Overheard: Partying Like Rock Stars

Me: Oh. My. Gosh. Tonight on Iron Chef it's Battle: Cabbage!

Him: I love cabbage.

Me: This is the best Saturday night ever.

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Little A's Birthday Balloon Invitations

Back in December, the glorious birth month of Little A, we had a small family party to celebrate. But because of the size of the Valdez clan, our family parties are never small. We all squeezed together and had a great time although I did realize one of the downsides to having a birthday party in the middle of winter (and especially when your house is the size of a shoebox) is that there is nowhere to have it.

Anything outdoors is obviously out and since Little A was turning one, things like bowling or bouncing or skating were out for now. So we had a little party at our small restaurant. It was fun and we were very thankful for those who were able to celebrate with us.

Because we couldn't decide where to have this grand event, the invites were kind of a last-minute deal and went out mostly to just his youngest guests.

I liked the idea of using a balloon in/as the invitation, so after rounding up some blue balloons and left over heavy stock metallic paper, I (with the help of a lovely assistant) made some.

Step 1. Find a lovely assistant (preferably one who is full of hot air: see above.). After realizing that the recipients of this balloon invitation will likely blow up the balloon themselves, use the air filling tube to a seldom/never-used yoga fitness ball so that said lovely assistant's mouth is not directly in contact with the balloon itself.

Step 2. Once the balloon is filled with air, use a (red!) Sharpie to write the party details - what, where & when - on the balloon.

Step 3. Deflate the balloon. Once a bazillion balloons have been inscribed with the grand event's details start sticking them (printed side back, so that it's kind of a 'surprise' when they're blown up) using Zots onto card stock on which a little poem you've created has been printed and then cut to size of a pretty (red!) envelope.

Step 4. Mail them out to adorable little family members. Let the celebrating commence!



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Monday Lovely: Saturday Night 'White'

It's true! It's true!

Image from CrabbyGoLightly.com

She is hosting. What is more lovely than that? Not much. Although this one time, back in St. Olaf...


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Monday Lovely: Kinky Boots

Did you like the name of this blog post? Hopefully it got your attention. It did mine when Zach told me this was the film he watched when he was up with Little A at 2 a.m. a couple weeks ago (teething made our little guy restless so Z got up with him since this mama was working the next day). It doesn't exactly sound like a family friendly film.

But don't let the name mislead you. We watched this Sundance Film over the weekend (Z had DVR'd it, knowing that I'd probably like to watch it, too) and I fell in love. It's about a man who inherits his four-generation family shoe making business and has to come up with a plan to save it. So he decides to focus the company's efforts on a niche market: drag queens. Hey, those girls need cute shoes, too. Oh, and it's based on a true story.

Besides the drag queens' colorful, choreographed performances and the film's charming characters, it also teaches a great lesson about learning to accept others' differences.

And why 6' 4" men need extra reinforcement on their stilettos.

[Note: If you want to check it out, we found it on the Independent Film Channel on DishNetwork.]



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Monday Lovely: Snowy grandfathers + grandsons

Little A & my dad, taken just a couple weeks ago.

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While the view from my home includes a trash-strewn parking lot

As you may or may not know, I am one of the world's most loyal Golden Girls fans. My favorite character, of course, is Rose Nylund. Besides our occasionally ditzy personalities, she and I also share a first love: Our hometowns.

Price is my St. Olaf.

So it should be no surprise that one of my favorite things to do is take Little A down there where we can breathe in the (fresh! clean!) air, look at the (clear! blue!) wide-open sky and enjoy long conversations with the relatives of my aunt's across-the-street-neighbor in the customer service line at K Mart. (Small towns are like real-life experiments of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon.)

We also enjoy taking advantage of the beautiful scenery just steps out my parents' back door. So all the way back in November, just days after Thanksgiving (I have lost 5 pounds since these photos were taken, thankyouverymuch), we went for a little sunny-day walk.

The family set out on an expedition...

...to look for these: seashell fossils.

The view wasn't bad.

The people-watching was riveting.

And the expedition proved to be a success.

We had such a fun day that I think that even Rose would be a tiny bit jealous (though she probably wouldn't admit it. She is surprisingly competitive.).


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Bueller? Bueller?

A spider web I noticed at a castle in Italy. I imagine the spider that lives here wears a tiny cape and crown and goes around saying "ciao, bella!" to all the ladies when they walk by.

Hello Internet! Is anybody out there? I'm planning to dust off the cobwebs and update this thing shortly. Stay tuned...


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