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cute as a button baby shower

by Ruth on May 15, 2012

This past weekend I had the great privilege of hosting a baby shower for my precious new goddaughter Lydia, who was born on April 30th.  It was such a fun party to throw!

 

  Party details:

  • The adorable invitations were designed by the lovely Heather Moritz of Moritz Fine Designs, (who has also designed all 4 of my websites.)  She was inspired by a design I found on Etsy, and rather than having them printed, she just sent me the digital file and I printed them at home, which helped us get them out sooner and kept costs down.
  • As always, there were lots & lots of fun DiY projects for the decorations and favors.  Luckily for this party, which was planned in only 3 weeks, I had 3 amazing co-hostesses, Angie, Kasey, & Katherine, who were invaluable in helping to get everything done, bringing food, & making sure the party went smoothly.  I definitely could NOT have pulled it off without them!
  • As the theme would suggest, there were buttons everywhere!  I purchased several large variety value packs from JoAnn’s, using 50% off coupons for each one.  I also found some vintage spools on ebay for less than $10, so those were used as both decoration and to hold the food tags.
  • The flowers were very easy.  We picked up 2 bunches of roses at Publix (which were on sale because of Mother’s Day), then simply divided them among 5 mason jars.
  • The button monogram was inspired by a project I found on Pinterest, which came from Spearmint Baby.  I did mine a little differently, printing the background instead of hand-drawing it, so that I could include Baby Lydia’s birth statistics underneath.  It did double duty as decoration and as my gift.
  • The brunch was definitely a team effort, with each of the co-hostesses sharing the cooking duties.  It was all delicious!  The menu included an assortment of vegetarian quiche, baked french toast, a Tuscan breakfast casserole, spinach-strawberry salad, fruit salad, & lemon yogurt muffins.  Drinks included homemade lemonade (using the lemon juice from our own lemon tree), blackberry-mint iced tea, & coffee.
  • All of the desserts for the table were homemade.  I was most nervous about the ruffle cake, a Martha Stewart creation, but then I found this awesome You Tube tutorial that I watched about 6 times in a row, and it was surprisingly doable.  In fact, it was so much fun to do that I am planning a pink version for Trouble’s Cake Party coming up in a couple weeks.  The yellow cake had layers of lemon & lime cake with a lemon cream cheese buttercream frosting, while the ruffle cake was vanilla cake with raspberry cream cheese filling and Martha Stewart’s Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
And finally, since I took almost no pictures of actual people during the shower (but about a gazillion of that ruffle cake), and I know you’re just dying to see her, here is the beautiful guest of honor at just 24 hours old.
She really is cute as a button, isn’t she? ;-)
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sunday brunch at my dream house

by Ruth on May 10, 2012

If you follow along on Project Simplify 365, you may have picked up on the fact that I have a slight problem with baby stalking.  I just can’t help myself…..I love them SO much!  I have so far been unsuccessful in my attempts to convince husband that we need another one, so I fill that need by obsessing, er, doting on other people’s babies.

But I digress.  About a week and a half ago we were invited to a brunch after church to celebrate the baptism if this little cutie pie.  Isn’t she precious?  As we were driving out to the country home of the baby’s grandmother, Stacy, we took a wrong turn and wandered aimlessly for a few minutes.  This is the conversation that followed:

Me:  We should get a house out in the country.   I really like it out here.
Husband:  But you hate driving anywhere.  You think going to Publix is too far.  
Me:  Well I could get used to it. I don’t go that many places. (This is true.  I am practically a hermit.)  Just think of how nice it would be to have a big yard for the kids to play in.
Husband: That would be a lot of grass to mow.
Me: And we could get chickens!  And a goat!
Husband:  What are you talking about?  Since when do you want chickens?
Me:  I just think it would be nice for the girls to have chickens.  They could collect the eggs and sell them.  They were selling organic local eggs at the (Worden) farm for $5 a dozen!  Alysha’s daughter has chickens and she sells their eggs.  It’s so cute.
Husband:  You are crazy

A few minutes later we pull up to an adorable Craftsman-style bungalow surrounded by  a nice big yard and spanish-moss covered trees, which was pretty much the exact picture I had in my mind of the perfect country house.  I didn’t know Stacy well, but even from the outside you could tell that she had a great sense of style.

