My List

I know I haven't written in a bit, but I came across this blog about a month ago and I've been reading some posts here and there and it really got me thinking.  I feel right now that I should warn you that there will be some heavy use of the word "dammit," so if that offends you, you might wanna just move on along...  Alright.  So everyone who's offended at the word dammit has left (or at least we hope so...because I really don't wanna hear about how I shouldn't use that word blah blah blah -- they had their warning).  As I was saying at the beginning, I came across a new-to-me blog about a month ago (I'm not sure how I got there, but I'm really glad I did!) and I read this page about creating a dammit list, and I wanted to give it a try.  So without further ado, here it is:

My Dammit List
I do not have to wait tables for the rest of my life, dammit!

I do not have to work for The Man to feel adequate, dammit! *

Success is what I make it to be, dammit!

Just because I will tolerate working with stupid people doesn't mean I have to always be nice to them, dammit!

I will wear whatever makes me feel comfortable or pretty or sexy or whatever, dammit!

I will make a positive impact while I'm here on Earth, dammit!

I will recycle and up-cycle everything I possibly can, dammit! **

I have always been and will always be a strong individual, dammit!

I will forgive you once if you screw me over -- after that, you're on my shit list, dammit!

I have my diva moments, and sometimes they are truly necessary, dammit!

I will not watch what I eat to maintain a societally accepted body weight/shape/size/whatever, dammit! ***

Respect is earned, dammit!

If you act like an asshole, I will treat you like an asshole, dammit!

I have a very long bucket list that I add to constantly, because I have stuff to accomplish, dammit!

And I do check stuff off that bucket list, so I have to add more stuff to accomplish, dammit!

I stand up for myself, dammit!

I will not be a victim, dammit! ****

I am a feminist, dammit!

I am creative, dammit!

I am learning to speak my mind, whether or not anyone else likes it, dammit!

I'm kinda quirky, and that's how I like it, dammit!

*This doesn't mean I don't want to work for The Man ever, but it does mean that I can still feel adequate if I'm doing my own freelance gig for a bit.

**This is something I learned from my grandmother (she survived the Great Depression).

***But I will do it for health reasons...

****This doesn't mean shit hasn't happened or won't happen to me -- it means I choose to learn from the experience and I do things to ensure it doesn't happen again.

I'm sure this isn't all that will ever be on my Dammit List, but it's a work in progress...I think it is always in progress.  So I'm sure I'll add to it and take away from it and everything else throughout the years.  But for now, that's a pretty good Dammit List.  Enjoy and start your own Dammit List, dammit!

Beachy Birthday

This past weekend we celebrated my cousin's birthday (in case you missed it or don't remember, here's the post about planning the party).  I know I promised lots of pics of the party, so this post is gonna be very picture heavy with a little running commentary just to clarify some stuff.  I was gonna start off with a picture of the invitations, but I forgot to take a picture of them before I mailed them off...so I'll just describe them for a quick second because they were so darn cute!  I got some silver card stock and matching envelopes and printed the invitation information on the front side (not so cute...just necessary...) and I got a stencil of a few hibiscus flowers that I painted in purple on the back (because purple is my cousin's favorite color).  When I stuffed the envelope, I made sure to put it so that when people opened the invitation they saw the hibiscus flowers first.  And since the flowers were there, I decided to put the flowers on the back of the envelope after I sealed them too (just to throw in that extra little cuteness and continuity).  So those were the invitations - simple, efficient, and super cute!  OK.  Now on to the fun part...PICTURE TIME!!! (I took 400 pictures, but I'll only put up the best pictures here!  I know y'all don't want to scroll through pictures AND running commentary for that long...)

First up is the pre-party (a.k.a. last minute prep work):

Since she has the best handwriting of all of us, Janet got to write cute little saying on note cards to put them in the party favors so we could do a "message in a bottle."

So here's the "message in a bottle" party favors.  Well, party favors for the girls, anyway...I forgot the take a picture of the guys' party favors.  Anyway, remember those candles from this post?  Well, I took all the jars and washed them (a lot...probably 3-4 cycles in the dishwasher after soaking in boiling-lava-hot water...) and I painted the lids with chalkboard paint (thank you Pinterest!  And Martha Stewart!) so that I could write everyone's name on the top (let's be honest, who doesn't like a little personalization every once in a while?  Not to mention, that way they knew it was chalkboard and they could write on it).  Now, in the girls' jars, I put a salt scrub and in the boys' jars I put graham cracker crumbs and chocolate seashells Kasey made, and everyone got a message in their jar.  This is what they looked like:

 

Next up is our grill master Adam and my cousin Kasey (not the birthday girl, obviously...that would kind of ruin the surprise).  Kasey has just finished artfully decorating note cards for the food table to tell everyone what food is there (kind of a necessity when we had about 6 different types of salsa and 4 different seasonings for the chicken...).  Adam is helping put umbrellas in the note cards so they'll stand on their own.  They're so crafty!

This is kind of at the end of "pre-party" and we were goofing off while waiting for the birthday girl to get back home (we sent her out for the day with my niece and nephew so they could go see a movie and we could get all this done and surprise her when she got home).  So this is Adam and Stephanie - I wrote about them and Janet (from the first picture) in this post.  Aren't they adorable!?!?

