Month: January 2015

Things That Move Eco Birthday Party

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So I’m a little bit behind on posting, but better late than never! For little man’s 2nd birthday we threw a eco-friendly Things That Move party! Because we all know 2 year olds are nothing but on the move. Instead of getting sponsors this year like I have in the past, I decided to do it all myself. But the people I worked with are so awesome, I want to give them recognition because they have some amazing eco-party supplies!

 

 

I found an awesome custom printable company on Etsy called StorybookLaneCrafts. She had several awesome packages that you buy, download and print yourself- which I love because you can choose what to print instead of having items you don’t need plus you can use recycled paper.
She was able to make us a custom kit with several of her designs since she had several cars, trucks, planes, trains, and road signs. She also made our invites and thank you cards. Excellent customer service, great quality, and love that we can still use the printables in Keenan’s room.
The kit also included tent cards which you can have her customize or edit yourself.
In October, I won a giveaway from Susty Party. It happened to be black plates and cups, which were perfect for our party! I had a custom stamp made and with white ink, it looked awesome on the cups.
Susty Party creates disposable tableware from renewable or sustainably harvested materials, and made in North America.
The kit came with bowls, large and small plates, utensils, napkins, tablecloth and cups. I added some road tape to the tablecloth and to tape it to the table so the toddlers didn’t pull it down.
We also used the road tape to put on a white tablecloth and taped to the floor using road washi tape from 2Berry Creative for the kids to sit and eat their cake.
I also used the washi tape on a wooden K that has been used at my babyshower and his first birthday. This year I decided to take it easy and I let Whole Foods make the cake.
I have to say I am more than impressed with their customer service. They called me the morning of the party to let me know the cake wasn’t ready and no one was there who knew how to make vegan icing. Of course I was freaking out. 15 minutes later the bakery manager called me to let me know she would handle it, deliver the cake to my door by the time of the party- for free, and asked if there was anything else she could bring. The cake was delicious!
Instead of using disposable plates for the food, we used Green Toys trucks, trains, and some other trucks we had around the house. Here are some of the other organic and dairy-free themed food we had:

 

 

 

 

 

The kids played indoors on small riding toys, played on our Ikea road carpet, and played pin the propeller. It was a blast!

 

For recipes, you can check out my Pinterest board!

Save Yourself

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During winter break I decided I was going to finally finish a novel that I started over the summer. Being back in school has left little time to read and write for pleasure. This semester was the hardest so far. On top of taking biology and clinical research, I was still working from home while taking care of little man- on top of moving and getting married 🙂 As much as I would have loved to be writing, reading, and researching- it just wasn’t in the cards.

On my first day of break, I started reading, Save Yourself by Kelly Braffet, and I got totally enthralled by the book. It is an intense dark thriller- perfect easy read. And I was so excited that little man was actually letting me read while occupying himself as I raced through the pages. Then I got to the end. And it was like the author just gave up on her story. It was rushed. It was messy. It just ended and I felt let down. I felt like I wasted my time.

Which made me think about my blog. I guess I kind of just gave up, rushed it, and its been pretty messy for the past year. I feel like I’ve let you down and myself. I spent a ton of time and energy building a readership, building the blog and finding sponsors, not to mention the research behind lots of my earlier articles. I had so much fun building relationships with you and vendors. Now its all fallen through the cracks, and it makes me sad. So my 2015 goal is to slowly pick back up and hopefully I will have the blog hopping again by this time next year!

Thanks for sticking around!


*I received a copy of Save Yourself from Blogging For Books. 

Save Yourself by Kelly Braffett 

“Patrick Cusimano is in a bad way. His father is in jail, he works the midnight shift at a grubby convenience store, and his brother’s girlfriend, Caro, has taken their friendship to an uncomfortable new level. On top of all that, he can’t quite shake the attentions of Layla Elshere, a goth teenager who befriends Patrick for reasons he doesn’t understand and doesn’t fully trust. The temptations these two women offer are pushing him to his breaking point. 

Meanwhile, Layla’s little sister, Verna, is suffering through her first year of high school. She’s become a prime target for her cruel classmates, not just because of her strange name and her fundamentalist parents: Layla’s bad-girl rep proves to be too huge a shadow for Verna, so she falls in with her sister’s circle of outcasts and misfits whose world is far darker than she ever imagined.”