Idea #15 Throw a [Tea] Party!

This idea was inspired by fellow blogger Kandee Johnson, who recently blogged about attending a tea party in Beverly Hills.  Most of us don't live in Beverly Hills, but that doesn't mean we have to miss out on a fun summer tea party! My suggestion is to throw your own!
Summertime is a great time for this, because you can set everything out on the deck, or patio, even poolside, which means little to no seasonal decorations are needed because the outdoors already provides a summery ambience. Now you're free to relax and catch up with your friends without all the fuss.
Love the idea of using your fancy heirloom china but the idea of hot drinks on a hot day repels you?Consider serving chilled iced tea in champagne glasses - to keep things fancy ;)
And what better way to celebrate a summertime tea party than with sunshine inspired cupcakes?  Yeah, you knew I was gonna mention cupcakes sooner or later, didn't you!

Deck The Halls With Christmas Cupcakes ......

Fa-la-la-la-la, La-la-la-laaaaa!

 

 

I'm not exactly a closet cupcake-fanatic, I don't try to hide my lunacy deep appreciation for these tasty little treats AT ALL haha. 

So my friend Melanie was spot-on when she surprised me with these adorable, delicious-looking tree ornaments this year as part of her christmas gift to me. I was tickled to be able to 'deck the halls" with festive cupcakes.

 

With so much going on and a house packed full of family and friends this Christmas, I knew it was gonig to be a challenge to remove myself from the holiday festivities long enough to take a few shots of the action - bit I managed to snag a few....

Here's what our Merry Little Christmas looked like through a lens ....

 

 

The kids the morning of their school christmas concert - and one of the rare moments you'll catch Zach wearing a tie....

 

 

Decoration above the kitchen cabinets... I decorated everything but the kitchen sink. I'll get to that next year . . .

 

 

Mr.Nutcracker stood guard ...

over the yummy holiday treats my mama baked and brought out for us. Mr. Nutcracker did a terrible job guarding them, I got away with far too many, haha

 

 

 

 I set the camera timer and set it down on the back of the couch to catch a few impromptu candids of our family and friends at dinnertime (so that I could be in one too! (farthest to the right) It was only once I downloaded them that I noticed they were a bit blurred, I should have reset my shutter speed to freeze the action better.

 

Merry Christmas to all of you out there, and I wish I could have had room for every single one of you to be sitting at our table with us!

Warmest Hugs Like A Pumpkin Pie Right Out Of the Oven,

-J

 

 

Adventures in Blog-land

The fact that this post is happening on a weeknight is a small miracle in itself, but given that I am typing this from my dearest friend and mentor Barb's  basement, as she teaches me all sorts of new blog tips is SUPER EXCITING to me.

 Barb's task isn't an easy one, she has to reign me in and pull my dreamer head outta the clouds -

 -  long enough to teach me how to effectively link and network with other blog sites - in particular we are "focusing" on photography sites ;)

Sorry.   It was right there.    I had to.

The first site we visited was kevin & amanda . I particularly liked this post here about her fave camera strap.  I've been looking for a hassle-free way to haul around my camera(s) for years! Every strap I've ever had was stupidly annoying. Either it was too thin and dug uncomfortably into my shoulder after just a few hours, or it was heavily padded and slip off my shoulder every time I'd lift the camera to frame a shot.  None would rest properly at my side, and my poor camera would flail out awkwardly with each step. I was constantly in fear my lens would get bumped too hard and do one of two things: crack the lens, or the poor weight distribution caused by the awkward angle the camera hung at would cause the entire lens to pull away from the body and destroy both the lens and the body.  I'm so thankful to have finally been pointed in the right direction. (she had me at the point she mentioned  "cupcake" - don't judge me)  I have a feeling I can learn alot of handy tips from this site, and it's always nice to find other fellow cupcake-lovers blogger-photographers like me. (I know, priorities, right?)

 The next site was pioneer woman  This lady blows my mind with her constant creative inspiration. I have yet to find something she can't do.

On the more serious side, we visited ilovephotography, which had some phenomenal , inspiring shots as well.

I'm off to post comments on these and others' blogs who catch my interest, and get a running start to the world of networking opportunities!

Hope your day is inspiring and a little bit magical!

Hunting for good photo blog sites (and maybe a cupcake)
-J

 

Things You Didn't Know: cupcakes grow on trees

I just love this idea of a "cupcake tree"!  

 

 photo credit to Cupcake Tree Bakery

 

 

I just love the idea of cupcakes growing on trees, haha. very Tim Burton -like, don't you think?  I decided the baby shower I'n hosting next week needs a cupcake tree, so Ive been on the hunt for a DIY  project how- to and I came across this;

photo credit

love. love. love!   

If you haven't already guessed,  my current obsession with "Alice In Wonderland" has inspired my theme for the baby shower, which will be a Mad Hatter Tea Party ;)  And in my humble opinion, no wonderland tea party would be complete without a whimsical cupcake tree! I'll post the photos of the shower so you can see how the "tree" turned out!

