Pat's almost 30!!!

On March 3rd, Patrick celebrated his 29th birthday! Yikes! When did we get so old!? It boggles my mind that next year we will be the dreaded age (hahah for all you over 30-ers) of 30. I guess we are adults now? But what qualifies you being an adult? Even though Pat, and soon to be me, are 29 do we meet all the qualifications for adult-dom? Who knows. All I know is I am living by the saying "You are as old as you feel."

On Saturday Patrick had a relaxing day of playing his new Nintendo 3DS that he received from his brother, David, and flying his toy helicopter that he received from him mom (see what I mean about being adults!) while I prepared for his party that evening.

One of our traditions on our birthdays is that we eat out as much as we can. So we went all the way downtown to go to a Quizno's for lunch and then to a Uno Pizza for dinner.

Then came Pat's party. Pat is such a social butterfly. For his birthday, naturally he wanted to to spend it with as many people as possible. Me on the other hand, like to keep things low key and intimate. But I am glad we are different because we have a lot of fun because of his natural outgoing nature.

In addition to wanting a party for his birthday, Pat also have very specific instruction for his birthday cake. He wanted a dirt cake. You know the kind of cake that resembles dirt that you ate as a kid? Yup, he wanted that kind, but it had to be in a flower pot, with fake flowers on top and gummy worms throughout. Once again, let me refer to my comment above about us being adults?!

Since his party was not a surprise and his cake was not a surprise, I wanted the party games to be a little surprise. A few days before the party I emailed his friends and family and asked them to write a few "Did you know facts" about Pat so I could hang them around the apartment for the party guests to learn more about the birthday boy. I think this activity was way more fun for me, to see what people came up with, than anything else. Some of the Pat "did you know facts" included:

Did you know Pat's finger doesn't work on an iPad?
-Jared Beauchamp


Did you know that Pat got sick from falling into a golf course pond late at night canoeing in said pond?
-Jeff Scalbom


Did you know that Pat thew-up on a male-nurse when pulling cactus needles out from Pat’s face.
-Bill Koelling

We also played "Pin the Glasses on Pat" where there was a large picture of Pat and black framed cut out glasses that each guest pined on while blind folded.


Last but not least we played "Pat Phrase," very similar to our favorite game "Catch Phrase" the only difference being all the words were related to Pat in some way. This game actually embarrassed Pat, which is really hard to do because some of the words included: Patient, kind, funny, friend to all. Hahahha. There were other words in their like: Zombie Apocalypse, Lake Powell, Motorcycle and Ferret, but those few personality traits made the birthday boy feel a little uncomfortable.


We had so much fun that I totally forgot to take pictures of the party and the guests! I was so sad as that last guests were leaving that the thought occurred to me that I didn't take any pictures!!!!!!!!!! I was majorly bummed, but hopefully the memories will not fade even though we don't have pictures to prove all the fun we had.

Christmas Party Spectacular

Remember this couple from the French Party this past June? Well, Kimberly and Ryan are at it again by throwing a Christmas Party that Pat or I will ever forget. 

When I received the invite to attend this party I was super excited, and with the mysterious meeting place being at the 96th Subway stop on the west side, I knew this wasn't going to be your normal mix and mingle gathering. 

Just as I anticipated, once everyone had assembled Ryan proceeded to tell us that we were going to be distributing the "White Elephant" gifts, that we had all brought, to random people on the street, as we made our way back to their a apartment. The "game" was, that we would walk along the side walk until someone found a person that they thought would enjoy opening a gift. Once that person was approached and congratulated on being selected, everyone would line up in a line and hold their gift in front of them. The lucky person then could pick any gift they wanted and open it in front of us. After they opened it we would all cheer, wish them a Merry Christmas and start the search for our next lucky victim. 

I can't tell you how fun this was, and of course being in NYC we got some pretty avoidant responses when we approached someone. They couldn't understand that we were not selling anything or that there were no strings attached to the gift. We selected some pretty awesome people though, from a little Hispanic boy in a barber shop to an elderly black lady who was out for a stroll.

