Summer Solstice 2013

The "Soul-stice Sisters" & I had a lovely summer solstice this year. It was pushed a little back from the actual solstice but we still celebrated. This time we went with an "Indian Summer" theme & had a campout. Of course this is US camping so you know it came complete with head-dressed that I made, war paint, a gorgeous table set up, yummy food, & rejuvenation.

I feel so grateful to know these ladies, to have fun with them, to learn from them, & to call them my friends. There is nothing in this world that beats letting everything go & just be silly, eccentric, and alive. I'm so glad I found these wonderful real women to celebrate the changing seasons & womanhood with! 

Past Solstice Celebrations here: Summer 2012, Fall 2012, Winter 2012, & Spring 2013

Custom Dessert: Olivia's Delightfully Decandant Chocolatey Dessert Surprise!

Sometimes at parties people make a custom cocktail for the occasion. I decided to make a custom dessert for my birthday dinner- something that looks & feels like "Olivia".

Behold the process by which the custom dessert of Olivia was born!

1) Make ghetto generic brand dark chocolate brownie mix & cut up and add Andes chocolate mints (must be Andes).

2) Put a large cut of brownie at the bottom of the bowl, then add chocolate ice cream- Two big ol' scoops! Then top multi-colored sprinkles because sprinkles make everything in life better.

3) Then I added an extra Andes mint and a faux Samoa cookie (made by Kebbler).

4) Then, of course, a gold flag & a pretty pink umbrella.

5) And TA-DA!

Also in Portland I found these OLIVIA candles & couldn't pass them up.

Rob's Monster Birthday

My fantastic Rob turned 6 & we celebrated with one of his very favorite things MONSTERS. Here are some pictures for those of you who couldn't join us:

As everyone entered they were greeted with a fabulous gallery of Rob's monster pictures through the years (you are enjoy some here too):

When everyone came in they created their own decorations by drawing monsters on the butcher paper on our table:

 We had a yummy dinner of pizza, watermelon, & root beer. And a tasty carrot cake covered in monsters:

And we also decorated our own cupcakes. I was going to have the kids make them monsters but ended up just letting them make what they wanted:

 Then I made different monster bodies for each kiddo to decorate and then adopt their very own monsters:

And for the adults we had a rootbeer tasting. I bought a couple different popular brands and then had everyone taste & put them in order of their favorites. IBC topped the list with A&W close behind. Generic brand rootbeer was both a top and a deadlast for people. But it was a blast & something fun for the adults to do too!

Happy Birthday to our special fellow!

 

 P.S. Rob's past birthday celebrations: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th

Spring Solstice

We missed Spring Solstice because solstice waits for no man & we were insanely busy, but we finally got to it & completed our circle of a full year of solstice celebrations- Summer, Fall, Winter, and now lovely Spring.

I made us spring crowns & we headed out to take some pictures in a once burnt now new growth area on the mountains embracing the much needed beginning of spring:

We then had a fantastic dinner of mango strawberry salad, mushroom hot chocolate (which taste amazing despite the fact that it sounds like it should be horrible), and then capped the night off with an essential oil foot soak & a meditation lesson from the ever knowledgeable Brook.

Nothing, seriously nothing, beats these four times a year celebrations of womanhood & sisterhood. Nature & the change of the season. I love these ladies so much & feel lucky and so blessed to know them!

And, yes, I sure do live in a lovely place

Sydney's "Under the Sea" 7th Birthday Party!

My sweet Sydney turned 7 and we CELEBRATED that little sweetie as much as we could. For her party, she decided on a "Under the Sea" theme. It was a lot of fun because she's old enough now to have opinions, decide about colors, and plan along with me!

 Food-wise we had some blue punch with floating Sting Rays, pizza (Syd's second choice to sushi which I told her wasn't happening), and other tasty treats- including some "Sixlet pearl" covered cupcakes!

I also bought up a bunch of different flavors of Goldfish crackers and made a little "Goldfish Bar" for everyone to try & pick their favorites!

Sydney's ONE major request was a pinata and she picked out a flamingo. That poor thing got beat with a wood spoon, with a broom handle, and finally we got him to break with a wooden push toy/club.


 We sang, opened gifts, and generally had a great time celebrating this sweetie. Also, we didn't pass the memo around but apparently stripes are really in right now- there were an awful lot of us sporting them at the party!


We capped the night off with these cool kids serenading us!

 Love this first born sweetie!
P.S. Sydney's past birthday shindigs- 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, & 2nd.

Lincoln's NACHOS AND NACHO 1st Birthday Party

Oh, my Lincoln! What a fantastic excuse to celebrate! We decided it was time to have a "Nachos & Nacho" party (as in the food & the movie).

We had fiesta decorations (I just made a simple fringe bunting to put around the house) & a nacho bar!


Plus some "Hecho in Mexico" Jarritos & LimeAid drinks- complete with Luchador straws I made.


We made good use of the blanket we bought when we were in Mexico & I even found cacti and I painted some pots for them. Plus last week I took pictures  of Linc dressed as a Luchador to put all over the party.

For the kiddos I bought a template from this Etsy shop of a "Color Your Own Luchador" mask. The kids had a lot of fun coloring them & when Rob was done he kept running around saying, "Look I'm a minion!"

I even made Lincoln a Luchador shirt just for the occation. Man, I love that kid!

And most importantly we were surrounded by fantastic wonderful friends who we consider family.

 Thanks to everyone for being there to celebrate this special messy, but happy fellows first year!