Anyway...back to my cousin.  When she got home, I had a big surprise for her!  She was so upset that we rushed her out of the house in the morning and she didn't get time to fix her hair or put on her makeup before she left for the movies (and she was worried she wouldn't have time afterward to get ready for the party).  Well, it's a good thing I had already planned for the most talented stylist (Arin Hill of Beauty by A. Hill) in a 100 mile radius to come do her hair and makeup!  I'll admit it, I'm a little biased...Arin did hair and makeup for my wedding (I mean, she was one of my 9 bridesmaids - don't judge, I'm from the South...that's just how we roll! - so why would I ask anyone else to do my hair and makeup?  I don't trust anyone but her!  I even drive 6 hours each way to get a haircut!) and Arin's been doing my hair and makeup since high school!  So of course I had to ask Arin to come and give my cousin a fabulous beachy makeover for her birthday!

So, while I left my cousin in Arin's always capable hands, I had to check and make sure everything was in place so the party could start.  These are the cards Adam and Kasey had worked on earlier.  Aren't they adorable!?!?  I told you they were crafty!

This is what the snack food table looked like.  We had chips and salsa (I'm not sure where the chips went for this picture....but they were there for the party!) and boiled peanuts to snack on while Adam manned the grill (which he did for most of the party...but that's probably because my husband was supposed to be helping, but the two of them ended up eating food off the grill while they were cooking...so I only think half the food they cooked ended up on the table).  Anyway, I took a beach blanket and set it out with an umbrella on top with some paper lanterns hung off of it because, well, why not?  My cousin brought up a pirate ship and sand castle she painted and I had a few sand toys, so we put them on the railing so sort of round out the table.

And in the corner were all the props for photo-boothing if anyone wanted to (which was not as big a hit as I had anticipated, but that's probably because once someone got a hold of a prop, it stayed on their person for the duration of the party...which made for even funnier pictures than the photo booth itself...which I would say is a much bigger win!)

Here is our grill master, showing off his potatoes.  I think those potatoes were the most popular food at the party -- we went through 10 pounds of potatoes in about an hour...

Now that the party girl is ready, it's time to get her lei'd (minds out of the gutter people...she's only 17).  Since my nephew was all about handing out the beads from the photo booth to everyone, I figured he'd enjoy putting the lei on my cousin.  He did it with such a sense of honor, it was adorable!  It looked like he had waited his whole life for that moment!  (Might I add that he takes his tasks very seriously, which is why this was so freakin' adorable!)

Now it's party time!!!

First up for the photo booth is the always lovely Arin, the birthday girl, and my niece.  I would like to emphasize that Arin enjoyed that skirt so much, she ran upstairs to borrow some soffe shorts from cousin so she could wear that skirt for the entire party.  Much hilarity ensued!

Now, we had swimmies for the photo booth, but since I have child-size forearms, they would only fit on me.  So I wore them for about 5 minutes until my forearms started sweating (seriously, who knew forearms could sweat?) and they became table decoration.

And what beach party would be complete without hula hoops?

She decided she's much better at hula hooping on her arm...

I was a little nervous the whole day because it was on-again off-again raining...but that didn't stop my dad!  I think he enjoyed having the porch to himself while the rest of us stayed dry in the screened-in porch (a.k.a. the tiki bar).

Of course, we had to amuse ourselves somehow with the rain.  So we brought the hula hoops in there.  Stephanie prepped for about 5 minutes to hula hoop and I'm pretty sure it fell straight to the ground...

Back to the grill master.  We did grilled pineapple (which was amazing, I must say).  And I'm pretty sure that's my husband's arm...eating potatoes...right off the grill.  Like I said, I'm sure half the food that was cooked was consumed by those two straight off the grill...

This is my puppy in his new Hawaiian shirt!  He was begging for food...

While the guys were still grilling, we decided to go ahead and do cake and presents because, well, it's cake.  Who wouldn't want to do cake and presents before dinner?  So, I did a miniature cake for my cousin (in her favorite color, of course) with some sugar seashells on top surrounded by graham crackers and chocolate seashells (we found that candle holder at my mom's house and figured it would make a PERFECT cake stand!)

She had no idea I put some trick candles in there (and by some I mean an entire pack...).  Also, I'm pretty sure those flying bits are graham cracker crumbs...  It's a good thing we all don't mind sharing a little spit every once in a while!

Still trying to get all those trick candles without inhaling too much smoke...

Still trying...

I think she's nervous they'll relight themselves again...

Since we did a personal-size cake for my cousin, we did cupcakes for the rest of the guests.  We had blue ones that kind of looked like waves and we had some covered in graham cracker crumbs with an umbrella in them to look like the beach.  And of course our platter of graham cracker crumbs with chocolate seashells.

Now on to presents.  This is just to show how fun my family is.  This kind of picture is very typical in my family.

Oh, and when you give your cousin a guitar, it's best to wrap it in unconventional objects to make it more fun.

Of course, everything is more fun with feather boas!

Especially when you and your friend can wear them proudly while you remove the crepe paper that is literally wrapped around the entire guitar...

And here's most of us from the party (I say most because some people had already left to go get children and whatnot...).

What kind of party would it be without the goofy picture?  (I kid you not, that's about as goofy as Janet gets without a little liquid encouragement...)

So that's the end of it.  I hope you guys enjoyed these pictures as much as we enjoyed the party!  I think I've upheld my title as Cool-Cousin-Party-Planning-Diva fairly well.  So thanks for stopping by and have a great one!  I'll see you on the next post!