Party Planning

I like planning things.
I enjoy doing research, drawing out my ideas and making lists.
Lots of lists.
I can't help myself!

Making those grand plans come to fruition.....now that's something that I have to work on.
I've gotten a teensy bit better about that.
I guess it comes down to keeping it simple and focusing on a few key details.

My Dad's 6oth birthday is around the corner and I'm pulling things together for a party.
Of course, I have some great people around me lending a helping hand...or three!

What am I focusing on?

*Food
*Ambiance
*Personal Touches

The food will be homemade things that Dad asked for...chicken salad, my pasta salad, etc. He picked out a cake from a local bakery that will be so, so yummy.

Fall colors and touches will be a big part of the ambiance. I'm going to try my hand at painting his initials in a cool script on a pumpkin. A smaller pumpkin will be used as a "vase" for some flowers straight from a loved one's garden. A pot of sliced apples and oranges simmering in some clove and cinnamon spiced water on the stove will help everything smell fabulous.

The personal touches will mostly center around a display of photos of my Dad over the years. My handy digital photo frame will be a big part of that. I'll be raiding Dad's house for a few more...including one of my Mom that he specifically requested.


So there you have it.
My idea of party planning.

I'm so excited!

Random Randomness....A List

• I'm ready for cooler weather. Seriously.
• Praying that Hurricane Earl (and all his stormy siblings out at sea) makes little to no impact.
• Amazed that my 17 m.o. is now climbing up on everything in sight. Eek!
  
• Had a quiet moment with the Bubs this evening. We crashed in his bed and each read our own books. He read Thomas and the Great Discovery while I read a J.D. Robb book, Fantasy in Death. Those moments together are golden.
• Where did August go?
• Just caught up on a whole lotta blog reading. Y'all continually amaze me! So much talent, such giving hearts. Blessings to you!

Of Journals, Lists and Doodles

Yes. I have a journal. I know...I have a blog so it may seem a little silly to have a journal, too. There is something so deliciously tactile about putting pen or pencil to paper. Maybe it's the artist in me. Maybe it's my love of lists (list love?). Making lists, mind you, not having them handed to me!

My journal is another place where I go to take a deep breath of inspiration, jot down an idea, doodle or even scribble about a hidden hurt. Some thoughts are random while others are cohesive and threaded together in a stream of words that come pouring out in moments of creativity or clarity.




The very first page is my "title page" where I wrote - Inspirations, Dreams, Creative Bents & Other Things. I don't write in it every single day but I keep it close at hand, ready for me to scribble away. It comes in handy on days when I have so many things flying around my head that I need a way to keep them straight. Out comes the journal and pen and suddenly I can think straight again...or straight-ish, anyway.

Putting pen to paper - even in a world of blogging, texting, and tweeting - is still a wonderful thing!

A tale of a chronic list maker.....who found love on the internet.

Most of y'all know that I LOVE to make lists. Grocery lists, school lists, long lists, short lists.......my lists have lists! They help me make sense of my mad, out of control thoughts and, to put it simply, get stuff done. In one of my many searches for household organizational tips I came across a site called Organized Home. Now, some sites like this one are so involved and complicated or the author is so know-it-all that the ol' gag reflex tries to kick in. I didn't get that feeling as I browsed through the different information packed articles......much. Some of the ideas were wonderful, but for me weren't realistic. Others, like the Household Notebook idea are right up my list-lovin' alley. Especially now that we have to break down an entire household, sell our house and move cross country in around 3 months. Holy freakin' cow, y'all!

The whole notebook idea caught my eye because it encourages keeping important papers and info in ONE PLACE. Not scrawled on the back of an envelope or on the world's tiniest piece of paper like someone in my house does. And then calls from work frantically needing the info that I just tossed in the trash having thought it was, um, trash. He shall remain nameless.......Ahem.

Another topic that caught my eye was how to de-clutter. Ahhhhhhhh.......yeah. To be honest, I didn't stay on this topic long. I started hyperventilatin' and having visions of the piles of stuff waiting to be sold off, given to family, or donated. Drama I don't need to wallow in! I almost had a fit of the vapors right there......

How do three people accumulate so much stuff? Hubby and I have started having these kinds of conversations~

Hubby~ "Hon', why do we have three of these?"

Me~ "'Cause we couldn't find the other two when we needed 'em."

OR

Both of us at any given time~ "Oh! So that's where that was! I've been looking for this for weeks."

I guess when you live in one place for so long you tend to lean towards being a pack rat. I think in our case, it's been a combination of everyday neglect and out of sight, out of mind-ism. Honey, we are gonna be paying for that big time. We can't decide if we should do one big yard sale or several small ones. What do y'all think?

Well, I've blabbed enough. I hope everyone's having a great weekend!