Halloween Party Time!

In early October Jack begged me to have a halloween party and being one who loves putting a party together I said “of course!” and then as October 31st approached I was like ehhhhhhhhh. And then a couple days before Halloween my friends were like, “hey, didn’t you say you were having a Halloween party? We were planning on coming!” and so then I pulled a party together in two days.

A few of these snack ideas I’d had pinned for close to a decade, so it was fun to finally make them! I have appx 20 ghost bananas leftover so I think banana bread and banana smoothies are in my future, lol. I still can’t get over how cute the tangerine/celery pumpkins are. I think pretty much all of these snacks are over on my Autumn Pinterest board so if you want those details head over there!

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Tablescape

I had a ton of fun throwing a “momsgiving” for the group of mom friends I’ve gained this year. I really wanted to celebrate with them all sans kiddos so we could actually hold a conversation, and it was so nice to hang out with adult mamas without our kids for once.

My house isn’t big, and it doesn’t have a dining room, so I dragged my low outside dining table into our living room and we all sat on poufs and cushions and snuggled in all cozy like. I love putting together beautiful tablescapes, and I wanted to keep this one feeling autumnal without being super colorful, so I went with white ghost pumpkins, seeded eucalyptus, artichokes, and olive branches.

I made the place tags with letter stamps and air drying clay, then just tied a sprig of rosemary and a little gold leaf pendant to each one with some bakers twine. All the brass candlesticks and candles were thrifted!

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Moroccan Inspired Blessingway

What is a "Blessingway," you might be asking? A blessingway is kind of like a baby shower for the new mama.  In our culture there's a lot of importance and pomp and circumstance given to a new baby.  Which is fair enough, a new human is exciting and should be celebrated!  But in all the hullaballoo about the baby, the fact that this other new creature is also being birthed-- the mother-- is forgotten and ignored.  We just expect women to shift into this new, completely life-altering role, as if it was like changing a pair of underwear.  

But it's not.  It IS life altering.  It IS important and deserving of creating a sacred celebration for.  Mothers deserve honoring, just as much as a new baby.  And that's what a blessingway is-- a celebration and honoring of the woman making the huge transformation from regular human to mother human.  I was given a blessingway by my best friends when I was 36 weeks pregnant and it was so lovely, so I wanted to do the same for them, now that they are both in their final month of pregnancy!

I'll pop the sources for everything I can link to down at the bottom of this post if you're wanting to throw a similarly styled party!  A lot of the stuff is either DIY or craigslist/thrifted, so some things I won't be able to link, but hopefully you can find something similar!

So what does one do at a blessingway?  Want to throw one for your pregnant mama friend? Here are some ideas for blessingway activities!  I'm not into the hokey activities that often accompany a baby shower, and thankfully blessingway activities are much more beautiful and simple.  Obviously you can come up with your own way to celebrate the new mother, but if you're looking for somewhere to start, here are some great things to incorporate:

Labor Bracelets
Get a long piece of string/twine.  Long enough to go around everyone's wrists in a circle.  Have everyone stand in a circle, and then pass the string around to everyone, wrapping the string around each wrist once or twice.  With everyone connected, have each person give the mother an affirmation or blessing, then cut the string between each person and have them tie it into a bracelet.  The bracelet stays on until the new mama goes into labor and then you cut it off!

Mother affirmation bead necklace
You can either have each person bring a bead to the blessingway, or have some beads ready if you don't want to make people procure a single bead.  Each person adds a bead to the new mama's empty necklace string/cord and as she adds it, gives an affirmation for labor or motherhood.  The mama can wear this or bring it to her labor so she can remember the affirmations as she's laboring.

Foot soak
Get a little tub big enough for the mama to put her feet in, put hot water in and some epsom salt and/or essential oils (make sure they are safe for a pregnant woman).  You can also get some oil and rub her feet after she's done soaking

Belly Henna
I had this done at my blessingway and it was so fun!  If you're decent at henna, you can get some henna and do a henna belly mandala design yourself, or find a local henna artist and have her do a gorgeous belly henna!

Flower crowns
This one is just for fun, but I love flower crowns.  At my blessingway they just got a bunch of flowers and the stuff to make flower crowns and we all made one.  For the blessingway I just threw I decided to just make two custom flower crowns for the two new mamas so they felt special and like mother goddesses. I've got a faux flower crown tutorial you can use, it works the exact same for real flowers.

Labor affirmation prayer flags
This is something I tried to do at my own baby shower actually, but it just didn't quite pan out. You can create some square blank prayer flags using just fabric, rope, and hem tape (you can use my bunting tutorial, this is exactly how I made the flags for the blessingway I just threw-- it's no sew!).  I just created white, blank flags, and we all went around writing labor affirmations on them, so they can hang the flags in their labor/birthing space and look at it while laboring. Labor affirmation examples are: Your body was made for this, Your body knows how to do this, Breathe, I am choosing love not fear, each wave has a purpose, open open open, my body opens easily and naturally, my breath surrounds my baby and opens the way out, I trust my intuition.