I think my favorite person we selected that night was a lady with her little boy. When we were explaining the process to them and congratulating on them on being the lucky winners, the lady was a bit confused and asked us if we belonged to a church. We really didn't know how to answer, because we all belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints, but this was not a church function. So, we all hesitated and said "Well...we are all from the same church but this is not a Church function." Then she asked "Are you all Mormon?" We couldn't believe it! We were all blown away that someone would be able to call us out on our Mormon-ness. We had a good laugh about it and then went on our way as she left with a pie crust decorator and a Pyrex bowl.

When the presents all ran out, Ryan and Kimberly magically had Christmas tree decorations. We all decorated a sad little tree to being the Christmas spirit to a Harlem street.

Just when we thought the night couldn't get any more fun we entered the Simmon's apartment---aka a magical, colorful, Christmas wonderland. They had all the ingredients you could ever think of for flavored hot chocolate and yummy yummy treats. We played "Reverse Charades" where instead of having your team guess what you are acting out, your team acts out the word or phrase and one player has to guess.

When I saw this picture above, all I could think of was
Mr. Hugo Peabody (aka Ryan) in Bye, Bye Birdie shown below.

It is hard to pick a highlight of the evening, but if I had to one of the highlights of the evening was being selected to carry out the tradition of the "CHRISTMAS JELL-O." You might be asking yourself: "What is the Christmas Jell-o?" Well, we had the same question when we were selected. The story goes like this: A few years ago the Simmons were hosting a Christmas party, which included a nice Jello sculpture. Apparently, our friend, Stanton, asked if he could throw the Jello out of their 5th floor apartment window. The answer was yes, and every year since then, they have thrown "The Christmas Jello" out the window. 

After we took pictures with "The Christmas Jell-o" in front of the Christmas tree, Pat had the honors of the Jell-o toss. As Pat made the deposit, the entire party waited in silence as the Jell-o made it's way to it's final resting place, five stories below. Surprisingly, the Jell-o make a very loud "kur-plop," which was followed by cheers, shout for joys, and Merry Christmas's. I wish this was a tradition I could steal, but I think the fun of the tradition is the tradition was not planned and just happened. 

It's really too bad that these pictures could not capture the magic of the night. But then again, 

I don't think any amount of pictures or writing could accurately depict the fun we had. 

Brittanie's Baby Shower

Apparently Colorado is the place to be because my other friend, Brittanie, who I served with me on my LDS mission on Temple Square, lives in Colorado right now as well! The trip really was perfect timing because Brittanie is having her first baby at the end of December, so since I was going to be in town during prime baby shower time, I thought it would be fun to plan a little party for her in her honor. 

Brittanie was nice enough to put me in contact with her other friend, Patti, who helped me plan the whole thing. Patti was a saint as she dealt with my insanity over the past few months. Planning the shower from afar made me a little nuts because I was so scared I was going to forget something and then be out of luck once I was in Colorado. Also, with the added inconvenience of New York City, I was constantly sending her items from Amazon.com--everything from double sided tape to cupcake liners. We planned the whole thing via email, which was awesome. 

Patti displaying our theme decorated cup cakes. 

The theme of the Baby Shower was "Ahoy! It's a Boy!", 

where we had everything decorated with a sailboat theme. 

Patti's husband is a chef so they took care of all the food! 

Thank goodness, because anyone that knows me knows how much I despise cooking. 

The food tasted as good as it looked! 

When the guests arrived they signed a children's book about a toy boat, 

writing messages for both Brittanie and the baby to read together someday. 

We played a few baby shower games, including writing down wishes for the baby, the name game where we helped Brittanie decided on boys name that started with each letter of her name, and Mommy Trivia where the guest answered questions about Brittanie and her pregnancy.

Steve, Brittanies husband, had to pick the winner for the name game.
He chose the name "Thomas". Tom Savage--I like it. 

Brittanie claimed her pregnancy was contagious and  if you touched her belly you would be next! 

It was so fun to see Brittanie and her belly! I am glad that everything worked out for me to be there at just the right time and that even after all these years of being back from our missions (6 years this May! YIKES!) we are still great friends!

DIY {Interactive Pull-tab Invitation}

I am planning a baby shower. My second one ever. I was pretty nervous for the first baby shower I threw, but this time I have a experience, a partner and pinterest. What more could a girl need? The whole planning process has been really fun and I can't wait for the actual event.

