It’s crazy to think that we just celebrated Joey’s 2nd birthday last week.  It feels like yesterday I gave birth to him.  Time is going by so quickly!  Joey has turned into quite the toddler these past few months and I have a sneaking suspicion the terrible two’s are upon us.  Especially since his favorite word is “noooo”.

Joey loves playing with anything that has wheels and loves to do puzzles.  He also loves anything Juliana is currently playing with.  He is doing so great potty training and now wears big boy undies out when we run our errands.  His favorite foods are macaroni and chicken cutlets.   He also has a bad granola bar habit.  We are trying to cut back.  haha!

We had our friends over to the house to celebrate last weekend.  Luckily the weather was perfect!  It’s been sort of back and forth here, and it’s been raining a lot.  But we lucked out!  The weather was ideal for an outside BBQ.  Joey was so excited to wake up on the morning of his party and see that Grandma Nancy + Grandpa Pat came to surprise him and celebrate with us!  (Juliana was also so excited but she waited up until 10 pm the night before to see them arrive!)

We had such a fun afternoon with our friends hanging out, watching the kids bounce and eating some yummy bbq food!  After being indoors for so many months during the Winter, it was so enjoyable to just hang out on the deck and cook out.

I served my “cheater’s sangria” and it was a total hit!  All you need is a bottle of Sangria (I grabbed a couple at Costco) and a bottle of Sprite/7-up.  I filled mason jars with ice and some sliced fruit (lemon, lime, orange).  Then poured the glasses half full with sangria and topped them with sprite.  I decorated the mason jars with ribbon and finished the drink off with a colorful paper straw.  They were perfect!

Monday was Joey’s actual birthday and the celebrations continued.  He opened all of his presents from family and I cooked a huge dinner with all of his favorite foods!  The kids stayed up so late playing with all of his new gifts.  I would say his birthday celebrations were a total success!

The party details were super easy for me, and I’ll tell you why.  After each party we have I take all of the leftover, unused decorations and pack them away.  I pack away bowls, serving dishes and even banners I have made.  I knew I wanted to do a primary color theme for Joey’s party and when I looked in the boxes of what I had and saw all of Juliana’s Sesame Street party decor, I saw that Joey’s BBQ was already half done!  The “Happy Birthday” banner hanging on the drink table used to say “Happy 1st Birthday Juliana”.  The “Joey is two” huge banner that we hung on the deck used to say “Sunny Days” (Sesame themed, remember?).  I found yellow and red plastic bowls and a few unused table clothes.  So I really didn’t have that much to buy in order to decorate!  As I told Mike, this is when my hoarding tendencies come in handy.  

For the party favors I used my silhouette cameo to personalize cups for all of our party guests!  I love the way these came out!  I just filled them with some colored paper filler that I grabbed at the dollar store.  They took no time to make and I just love giving little personalized gifts.

I did want to make a small balloon arch to hang over the front door.   Luckily for Grandpa, he was the only one in the kitchen when I pulled out the helium tank and got stuck helping me blow up, tie, and string 50 balloons onto a piece of fishing wire.  Ha!  He was such a trooper!  Unfortunately it was so windy that it was really hard to hang the way I wanted it, so I just tied it outside on the deck as one big balloon column.

Joey got a bounce house from Grandma + Grandpa for his birthday gift and the kids had a blast jumping in it!  It really was the greatest idea to just buy one to own instead of rent.  Obviously, it wouldn’t work for a ton of kids/and or/larger kids, but it worked just fine for our party.  It was just a bit more then renting one and now we will have it for future parties/playdates/rainy days (because you know I’ll plug that in right in the living room..haha!).  I linked the one we got here but I also loved this one, and this one!

Happy Birthday Mr. Baby Joey!  We hope you had as much fun as we did!  XO

 Hope you enjoyed partying with us!

