What I Wore Wednesday: 31st Birthday Party

Greg and I do not normally do anything big for our birthdays -- we celebrate quietly as a family, bake a cake, open a few gifts.  But in the past year-and-a-half since moving to Texas, I have gathered a fantastic group of lady friends that I love dearly, and I thought --- what could be more fun than a Girls Only Birthday Party?

If I could describe my sense of style in a word, it would be "quirky", and since this was my party, I decided to go completely over-the-top with accessories and FUN!  Ever since seeing the tutorial for these little top-hat fascinators over at Offbeat Bride, I've had an idea percolating in my head...

I didn't manage to create enough hats for all 10 attendees, but I did make these three, which turned out a little messy, but rather cute.  (I actually wasn't sure if everyone would really wear these with me, but my friends ended up being more willing-to-be-daring than I had given them credit for.  If we do this again, I'll make more.)

Put together with a Modcloth dress and a whole lot of accessories...

Dress, Modcloth ~ Shoes, Bergman Heel by Seychelles (from Modcloth) ~ Hat, made by me using this tutorial ~ Ruched cropped leggings, Victoria's Secret ~ Jeweled necklace, unknown ~ Audry Hepburn pocket-watch necklace (purchased on eBay, but available at ModCloth) ~ Bracelet, a Premier Designs gift from a friend ~ Feather boa, Michaels' craft store.

I'm not sure if my favorite part was the shoes, the false eyelashes, or the feather boa.  Or the Audry Hepburn necklace that pops open to reveal a clock-face.  Because the overkill on the accessories was probably NOT EVEN ENOUGH!

I encouraged everyone to over-dress along with me, but they all secretly decided to appliqué shirts with "Faith" for everyone instead (Lisa R. and Becca made 7 in one day!) (!!).  Sweet, heartwarming, and hilarious all at once.

Top-ish (wonky) row: Susanne, Alison, Lisa R., Alicia, Brittany, Rachel, Lisa H.

Bottom row: Becca, me, Jenny.

We literally laughed all night long.  My face hurt from so much smiling.  Such a wonderful night!

Someone had ordered an Italian Cream Cake from a local bakery and brought it to the restaurant.  (I am rather a bit shorter than the friend who ordered the cake, thus the message...)

While 31 years might not be normally considered a "milestone" birthday, it is certainly a milestone for me.  This is the first year that I've felt completely at home in any location we've moved to with the Army, and it's all because of these friends.  With these ladies, I can share my life, my fears, my dreams.  We can talk about hard days with children, great recipes, family frustrations, sex, intimacy, love.  We encourage and listen to each other, loving each person just the way we are, no qualifications.  

While our family has found incredible friends at each place we've lived, we've simply never had this sort of tight-knit local (mostly neighborhood!) community before.  Until we moved here, we never really felt that we belonged.

Greg will always be my very best friend, but there are some things that he just shouldn't have to deal with, and isn't as equipped to deal with as a man.  Being able to vent and share with girl-friends takes the pressure off of him, and he doesn't have to deal as much with all of the crazy that is in my head.  In these beautiful woman, I've not only found a safe place: I've found home.

Farmer's Market

This morning, my little ones and I went to our local farmer's market for the first time this season.

It was fun to talk to the farmer who had actually grown the food, and select seasonal, local vegetables that I don't normally see at my grocery store.

Of course, the VERY BEST part for Some Of Us was the peanut butter cookies.

("Why was Mommy buying all of those vegetables anyway?!"  "NO idea.")

It's been remarkably chilly here for the past two days -- enough so that we had to break back out the sweatshirts.  I actually felt the cold front coming in as we sat at an outdoor restaurant Sunday afternoon. It was a remarkable feeling; as though someone had turned on the outside air conditioning.  I'm sure it'll be back to 90 by the end of the week though.  Such is springtime in Texas.

Duct Tape Body Doubles

For a few years now, I've been wanting to make a dress form of myself.  Having an exact body double to fit clothing on as I sew would make things much easier!  I've put it off, because I knew it would take some effort and more than a little teamwork, but finally I had the perfect reason: in our church, our Creative Arts Team is responsible for both music and artistic expression in our building and worship experience, and so for each big sermon/conversation series we choose a new theme to go along.  This most recent one, kicking off on Easter Sunday, is called "Modern Family", and so we decided to do a spin on that with retro-fitting the stage and other areas with vintage and mod-inspired deco.  I volunteered to create four dress forms to put vintage dresses on.  And of course, I plan to take one of them back home after we are all done with them.  (WOW that was a long-winded explanation.)