We decided on a sailboat theme, and through doing internet and pinterest research, I finally stole enough ideas from other people to come up with this interactive-pull-tab invitation.

It was so fun and easy to create and I loved the results. Hopefully it was a little more fun to receive than a normal invite.

Here are the steps:

1. Digitally design card and all elements to get proper measurements (hardest part).
2. Print and cut out page elements
3. Cut slit in paper where moving element is going to be placed
4, 5, 6. Place moving element in slit
7. Stick double sided tape on sides and bottom to cover up slit. Do not place tap on top where element will move
8. Place whatever is going to be covering the slit on top of the slit
9. Tip to fit card
10, 11. Can cut out a half circle where tab pokes out to make it easier to grab
12. Stick double sided tape on back of card and place back cover, which will cover the slit on back of paper and act as a border
13, 14, 15. Pull, Pull, Pull and enjoy.

Thank You For Your Frenchip

People blow me away. I am always so amazed by peoples skills and talents. Saturday night was one of those nights, where I was constantly amazed by the skills, kindness, talents, and creativity of others.

Our friends, Rubi and Stanton are moving away to Paris. We were invited to their going away party, thinking it would be a simple gathering of friends to see them off. But boy, were we WRONG! Their going away party was the most extravagant, creative, and fun party we have ever been to.

As we arrived at Ryan and Kimberly Simmon's apartment, we were directed to their rooftop. As we entered the roof top we saw clothing lines of 30+ stripped shirts. At first we thought their neighbors must have a thing for stripes, but then we were told to pick a shirt and put it on. After we put on our stripped french shirts, we were came upon a table full of black and red french berets and scarves. There was a full length mirror there so we could assemble out outfit and of course put on a french mustache.

As we came around the corner of our dressing station there was a dance floor constructed from PVC pipes, paper decorations, balloons, and lights. French music was playing with the back drop of giant blown up pictures of French tourist attractions and Rubi and Stanton's faces.

Tables with french food, desserts, and non-alcoholic french drinks lined the roof along with chairs that was were cleverly decorated with stripes shirts as well. Every little detail of this party was taken into consideration from the napkins with the Eiffel tower stamped onto them to candy cigarettes that were passed out to give us the "real" French experience.

(The amazing party planners who made it all happen. They are such a HOOT)

During the night we danced, laughed a lot, ate, and took pictures. A photo station was set up with the back drop of the Eiffel Tower and the moon. We had different props to work with such as a baguette, a French flag and a giant red balloon. We each posed as couples, individuals, and groups for Rubi and Stanton to have pictures to remember us by.

The whole night was a TOTAL blast. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. I was in awe of the whole experience. Unfortunately these pictures do not due the party ANY justice. It was simply magical. It was the perfect party to see Rubi and Stanton off.

Rubi and Stanton are by far the most creative couple I have ever met. It seems as if they were made for each other, as they each see and experience life in such a unique way. Rubi is a VERY talented hairdresser and Stanton is a creative in the Advertising industry. In addition to their creative jobs, they always have something unique up their sleeves.

Stanton makes his own leather shoes and bags. Rubi is a skilled photographer with vintage cameras, you know the ones that use FILM. Film? What is that!

The list of their creative projects is endless from street art to photoboother.com (a website they created that transforms your boring digital photos into cool vintage photobooth strips). There are so MANY MANY more creative projects that they are always working on that they are always so humble about. I am always finding out new and interesting things about them, as they never "brag" about all their talents, even though I wish they would! There is not doubt in my mind that both Rubi and Stanton are "goin' places" in this life, because it seems that they have already "arrived" and have life figured out. The more I think about it, the more sad I get about them leaving. I wish had more time to get to know them and have them rub off on me a little bit more. They are truly an inspiration to others to follow your dreams and expanding the talents God gives to each person, yet, truthfully, it seems that God really gave them more talents than others.

No expense, time, thought, effort, or talent was spared when it came to see our friends Rubi and Stanton off on their was to France. The Simmons, who I do not know that well but hopefully will get to know better in the future, really went above and beyond in creating a night Rubi and Stanton (and everyone else) will forever remember.

Rubi and Stanton New York is going to miss you. France take care of them for us.