Let's Party. Really.

I'm not much of a betting woman, but I'm going to take a chance and assume that you have been invited to at least one party lately. It's the new 'party' of today, where you're surrounded by people you may or may not know, nibbling on snacks (and if you're lucky, downing a glass of wine) while you listen to a friend of your hostess tell you why you desperately need this, that or the other, in your life.

Or, you may have recently 'attended' a Facebook party, where someone is trying to get you to purchase books you've never flipped through, or essential oils you can't actually sample because smell-a-vision hasn't yet evolved.  

I have little proof that I partied in my earlier years... the photos are (thankfully) rare. But I know that nearly every weekend when I lived in England, I was off to any number of friends' houses for whatever party they were throwing. Sometimes it was an actual costume party, or a sit-down fancy dress event. All I had to do was show up. Occasionally I had a bottle of wine or flowers in my hand. But I never in all of my years remember being asked to buy anything at the party, or even to host a party to get perks of my own. 

Times are changing folks, and I'm not sure I like where it's all going. 

Every time I turn around, I have a Facebook notification for an online party. Occasionally there's an actual event at someone's house where wine is offered. 

Don't get me wrong. I love that so many people, especially women and moms, are in business for themselves nowadays. I get it — there is a certain amount of freedom that comes with the hustle of selling stuff. I've even looked into selling some of the stuff myself for a little side income. 

But now, the only parties I seem to get invited to are ones where people want to sell something. I am inundated with invitations from people who sell things and from friends who are hosting parties for those same people selling things. My eyes immediately start to gloss over my Facebook feed after a while.

I long for the days when a party meant I would be gathering at someone's home for an afternoon or evening of mingling, eating and drinking with both friends and strangers. Nothing to sell, no pressure to purchase. No photos to log on Facebook, Instagram or even a blog. There would be a slim chance someone would have an old-fashioned camera there and maybe you'd end up getting a copy of a photo as proof that you wore a pink feather boa once to someone's party. (As if that really happened...)

I have already been sucked down a rabbit hole by a few companies... (buttery leggings, I have no use for you outside of my apartment, but by golly, I could live in you all day when I'm at home.) I have an expensive outfit not available in stores that I do not regret buying, because I live in it when I'm not wearing those buttery leggings, and I have just placed an order for some kind of elixir that is supposed to knock the Peanut out for a week straight. (Just kidding... but it is supposed to help him sleep better.) 

So clearly I'm not at all opposed to these parties... or else I wouldn't own some of the products. Sell on people! Good for you!  

And really, who wouldn't want the perks of hosting one of these parties? Want jewelry half price? Host a posh clothing sale. Want some buttery leggings for free? Host an online party. Want to get your essential oils at wholesale price? Bring your neighbors and friends to a poolside party.  

But I miss the days of having people over just to have a party. Even as an introvert, I love them. I love to throw them and I love to attend them. Our poor parking situation and apartment living (plus the Peanut's haphazard sleeping schedule) means I haven't had people over as often as I'd like to... but I really do need to remedy that. 

I can count on one hand the number of times I've been invited over to someone's house for a non-sales 'party', or even just dinner, over the last few years. 

It's not that I don't know anyone. I know PLENTY of people in this town. It's just that everyone seems busy selling stuff.

I texted a friend the other day and said I was weary of getting invited to party after party where something was for sale — sometimes by people I hardly knew. I told her I simply wanted to have a party where people ate, drank and talked. No pressure to buy and sell. 

I'm thinking the invitation might go along the lines of something like this: 

Remember the days when people got together to eat, drink and be merry, and the only thing you had to purchase was a bottle of something to share? 

(Yeah, neither do I...)

Which is why I'm hosting a flashback-to-another-decade-party where all you do is show up. 

That's right. Wear whatever clothing you want, use whatever 18-hour-stay-put lipstick you want, read whatever book you want that offers party tips, get ready to party by diffusing whatever oil you want, but leave your products to sell at home, your catalogues in the car, and your phone in your handbag. 

We're going to party like it's 1999.  

