Kinda Speechless

It takes a lot for me to stop talking, but this birthday cake by Cheryl Kleinman from Betty Bakery took my breath away and was an absolutely perfect guest at my party!  I'm so grateful to the family and friends who came out to celebrate and I tried not to get too teary-eyed.  It all started with this invite from Paperless Post, love this site...

Of course the theme was pink & purple:

and Betty Bakery also made these yummy cupcakes that Rachael brought.  The pink ones were strawberry frosted!

There was an abundance of cheese, mmm....one of my favorite foods ever...and lovely duck sausage, pate and rillettes from New Amsterdam Market.  This was only one of the cheese tables!

Gotta have some nice drinks, including a magnum of Veuve Clicquot yellow label Champagne I got as a gift in 2007 and never seemed to get around to opening, lovely local wine and a strawberry sangria that Jenny made.

I attempted a little speech but didn't get too far.  It was just enough to have everyone there with me for the day, eating and happy.  There was much Bonchon Korean fried chicken, pajeon (pancakes), mandu (dumplings), kimchi coleslaw, eggplant parmesan made by my Mom, a strawberry jello mold made by my Aunt Liz (a family favorite), curry rice with chicken made by Ray, california rolls and spam sushi made by Tomoko, dumplings brought by Louise, a gorgeous plum tart made by Eunice and luscious enchiladas made by Eric.  

How I didn't get pics of all of this astounds me, but I guess I was running around a bit in my sparkly heels and pink crown.

And there were party favors!  Stamped paper fans from an idea by Martha Stewart (and the fans were just $1.00 from Pearl River Mart).

Pretty cards, including a few cats of course:

Colorful flowers from Eliot and Robert:

And presents!

Lexi made this ceramic tile: ahhh she knows of my affection for precious, little sheep.

I used Paperless Post again for the Thank You cards.  My friend actually thought this was my handwriting -- I WISH I could write this neatly, but I'm definitely not known for that.  Thanks especially to my setup & cleanup crews, great job, guys!

Today a UPS surprise arrived!  Girly fun by Nars from Niki of B3: Beauty by Brennan. 

And finally a BLOG surprise!  I noticed more than a usual number of hits yesterday and found out that Teri & Jenny from spoon fork bacon had added me to their "blogs we love" page.  So exciting!  Thanks so much, ladies, the feeling is mutual!

Just another lunch (Thai) and 2 more dinners out (Italian, then Korean BBQ) to finish off this super fun week....really: BEST birthday in years.

Bday week fun (& more jam)

[from tarot.com]

Yep, been a great week so far. Even my cat is being nice to me and that's a new development.  And it just keeps on going...

July Babies

This is a picture of me with my Mom whose birthday was this Wednesday, July 13.  So tonight I'm baking a cake for her party and just thinking about some stuff that came up this week.

My friend Aimee and I were philosophizing today about The Secret Language of Birthdays, horoscopes, relationships and compatibility.  Very interesting stuff...just read some details on my sign and found a lot of it surprisingly accurate, hmmm...

After a friend posted this video on Facebook, everyone I've shown it to is having baby lust.  It's hard to believe that something could be this adorable.

And being one who usually can tear up at commercials this one for Google Chrome definitely got me.

So, happy birthdays to Mom, John, Lexi, Justin, Jason, Sam, Chris, Mike, Jeremy, Liz, Jennifer, Ellaine, Maria, Peter, Stevie, Eric and many many more!

Create Dreams Be You

Saw this at Forever 21 and thought for a little shirt, it spoke volumes...Create: your life is waiting, Dreams: make them come true, Be: who you are, You: can make a difference. 

That paired with my horoscope today and I think I'm finally getting it: If you're struggling with the question of where to go from here, you may feel you're at a turning point, and that some big decision is necessary.  You've tried different ideas for getting ahead, but you may still be perplexed about what direction to take.  You won't have to make that choice, Leo, because the meaning of your life is becoming clearer.  No matter how much you wrestle with your choices, you'll find that a choice is being made for you.  Soon, you'll clearly see where to go next.  Good fortune is unfolding, and you'll be directed toward it if you don't get too caught up in finding an alternate route.

And lastly, a recent fortune cookie: There are times when silence speaks the loudest.

All very contradictory perhaps, but to me it makes sense.  And today I'm working at definitely one of the grandest birthday parties ever and will get to meet the incredible cake genius Sylvia Weinstock!  So, I'm ready: bring it.

Now finalllly to the winner of the 100th post giveaway: Ashley from Domestic Fashionista!  I love her posts about all the beautiful things she makes, cookes and bakes for her home and husband and she gives fabulous parties too!  She even hosted an online Valentine's Day Link Up Party so check out all the participants' awesome creations.  Thanks for entering, Ashley, you inspire me!

Now on to the birthday party...!

11 Craft-O-Lutions for 2011

"For last year's words belong to last year's language 

and next year's words await another voice." -- T.S. Eliot

I'm loving the New Year's Resolution Reviews popping up, from Heart Handmade, Sandy A La Mode and others, so I've made a few changes around here: a Facebook fan page, Tweets and more event listings.  Let me know if you hear about any more!  Here's what I want to do in 2011:

1) Ballet classes, took the 2nd one in 6 years last week at Peridance, very inspired by Black Swan!

2) Cello lessons again, it's been about 11 years now! also very inspired by this Korean horror movie

3) Jewelry class, maybe at Make Workshop or 3rd Ward

4) Sell something at a craft fair, so many to think about, now what to make??

5) Cake decorating, been years since I've done this too, so I got my last bday cake at Magnolia 

6) Get another flower arranging job, cause the first was lots of work, but really fun

7) Visit event vendors: like a baker, florist, stationer, designer...and a few others I have in mind...

8) Get another tattoo: already chose the place, thinking about the design

9) Sew a dress

10) Keep cooking, cause starting this year off with Korean dumplings was pretty tasty

11) And do a better job of keeping in touch cause, well, it just all around makes me happy

Good luck with your resolutions, crafty or otherwise!

B-Y-O-Birthday

My family was a little surprised when I brought my own birthday cake to the party they had for me on Sunday, but I just wanted pink frosting from Magnolia Bakery and special candles from Caspari so I thought I might craft my own birthday for a change.

Those paper flowers are from Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts: cut a standard 20" x 30" piece of tissue paper into 12 pieces that are 5" x 10" each.  This will make 3 flowers as each one has 4 layers of tissue.  Stack 4 layers on top of each other and start folding like an accordion fan.

Secure the folded piece in the center with floral wire (I used a fairly bendy 28-gauge wire) and twist.  You can cut the edges in a rounded shape, or into points to vary how the petals will look.  i also added some color to the ends with a pink marker like I did for my Mother's Day corsage.

Then the fun part!  Carefully pull the tissue layers apart and you'll have delicate petals: it's easier to see on a black background, just do one side at a time....

and then you will have a flower with rounded petals.

Or more pointy ones.

I hung them outside from the deck umbrella 

by the pink hydrangea and votives I brought.

And my family loves cheese so I brought Oregonzola (and misspelled it on the marker, oops!), brie with mushroom, smoked gruyere and chevre with herbs and garlic.

We sipped pink lemonade and rose wine by my Mom's lovely flowers and she was even growing tomatoes and strawberries!

It was a lovely pre-celebration, thanks, Mom and Dad!  And since tomorrow is *the* day, we're heading to the beach since it's always been my happy place.