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November 2011

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I disappeared for a bit. Sorry about that. I think life just got too busy for me to blog about it all. 
Isn’t that weird? When I actually have a ton of party planning, prep and execution I am too busy to blog about it. And, when I have a ton of time to blog there is nothing going on and I’m posting about other people’s parties! 
Geez. 
So, I thought I’d share a quick update via Iphone pics to show you that I’ve been busy and let you know that there are fun party posts in the works. 
Went to Slappy Cakes in Portland to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
We then had a fun day enjoying the beautiful fall weather. I love Fall in Portland. 
I’ve been avoiding the many things I need to be doing by playing in the kitchen. 
I’ve had a lot of extra produce—we get weekly bins of organic and (usually) local veggies from this AWESOME company called Organics to You. It has made me look up a lot of fun new recipes so that none of the produce is wasted. Above is only a small portion of the things I’ve made these past few weeks: Cranberry Orange Bread, Drunken Cranberry Sauce, Apple Spice Cupcakes (recipe coming to blog soon), and Cranberry Orange Muffins. I also baked and purred a ghost pumpkin to use in pumpkin pie and pumpkin cranberry cookies
I threw a rustic-styled birthday party for my friend Alicia. And, believe me…throwing a dinner party for 20 people in my tiny apartment= a very busy Jenni.  Real party post coming soon!
Some of my recent projects have been party or gift related… but, the one pictured on the top was just because I was avoiding the projects I needed to be doing. I got prints from Shutterfly.com and went crazy on my fridge. I love it so much I am thinking about doing the same to my hallway. 
I am also working on funny hats and bow ties to be used at my upcoming birthday party ( a fancy pants  themed event). And, because Pinterest has so many great ideas I used a few of them: fabric poms and t-shirt scarf. 
Thanksgiving was fun as always. I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I was also in charge of providing a couple of fun cocktails for our event. The Apple Cider Margarita was delish and my S’more Martini recipe will be on the blog soon.
On Thanksgiving Day (since we were all dressed nice) I threw together a quick holiday photoshoot for our Christmas cards. Good thing I did too…. Cardstore.com had an amazing 70% off sale on Black Friday. So, one more item checked off the huge holiday to-do list!
Oh, and I’ve been spending my time loving on these two guys. It was wonderful having a long weekend with the hubby and my little man is growing up so quick!
That was basically my November in a nutshell. 
Was yours as busy as mine? What did you do this month?

*This post was not sponsored by Slappy Cakes, Shutterfly or Cardstore. I just happened to use those places and like my service and wanted to share. 

Oh, and if you follow me on instagram I’m sorry that a lot of these photos are a repeat for  ya! 
But, if you don’t follow me and want to my username is plainojeni! 
This week is the week of baby showers here at the blog…
Monday we saw a {Real Party} of a rustic, yet soft baby shower for a girl
Tuesday we saw a {Real Party} of a modern robot-themed shower for a boy
Wednesday was {Working on it Wednesday} with inspiration for a woodland-themed shower
~*~
Today I have photos from another {Real Party}!
My friends and family were super sweet and threw me a Sip & See for our visit back to Oklahoma.
It was a great opportunity for us to celebrate the little guy while seeing all our friends and family in one place. And, since a lot of our friends in Oklahoma recently had kiddos of their own it was an opportunity for us to meet their little ones as well.

My mom, sister and friend Jill really went all out in decorating for this party. My mom created all the paper goods using scrapbook paper and stickers. She even did the little cupcake toppers out of scrapbooks supplies. They used pumpkins, hay bails,fall foliage and even potpourri on the tables to bring out the feeling of fall.

Jill created name tags for all of the guests since our guests were from all different parts of our lives—h.s. friends, college friends, after-college friends and a ton of family. She also created little tissue paper pumpkins (via Martha) filled with candies for the favors.

The food was AMAZING. My step-mom, Teresa, and my mom made all of the food. They decided to do a dessert buffet with coffee, coffee-punch and water to drink. The menu included: pumpkin cupcakes, orange dip and fruit, mocha scones, acorn bites, s’mores pops, chocolate chippies and so much more! It was really, really delicious.

A lot of our friends and family have little ones of various ages so a kids table was a must. Each bag had toys, carrots, apples, juice, fruit by the foot and crayons. Coloring books were spread out on the table so the kids would not be bored while all the adults were chatting.
Of course the carrots were barely touched.

The ladies also put together a little gift table with photos of our little guy and an activity for guests to work on. Each guest got to fill out an advice form that we will keep and save for our little guy as he gets older. Then they would hang the advice from the clothes line above the table. Some guests even put money on the line for us… it was all so sweet.

Our little family felt so very blessed. 

Thank you to my mom, step-mom, sis and to Jill (and her family!) for throwing us this amazing party. I kept getting questions from everyone asking when I had the time to throw the party or what part of the party I did and it was very fun saying,
“Not a thing! They did it all.”

I couldn’t have done it better myself.

Thank you for checking out our party!
I think a lot of these details would transfer nicely to a very pretty Thanksgiving table!

This week is Baby Shower week here at the blog. Need baby shower inspiration for a mommy-to-be having a girl? Check out this beautiful shower for baby Fern. How about a mommy-to-be having a boy? Check out this fun robot shower.
~*~
Today’s {Working on it Wednesday} is all about another baby shower.
I’m working on a Woodland Themed Baby Shower for a friend who is due in February with a little girl.
The hardest part of designing this party has actually been narrowing down inspiration because there is so much out there right now for this theme. I also would like to create at least one element that hasn’t been done a thousand times before. That part might be a little bit of a challenge.
The inspiration behind the party is from a print from Green Nest on Etsy.
As for the color scheme…I’m super excited about using greens, browns and turquoise throughout the party with just little touches of pink. I don’t want the party drowning in pink, but as I just had a little boy I am dying to use this color! 
And, even though I’m not the biggest fan of pink I do tend to use it in my parties.
Maybe it is just a good celebratory color for me?
I am toying with the idea of putting a winter spin on it because the party will be thrown in January. I mean…won’t all those woodland creatures look just ADORABLE sitting in piles of snow? But, that is just a thought right now. What would you do?

Inspiration board images:
Felt Woodland Creatures PDF Pattern from Little Dear on Etsy
A Baby Shower for Fern from The Little Things We Do
Owl Sketches via Alisa Burke
Moss Flower Arrangements via Tradewind Tiaras
Owl Cupcake Tutorial via BumpSmitten
Moss filled invitation from Woodland Wonderland Styled Shoot on 100 Layer Cake
Woodland Cupcake Stand via Parents.com
Moss covered Dessert Trays from Woodland Wonderland Styled Shoot on 100 Layer Cake
Twig Pencils from Acme Party Box Company
I’m really excited to design this shower. I can’t wait to use wood, moss and felt throughout the party. I think I’ll have to break out the sewing machine and make tons of felt woodland creatures!
Fun layouts from PuglyPixel.com