 

Well,  I'm off to hunt for stuff for my newest project ( which I will also post the how-to in my DIY section)

 

Top Hats and Teapots,

-J

 

T

 

 

More Favorites ....

Time for this friday's favorites again.  I hope you have all enjoyed your week, and if not, cheer up because it's nearly over!  We've had an especially busy week around here and it's going to be busy right on into the weekend a bit. But you know what? That's okay because first thing next Monday morning I'll be packing up the kids to go camping for a few days! Really looking forward to that and you can count on a post with the camping pics once we're back.

Favorite #1 - THIS FACE :)  I was looking through photos to add to my photo gallery and I came across one of my adorable sons at age 10 months. Look at those cheeks! mwaaa!

Favorite # 2  - Red Velvet cupcakes

photo credit

My longtime obsession with these delicious southern treats was only deepened this week after making a whole batch of them and topping them with fresh local cherries. I would have posted one of my own photos of the ones I had made, but in all honesty we ate them all before I even thought of reaching for my camera, haha!  

Favorite #3 - peaceful places to think (or read!)

Doesn't the branch of this tree look like the perfect "chair" to sit on and think deep thoughts? haha. It's right along one of my favorite running routes and each time I run past it I tell myself that I'm going to sit on it one day and read a book! (I sense a new year's resolution brewing)

Favorite #4 - tiny baby birds!

My mom took this photo - I've never seen birds this young before, she took this photo right after she watched them hatch!   Way to catch a photo op, mom ;)  I'm so proud!)

Favorite #5 - good friends ;)

My girl Jocelyn on the right, my former roommate and one of my good friends, with whom I have shared many adventures with over the years is coming to visit this weekend, yay! Yes I realize this photo is not in any way professional and ridiculously unflattering, but I love that cause it makes me laugh every time I see it!

What are some of your favorites this Friday? Comment below!

More hugs than cupcakes,

 -J

Hugs, Hearts & Cupcakes

Ever have one of those days where you don't know whether to laugh or cry?  Yeah, m e too. We all do from time to time. In those moments it's hard to keep a good perspective on life. I love the quote ( I don't know who it's by) that goes " I'm trying to take things one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once!"  hahaha.
I've had a lot of things to deal with today - I had to deal with a work issue involving a screw up that hadn't been caught and snowballed pretty badly Sometimes I really hate how much we count on the accuracy of computers. - especially when we assume certain things are accurate and find out later that some automatic updates had caused minor alterations resulting in pretty serious complications!  Then I had some major scheduling conflicts with my school that I had to deal with - and the only person there who can really help me is away until my start date. This was all added to the fact that this past weekend we had a serious emergency in our household. We called the gas company to report what we believed to be a gas leak in our fireplace only to find out that it was in fact a CARBON MONOXIDE leak!  The technician said the levels were so high we wouldn't have made it even 6 hours in those conditions   It was Sunday afternoon, and according to him it had started quite some time before then.  He just stared at his meter and shook his head in disbelief that my children and I had even woken up at all that morning!  I was shocked and we were pretty shaken after that - you hear awful stories on the news about things like this were there is a CO leak in the middle of the night and entire families go to bed and never wake up again. How tragic and awful and scary to find out that we were so close to being one of those stories!  And since Co detectors are not mandatory ( they sure should be though!)  the house we are renting does not have one and so we had no idea we were even at risk.  Let me tell everyone who has natural gas in their house, whether it is for a fireplace, furnace, hot water tank or stove range - PLEASE make sure you have a Co detector in your home! They don't have to be hardwired into your house, you can buy one that just plugs into any electrical outlet in your home. ( I didn't know this till my uncle told me - I will be buying one before I have the gas hooked up again, once we get our new fireplace  - the other one didn't work properly, hence the leak) Again.  I urge anyone who doesn't have a carbon monoxide detector to get one - I don't want any one of you precious readers to fall victim to a horrible tragedy.
Getting back to perspective . . . .    We all have days where everything goes wrong and we just want to crawl into bed and stay there and wait for tomorrow. But given how unbelievably fragile life can be during times of near-miss disasters,  sometimes keeping those times of saving grace close in our hearts helps us keep our perspective. It allows us to focus instead on the little things in life that we can be thankful for because we almost missed out on the chance to enjoy those things.  I picked up my kids from their afterschool activities. It was Junior Chef cooking class day, and they showered me in hugs and shared their freshly baked CUPCAKES with me!     And you know what?  Their precious little hearts so full of love and their warm hugs ( not to mention the yummy cupcakes - they're good little chefs!)  were all it took to turn my day right around and make it a pretty awesome day.
The storms of life can rage all around us, kind of like the blinding snow blizzard roaring outside my window right now. But keeping a little perspective goes a long way to reminding us how the little things in life - the best things - can't been seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.

Sending you all hugs and yummy virtual cupcakes to turn your day around!
-J