XO Danielle

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I am having a hard time believing that I am turning 30 this weekend.  I have to admit, I am actually kind of excited.  Looking back on the past 10 years there is so much I would say to myself at 20.  So much I wish I would have known.  Well actually I did know.  I’m pretty sure everything about to be discussed was already told to me by my mother.  Too bad I didn’t start listening to her sooner.  Maybe not too bad.  Maybe I had to learn all these life lessons for a reason.  Maybe I wouldn’t be the same “me” if I had known sooner…

30.  Wear sunscreen.  Tan skin looks great in your teens and 20’s.  The older you get the more you start to resemble a raisin.  Tan wrinkles aren’t as cute.  Start the sunscreen young.

29.  Did I mention the soft skin parts?  If you aren’t going to listen to my advice about applying sunscreen everywhere at least put it on your neck, chest and cleavage.  Those areas take the sun the worst and there is nothing sexy about a sunburned turkey neck.  So trust me on this one.  Wear the sunscreen.

28.  Do not.  I repeat.  Do not eat fast food.  Yes, the fries are delish.  So delicious the cellulite that has now started to appear on the front of your legs thinks you should go back and get some more.  Don’t listen.  Don’t eat the fast food.

27.  Don’t beg.  For a job.  For a boyfriend.  For friends.  Just don’t do it.  Be yourself and all those things will come find you.  Know your worth.  If you know it and believe in yourself, so will others.  No one likes a beggar.

26.  Stop over drinking.  You don’t even realize you are over drinking  at 22 years old because at that age you can drink 4 margaritas and wake up like a pretty shiny penny, grab a Starbucks and be on time for your 8am chemistry class.  At 28 if you drink 4 margaritas you will wake up half dressed on the couch thinking you are the 7th dimension of hell with Satan himself stabbing you before you realize you are in fact in your home being poked by your toddler with a pen that rolled out of your purse when you flung it on the floor the night before.  Stop over drinking.

27.  Don’t curse.  It wasn’t attractive when you cursed as a teenager and it’s less attractive now.  It’s least attractive when your child drops something in Target and shouts “oh shit”.

26.  Marry the family man.  You will date lots of guys.   They will all be a little different.  Marry the one that has the same family goals as you do.   Trust me.   You don’t want to get married and then have to convince your husband to start a family.  If you aren’t on the same page from the start you likely won’t ever be.  Luckily enough. I was smart enough to know this

25.   Keep your car clean.  (I’m working on this).  It’s normal to have a messy car in high school.  Littered with textbooks and magazines.  Diet coke cans in all the cup holders.  It is not normal to pull up to a valet at a nice restaurant in your late 20’s, open the car door and have an entire garbage bags worth of crap fall out onto the pavement.

24.  Eat vegetables.  Seriously.  They are good for you and they are likely the cure for cancer growing right in our own backyards.  Lets not underestimate the power of spinach.  Less pizza.  More spinach.  Got it?

23.  Be spontaneous.  Take a road trip.  Book a flight to Europe.  Drive 3 hours to see famous lighthouse just because you feel like it.  One day you will have babies and while you can still do all of those things, spontaneity becomes a thing of the past.  Unless you are cool with snatching your kids from their beds in the middle of the night and packing all 7,890,204 things they need for one overnight trip to go somewhere on a whim.  If so, more power to ya!

22.  Go to college. I didn’t want to.  Trust me.  At 19 I had a billion better things to do.  But I did it, (thanks for the push Ma) and I am proud of it.  You will never regret getting an education.

21.  Spend frivolous money.  Do it while you are young and careless.  Not too frivolous, but just enough.  You will eventually grow up and know better.  So buy the shoes and enjoy them.

20.  Sleep in.  On your days off.  When you want to.  On a Tuesday just because you can.  Do it while your young, because the older you get it gets harder to do.  Also the fact that every time you sleep past 8 when you are older people assume that you are either 1) ill or 2) you drank too much.

19.  Be a good friend.   It is an amazing feeling to get to look back and have the same friends since early childhood.  Be a friend and you will always have friends.

18.  Do favors for people.  Lend them your car.  Bring them a meal when they are sick.  People will remember the nice way you treated them and in return will do nice things for you.  You get more bees with honey.

17.  Be a good hostess.  Always make guests feel welcome in your home.  You are going to be 30.  Not 18.  Offer them a drink.  Don’t just sit down and expect them to help themselves.