Last week, my friend Lisa and I got to work on them, figuring it all out as we went along with this tutorial.

I had already considered Lisa to be among my very closest of friends, but let me tell you, nothing brings you together like a little duct tape.  She now has a very (VERY) close understanding of my body.  It's all about lots of laughs and a good dose of body confidence.  (MANY laughs -- a little painful once the duct-tape has been fully wrapped!)

We started with first the less expensive silver color, and then switched to black for the outer layer (in the interest of the form blending into our black stage as much as possible, allowing the dresses to really stand out.)

Preparing to be cut out of the duct-tape body cast.

Lisa ended up making three of these, and Greg made the final one for a total of four.

Our friend Josh built a wooden stand with a cross piece for the shoulders, which helps to stabilize the whole thing.  I put the "shoulders" inside the duct-tape shell, then plushed out the form with stuffing and quilt batting, and taping it first up the back, then the arm and neck holes.  Finally, I cut a piece of cardboard to seal off the "hips", and duct taped it all closed.

Completed dress form.  (Sorry about the horrible background -- I forgot to take a picture until I was on my way out the door, bringing this to our church building.)

I will post pictures soon of our stage set -- it's the coolest one we've done so far, and I'm so proud of our entire team, and all of the hard work that went into it!

For now, here's some videos from Easter Sunday (the kick-off of the Modern Family conversations and superfun stage set) that I've just added to my playlist (the top four).  I had the privilege of singing a crazy fun Nico Vega song: Family Train  (sorry about the scary freeze-frame!)

An Easter Birthday

This past week has been so busy that I haven't had the energy or time to blog about any of it!

Easter Sunday was also my 31st birthday:

Greg made chicken Spiedies (grilled chicken-kebabs for those of you not from upstate NY), grilled sausages, and bought a cheesecake so that I wouldn't have to cook anything that day.  What a gift!

We had decorated hard-boiled eggs the day before, and so Greg and our neighbor organized an egg hunt for the children.

What a fun way to spend my birthday with family and friends!

(For those of you who can't get enough of the pictures, we have an entire set of Easter pictures in our Flickr account here.)

Next up: creating a set of duct tape dress forms!

Happy Birthday Faith!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife, Faith!

You are a brilliant homemaker, an exemplary Mommy, and my best friend in the world. Thanks for being who you are. We all love you very much!

Girl's Day Out

Today, I don't feel like doing a linky post, so we'll just save that for next week.  Sounds good to you?  GREAT.

This morning, Lavella and I got All Dressed Up in our matching shirred dresses (made from thrift store sheets), and went out to get our very first Mother/Daughter pedicure.

It was so fun to see her face when her little feet first dipped into the warm basin of water.

After the pedicures, we went out shopping together and picked out some cute little outfits and a new Barbie with her birthday money.  Spending time with just Lavella is rather rare, and it was so nice to be able to walk along with her, holding her hand, listening to her stories and commentary that so often gets lost in the rush and tumble of the boys.

My Lavella.  I feel so privileged that I get to be the mommy of this precious little girl.

What I Wore Wednesday: Butterfly Leprechaun

There's not much to say about this outfit...

VS Siren Legging Jean ~ long-sleeved slub-knit shirt from Old Navy ~ Frye Women's Dara Honeycomb Sandal ~ handspun, handknit Beachwater Bolero ~ Gothic cross necklace, unknown ~ green butterfly hairclips (sizes Large and Medium), Sprinkles and Frosting.

Except to say that I really like green. Really. A lot.

Although most likely I'm not actually a leprechaun...mostly just because of the shoes.

Because otherwise, I'd be a total doppelgänger. 

Lavella also has a butterfly outfit of her own today:

Dress from my brother Jonathan for her birthday.

Golden Monarch butterfly hairclip also from Sprinkles and Frosting.

We've been very into hair-clips lately.  I've been thinking about Top Hat Fascinators lately...

