throwing one, in my opinion.)

Balloon forest is also an excellent excuse to take silly blurry photos after finishing that bottle of champagne.



And a birthday always necessitates SOMETHING from Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert. We tried Buckwheat Strawberry Shortcakes. Yum. If you don't have this book, I suggest you order it immediately. So many beautiful, simple sweets.

We're now officially in our 30's. Which feels much different than just being 30, it turns out. But good. I think.