Shabby Chic Tea Party

I can't believe my Josephine is 2 already! Wow, time flies. Here are pics from her Shabby Chic Tea Party b-day party from last weekend! We had great weather and lots of fun! Thank you again to all of you who helped celebrate. I thought I'd start out with the little guest of honor herself...

Thanks for looking! Wondering where I purchased something?

Scalloped circle shabby chic invites - Milla Love www.etsy.com/shop/millalove

"J" and "2" Cupcake toppers - Milla Love www.etsy.com/shop/millalove

Teacup favor tags - Milla Love www.etsy.com/shop/millalove

"Josie" and "Happy Birthday" shabby chic banners - Milla Love www.etsy.com/shop.millalove

Tea Party door sign - Milla Love www.etsy.com/shop/millalove

Josie's "2" Tea Party outfit - Mandy Ann Clothing www.etsy.com/shop/mandyannclothing

Pink tissue paper poms - Party Poms www.etsy.com/shop/partypoms

Pink pom garland - Party Poms www.etsy.com/shop/partypoms

Mini pink pom ties - Party Poms www.esty.com/shop/partypoms

Square tiered b-day cake - Lovin Oven www.lovinoven.com

Cupcakes - Lovin Oven www.lovinoven.com

Petit Fours - Lovin Oven www.lovinoven.com

Tea Sandwiches/Scones - Tea Harbor

Invite matching scalloped "J" cookie favors - Lovin Oven www.lovinoven.com

"Sip, don't slurp" sign - Glitter N Grunge www.etsy.com/shop/glitterngrunge

Teacup Windchimes - Hobby Lobby

Shabby chic wooden "2"s - courtesy of me

Hydrangeas - Sandi's Florist

The rest? Michaels, TJ Maxx, Hobby Lobby, Macys, Ebay, Sam's Club, Starbucks, Target

Music/Entertainment - Jeanie B! www.jeaniebmusic.com

Cute little girl? - Homegrown :)

Gimme My Refund!

Do you know what this little do-hickey is? It's called a Clarisonic skin brush....made by the same genuises that produced the Sonicare toothbrush. You know, the automated toothbrush made for those people who are just too lazy to actually move their hand up and down to brush their own teeth. God forbid you should have to manually brush your teeth...oh, the horror!!!

But, I somehow managed to fall victim to this little device above. It promises to clean your skin 6x better than manual cleansing and remove dry patches, clean up problem skin and maybe even reduce fine lines. And, so it seems, every last little consumer review is nothing but ravetastic (yes I just made up that word). Finally one day while browsing needlessly through Sephora, I bit the bullet and decided to try it. I hoped it would do all it promised and more. And with a price tag of $195, it better!

I took it home and got started that evening, so excited! My skin was going to be like a baby's bottom.

Wrong.

After 5 days I saw absolutely no difference, so I packed it up and marched back to Sephora to get my money back. However, I fell victim again. I was just about 5 inches into the store when I was already being lectured about how I didn't give it enough time. So, I turned around, took it back home and for the next 6 weeks used it religiously in the morning and in the evening every single day.

Well, I finally returned it today. I really can't say anything bad about it, I just felt for the spendy price tag it better work some small miracles on my skin....and it didn't. Sure my face felt soft and glowy right after using it, but it didn't last. Plus, I felt like I was getting better results from just a simple glycolic acid at home peel once or twice a week. So, naturally, i took it back!

It's amazing how much this bothered the Sephora girls...you woulda thought I called their baby ugly or something. As if it weren't bad enough that I had a team of 3 lecturing me on what a miracle the Clarisonic is, the rest were standing around giving me the "i can't believe she's returning that" stares. It's total blasphemy!!

But, hey, you can't say I didn't give it a fair try! Sorry Clarisonic.

Party Love

It should come to no surprise that my favorite party planner is Kim from The Tomkat Studio...if you've been here before, you've heard me talk about her! Not only does she have fabulous taste and creative gifts, she is also gorgeous, a great mommy and so incredibly thoughtful. And she is busy, busy, busy!! She still somehow managed to post Josie's party before me! THANK YOU Kim for all of your generous words and inspiration. As always, I'll be reading! You can check out Josie's Shabby Chic Tea Party feature HERE on Kim's website.

Move Over Crocs

No surprise, my kids wear Crocs. What kid doesn't? But, in my opinion, no matter how many Jibbitz you cram on them, they are still ugly as sin. I am so tired of looking at Crocs...seriously good riddens!! So, here are my top 4 little girls summer shoes for playground and water play for this season:

Keen Newport Shoe $40

Geox Roxanne Sandal $55

Havianas Flip Flop $22

Teva Psyclone Sandal $28

How Can It Be??..

...that one of my nearest and dearest has been blogging for over a year and I didn't even know!! I'm not sure how I missed the boat on this one considering she is blogging about some of my favorite things (party planning, flowers and home decor)!! Please check out Alex's blog and enjoy her timeless and refined taste at http://prettyluckymorning.blogspot.com/. I also posted her link as a permanent fixture on my blog roll. I have so much to catch up on!!

Party Central

Hi, I'm here. I'm just in full blown party planning mode!! We just had Josie's 2nd birthday Shabby Chic Tea Party and we all had so much fun...more pics to come! Thank you to all who came and celebrated with us!! Now I'll be working on this year's Preschool Prom at Anna's school. Prom committees and all. We're doing an "Enchanted Garden" theme, so throw any good ideas my way. Add in a baby shower and I barely have time for my real job! :) Joking. Kinda.

I'll be back soon with more Tea Party pics!

I Frenched The Dog

Well, almost. Tonight we were running late, so naturally I slaved in the kitchen and made my kids a gourmet meal. A Kids Cuisine. I also made a salad plate for myself, but after "more milk", "my fork!", and fits over eating enough for dessert, the next thing I knew it was bathtime and I had yet to take a bite. So I figured I'd get around to eating later and left my meal on the table.

As soon as dance party and bathtime were over, we came back down and I hoped to sit and eat. But as soon as I sat down I realized that almost all of my salad dressing was gone from it's little disposable container (I was using my fav take out salad dressing). I immediately went to Anna to blame her for the missing salad dressing and ask her what she did with it. She denied it vehemently, but I didn't believe her. Surely if Josie had gotten her hands on it, she'd be covered head to toe in vinaigrette. This also coming from a child who just a few days ago while sitting at her mini table and coloring vigorously right on it herself with a marker, yelled over her shoulder (not thinking I was looking), "Mommy!!!..Josie is coloring on the table!!".

So after huffing and puffing with her for about 30 seconds, I marched back over to the table and picked up a big piece of lettuce with my fork and jammed it into the container trying to get the little bit left at the very bottom. I swooshed it back and forth and all around...I was getting every last drop if it killed me. Afterward, I do this 2 more times.

See, I didn't give myself enough time to really think this through. But, it slowly dawned on me. Anna was with me the entire time, so when would she have done this? Also, if she did take the salad dressing out, where was it? There was a little bit on the table, but not an entire container full. And what?...like she took a spoon to it and ate it like ice cream! I don't think so.

So, I realize....it was the dog. The dog must have gotten her little face just high enough to lick, lick, lick the center of the container...but she couldn't quite reach it enough to knock it off the table so she could finish it off (which explains the little bit left in the bottom).

ICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If that weren't bad enough, I spent the rest of the evening profusely apologizing to Anna for blaming her. I told her that sometimes mommies are wrong and asked her if she would forgive me. She said she would, but she made sure that I knew that on Kai-Lan (one of her favorite shows), Tolee doesn't forgive Rintoo.