Anticipating Spring!!!

What in the world have I been up to? I'm so sorry I haven't posted lately! It's been crazy. I have been in volunteer overload. I had a reader email me and ask me what volunteering I do that keeps me so busy. This week it's been the physician's alliance that I am the president of this year, the fall shopping bazaar that our Junior League produces in November, 1st grade Parent's Association Rep, JK room mom, and helping plan a rehearsal dinner for a friend. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it!

To make things more interesting, I was a single parent last week while Dr. Daddy went skiing in Jackson Hole, WY. He had a great time skiing and I had a dog that wouldn't stop pooing and peeing in her kennel. Nice.

Last Sunday our school had it's annual JK/Senior Buddy dinner. Each year the JK students get paired up with a senior. It's adorable. They meet once a month and play games, read stories, etc. The dinner is done as a way for the parents of the JK kids to get to meet the parents of the seniors and gain a new perspective on the school. I had done some flowers for another event that weekend so I was able to recycle them for the dinner. They turned out so cute! Our school colors are black, red and white.

The grass centerpieces are easy...



What you'll need:

wheat grass seed (available at most organic food markets)
soil
8 inch plant drainage tray (.89 at wal mart)
metal bucket container (these are from JoAnn Crafts)
floral wire
three gerbera daisies
floral oasis

What you'll do:

two weeks prior to your event you'll need to grow your grass. Soak seeds overnight. Place an even layer of soil in the bottom of your drainage tray. Add a generous layer of seeds (they should completely cover the soil and should all be touching one another). Place another layer of soil on top. Sprinkle with water and set in a window or somewhere that you'll have good light.
Water each day. The grass grows quite quickly.

The day of the event, cut a rectangle of floral foam in half. Soak foam. Add foam to bucket. Remove grass from drainage tray and place on top of foam. The grass should fit snugly in the container. Wire your gerbera daisies with floral wire by wrapping the stem with the wire. Push the daisies into the grass and all the way through until they are firmly stuck into the oasis. Then you're done! Water if needed.

The other arrangements are simply daisies placed in glass rectangles. I used grosgrain ribbon (two widths) and placed them on the vases with double sided tape. So simple!

I loved these arrangements...they make me excited for sping!

Congratulations, Aaron!

This weekend was BUSY! Friday was spent preparing for the rehearsal dinner I had been helping to plan for several months. I'm glad to say that everything went off without a hitch. Unfortunately, I managed to get there with no memory card in my camera. Therefore...no pictures! I did the same wheat grass and gerbera daisy arrangements seen here. I added table numbers on wooden sticks to each arrangement. I printed them on red cardstock and cut them into squares. It looked really cute! (you'll just have to trust me on that :)

Saturday we had Field Day at the kids' school. Then at 2:30pm we headed down to Chapel Hill for Aaron's graduation. Three hours later (thanks to the Garmin's illustrious tour of all the nooks and crannies of the North Carolina Research Triangle) we arrived! I was so glad to share this special time with Aaron and all his friends...friends who have become like family to us over the past six years (many of them were high school friends as well). Many of them were also some of Sippycups' first supporters. Saturday night we headed to a pizza place on Franklin Street that the graduates had rented out so their families could enjoy a little celebration. It was such a great idea. We had the entire place packed with friends and familiar faces. Lots of memories in that room, I'm sure!















Of course, the revelry continued after dinner. Everyone headed back to Aaron's apartment. I drove Dr. Daddy and the kids back to the friend's house we were staying at and he got the kids and himself to bed. I then headed back to Aaron's apartment and whipped up some Skinny Girl Margaritas. If you haven't tried one...you must! Just remember to use the good tequila (100% Agave, white tequila). This is my new drink of choice! It's light and refreshing but it definitely packs a punch!
Mimi and I headed to bed pretty early (I think it was about 11:30pm). The "kids" continued the fun well in to the wee hours of the morning, as they should :). Good thing Mimi and I were at Aaron's door at 8:30 Sunday morning to get his lazy bum out of bed. Otherwise, he would have missed the graduation!
We hustled over to the stadium. Seanie boy, feeling the pain of the previous night's fun, was moving at a snail's pace. Tobin, Aaron's adorable boyfriend, was a true mensch and found bottled water and coffee. My dad came through with Krispy Kreme and all was well. Desmond Tutu was the speaker. I have to say, he is an intriguing speaker. Unfortunately, his message was a wonderful one that was somewhat lost when he politicized his speech. Not cool. It's hard to represent yourself as a uniter when you're speech is judgemental and partisan. It was funny, though, trying to construe some of his interpretations of the King's English.




We dashed out a bit early so we could get back to Aaron's apartment and whip up some brunch. And whip up some brunch Tobin did! What a chef!
We then opened presents. Everyone got a litty teary eyed when Aaron was given the greatest gift from my Dad. To make a long story short...before my Mom passed away she was in a quilting group of ladies. They called it the "Stitch and Bitch" group. She had finished a quilt for Seanieboy and started quilts for Aaron and Ryan. Well, my Dad had those same ladies finish Aaron's quilt and that was the gift my Dad gave him yesterday. Definitely an emotional moment, especially given the date of Mother's Day. It's a beautiful quilt and I am so grateful to those ladies who finished it for Aaron.


After the gifting we did an impromptu photo shoot. I think we got some great photos!