Party {Heart}y

Throwing a party.  A shindig.  A get-together.  A celebration.  It's one of my most. favorite. things.  EVER.  I just love to make people feel special and to celebrate any occasion (or none at all!).

And what better occasion than to help prepare for your new (and first) nephew?!?!  Yes, I finally get to become an actual auntie.  I've been a pseudo-auntie for quite some time now, and now there will be a new little in my own extended family!  Yay!  

Meet my sister-in-love, Heidi.

Photo from October 2012

We feel like we go way back (and we kinda sorta do, but not really.  I PROMISE I didn't hate you when we worked together!).  We see eye-to-eye on a lot of things.  And we tell each other when we need a "you-ARE-actually-being-crazy-this-time" attitude check.

We have a few of these "laughing-while-trying-to-take-a-darn-selfie" photos

Well, she and my brother-in-love, Ryan, are expecting their first baby...a little boy! 

It's a boy!

They've named him Owen and we can't wait to meet him (just keep cookin', little buddy!).  It was my honor to throw her first baby shower ever (for our husbands' side of the family, of course...these boys are such brothers).  And you all know I like big celebrations.

CELEBRATE!

My GO BIG OR GO HOME motto for celebrating life events is somewhat well-known, if you know me.  And don't forget...it's not about spending money on being extravagant, but using forethought, planning, and some creative thinking to make it special (and staying up until 2am to finish making decorations while obsessing over the menu - more coffee, please). 

Deciding on the theme was easy...she's a book lover and appreciates all things vintage.  Voila!  A vintage, library-inspired party!

O is for Owen

I had some old books to begin with and knew I needed some to stack for displays and some to rip apart and use for some of the projects I had planned (how to choose the ones to rip up?  Harder than I thought!).  And thanks to my "seester," (thanks, Lex!!!!!) my supply more than doubled with a thrift store trip and a purge of her own books.  I had book page mobiles, pinwheels, and garlands planned (oh, Pinterest, how do I love thee?).  With a little lot of time and effort, it all came together in time (and getting your house clean for the arrival of guests is always an added bonus)!

A wall of pinwheels...

A few book page mobiles for hanging...

...and a "rolodex-style" folded book to hold "library card" notes for Owen!

The pinwheel wall?  I think it's my favorite.  My favorite.  Almost as much as coffee.  Some paper, tiny brads, and a fresh pack of sticky tack did the trick (because who wants to fill freshly-painted walls with new holes?)!  And it still holds (I can't bring myself to take it down - I'm still enjoying it too much!).

Pinwheels, books, and baby pictures, "O Baby!"

The menu included Chinese Chicken Salad (thanks, Costco!), Seven Superfood Salad (thanks, times two), Caprese Salad Cups, Cheese and Crackers, and Wonton Cups with Strawberries, topped with an Orange-Coconut Cream (which I enjoyed as coffee topping for 3 additional days).  Yummers.

Thanks, Ed, for holding all the food!

Caprese - Mmmmm....our favorite!

The Wonton Cups with Strawberries!

Dessert?  Lemon Mousse Cups with Raspberry Preserves and (by demand request) Lemon Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing (to resemble alphabet blocks, of course!).  

Lemon Mousse - easiest "recipe" ever!

Lemon Sugar Cookies - a double batch is a must.  NO.  JOKE.

A marquee light - why not?

When the weather is nice enough, we like to utilize the patio for our parties.  We set up a cute little outdoor living room (complete with mismatched chairs).

Outdoor living rooms are always a good idea.

This banner and mobile were made of book pages and paint chips (and sweetly swayed in the breeze).

And no party is complete without an appropriately-coordinating chalkboard...

#freshchalk

...or TWO.

More #freshchalk.  I love this quote.

A sweet, vintage vignette.

This table was purely for decor purposes.  Sometimes, you just need those.

For favors, I made these cute little book page and glitter ribbon clothespins.  And yes, that's a font called "1948" - I didn't actually use a typewriter (though, you shouldn't put it past me).

We visited, we ate, we played, and we "showered with blessings."  

Match the quote to the children's book title...harder than we thought!

The highly-coveted Paisley Sprouts clutch...Alli, she laughed.  Really hard.

Even the younger ladies had a wonderful time.  

Then, those of us left afterwards sacked out on the sofa, with the windows open, the leftovers available for eating, and our comfy pants on (BYCF - Bring Your Comfy Pants!).

Sweet little Owen, we are so excited to meet you!  Finish baking up like the perfectly golden lemon sugar cookies your mom hoards loves so much.  You'll be here before we know it!  You have some crazy excited cousins and aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas praying for you!  We love you so much!!!

Love,

Your {Favorite} Auntie

We Named Him "Ed"

Nope, we didn't get a dog.  Or a cat.  Or a goldfish.  But we do have a lovely new addition to our home.  Perplexed?