What is your favorite color?  Do you also like to wear it?  When you look at your wardrobe, do you tend to see a whole lot of the same color, or do you like to mix it up?

Purple Buttercup Birthday Bag

For Lavella's birthday, I made her the dress that I pictured in yesterday's post, along with a coordinating bag (matching inner fabric lining).

Her favorite color is purple, and she loves anything "princess", so I just put as much girly ruffle, lacy trim and tulle-fluff as I could muster into one of my Pillowcase Dresses, and gave that to her on the morning of her birthday (Sunday).  I also made a matching hairclip out of tulle and grosgrain ribbon, which looked so sweet amidst her curls.  I've decided that I am going to start a collection of handmade bows for her -- it's pretty much the most fun and easy accessory that I've ever made.  Also, I love any excuse to dig out my oft-neglected hot-glue gun.

For the bag, I followed the free Buttercup Bag pattern.  Since I used quilting-weight cotton for the outer and inner, I also sandwiched some mediumweight interfacing between to give it extra body and strength (4-year-olds -- at least not mine -- are not all that gentle on things like bags).



I filled it with a large pack of flavored chapsticks, which nearly ended up overshadowing the gift itself.  I'd promised that when she turned 4, she could have her own chapstick (assuming this was old enough for her to no longer feel compelled to eat it by the stick...)  She added a large handful of her accessories, and has had this bag on her shoulder ever since.


Floral lining to match her Birthday Dress, complete with a little interior pocket.

Because a girl should never be caught without her accessories.



Topstitching and pleating detail -- this WAS perfectly pressed, but as I said: 4-year-olds are rough!



Most importantly, she finds it useful and fun, and she loves the fact that I made this, just for her.  A mother's love and time wrapped up in a handmade gift: there's nothing like it.

Happy birthday Lavella

Dear Lavella,

On Sunday, you turned four years old.

You, my precious girl, continue to inspire, astound and challenge me.

Your gorgeous curls, your quirky sense of style, those worried little eyebrows, and the way your mood can turn on a dime...

I love you.

Your silly sense of humor, the way you put your tiny hand in mine when we walk, your tender hugs...

I love you.

I love watching you discover Girliness in a house full of boys.

I love watching you discover the world through your precocious, innocent eyes.

I love your little voice, your made-up words, your gorgeous smile.

I love you.

Happy birthday little girl.

Love,

Mommy

P.S. Dress made along the lines of my Pillowcase Dress Tutorial. Bag made from free Buttercup Bag pattern by Made By Rae. (More detail shots of bag in my next post.)

Link-tastic Friday

Cute little toes:

 

Links:

Webwide coolness:

• We eat a lot of butter in this house.  A lot.  Here's an article on five fats that are important and healthy to keep in your kitchen. (Thanks to my friend Mimi for the link!)
• With four children and lots of friends, it can be terribly hard to keep our family schedule straight.  After wrestling with various written methods, wall calendars, etc., I have finally discovered Google Calendar.  I granted Greg's Google account access to the calendar as well, so now we can both edit it, no matter where we are, and can even access it from our phones.  It even gives pop-up reminders on my desktop for upcoming events.  Genius!

Crafty:

• Cute and simple cosmetic bags via Sew Mama Sew.

Food (savory):

• I am a big fan of Butter Chicken, so I was excited to find this on Saveur!
• This Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad (via Food 52) sounds super delicious.
• Pioneer Woman put together a round-up of amazing looking sandwiches from around the web. 
  LOVE Crispy Tofu (via Food Blogga).
  I made this Orange Ginger Flank Steak for dinner tonight with some friends, and everyone loved it -- even the children!. 
  Penne with Roasted Asparagus via Mel's Kitchen Cafe.
   

Food (sweet):

• I don't usually go for low-fat anything, but this Low Fat Lemon Curd looks like it might be a little less heavy and a little more zippy than the traditional kind.
• I made savory Quinoa once, but Greg wasn't impressed with the grain, so I haven't made it again.  However, this Breakfast Quinoa with Toasted Coconut Almonds and Fresh Mango sounds like it might have to be my breakfast sometime very soon.
• I have a weakness for creamy fruit salads, and this one looks both simple and delicious (via Mel's Kitchen Cafe).