16.  Appreciate every single thing you have.   Not everyone has the luxury of an education.  Nice home.  Family.  Don’t take anything for granted.

15.  Throw away all the tiny, sequin dresses.  Do it before you go to try one on and have to sob uncontrollably into a bottle of vodka.  You will eventually outgrow them.  If not by size, hopefully by level of maturity.  Toss them.  All of them.  Even the one in the back with the tags that you swear will fit one day.

14.   Dance.  Even if you don’t think your very good.  Even if everyone is watching.  Just dance.

13.  Be kind.  Karma is only a bitch if you are.  Be nice to people.  All people.  And in return people will be nice to you.  Trust me, it goes full circle.

12.  Believe in yourself.  If you aren’t going to, why should anyone else?

11.  Pay your bills on time.  One day you will want to buy a car, or a house, or rent an apartment and they will find out that you buried all those bills under the seat in your car.  That won’t end well.

10.  Stop worrying.  It causes wrinkles and anxiety.  Neither of which are fun.  Whatever will be will be.  So just buckle up and enjoy the ride.

9.  Stop caring what people think.  Be you, for you.  At the end of the day if you are happy with yourself that is all that matters.

8.  Do not gossip.  I repeat.  Do not gossip.  It will come back to bite you in the ass.  He said/she said is an ugly business and if you get caught in the middle of it you will not win.

7.  Don’t be friends with gossipers.  Be friends with people who have dreams, ideas, goals.  People who inspire you and share feelings with you.  Do not give in to people who only want to talk down about other people.  You are better then that.

6.  Eat the birthday cake.  The calories will not make or break whatever fad diet you are on.  Enjoy the celebration and eat the cake.

5.  Wear high heels.  Wear them a lot because the older you get the harder it is to walk around in them.   Wear them high while you can.

4.  Save money.  For a rainy day.  For a new car.  For a vacation.   For whatever you may want.

3.  Always find the silver lining.  Even in the darkest of times there is good to be found.  Sometimes it’s harder to find than others but it is always there.  Find it.

2.  Listen to your mother.  She has likely been through everything you are going through and has wise advice to pass down.  Listen to it.

1.  Trust your path.  Know that where you are is exactly where you are supposed to be.  Every thing happens for a reason.

Cheers to 30!  I am so excited for the next decade!
XO
Danielle

We had such a great time celebrating Joey’s first birthday yesterday!  I still can’t believe I have a one year old!  I wanted his party to be sweet and fun.   I loved the idea of a dessert only party.  Simple, easy and full of sugar.  I decided to base the theme around Cookies + Milk.  There are SO many cute ideas on how to make this theme unique.  From milk jugs to cookie buffets, it is adorable.

I love to make desserts so this theme was right up my alley.  I must have baked (and ate) a billion chocolate chip cookies!  I dipped everything under the sun in chocolate.

Strawberries + Pretzels + Marshmallows + Oreos.

Seriously, everything is better when it’s covered in chocolate.   I threw in some cannolis and cream puffs to round out the table.  Absolute sugar perfection.

In the past I have designed all the invitations/cupcake toppers/water bottle labels/etc myself.  I wanted to take an easier approach with this party because we have just been so busy travelling and with school and work that I didn’t want to go crazy trying to pull this all together.  I found an incredibly sweet Etsy shop that had this printable party pack ready to go for me.  Um, why did I not know about this before?  I love a good DIY as you know, but time has been limited these days, so this option worked perfectly!  The party pack had everything I needed to create the perfect party!

I was able to spend some time creating the dessert stands that you see pictured.

It is a super easy DIY to do for parties.  Simply wrap canned food items in white cardstock.  I use cardboard cake plates for the top.  Glue down a piece of scrapbook paper in the color of your theme.  I chose this plaid to add some extra colors to the light blue/brown of the theme.  Glue a thick ribbon to the edge and there you have it.  Super simple party stands made to match any table and seriously cost next to nothing to make.  The 3 stands took about 15 minutes of time with my glue gun.  Love an easy project. 

We had such a great afternoon celebrating with some of our friends.

I couldn’t have wished for a more perfect party for my sweet one year old.

Happy Birthday Joey.