Oh, and make tasty snacks because everyone loves tasty food.  And hopefully your pregnant buddy has enough room in her torso still to eat lots of tasty things.

Macrame Table Runner : World Market | Colorful plates + cups : Michaels | White plates : Crate + Barrel | Poufs : D+K Renewal | Wooden Flatware : Amazon | Gold Sequin Backdrop (similar) : Drop it Modern | Table : DIY | Peacock Chair (similar) : Facebook Marketplace | Dip Dye Ombre Napkins  (similar, similar) : DIY | Rugs : Craigslist
 

Outfits: 
Kristina's Dress: Free People
Amy's Top: Free People
My dress : Thrifted | my shoes : c/o Modcloth | My hat (similar) : Forever 21

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My Mother's Day 2018 Gift Guide

Commercialized Mother's Day gifts feel so impersonal and out of touch with what real moms want and need.  Not that I don't like flowers and little goodies, and growing up I don't think I thought much in depth about a Mother's Day gift.  But I think if we're going to have a holidays celebrating moms, lets give moms something they really need.  And obviously for every mom that's going to be different, especially depending on her love language and personal interests.  

For me, my love language is quality time, and I've realized that as a mom you get tons of quality time with your kid(s), not as much quality time with your partner, and almost no quality time with your self. This gift guide doesn't really have a theme other than "things I as a mom truly love or crave."  So it might be relatively specific, but I figure there are probably moms out there like me, so you might enjoy this little list too!

A get-away OR a staycation

image via the joshua tree house

I crave an escape to the desert at least once a month.  But being able to hang out in a relaxing home-- ALONE --in the warm sun, getting to sleep in, not have to give my kid any of the food I'm eating, and lounge around all day with no one bugging me?  Sounds magical. On the flip side, being able to be in my own home for a long weekend so I can accomplish projects around the house that feel impossible to do when a toddler is following me around or napping also sounds magical.  I think the key here is: time sans child(ren).   Just time to fill our own tanks without the distraction or obligation of caring for anyone else.

Plants that don't die in a week

image via wearetriibe

Flowers are nice and all, but in a few short days, they start to wilt and eventually all those pretty blooms will have dropped their petals and died.  I don't know about you, but I adore have living plants in my space and have accumulated a small urban jungle-- but I always want more.  I would prefer to get a snake plant, monstera, or some other beautiful greenery that will fill my home with life for years to come!

Professional Hair Cut/Color

image via jessfxstyle

I would love to sit in a salon chair and have a hair magician take my locks to the color I've been dying to try for years.  I haven't had my hair colored since before I had our son, and while I'm not a salon junkie and I prefer low-maintenance hair, it feels so luxurious and caring to have someone refresh your hair.  I'm usually too cheap to splurge on a salon, so it would be a lovely treat to be able to hit the salon and get a fresh look.

Gift Card to a Shop I Love

image via satori

This one gets me two things: time alone to walk around said store and enjoy the ambiance of a store I like (ya'll even Target will do, my ambiance threshold is loooow), and then things that I want to buy.  I know people like to give gifts that they find meaningful, but it can feel really nice to just get something that you know you'll love because YOU picked it out.  A gift card to an online shop is nice, but now that I'm a mom I kind of like the idea of getting to get out of the house by myself, wander around the store and touch things.  Ideas? World Market, Target, Home Goods, Satori, Moorea Seal, Ikea  (These are just stores that I like shopping at that have local shops where I can go walk around).

I know Mother's Day is coming up quickly, but pretty much all of these gifts can be procured last minute (probably minus a vacay). And throwing in a nice note of appreciation can go a long way too.  Oh and a mimosa.  Happy Mother's Day!

photos of me + jack by sons and daughters photography

pretty things

 couple weeks ago I popped up to Seattle to visit BHLDN for a little wedding event they were putting on!  The Seattle BHLDN is located inside the Anthropologie store and I'm proud to say I didn't buy anything (even though I wanted to buy everything).  They had treats from local bakeries, apps and libations from local caterers, and a curated selection of wedding vendors including a photographer, handmade bow-ties, a calligrapher, a florist, and more!  I never did the whole wedding dress shopping thing since I wore my mom's dress, but I do get a little wistful for that experience I never had!  BHLDN has so many stunning dresses, it'd be so much fun to try them all on and feel like an ethereal goddess!  Though I'm sure it wouldn't be quite as magical as searching for the dress to wear on the day.  Still, I say life needs more excuses for dressing up and feeling like a goddess, eh?  Also: drinking champagne while shopping.  More of that.