From the moment I walked in the door, I was in awe of it all!  The gorgeous 1927 arts & crafts detailing everywhere, the amazing brunch laid out on the table as we walked in the front door, the quirky-but-style-filled details everywhere, the homemade pickles and cream cheese and jam.  I literally spent hours wandering around, oohing and aahing over every last detail.  I couldn’t even explain why I was so smitten except that maybe in that moment I realized that Stacy was exactly what I want to be when I grow up!

 

And you just knew there were going to be chickens, right?

I hope that this post doesn’t give the impression that I am somehow dissatisfied with my own home, because that is definitely not the case.  I count my blessings every single day, and honestly couldn’t ask for more.  That said, I can still appreciate someone else’s talents and style without feeling like what I have is somehow inadequate.

The older I get, the stronger my urge to get back to basics and create a simpler, more wholesome life for my family.  In fact that was the main reason I started Project Simplify 365 back in January.  I’m not there yet, and while I’d like to be the mom that feeds my kids home grown vegetables out of my own garden with freshly gathered eggs and homemade cheese, I’m still the mom that resorts to the McDonald’s drive-through because sometimes that’s just easier.

Maybe someday we’ll find a 1927 Craftsman bungalow of our own and move to the country and grow vegetables and keep chickens and get a goat, and I’ll finally learn to can my own pickles and jam.  Or maybe we won’t, and that’s okay too.  But in the meantime I’m just happy I get to know a gal like Stacy.

So what about y’all?  Do you have a particular style of dream home?  What does it look like?

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Printing a coupon or ordering a product through this link may result in a commission, which helps pay for the cost of running this site and keeps the content free. Read my full disclosure policy here.

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kids artwork display {3 easy DiY projects & a fail-proof tutorial for how to hang a gallery wall}

May 2, 2012

A couple weeks ago I shared our new {surprise} Rainbow Family Room.  I was so nervous that Husband wouldn’t like it, but as it turned out he absolutely loved it.  So much so that my oh-so-unexpressive, non-writer, engineer husband actually wrote me a poem to thank me!  And it was pretty good!  He said I [...]

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let them eat cake! {birthday party inspiration}

April 27, 2012

It’s been a while since I’ve thrown a party and now suddenly I have TWO of them coming up next month!  Yay! This year Trouble picked her own theme for her 3rd birthday party: CAKE!  I found it only fitting since the girl is currently obsessed with all things baking-related & spends hours building cakes [...]

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rainbow family room {a surprise room makeover project}

April 20, 2012

Husband was out of town this week for a business trip so I decided to surprise him by remodeling our former guest room while he was gone.  This was a project we have been planning for a while but are never able to get to.   In fact, we sold the bedroom set a few [...]

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edible flowers, milking a goat, & lots of yummy vegetables {our trip to worden farm}

April 13, 2012

With our Worden Farm season drawing to a close, I’ve been starting to feel a little guilty about  having never actually made it out to the farm.  Several of my friends also have farm memberships and are always telling me how fun it is to go out there each week.  Well let me tell you, [...]

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amazing grace: my story {part 4}

March 22, 2012

{Read Part 1: Falling} {Read Part 2: Clouds Lifting} {Read Part 3: Changing Paths} *   *   * Part 4: But For Grace In the fall of 2009, just a few months after Trouble was born, we made the decision to move back to Florida.   It had become clear that my 85-year-old mother-in-law, Marie, [...]

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strawberry basil sangria

March 16, 2012

Mmmmmm….Sangria.  Doesn’t that picture just make you want to take the rest of the day off? We are still enjoying our little Staycation this week, so instead of a boring food recipe, I thought today I’d share our Official Cocktail of Staycation 2012.   I love making Sangria for parties but usually use citrus fruits–oranges, [...]

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amazing grace: my story {part 3}

March 14, 2012

{Read Part 1: Falling} {Read Part 2: Clouds Lifting} *   *   * Part 3: Changing Paths Three days after Hurricane Charley we boarded up our mangled house and drove to St. Louis so I could begin law school. After a year-and-a-half of single-mindedly focusing on getting myself there, I was so excited to [...]

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simple vegetable frittata {stockpile meals}

March 9, 2012

I’ve been slightly obsessed with frittatas lately.  Have you ever made one?  They are the perfect last-minute-oh-crap-it-is-5:30-and-I-have-no-idea-what-to-make-for-dinner meal. As long as you’ve got eggs, cheese, and a little milk or cream (or even evaporated milk in a pinch) you can whip one together and throw in whatever items happen to be taking up space in [...]

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