(And by party here, I don't mean raging crazy parties where people get into all kinds of mischief and trash my house... I mean a group of people who get together to mingle, eat and drink and maybe even dance. Card playing and/or a puzzle might also be involved, but let's not get too crazy here.)

So who's with me on this one? 

PS: A word of advice, if you are in Direct Marketing, don't be that girl.  

February!

Yes, I know it's been forever. It's February already. 

FEBRUARY!! 

I promise you, I haven't forgotten this blog. But you know the days run into other days, and there's a constant flow of meal prep, dishes, playtime, laundry, errands... and occasionally sleep. The Sailor arrived home for the holidays and has been home for all of January, so it seemed like our days were even fuller and busier. Every time I contemplated writing a blog post, the Peanut would bring me a book, hand outstretched, wanting me to read it to him. 

And really, who can deny such a cute kid a little reading session? 

So here I am, in the middle of his nap time, wondering where all of January went besides a blur of food, laundry and library books. 

Nevertheless, I did manage to accomplish a few crafty things. I also realized that even if I'm not posting every little detail, I'm still living life and making things. And that's what really makes me happy.

I threw my friend Tianna a baby shower! 

She hosted my book shower a little over a year and a half ago. Now, she's having twins! We ate lots of yummy food on vintage wares, and showered her with gifts galore. I made her yellow and grey baby cardigans like this one (I was so busy hosting that I forgot to get photos of my own gifts.)  

I'm also in the middle of making both myself and the Peanut new slippers. (I've finally gotten around to using the wool I bought in Idaho a year ago.) They are both these felt clogs. I remembered this week that I had the pattern for the children's version as well! Perfect timing since the Peanut rips his socks off and needs a pair of these for around the house. They knit up fast and I'm looking forward to throwing these in the laundry and watching them shrink to the right size.

I also finally finished this Through the Woods hat and cowl. I purchased a kit on Craftsy forever ago and then realized it never really gets cold enough here to wear such a thing, so I kept it in the 'to do' pile. Over the holidays, I worked on it and decided it's a perfect belated birthday gift for my pal in Idaho (where it gets cold enough to wear it!)  

It looks much better on, but since we are all recovering from nasty colds and constant nose blowing, I'll refrain from posting a photo of myself in it. (I've looked better... let's just leave it at that!) 

And once again, my local yarn store had the perfect wooden buttons to go with it. 

I also feel like I should report that we have the windows open and it's positively balmy outside. THIS is the reason we moved south. 

The Literary Library Baby Shower

Summer definitely seems to be both wedding and baby season. I'm not sure if it's the heat (and thus less layers of clothing, revealing bumps...) but I've certainly noticed more pregnant ladies out and about in town.

A few weeks ago, I shared with you my Skype non-shower baby shower. This week, I'd like to tell you about the Book Shower my local friends threw me here: B is for Books, Babies and Brenda! 

The hostess knew I didn't want a traditional shower with goofy games, although we made an exception for the 'game' part and actually watched the US play Portugal in the World Cup during the shower. How non-traditional is that?! Sadly, none of us managed to get a photo of the TV in the background as proof! 

The invitation asked everyone to bring a book, and specified that thrifted ones were absolutely fine. In fact, several thrifted books were used to create super fun vintage-like bunting, and many of the thrifted books were classics that are difficult to find these days. 

In keeping with the theme, the food spread matched the books.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit inspired veggie crudites, complete with hummus on bottom of the 'planters'. 

The somewhat infamous Orange Marmalade Poppyseed cake even made an appearance. This has been my no-fail cake for years now and I agreed to make it for my own party. (I'm hoping to finally share the recipe with you if I can get permission from the magazine publisher!) 

And Blueberries for Sal gave way to a delightful blueberry drink concoction! (I'm super excited about this book. I loved Make Way for the Ducklings as a child and I never knew that the author, Robert McCloskey, wrote this one too!) 

Of course books were also involved... 

I loved the library as a child (and I still do!) but there are a number of these books I'd never heard of or read, so I'm excited that the Peanut already has quite a stash of reading material for the years to come! 

I don't remember ever reading The Sailor Dog -- a Little Golden Book about a dog named Scuppers who wants to sail on the sea. 

