national pancake day...

... was yesterday.  i guess i missed the sticky memo.

but i didn't want to miss the opportunity to share an adorable little etsy shop i discovered while we were in boston last weekend.  check out little pancakes.

now in case you were wondering, no, i didn't waste any time perusing etsy while we had an entire city to explore.  this little online shop actually came to me - well sort of.

upon arriving at the sam adams brewery for our tour, we were greeted by a small art festival on the adjacent grounds...

and that's where i found little pancakes, in her little booth, and fell in love with every little morsel of her delicious designs.

i'm a sucker for gold-ish jewelry and i love that these are all handmade.  consider this pancake lover sold.  check out little pancakes on etsy and these other sweet spots i'm craving too...

really love this for the cooler months ahead:  russkk

need at least one of these:  line posters

something to save for:  swedish guy design 


found anything awesome on etsy lately? - share it with us.

Giveaway Day - this contest is now closed.

UPDATE: congrats to jen!  you are the lucky winner!  thanks to all who entered!  we'll do another giveaway soon!

celebration

If we loved having parties any more than we do, it would be scary.  And also very expensive.

The Rio inspired movie night bash was a hit and we’re pretty sure everyone had a great time.   I think we’ll make this movie night thing a tradition.  The kids really seem to enjoy it and I can’t think of any other way to get a room full of 6/7/8 year olds to sit quietly for 2 hours and still call it fun.   

You've already seen how overly excited the Jewel cake made us and we were even more excited about all the other details.  We found this year’s favors --- pink lily hair clips --- on Etsy through Dreamz Come Truee and ordered the feather boas online at partyfeathers.com.  Each lily was .50 and the feather boas were 1.00 each.  I don’t know that you can find pseudo bird disguise party favors for less than $2 anywhere – so pretty pumped about that.

Other than that is was business as usually; popcorn, pink lemonade and enough sugar to take everyone from zero to 150 before their plates were clean.  Which is fine considering the majority of them went home right after cake. J

Also, a select few did get to spend the night marking the occasion as Alex's first official slumber party.

And even though the slumber ended for the group at 6 am, I awoke a bit later to find them all seated around the dining room table finishing up the cereal Alex had "cooked" for them. 

So as it turns out having a 7 year old is both shocking and rewarding.  I'm shocked that she is able to make breakfast for herself and others ---  and I feel like breakfast in bed rewards for mom are now a real possibility going forward.

Happy Birthday indeed! 

A Baby On The Way

Not for us.  Let's just clear that up right away.

Our good friends Steve & Rachel are expecting their first baby any day/moment now and I had the absolute pleasure of throwing the baby shower a few weeks back.  They don't know what they are having, so I chose a black/white/yellow theme for the party and picked up these adorable Wee Gallery Art Cards as my inspiration for decor:

 Here is a look at how everything turned out:

A couple of shout-outs on a few things I chose that I was very pleased with. The Baby Cakes cupcakes in pumpkin and lemon were super tasty and were gobbled up in no time.  Baby Cakes is a local cupcake shop in the KC River market.  

The zebra cookies are from my favorite cookie spot, Boulevard Bakery & Pastries, which I reserve only for the most special occasions.  They are insanely rich and super healthy I am sure. 

Finally, the wooden animal teethers I read about in Dwell magazine, then later found online at Etsy.  These were so cute and a gift I think I'll refer back to the next time I need an idea for a baby present.  Check out the other amazing items they have to offer.

The shower was great and and I was pretty happy about how all my DIY projects turned out.  I have had a couple of requests to re-create some of the small posters in different colors, so thinking maybe I'll update that Etsy shop we started up then never offered anything to sell in.  Whoops.  

I think my favorite project was the banner flags.  They were easy to make and super cheap, leftover bakers twine from the wedding and some cardstock I had on hand.  The best part was following the shower, they were easily converted into Halloween decor:

You know we love a good re-purpose!  And I'm thinking if I take the bats down, the banners can stick around through Thanksgiving.

It's basically a party that lasts all fall.  :)