First of Many

We are first time parents and our baby is turning one. There's been so much excitement; much like our little one the party planning keeps growing. Apart from our wedding I don't remember ever adding so many little 'extras' to a party. I wanted to share some of our experiences with other parents, feel free to comment if you any ideas what we can do next birthday.

Initially we thought to have a simple party, why make a huge deal right? As we got closer to the birthday I started thinking she's grown and learned so much in such a short time, it's definately a celebration of her life.

We are blessed with many special people close to our daughter so we opted to rent a room for the party. I am no Betty Crocker so cooking (mostly for the safety of our guests) was not an option, although my sweet Mom who actually can cook offered but we went with a caterer.

I think decorations were simple, a few balloons, a banner, paper garland, and pull string pinata. I quibbled over the need for a banner but admit it's really cute and I'm happy we got it. Then I decided I wanted to have a candy-bar to display around the cake, and a small chalkboard sign for the entrance of the room. Since the 2 tier cake will be brought out toward the end of her party my husband thought it'd be good to get cupcakes. I agreed because it will be nice to have some sweets out during the party so he ordered some (with the owl birthday theme) I can't wait to see how cute they look!

Another item I ordered from 'theroyalprincess' on Etsy was bloomers and a bib to match her party theme and colors on her dress. I'm going to attempt to make leg warmers for her in case she gets chilly, I saw a DIY from knee socks online. See link for bloomers, you can request her to personalize characters, colors the owner was very helpful.Etsy personalized bloomers

The other add on was the childrens entertainer, we saw one at our friends babies' birthday and all the kids seemed to have a great time. The one we chose is low key with a guitar and set to sing to the little ones for about 40 minutes. I haven't seen how they are with kids so can't endorse just yet but will do another blog post party.

My husband and I wanted a cake topper, another DIY project we saw was little banners online. We bought wooden meat skewers to use as posts, ribbon to attach the paper flags. I created a word document with diamond shapes and personalized it, we can print, cut, and fold the diamonds over to make the flags. See example you may want to make your own.

Former English Major

Way back when, I was an English major in college; for those that know me, yes I had a few majors but graduated with English. Grammar never was my strong point, I liked old novels and writing stories. My mind was wandering today, I found myself wondering where the phrase, 'there's more than one way to skin a cat' came from. If you think about it, its a gruesome euphemism. Who are these people that skin cats and why do would they know more than one method? I turned to good old google and saw that cat fur was sometimes used in the past (poor kitties) :( At first I was surprised but realized I had purchased a jacket about ten years ago with fur around the hood; it didn't occur to me it was real fur when I bought it. Who knows what little critter unwillingly contributed to it. I purchased without thinking, a mistake I corrected in myself. Much more recently I tried giving up meat, I still eat fish so it's not as difficult as I thought but not sure if I'm getting enough of the protein I need. I don't think it's bad to eat meat but I felt like going without it for awhile. Lets see how long it lasts :) Another tidbit from the site I learned was that in 1832 the House of Commons in England passed a Prevention to Animal Cruelty Act. I thought it was interesting that both then and now people are trying to make it safe for every life in this world. The link is below if you want to check on it.

Under Pressure...but only from myself

I love the song Under Pressure by Queen and as my husband and I are planning our babies First Birthday party I just keep replaying the song in my head. I'm not sure why I feel so much pressure about her first birthday, it's not as if the baby will remember it. But I want it to be a good memory for all our family and friends. Our first debate was whether to have it at home or in a place, the decision was made after we wrote out the guest list. We have a lot of people to invite and wanted to make sure everyone was comfortable. The second thing we mulled over was whether to try to cook ourselves or cater the party. After doing the math we decided it'd be about the same amount of money to cater it and luckily found a hall close to home (mostly within our budget) that would accomodate. Plus having it catered will allow us to enjoy ourselves at the party. There's also the benefit of me not accidentally poison all my loved ones since cooking is not my strongest suit. :) Onto phase three, the theme!! What to do, what to do, she likes a book from Bunnies By the Bay but of course there's no decorations for that. Then I looked online and just got inundated and confused - TMI! I have a lot of ideas but in the end and with good advice decided to keep it generic and simple. I never much thought about themes for parties but from the ones I've attended it really does make a difference, especially for a kids party. I think planning the party would be worse and make me anxious if I didn't have the help of our families. Knowing that I can turn to everyone to ask for advice or their opinions is really helping me out. My sister, sister-in-law, and friends have experience with throwing kid parties so they've all been a great resource for me.