But as soon as I got home that evening, I read this one aloud to the Peanut before bedtime. And as silly as I felt reading a book to my belly, I'm pretty sure this might become one of my favorite books to read to the Peanut, especially when the Sailor is away to sea. 

I'm super thankful for friends far away for the Skype Shower, and the local ladies who know me well enough to host a Book Shower for Baby. 

(And an extra special thank you to my friend and the evening's hostess, Tianna, for making the latter happen! She and I shared creative spaces together while working onboard a hospital ship many moons ago... and it's super fun to live in the same city as her now. Most of these photos were taken by her.)

Non-Shower Baby Showers

I have never been much of a baby shower person. Have I been excited when my friends had babies? Absolutely. Was I ever as excited when I've received a baby shower invitation in the mail? Not so much. 

I could never understand someone cooing and oohing and aahing while opening gifts that they already picked out and placed on a registry. It's not like it was a surprise or anything.

And then there are the games: weird ones like melting chocolate bars, putting them into a diaper and having guests take a bite of the brown goop to guess the type of candy. 

GROSS. 

Admittedly, as I've gotten older and so have my friends, the showers have become much more mature and tasteful... beautiful brunches, fun favors and let's face it, less goofy games. 

I'm happy to report that my friends both near and far know me well enough to throw me non-shower Baby Showers. These past few weeks have been busy with friends and family visiting from afar, with a few non-showers in between. 

My school chums from childhood threw me a Skype shower first; my local friends hosted a library shower next. I'll tell you more about the library shower in a later post, but first, let's talk about Skype. Skype is incredible. It's how the Sailor and I get to chat basically for free whenever he's near enough to an Internet connection overseas. We usually just voice Skype, since the video takes up too much bandwidth where he is.

I was a little skeptical when my friends offered to host me a Skype shower, though. What fun would that be, I thought? They all get to eat brunch together while I sit here on my own opening gifts in front of a screen, probably with a bowl of cereal for company? 

However, it was a total success! The gals sent their gifts ahead of time and even arranged to have cupcakes delivered right to my door in the middle of the shower, ensuring that even I had a tasty treat to indulge in. 
 

Giraffes were a prominent feature in the gifts!

They gathered around the laptop hooked up to a giant screen TV, while I opened gifts (and cooed and oohed and aahed...) and modeled my larger than life belly for them on the screen.

While of course it would have been fun to be in the same room together, Skype was a great alternative. 

Maybe you want to have your own Skype shower for a friend who is far away and expecting? Here are some tips: 

1. Test your Skype connection first! Luckily we did this a few weeks before the shower. My friend had a weird dancing cat on her video feed thanks to pre-installed software from her Dell laptop. (If you have iPhones or Macs, you can always use FaceTime instead of Skype and avoid the dancing cats all together.)

2. Mail your gifts to the recipient so she can open them during the shower. I knew not to open any gifts with my friends' return addresses on them until the shower; luckily another friend alerted me to incoming packages from Target. I had placed so many online orders from various places, I may have inadvertently opened her package early if she hadn't warned me. 

3. Send some food goodies to your friend! Seriously, those cupcakes made all of the difference. I love to eat and I especially enjoy eating with this particular gang of gals. I was actually feeling a little bummed that I didn't get to share a meal with them, until the cupcakes arrived!  

4. Give yourself plenty of time to mingle together before you arrange a time to Skype. I knew my friends would be late to the party (I know how long it takes us all to order our brunch when we haven't seen each other for months...) Plan to leave an extra few minutes buffer while everyone catches up, THEN make the Skype connection. 

5. Once the connection is established, make sure the recipient can actually see you! If you can't see yourself in the computer screen, there's a chance the person on the other end can't see you either. If it's a large group, then take turns chatting to the person, rather than having everyone talk at once. Sometimes conversation gets lost over a connection. In my case, there were only five gals on the other end, so it worked out to have everyone on at the same time. 

Another bonus of Skype showers? If you are not a tactile person... there's no chance anyone will touch your belly.

Later next week I'll share with you the local literary love I received at another non-shower, shower!