That's the name of our new dining table.

"Ed," without extensions...I couldn't even fit it all in one picture!

The one that my dear husband slaved away on for four months off and on until it was finished.  It was a pure labor of love.  Remember when I mentioned there was a project we were "chiseling away at" in this post?  This 7-foot beauty was it.  Literally.  (And by "we," I mean "he").

One of the table feet and the bottom of one leg, all cut and then chiseled by my hubby's own hand!

Let's rewind a bit.  One of our biggest pet peeves about our home was never being able to accommodate more people.  We like having family and friends come over (and not forcing them to stand).  Occasionally, we throw a pretty darn good shindig.  But our sad little "maxed-out-at-six-people" table wasn't cutting it anymore...especially when you consider we are a family of four.  Don't get me wrong...our hand-me-down table served us well for 10 years of our marriage.  It fit in our first apartment nicely after a little refinishing, and was easily moved into our eat-in kitchen area when we bought our first (and current) home.  It serves well as a buffet space on its own...but to sit down for a meal there AND have the food on the table?  Too much to ask.

One leg and part of the lower trestle

We decided it was time for a change.  We had fallen in love with the most beautiful table we've ever seen from Restoration Hardware...but, let's be real, here, friends.  We're on a Target budget.  But the tables we could find there weren't any better or bigger than the one we already had.  That's when we decided that we would rather have fewer pieces in our home that are good quality or something we really love, than a bunch of things that we've always just "made do with" because they worked and we lacked better options.  So, I started selling all of those unnecessary items (after taking loads of smaller items to some local thrift stores).  We started saving all of that cash, drew up the plans, priced it all out...and then got right to work!

Now, this will definitely not be considered a DIY post.  My husband, the wonderful woodworker that he is (as a hobby, for now), sort of figured it out as he went.  This was a MAJOR project and he didn't want to make any mistakes that could cost us more money (cue antsy wife:  "I think we're running out of things to sell!").  I don't even know how many hours he put into that baby.  Countless hours, lots of days, in the heat of the summer, and mounds of sawdust.  Mounds and mounds of sawdust.  All to "beat it up" prior to staining it (which was part of our plan).  We didn't want perfection.  We wanted it to be lived in.  We don't like worrying about the kids staining or dinging something just because they're kids.  We teach them to take care of the things that we have.  But we don't want them to feel like they can't be kids, or that mommy and daddy value "things" more than their loves' feelings.  We like having a "wash-and-wear" rule for our furnishings (especially those that couldn't easily be fixed or replaced).

Close-up of one foot

"Ed" now sits in our eat-in-kitchen-dining-area (we've never really been sure what to call it) happily.  All seven feet of him.  He's a whopping nine feet long when we put the extensions in him.  Isn't he handsome?

One leg and one crosspiece on the underside

Why "Ed," you ask?  Because during our distressing process (which Camdyn all-too-happily participated in with the grown-ups), one of the things Phil used was a heavy chain that had a fist-sized hook attached to it (for the random dings, of course).  On that hook read the word "FORGED."  The only part that remained was "ED."

Where "ED" originated.

See it?  So we named him "Ed."  This table has enough heft to support such a masculine name.  No, I can't lift it to move it (but I can nudge it!), no matter how much I might never try.  It was a labor of love.  It will attend many family dinners, dinners with friends, and homework and craft sessions.  It will remind my husband how much he enjoys being a craftsman...and challenging himself.  It will remind me how much my husband loves me to spend so much blood, sweat, and tears on it.  It will allow us to host more meals in our home, with friends old and new.  It will be a family heirloom.

I am SO in love.

Given that this was such a labor of love, and a work-in-progress for four months crafted by my husband's own two hands, it reminds me that each of us is a labor of love for our Heavenly Father (as I said in this post).  Jesus paid the price to set us free, and now God chisels away at us, removing the pieces of us that no longer fit, that don't belong to His finished product.  It reminds me of a Michaelangelo quotation I heard long ago:

Michaelangelo

And just like Ed, the end result will be that we each have God's name written on us for all to see.  But unlike us and our table, God desires perfection, though it isn't something that we can achieve.  Our lives are to be hidden with Christ (Colossians 3:3)...and Christ is the picture of perfection.  All that "chiseling" away at our old selves can be painful, and it certainly takes time.  Not only does it take time, but also patience, knowledge, confidence.  Love.  It takes loads and loads of love.  Our Heavenly Father is the Master Craftsman.

⁸ "But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand." (Isaiah 64:8)

So our Ed is all done and sitting handsomely in our home.  Now...onto the chairs... :-)   

For a closer look and additional photos, check out our #koppertableproject hashtag on Instagram!