30, Flirty, and Thriving .... DIY Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party

It's official... I'm the big 3-0 and I threw myself a birthday party (of course, my husband helped!) It was Alice in Wonderland themed and full of DIY goodness. (Anyone else love 13 Going on 30? Anyone? Bueller?... Obviously the flirty part is strictly husband-related...)


This outfit is my 'loose interpretation' of Alice- aka: I couldn't find a blue dress I liked to suffice and this vintage dress is amaaaaaazing. My cute little apron came from a local antique store.



Both Joe and I are artistically inclined people so a DIY birthday was easy peasy (minus the fact I'm a procrastinator extraordinaire...)  Most of this was Pinterest inspired and if you're interested, I have a board dedicated to this party.

We made sugar cookies with a set of cookie cutters Joe bought on Amazon. I had this idea to use a baggie and squeeze icing out of the corner....then the icing busted and I was DONE. Ain't nobody got time fo' dat!




We made and tied on little 'Drink Me" tags for each bottle of soda. I meant to make 'Eat Me" labels but whatever... procrastination, amiright?!



 
We used felt, dowel rods, E 600 glue, and hot glue to make the props for our photo booth and below you'll see the outtakes from our photo booth.


(my fantastically awesome parents)


(Best friends since 1991 ish)



(Teacher/Work friends since 2006)


None of this fun would have been possible without this fabulous guy. Thanks for making it possible. You're the best!

I had the original Alice in Wonderland playing on our tv while I chatted with guests. Most Alice themed games I found were alcohol related and since I don't drink...we didn't play those games. Had I not waited until the last minute, we would have played a game where each person got a name tag and wrote their name backward. Each time someone called them by their given name instead of their Wonderland name (backwards) the person  would have to take a card and the player with the least amount of cards at the end of the night would win.

I had so much fun and was reminded of how wonderful my friends are. I'm thankful to have such awesome friendships. If you have an Alice themed party... feel free to use any ideas you see.

 (p.s. I'm still not sure I'm used to saying 30... I don't feeeeel 30. Do I look 30? Meh, who cares.)

Thoughts from a thoughtful place

Quite obviously I've neglected my blog lately. I do apologize. Seriously. How the heck do some of these teachers out there in the blogosphere do it?! I have no idea! Quite frankly, when school is over for the day - the papers are graded and I'm comfortably watching Friends on the couch, I feel like this lady:

 (source)

Once upon a time ago, I set a goal for this blog to reach 100 followers by the end of 2012. Well, friends, my happy little butt has been busy. Doing what you might ask? Beats the heck out of me! Okay, that's not true. Something in my world happens in the beginning of October. I've mentioned that I work the spookhouse at school. Somehow that takes over my life from the beginning of October until part way through November. It's a true story. I become engulfed, nay, overwhelmed with spookhouse duties. 

In other news: I'm old.
Dear readers, I (and probably you too - sorry folks) have lived long enough to see fashion cycle around full circle. It's convenient for me. At the same time, it kinda irritates me. I went to my beloved haven, Forever 21, and realized, "I've seen this all before." All this stuff in here is what was cool in the 90s. Say, what?! Then, I thought of Ecclesiastes 1:9 - "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Dang. Get me to a thrift store please. This reasonably priced $12.50 shirt would cost $4.99 max at Goodwill. 

Hey, remember how I said I'm old two seconds ago? Well the good news there is I'm gonna have a birthday party for myself next summer. Perfect theme: Alice in Wonderland. I've always thought she should be an honorary Disney princess anyway. I'm thinking a modest version - like this:

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But I really prefer the original Alice -

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And maybe, maybe..... maaaaaayyyyybe I could talk the husband into being the Mad Hatter, eh??? Yeah. That'd be awesome. Everybody would love it. Including, and most importantly, the old birthday lady.

But for now, be satiated with the cuteness that was my Halloween costume - my take on Tinkerbell

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Close, right?! Pretty dang close considering I thought of it the night before Halloween and didn't make any purchases other than tights to go towards my costume.

Get your fashion on