Everyone has that family that is not related to you, but they kinda are because they've been around forever and you grew up close to each other and you borrowed each other's stuff and the kids are all the same ages. (For the record, I think we borrowed way more stuff than actually loaned out.) Well, I have a family like that and I just love the stuffing out of them. This weekend, Heidi (the daughter) threw her mom a surprise birthday party. Well, her sons and husband were involved too, but being the only other girl in the family, she did all the sweat-work. I soooo get that.
The party was awesome!!!
This party had all the elements that are needed for a great party (in my opinion): fun and chill people, a killer location, and creative details that made everyone ooo and aaa. I think that's called a trifecta. I loved this party so much, and I wasn't hosting, so I took a ton of pictures. Most of the night, I was seen doing this:
Luckily, I have a blog to display all these pictures. It's taken a lot of time to choose, edit, and post these pictures, and I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I do. I'm first going to say a little something about the party details.
First, there was the food. There were a few salty snacks, but the main food that was served was cupcakes. Everyone knows that cupcakes are so hot right now, and we all know why. They are so cute. These are my cupcakes that I brought.
Heidi asked several of the friends (who wanted to help) to make 2 dozen cupcakes each and bring them. We got to choose which ones we wanted to make. That way, we had tons of different flavors to choose from. Which proved to be difficult because it was hard to choose which ones we wanted. Luckily, I attacked the cupcake table in a group of 4 people, so we each got one bite of a few different ones.
Heidi is a graphic designer, so she made cute little menus for the cupcakes and the bar. For the bar, she served cokes, bottled water, beer, and one featured cocktail called The Divine Deb. It's a little something she made up the night before the party.
When guests walked up to the party, they walked into the covered porch area where the bar was. Everyone was given a shot of vodka and a drink and within minutes we had a bunch 50 and 60 year-olds drunk off their faces. Not really. Not at all. Everyone kept it classy and no one drank too much. I'm pretty sure.
The bar and the bartenders were the first things that I saw and the party could have stopped there because it was so cute and fun. That guy and that girl. That's my high school Sunday school teacher who laughs at everything I say and that's Heidi, kinda like a sister. We laugh at everything each other says.
The cocktail had mint and lemons in it, which is what is in the picture. The ingredients for the cocktail doubled as simple decorations. Love it!
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Ok, so let's talk about the house. Elise (the hostess) told us that we could look around anywhere we wanted to. I've heard her house is adorable, so I was eager to do that. But, if I'm ever in your house, then beware. If I'm given permission to "look around," then I assume that I can take tons of pictures and post them on my blog and look in closets and make myself very much at home. Home, Sweet Home:
Isn't that sign so precious? Awesome. Perfect. Colorful. Are you asking yourself what it is? It's broken plates and some white filler stuff. She made it herself. Deb makes them too. They used to make them as presents. One Christmas they made street numbers for everyone. (101 Awesome Street got a cute "101" to in colors to match the house.) I'm so doing this for my home and maybe for people for Christmas.
My mom and I looked around the house. Well, really, we walked around and took notice of everything. My mom kept telling me, "take a picture of ____. I need to remember that!" We picked up on the details and took note.
The picture above is of a cute room, but what we really loved was that wire basket of loose pictures. What a great idea and conversation starter. My mom and I are both looking for wire baskets now. You should too. Add this picture to your Pinterest right now and don't forget to do it. It's a great idea.
Oh, lookie-there. Loose pictures again. This time, they are stacked in two baskets. Why are we all filing away our pictures that we've printed. I want to put them out for all to browse.
My mom LOVED the dining room and sun room beside it. I think she almost had a seizure in there. I couldn't take enough pictures of that room for her. We both loved the simple center piece on the formal dining room. A cute hand towel with three vases of greenery. Simply perfect.
My mom is a huge fan of plates on the wall, so of course she loved this. The plates are interesting, cool, and unperfectly perfect when it comes to size and balance. Why put china on the wall? Go crazy. Life is short. Use fun, wild plates.
What a perfect place to get a mother-daughter picture. Especially when our shirts match the room. Oh, it's like twinky-cute. Ding.
The picture above is a perfect example of the cool pieces of furniture she had and the little vignettes that went with them. I love the combo of cool furniture and sweet vignettes. There is an art to them, and I'm not sure what the key is.
I decided that her kitchen was my dream kitchen. The cabinet doors were simple, with less fuss to wipe down. The counter was flush with the subway tile back splash. The stainless steel appliances went well with the counters.
The lighting was bright and warm. The room was simple and natural, which let the accessories make the noise. Note to self: get an aqua kettle.
The upstairs was very cute too, but I only grabbed one picture. Of their master bathtub. See, this is what happens when I'm given all-access permission to "look around." I showed the hostess this picture, and told her that I had to move a pink razor out of the picture. She told me it was leftover from a big girl slumber party her daughter had. I told her I was probably putting this on my blog. All those frames leaned up against the side like that-it makes that impressive bathtub into something warm and inviting. Personal touches do that.
Off the kitchen was this little screened in porch area. That is one thing that our house doesn't have right now: outdoor living space. We miss it and hope to have it again one day. For now, I'm just enjoying other peoples spaces. My favorite thing about this space was the ceiling. IT doesn't show up great in the picture, but take my word for it, it was painted such a wonderful shade of aqua.
When looking around at all her pictures, I noticed this frame. The photographs seem a little bit old, or at least not current. All the pictures are jumping pictures and I thought that was nothing but good ole fun. Jumping pictures, they're not just for today's teenagers. They're old school. Rad.
The last, and most important part of the party was the people that were there. I took tons of pictures of groups of people, but I'm not sure if they would like it if they were posted here. So, I'm just posting a picture of the family. There's Deb in the aqua and her daughter, Heidi, in the black top. The blond is her daughter-in-law. The back row are her sons and husband. This family is like an extension of my own family and I just love them. Their friends, their attitude, their attention to detail made for one festive night!