Coffee Without The Attitude

A new coffee shop opened up last year next door to my job called Gregory's Coffee, I stop in every now and again. I like the coffee, but also the staff are surprisingly pleasant. I say surprising because in the rush of the city I feel there's not too much time for customer service. I don't know if it's the chain or just this particular location, the baristas know a lot about coffee. I tend to get confused if I try to order outside my normal regular coffee but once asked what a cortado was and got a quick history lesson, which sadly I can't remember. Since they put in so much effort I felt like I should try one. It packed a punch but was pretty tasty. Since it's close to Valentines day they have a promotion going on if you bring them a valentine you get a free cup of coffee. I thought this was such a cute idea, and remembered that in December if you brought them a snowflake made of paper you'd get a free coffee as well. It's very cute because they then had all these snowflakes decorating the shop. It's nice to see that kind of connection with customers.

Next Warren Buffett?

I've had an account for picking stocks for awhile and mostly left it dormant with virtual tumble weeds passing through. Lately I've been trying to educate myself about the stock market and started to invest the least amount possible. I think there's real potential for even a layman like myself to earn a little extra spending income or at least that's what I hope. Now am I the next Warren Buffett? Not going to happen, but I found that I had a fear of the stock market. I realized I had the mindset that choosing stocks was complicated, risky, and not for 'someone like me'. In this day and age where we have access to articles, and stock forecasts to help you learn what may be a good buy for you, I got to thinking it's ridiculous for me to think I can't do this when it's literally at my fingertips. I don't have thousands of dollars to buy large stock in a great company, but I don't need it. I can focus on start-ups and invest small amounts. The great thing about it, I can put in $10 a month and choose some under performing stock whose value I think may increase in six months or more. The downside, if the stock doesn't pick up, I lose $10 but won't break the bank. So really I don't see a downside, may as well try and hope for the best.

Twice online consignment

I recently came upon a site called Like Twice and fell in definite like :) It took me a couple of visits to the site to get the genius of it, as someone who prefers the quality that you can sometimes get from high-end brands but can't justify to my bank account why I'm paying high prices this is a great site. I've been to thrift or consignment stores before but depending on the store set-up, it's not the best shopping experience. Sometimes thrift stores can be down right frustrating. On 'Like Twice' I can just select my sizes, item, and even which brands I'm looking for and they pull up a selection of gently used clothes, bags, even shoes. Maybe the best part of this online gem is that they buy your old brands, with some criteria for condition and age. I'm going to try to send some items, I'll post again once I find out if the process really is good as it seems. The best part for me is that I can clean out some items in my closet that I'm tired of or outgrew (baby weight) and either get some money for them or store credit. I'm thinking I may opt for the store credit.

Super Bowl Sunday

So it was Super Bowl Sunday, I'm not a big sports fan but joined a pool which for me helped make the game more interesting. Who knew that for me gambling could make sports fun! As long as its within reason (everything in moderation people) :) I didn't win the pool but no harm no foul, I still enjoyed it. I found that by paying more attention and seeing who won the pool made me more interested in the game, it was different from my usual ritual of just watching the commercials. Although if I'm being honest I think the Budweiser puppy was the cutest! Not knowing much about football I have to say I thought it was a good game, the score was never too far apart. I felt a little bad they started fighting at the end but they both wanted to win so badly, it makes me think of the amount of pressure athletes have to cope with. I have a lot of respect for them to be able to handle that kind of pressure. Now to the good stuff, I thought the big cat Katy Perry rode in on was amazing!!! Especially since its movements were coordinated by people on the bottom. It reminded me of the dragons I've seen at parades in China town here in NY, just people moving together to bring an object to life. The other thing I enjoyed during the game was the food, I had half a hero and wings. Well, I left the wings to my husband I can't really eat hot wings (too spicy) but the celery was good. Definitely a good time :)