You know you're a parent when...

I've been thinking a lot lately about the MANY ways my life has changed in the past year (since I became a mom, duh). It actually reminded me of Jeff Foxworthy's famous "you might be a redneck if..." because I suddenly started saying "you know you're a parent when..."

So if you're a Mommy or a Daddy, add your own in the comment box below!!

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A PARENT WHEN...

...going 5 days without showering is actually NOT THAT BAD.

...the song you have stuck in your head these days is "lalalala lalalala Elmo's world!"

...you not only get drunk off one beer, you get a hangover off one beer.

...the 3 second rule becomes a legitimate thing.

...11pm is waaaay past your bedtime.

..."going out" is now a trip to Target- ALONE!!

Where the party at? part 3

So my best friend Shelly (the previously mentioned cake goddess) is getting married this April and my whole family is ridiculously excited. No seriously. My mother has been designing mock-ups for the rehearsal dinner floral arrangements, my father has booked his flight home from Japan, my husband has been rehearsing vows (because Brett is going to be the officiant), and of course I had been planning Shelly's bridal shower for years :) What can I say...she's pretty much a part of the family!

Now back to the bridal shower!! I knew I wanted to do something fun, classy,and creative (just like Shel-Shel) so I decided to throw a Project Runway themed bridal shower. The guests were sent custom invitations prompting them to RSVP by asking "So are you in or are you out?" Everything was purple and silver (the wedding colors). I had a custom banner made with the bride and grooms picture. When the guests arrived, they were greeted by an iron dress form with directions to find the "runway pass" with their name on it and enter the party. Since my friends call me Gen, my pass said "Gen Gunn" and Shelly's name said "Br-eidi Klum".





The food was more like a tea party with cream puffs, cucumber sandwiches, bite sized brownies, chocolate covered strawberries, biscuits and scones with lemon curd, wedding cookies, and of course champagne! And then I made tissue paper flowers to hang above the table. BUT my absolute favorite part was the pin cushion cupcakes I made. I even made the fondant myself (at 2am the night before...never again I tell you...NEVER).







The decorations were so much fun because I cut out dress forms out of paper, pinned up fabric samples with dress sketches, and I even decorated a "sewing table". I forgot to take a picture of Shelly's "bride" chair but I painted a directors chair black just like the judges on Project Runway!








I had all of the guests break up into 3 teams with a bridesmaid on each team. They were instructed to design a bridesmaid dress in 25 minutes with the supplied materials. When the "designers" were done, they were to send their bridesmaid backstage to start the fashion show! The dresses turned out fabulous!!! And everyone had so much fun watching the girls come down the runway to Beyonce's "put a ring on it"!






Then we played a quick game of Project Accessory where the guests tried to select the accessory the bride liked the best. The surprise was- If you guessed it correctly you won an accessory!!




And of course we watched the bride open all of her fabulous gifts, while sporting a very flashy veil!!

Where the party at? part 2

Last year my husband turned 30 (dun dun dun!!) So I thought what better way to celebrate his age than to celebrate the decade he came from :)

I Love The 80's!!



We're talkin Care Bears, Nintendo, Hulk Hogan, Top Gun, Michael Jackson, and TONS of neon colors...everywhere! I have to thank Shelly for helping me with evey single aspect of this party. I could not have done it without her help!! First we splattered neon paint on tons of paper table cloths as part of the decor. We also found some old magazines from the 80's at an antique shop and created fun posters out of the hilarious advertisements.







One of my favorite touches were the floppy disk coasters we made that said "Brett Says Relax". They were a fun party favor that everyone enjoyed. We also created several stations that both entertained and added to the totally 80's theme! 1)The 80's listening station. I found a crazy amount of 80's music cassette tapes at thrift stores and of course a tape player. 2)The Spin the Bottle station ('nuff said). 3)The "30 reason's we love Brett" station. Each guest wrote down the thing they love the most about Brett and taped it to the poster. After the party I taped the poster to my husbands' bathroom mirror so he could enjoy it for a few weeks. 4)The "Cocktails" station. 5)The photo booth station. This was everyone's FAVORITE station because they could grab a few friends, strike a pose, and take a photo using the remote control!










And of course Shelly created another masterpiece of a cake that TOTALLY ROCKED!!










Just for fun...a few of a TOTALLY RADICAL moments from a night we will never forget (well kinda- the bartender had a very heavy pour).